Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Extended Alma Del Pueblo Sales Hours During the Santa Barbara International Film Festival


Last weekend kicked off the 2013 Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and State Street was packed with audiences anxiously awaiting entrance into the films.  Although the weather wasn’t exactly up to Santa Barbara's best, large crowds still gathered outside the Arlington Theatre, Granada Theatre, Lobero Theatre, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, and many other screening facilities in the downtown area.  From inside of our Alma Del Pueblo sales office, adjacent to the Arlington Theatre, it was entertaining to see as we watched the crowds form as the Film Festival staff prepared for the mass influx of movie lovers and critics for the opening night. 

This year’s line up has proved to be impressive as always, with headliners including Ben Affleck, Quentin Tarantino, Jennifer Lawrence, Amy Adams, and Daniel Day-Lewis.  There are over 150 scheduled screenings, running throughout the course of the eleven-day event.  Our Alma Del Pueblo sales office, located at 1321 State Street, will be holding extended hours to accommodate the crowds.  On January 26th, 27th, 31st and February 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, our sales team will be in the office from 12-8PM, instead of our normal 12-5PM.  We’re excited for everyone to come out and see advances in the development, amenities within each unit, and learn more about the Santa Barbara Public Market, so stop by in between screenings and check out Santa Barbara's most iconic project!

Schedule of SBIFF and ADP Extended Sales Hours:
Thursday, January 24th- Opening Night Film: Disconnect
Friday, January 25th- Ben Affleck
Saturday, January 26th- Daniel Day-Lewis, ADP Sales Office Open 12-8PM
Wednesday, January 30th- Quentin Tarantino
Thursday, January 31st- Amy Adams, ADP Sales Office Open 12-8PM
Friday, February 1st- ADP Sales Office Open 12-8PM
Saturday, February 2nd- Jennifer Lawrence, ADP Sales Office Open 12-8PM

For more information: 
Santa Barbara International Film Festival: http://sbiff.org/

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Construction Moving Quickly at Alma Del Pueblo!

Santa Barbara has been seeing some beautiful days lately (although a few have complained that it is cold, and our friends in the Midwest and the East Coast have been making fun of us Californians), but it has been crystal clear and the construction at Alma Del Pueblo is moving along at full speed. Come by and visit the site, and also our sales office at 1321 State Street (right next to the entrance of the Arlington Theater)! If you are interested in one of our units, time is starting to run out if you want to choose your own finishes. I will stay in touch with deadlines. For more details on the development, visit www.almadelpueblo.com, or email me at emily@villagesite.com.






1705 Sunset Avenue - Santa Barbara Photo Tour

I recently listed an adorable home at 1705 Sunset Avenue, Santa Barbara.  For a virtual tour of the property, click here.


Weekly Snapshot Statistics (Santa Barbara Real Estate Market)

Week of 1/6/13 - 1/13/13

63 New Listings

22 Price Changes

32 Sales Pending:
19 (under $1M)
9 ($1-2M)
4  ($2-4M)

29 Closed:
22 (under $1M)
3 ($1-2M)
3 ($2-4M)
1 ($8M+)

16 Expired

6 Cancelled

5 Withdrawn

18 Back on Market

Have a great week!


Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Owning a Home is Still the Dream

It looks like people are still purchasing homes, even in the era of the "Great Recession".  Buying a home is still a long term investment goal for a majority of Californians, as shown in recent statistics released by the California Association of Relators.








Tuesday, January 8, 2013

New Listing! 1705 Sunset Avenue, Santa Barbara, CA

















Welcome to this lovely two-bedroom, one-bathroom cottage on Sunset Avenue, one of Santa Barbara’s tucked away and quiet streets!  This lovely home offers a fireplace, hardwood floors, an updated kitchen, and has recently been improved with a renovated bathroom with original claw foot tub and brass fixtures. The outdoor space opens up to a large redwood deck with a patio and fire pit nearby, wonderful for entertaining, and the fully fenced backyard offers ample privacy.  In addition to a new main lateral sewage line, new drought tolerant landscaping, and fresh exterior paint, this home is complete with original stained glass windows, a front porch for rocking, a 1-car garage, and numerous fruit trees and plants including fig, persimmon, kumquat, and pineapple guava (feijoa) trees, a raspberry trellis, a strawberry bed, grape vines, artichokes, an outdoor potting area, and three raised vegetable beds for gardening.  Don’t miss this special property!

Listed for $609,000

Please contact Emily McBride for showings or questions. 

emily@villagesite.com
805.252.2773 

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Silent Auction at HauteBox

Thank you to those who attended HauteBox at DNA Imagery on December 1st. The silent auction was successful, and the event also featured some of my pieces, alongside work from a handful of other local artists. A portion of the proceeds went to Heart Ventures.













Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act Extended Through 2013


Happy New Year!

I am excited to kick of 2013 with good news I have recently received from the California Association of Realtors.  On January 1st, Congress reached a settlement in the 'fiscal cliff' negotiations, resulting in the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act being extended for another year.  This measure will continue to exempt from taxation mortgage debt that is forgiven when homeowners and their mortgage lenders negotiate a short sale, loan modification (including any principal reduction), or foreclosure.

This will also allow capital gains rates to rise from 15% to 20% for high-income earners.  However, capital gains rates on the sale of principal residences will remain unchanged and continues to exclude the first $250,000 for single taxpayers and $500,000 for married couples.

Already, 2013 is looking like a great year for California and Santa Barbara real estate!

*As always, please consult with your financial planner or CPA regarding your personal planning.

Santa Barbara In Top Three Towns for Sales of $10M Homes


This article, released by CNBC last month discusses elite communities in the United States that serve as home to multi-million dollar estates. Santa Barbara is tied with Aspen, CO as the zip code with the second most $10M homes sold from November 2011 until October 2012.


"In some elite zip codes, $1 million homes now count as affordable housing.  A new report from Coldwell Banker shows that sales and listings of homes priced at $10 million or more have more than doubled in some communities in the past year. While the market for these mega-mansions remains tiny nationally, they are becoming downright common in a select few towns favored by the super-rich.


The top zip code for homes sold for $10 million or more is Beverly Hills, with 19 mega-homes sold between November 2011 and October of 2012. Tied for second place was Aspen, Colo., and Santa Barbara, both with 13 homes sold for $10 million or more.
Beverly Hills and Aspen also led the list of zip codes for sales of homes priced at $5 million or more, with Beverly Hills reporting 70 homes in that category, and Aspen 33.
Granted, the list leaves out New York, since several Manhattan zip codes would otherwise overwhelm the top of the list. In its previous report, Coldwell Banker said Manhattan had 100 sales of $10 million or more, with many zip codes around Central Park reporting 20 or more sales.
The rankings show that the so-called "ultra-luxury" sector of the real estate market had a strong year in 2012 and is poised for an even better year in 2013 – fueled in part by a stronger stock market and rising real-estate values.
The number of homes priced at $10 million or more – a good indicator for next year – also continues to grow. Topping the list of $10 million-plus listings is Malibu, Calif., with 63 listings priced in the eight digits or higher. (Call it the Ellison Premium?) Beverly Hills ranked second, with 62 listings followed by Aspen with 41 listings. 
"One area where we have seen tremendous growth in the past few years is the ultra-luxury sector," Coldwell Banker said in the report. "For example, in the Miami area, a luxury market that has ignited this year, the number of new listings hitting the market at $10 million dollars or higher jumped by 176 percent from January 2012 through October 31, 2012."
The report found that 72 percent of those buying or listing $10-million-plus homes are local – contradicting the widely held perception that the top of the real-estate market is now being driven by foreigners. Nearly half of the buyers or listers are entrepreneurs and more than 60% are between the ages of 45 and 54.
Of the buyers who are from overseas, 39 percent are from Asia.
When it comes to the most important feature for $10 million properties, the golden rule of real-estate still holds true. It's "location, location, location," Coldwell said."