Old-School Glamour in the Lower Village

Noteworthy new listings….

Talk about bones! The 1921 architecture at 204 Hot Springs Road ($18.95 million) more than holds its own against the outré interior-design choices. (Love the sunken backyard.) The seller paid just $3.9 million for the five-bedroom house (plus ADU) in early 2020; it hasn’t been open, and there’s no floor plan online, so I have no idea how it actually lives. Noise must be a concern, given the location on a busy stretch of Hot Springs, but it’s counterbalanced by easy access to Coast Village Road—especially if there’s a gate on Summit Road, as appears on Google Maps. P.S. Robb Report ran an item on the project last month.

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Every now then a spec reno nails it. The 1958 house at 734 El Rancho Road ($5.695 million), north of Hale Park, was a time capsule when it sold in March for $3.21 million, and the seller has done a beautiful reinvention. (One quibble: the only en-suite guest room feels better as a family room, so this is more likely a three-bedroom with the two guest rooms sharing a bath.) And unlike most spec renos, the closets are done, the yard is landscaped, and so on; the only thing left to do is build a garage, which the seller is apparently going to do for the buyer who made an offer before the property even hit the market.

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231 Middle Road, at the corner of Mesa Road, ($5.65 million) is bigger than it looks from the street, with a lot of potential. The question is whether to work with what’s there—the kitchen is tight and the primary bath is in the hall—or use the approved plans to expand the house to around 3,400 square feet.

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Built in 1924 and owned by the same family practically ever since, 1306 Las Alturas Road ($3.5 million) is a delectable slice of old Santa Barbara. It wants some creative thinking to make it suitable for today—two of the four bedrooms are less-charming additions, and the other two bedrooms share a bath—while maintaining what’s special. An adjacent 3.06-acre parcel is also on the market for $1.8 million.

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The seller of 4910 Baseline Avenue ($6.95 million), on 5.5 acres northeast of Santa Ynez, paid $3.842 million in May 2022, and I assume he/she/they are the ones to have made the 1965 four-bedroom as handsome as it is. I’m tempted to buy it and hole up for the next four years….

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And a few others worth checking out:
••• 71 Seaview Drive ($4.5 million): Top-floor two-bedroom, two-bath in Montecito Shores.
••• 59 Seaview Drive ($5.25 million): Ground-floor two-bedroom, two-bath in Montecito Shores.
••• 618 Anacapa Street #4 ($3.495 million): Three-story townhome in the Anacapa Villas complex between Cota and Ortega.
••• 171 Hermosillo Road ($3.2 million): 1959 three-bedroom near Coast Village Road; one exterior photo and no description.
••• 4878 Via Los Santos ($2.9 million): 1991 Park Highlands three-bedroom.
••• 345 Sierra Vista Road ($3.297 million): 1977 two-bedroom cabin with mountain views.
••• 910 Pear Street ($1.65 million): “House is very old and needs a new vision,” says the listing for this 640-square-foot cottage in Carpinteria (below). You think? It looks like someone built it in shop class.

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