Noteworthy new listings….
They certainly don’t make them like 1121 Las Alturas Road ($5.995 million) anymore. While the 1932 Winsor Soule house, down a flag lot, is livable on the main level, with a grand living room, spacious dining room, and small-but-fixable kitchen, things get kooky elsewhere. In the corner of the living room is a metal spiral staircase leading down to a wood-paneled library with lots of original details; from there, step out on the pool deck to access two guest rooms and a shared bath. On the other side of the house, meanwhile, a narrow set of stairs off the kitchen goes up to a multilevel mini-suite. If you can solve the puzzle—and/or embrace the quirk—there’s something special to be had. The lack of view-facing outdoor space on the main level is a bummer; the 1.7-acre lot, however, includes space for other amenities and a building that could be reworked into a guest house.
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Tucked into the acute angle formed by the intersection with E. Mountain Drive, 1074 Cold Springs Road ($12.3 million) is a 1925 house that got totally redone in 2014. There was no brokers’ open this week, so we have to rely on the photos, which are limited (no kitchen shot?) and fixated on the bathrooms. The interiors have a brawny appeal, thanks to all the stone, and the pool house is low-key sexy. UPDATE: Either the kitchen photo was always there or it just got added, and seeing as how I’m a bit consumed with moving, it could very well be the former. The design is pretty butch, as you’d expect from the rest of the house.
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For sale by owner, 690 San Ysidro Road ($8.75 million) is a 1978 house with location and a 1.29-acre lot on its side, but the only takeaway from the photos is that it needs updating. Of the many reasons to engage a listing agent, the best one is that he/she is going to make your house look good—probably by staging, at least for a high-end property, and almost certainly by having it professionally shot. The goal is not to show what a house looks like, but what it could be.
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2561 Golden Gate Avenue ($3.95 million) also wants fresh surfaces, but the potential is as clear as an April May June July (?) day. The floor plan feels good, the views are fantastic, the street is less raffish than many in Summerland, and—extremely rare for the town—there’s a pool. While I think the house will have wide appeal, it may end up as a vacation rental, given how the listing touts that “approximately $130,000 [is] already booked in 2023.”
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Same goes for 136 La Vuelta Road ($3.895 million): the 1925 house has some swell moments, and short-term renters are much less likely care about certain aspects—the freeway, the lack of a true primary bedroom—that many buyers might consider drawbacks.
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And a few others worth checking out:
••• 900 Toro Canyon Road ($5.295 million): House and guest house on five acres; the seller decided to throw it back after paying $5.05 million last month.
••• 1510 Mission Canyon Road ($1.888 million): 1930 house way up Mission Canyon; it could use updating but there’s an acre of land.
••• 34 Rubio Road ($2.9 million): 1977 Riviera house that didn’t get quite the renovation it wanted, although it’s hard to tell since the important interiors are virtually staged; also, if ever a house wanted a deck….
••• 50 Hollister Ranch Road ($3.995 million): One-third share with a 1986 one-bedroom house (below) and “a large man cave style garage.”
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