One of the 12 homes in the exclusive Montage Ocean Estates neighborhood, which is adjacent to the five-star Montage Laguna Beach, traded last month for $31 million.
The 8,140-square-foot oceanfront property, located at 7 Montage Way, went into escrow two weeks after it hit the market. Its latest valuation was just shy of its $32 million asking price.
The home’s recent trade marked the seventh-priciest reported sale for Laguna Beach.
Its new owner, who’s from the East Coast, was represented by Mimi Bladow and Cat Scully of Compass.
The listing broker was Randy Ora of Berkshire Hathaway California Properties.
Front and Center
The 7 Montage Way property is one of seven homes on Montage Ocean Estates’ front row.
Sandwiched between the neighborhood’s six other oceanfront properties, Ora describes the home’s positioning as “front row, center stage.”
The six-bedroom, 10-bathroom estate features panoramic ocean views, a “Zen” design, an infinity pool, a “climate-controlled” wine room that accommodates several hundred bottles, a smart-home system and a below-ground atrium with a window that peers into the pool.
While on the market, the home drew prospective buyers from across the globe, including some celebrity clientele. The neighborhood’s most-notable part-time resident is Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban.
Montage Background
All 12 homes in Montage Ocean Estates are custom built; most were developed in the early 2000s. The neighborhood sees a sale about every 18 to 24 months, according to Ora. Currently, there remains only one vacant lot in the community.
The Montage neighborhood also includes 14 condos, or villas, one of which—7 Stickley Drive—is listed for $10 million with Douglas Elliman’s John Stanaland.
While some of the neighborhood’s properties are occupied by full-time residents, many of the other homeowners live there part time.
All residents have the option to pay for housekeeping and meal services from the hotel.
“It’s basically like being a high-end guest at the Montage,” Stanaland, who has brokered deals for a majority of the community’s properties, said.
Another home in the community has been on sale for over a year.
Listed at $37.7 million, 11 Montage Way spans 9,305 square feet—larger than 7 Montage Way—and also touts ocean views.
That home’s initial asking price was $45 million.
Fast Sale
The 7 Montage Way sale was unusually speedy. For the past three years, Laguna Beach properties worth more than $20 million have spent an average of 303 days on the market, according to Ora.
“At this price range, homes either sell right away or in a year,” Stanaland, who brokered the property’s previous trade in 2021, said.
Stanaland’s client, the home’s most recent seller, paid a total of $31.2 million for the property three years ago. The prior trade valued the home at nearly $30 million;
Stanaland’s client paid an extra $1.2 million out of escrow for the property’s furniture.
