All Blog Entries by Sam Smith

Sam Smith understands the luxury real estate market in Dana Point and educates his clients on the many communities and choice they have when buying a luxury home.

Found 229 blog entries published by Sam Smith.

Sep 2

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Driving through the center part of Dana Point and you will notice many streets that are named in the nautical theme.  Streets names like Golden Lantern, Amber Lantern, Silver Lantern, Cooper Lantern, Violet Lantern and Blue Lantern are some of the oldest existing streets in the Dana Point area that date back to the 1920's when some of the first homes were built here in Dana Point.  The city has always had a very strong maritime connection with the Dana Point harbor where you will find many of the property owners yachts parked here today.

The street of the Golden Lantern is large street that starts at the Dana Point harbor and goes all the way to the Dana Point and Laguna Niguel city limit line.  Golden Lantern basically cuts through the middle of the

Aug 26

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Situated near the Dana Point and San Juan Capistrano city limits is a beach community known as "Westbourne."  Homes rarely come on the market in this community with the last listing being well over 2 years ago.  The properties in this community were built between 1964-1965 and are classic beach bungalows that typically have three to four bedrooms with 1,457 to 2,900 square feet of living space.  The neighborhood mainly consists of single level homes with a small mixture to two level properties.  Very similar to the adjacent Dana Knolls community that was also built in the 1960's and offers a prime location near local schools and shopping.

The location is really ideal as the homes are situated approximately 1 mile to the beach but still retain the

Aug 19

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Dana Point has some wonderful ocean view homes built in the Mediterranean architectural style.  Some neighborhoods are more prominent in this architectural style and knowing where to look is the key.  One of the first places to start your search is in the Monarch Beach area of Dana Point.  By far, this is the best place to find high end Mediterranean style homes.  The Monarch Beach area is the newest area of Dana Point and is home to many luxury communities that are often gated.  We recommend the following communities.

Located next to the Ritz Carlton hotel is the luxury community called Ritz Cove.  The neighborhood was built in the last 20 years and that is predominately all Mediterranean style homes.  Homes normally start in the high $2 to low $3

Aug 12

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The Admiralty is one of my favorite buildings in town center of Dana Point.  The building is located on a dramatic bluff front as pictured below and situated directly above the Dana Point Harbor.  Not all condos in this complex will have dramatic ocean views as these are reserved for the units located on the front row.  This is a very popular complex as owners rarely put there units up for sale here.  On average, we will see no more than 5 condos come on the market during the year and are typically priced above the $1 million dollar price point.   A brand new listing has just came on the market this week and offers ocean views with 2 bedrooms and 2,778 square feet of living space.  The condo comes with two separate master suites that are located on two

Aug 5

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The Blue Lantern Village condos are located at 33672 Blue Lantern Street in Dana Point and offer wonderful ocean views in the Lantern Village area of Dana Point.  This is a very small complex built in the Spanish architectural design and filled with 8 residential condos that range from one to three bedroom units.  The condos were built in the mid 1970's and average 2,165 square feet in living space.  These are generous size units for the area and are often priced under the $900,000 price point as all the condos here offer ocean views.

Select condos in this building will offer a 2 car attached garage with a main floor master bedroom.  This is a great location with easy walking distance to the downtown Dana Point area as well as the High School.  Since

Jul 29

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The Monarch Bay Terrace community is a great place to find ocean view homes in the Dana Point area.  This is a great area filled with a combination of older and newer homes that overlook the ocean.  The large majority of homes in this area were built in the early 1970's and are often single level homes.  Not all homes in this area have ocean views as the lower the priced homes often have small city light or canyon views.  Price point for non-view properties currently starts at just under $1.4 million with ocean view homes starting at around $1.6 million.

What makes these homes so desirable is the location.  The community is set next to the city limits of Laguna Beach and a short distance to the sandy beach.  Commuting to work is very easy from this

Jul 22

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The Ritz Cove community has some of the best panoramic ocean views in this ocean front location.  Oringally built with a connection to the luxury St Regis Hotel that sits adjacent to this community, the homes are grand in style and built with the 5 star resort in mind.  All of the homes in this community will have some kind of an ocean view as the streets have been terraced upwards to maximize the views for all the properties.

All the homes are located on Ritz Cove Drive are located within one to five rows back from the ocean.  The first row is considered ocean front as the homes face the ocean and typically have a greenbelt walkway or Monarch Beach golf course in front of them.  Real Estate prices typically will be priced the lowest on the top row and

Jul 8

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The Sea View Dana Point condo complex is a small residential building that is home to 28 units in the Lantern Village area of Dana Point.  The majority of condos in this building are one bedroom units with a few two bedroom condos as well.  All the units are under 1,000 square feet and come with a detached single car garage.

Since they were built in 1977, many of the units have been highly upgraded with granite counters, crown molding and have added inside laundry units.  Since the association is very small dues are kept very low and currently run $265.00 a month.  This is a great value considering that the dues include water, trash, pool, spa, building insurance and grounds maintenance.

Condos rarely come on the market in the building with only 3

Jul 1

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The Dana Point harbor is a beautiful area in the Lantern Village area of Dana Point.  There are several communities that overlook the harbor and offer amazing views.  These condos are typically some of the most expensive units on the market as they offer both ocean, harbor and sunset views.  For those who are new to Dana Point it's worth driving around and seeing the different vantage points and the views that they offer.

We first recommend going to the Green Lantern street in Dana Point.  This is by far the best view of the harbor and that is where you will find the Dana Point chart house restaurant.  Along this street are residential homes and condos located on only one side of the street.  On the other side of the street is a steep cliff that

Jun 24

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The Capistrano Heights community is located in the upper section of the Capistrano Beach area just above the 5 freeway.  The main section of the Capistrano Beach area is located just west of the 5 freeway and offers beach close custom homes.  Capistrano Heights is a small area that occupies four streets and often has peek views of the ocean.  This area is often confused as part of the city of San Clemente since streets located above these 4 streets fall into the boarders of San Clemente and often referred to as the "Harbor Estates" area of San Clemente.  The Heights offer a nice mixture of one and two story single family homes that are often located on one way streets.  They offer easy access to the 5 freeway and the Ralphs shopping center located next to