The home at 607 Allview Place in Laguna Beach was billed as a “museum masterpiece.”
The 4,500-square-foot place—made with concrete, steel, exposed wood beam ceilings and walls of glass, and carved and blended into the hillside with a view of the coastline—was conceived by a Laguna Beach couple that decided to put it on the market as it neared completion.
It sold for $6.2 million, down from $6.7 million in April.
Clark Smith, owner of Laguna Beach-based Realatrends Real Estate Services Inc., represented the seller, a high-end custom homebuilder and his wife, an artist.
Marc Lotzof, an agent with Prudential California Realty in La Jolla, represented the buyer, a couple from Chicago.
The sellers, both with roots in Laguna Beach, were originally building the home for themselves, with the help of noted hillside architect Lamont Langworthy, who is from the Bay Area.
The seller had purchased the lot several years ago and intended to build a home that stands apart.
The home is in the Allview Terrace neighborhood, and borders an open space preserve in the gated community.
It has three bedrooms and five bathrooms. A 1,400-square-foot garage fits four cars and has 11-foot ceilings, which can accommodate a car lift. There is also a workshop area in the garage.
The couple spent about five years in all the planning, designing and building of the home.
It was 90% finished when they decided to sell it instead.
Their life situation changed, Smith said.
Smith knew it would be a challenge to find a buyer because of its unique style.
It is one of those homes a prospective homebuyer either liked or didn’t, he said.
The Chicago couple saw the home online and came out to visit.
They had been looking in La Jolla but weren’t able to find anything they liked.
Then they began looking in Laguna Beach.
They didn’t want anything ostentatious. They are an unpretentious couple, Smith said. They wanted something distinctive.
The buyers were forthcoming in how much they liked the home, Smith said.
“They looked at it three times in one day,” he said.
The couple went back to Chicago and called in three weeks with an offer.
They now are finishing the home with their own personal touches.
$10.8M Ask
Conrad Metz, an agent with Prudential California Realty’s Newport Beach office, has a new double-digit listing in Newport Coast at 6 Gallery Place.
The 10,785-square-foot home, priced at $10.8 million, has five bedrooms and seven bathrooms.
The home is on a 22,100-square-foot premier lot, with views of Pelican Hill Golf Course and the ocean.
Some of the home’s features include a 15-seat movie theater and an eight-car garage.
Inventory Snap Shot
January was the first two-week snapshot period since June of 2011 that saw the number of houses for sale throughout OC go up, ending a 19-month drop, according to Steven Thomas, who produces the Orange County Housing Report.
The active listing inventory went up 3%, or 88 homes, to a total of 3,249 homes on the market for the two weeks ended Jan. 20.
That’s still an anemic supply compared with a year earlier, when there were 8,080 homes on the market, more than double the current inventory.
Done Deals
Recent transactions on the high end:
n 1200 W. Oceanfront in Newport Beach sold for $8 million, down from $9.4 million in November.
Andy Stavros, an agent with Teles Properties Inc., represented the buyer and the seller.
The 1927 home, situated on a double lot, has six bedrooms and two bathrooms.
n 24 Old Ranch Road, which is in the gated Bear Brand Ranch neighborhood of Laguna Niguel, sold for $4.2 million, down from $4.5 million in October.
Shauna Covington, an agent with Prudential California Realty in Laguna Beach, represented the seller.
Mehri Borhani, an agent with Century 21 Award’s Irvine office, represented the buyer.
The 6,500-square-foot home has five bedrooms and six bathrooms.
n 712 Harbor Island Drive in Newport Beach sold for $4.1 million, down from $4.9 million in July.
Teri Armstrong Hardke, an agent with Coldwell Banker Previews International in Newport Beach, represented the seller.
Marc Edward Souza, an agent with Southern Hills Real Estate & Development in La Quinta, represented the buyer.
The 4,468-square-foot bay-front home on Promontory Bay has four bedrooms and four bathrooms.
