An entrepreneur who recently sold a medical device company bought a home with his wife at 431 Avocado Ave. in Corona del Mar for $4.6 million.
The Yorba Linda couple, with their daughter off to college, decided to move closer to the beach, said Jim Kline, an agent with Surterre Properties Inc.
Kline represented the buyer, who was a referral. Tim Smith, an agent with Coldwell Banker Previews International’s Newport Beach office, represented the seller.
Kline worked with the couple prior to the home’s listing, showing them coastal properties in Orange County.
“I took a look at it when it first came on the market and immediately thought of them,” he said.
They liked the home right away, Kline recalled.
“They came back a second and third time to confirm their thoughts,” he said.
The home has four bedrooms and six baths, an office, wine cellar and courtyard.
The home is in the Irvine Terrace neighborhood, which features terraced properties and scenic views. Many of the homes there were built in the 1960s and have been upgraded or are currently being remodeled.
Irvine Terrace has almost 400 homes and is right off Pacific Coast Highway and close to Fashion Island and Corona del Mar village.
The seller, who bought the home as an investment home in 2010 for $4.1 million, moved locally.
The $4.6 million closing price of the home wasn’t far off from its list price of $4.9 million in October. The home closed fairly quickly, in about 30 days.
“The closer you list your property to what you feel is the true value, the sooner you’ll get to that value,” Kline noted. “The market will tell you if it is the right price.”
If a home is underpriced, the home will get a lot of offers, he added.
Mickelson’s Home
Newport Beach-based Surterre Properties is handling the sale of professional golfer Phil Mickelson’s 9,500-square-foot, five-bedroom estate on nearly 5 acres in Rancho Santa Fe.
The U-shaped home, which includes a sizeable putting green, was relisted a few weeks ago for $7.1 million. The home was on the market in 2008 for $12 million.
Susan Bartow, an agent for Surterre, is representing Mickelson—who will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame this May—and his wife, Amy. Bartow is marketing nationally and internationally.
“We’re really pushing the international marketing right now,” she said.
The Mickelsons have moved into another home on a larger plot of land in Rancho Santa Fe, an affluent city in San Diego County. Homeowners there reportedly have included Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates, singer Janet Jackson and energy baron T. Boone Pickens.
Rancho Santa Fe’s rural spaciousness affords plenty of privacy. The average price for a home in Rancho Santa Fe is about $4 million, but prices range beyond $21 million.
The Mickelsons moved to the home from Scottsdale, Ariz., in 2001. The home features imported Italian stone, hand-carved fireplaces and hand-laid tile mosaics.
The putting green is next to a pool just off the master bedroom, which features a steam room and sauna. The property includes two guest houses.
January Sales
Seven listed homes sold for $4 million or more, according to redfin.com. Among the most recent of those transactions:
• 14 Via Ambra in Newport Coast sold for nearly $4.2 million, down from $4.4 million in March 2001. Michael Fawaz, an agent with Surterre Properties, represented the buyer and seller.
The 6,000-square-foot home with ocean views sold for about $697 per square foot.
• 2713 Victoria Drive in Laguna Beach sold for $4.15 million, down from $4.7 million in August. It was the first sale for February, closing Feb. 1.
Holly Papa, of Team Laguna, represented the seller. Daniel Shawn Lackey, an agent with Keller Williams’ Santa Monica office, represented the buyer.
The 3,082-square-foot ocean-front home overlooks Victoria Beach, a popular skimboarding beach. It sold for roughly $1,347 per square foot.
For inclusion in the column, email transactions greater than $4 million to cruz@ ocbj.com.
