A young out-of-state couple purchased a home at 1715 Ocean Way in Laguna Beach in a short sale.
The oceanfront home went for $6.1 million, down from $10.9 million in 2010.
John Stanaland, an agent with Newport Beach-based HÔM Sotheby’s International Realty, represented the seller. Azita Sadeghi, an agent with eVantage Real Estate’s Laguna Beach office, represented the buyer.
The buyers saw the home in late 2010 but passed because the price wasn’t right, Sadeghi said.
They liked the style and the location of the house and plan to move in after making a few modifications, she said. The buyers own other properties in Laguna Beach.
“They love to invest in Laguna,” their agent said. “They’d like to eventually retire here in Laguna.”
They like the Laguna Beach lifestyle, the people and the home’s proximity to downtown restaurants and stores and are always looking for properties to buy, she said.
Argyros Agency
Stephanie Argyros recently opened Costa Mesa-based Arnel Estates, a luxury home real estate agency.
Argyros is the daughter of Arnel & Affiliates owner George Argyros, who is well-known in philanthropy and commercial real estate and a former U.S. ambassador to Spain.
Costa Mesa-based Arnel & Affiliates has done all sorts of commercial development—apartment complexes, office, retail and industrial—and also manages properties, but it’s never had a residential real estate agency.
“It was the one little piece that was missing,” Stephanie Argyros said.
Arnel Estates aims to fulfill that niche.
“We’re just going to keep it small—one client at a time,” she said.
She’s hired two agents, Krista Jajonie and Amy Stewart, with whom she’s worked in the past and who she knew since grade school.
“The three of us work as a team,” Argyros said. “We’re not competing with each other. We’ll share in each other’s deals.”
They all know the Newport Beach area well but plan to branch out into other luxury areas, such as Palm Desert.
They’re starting out with two listings, one is a private listing at 21 Boardwalk in Newport Beach, and the other is 7 Troon Drive, a 10,000-square-foot home her parents bought while building their house on Harbor Island.
The seven-bedroom, contemporary Troon Drive home is in the exclusive One Ford Road neighborhood of Newport Beach. It’s listed for $12.9 million.
Argyros plans to market internationally via social media.
Argyros worked at Coast Newport Properties in the mid-1990s and later worked at Coldwell Banker, which purchased Coast Newport Properties in 1999. She took time away to raise her three children and also delved into philanthropy, volunteering and fundraising for charities, including Santa Ana-based Orangewood Children’s Foundation.
She is vice president of the Argyros Family Foundation and serves on the board of Orange-based Children’s Hospital of Orange County. She’s also involved in Virginia-based Operation Smile, a global nonprofit that surgically reconstructs children’s facial deformities, such as cleft lip and palate.
Argyros plans to donate a portion of the commission from each home sale to a charity of the client’s choice. She decided now was a good time to start a new venture.
“My kids are a little bit older, and I wanted to be close to my dad and have my own thing,” she said.
Argyros and her father see each other every day, as they share an office.
“We’re just having a ball,” she said.
Her father is a wealth of information, she said.
He helped out with the logo and offers business advice.
“He’s so excited to help me through it,” she said.
Listing
New listing: 2832 Bayshore Drive in Newport Beach was listed for $16.5 million as recently as mid-April, but the 9,400-square-foot home now is priced at $15.5 million.
John Stanaland, an agent with HÔM Sotheby’s Realty International, is the listing agent. The six-bedroom, seven-bathroom home in the gated Bayshore enclave was designed by Newport Beach-based Brion Jeannette Architecture.
Recent Deals
Among April’s luxury sales:
• 8 Sunset Harbor in Newport Coast sold for $7.5 million, down from $7.9 million, when it was listed in March. Chris Valli, an agent with Newport Beach-based Surterre Properties Inc., represented the seller; Kandy Petillo, also with Surterre Properties, represented the buyer of the 8,400-square-foot Roman-style villa featuring ocean and golf-course views.
• 53 Boulder View in Irvine’s Shady Canyon neighborhood sold for $4.8 million, down from $4.9 in December. Jacqueline Thompson, an agent with Surterre Properties, represented the seller; Greg Shank, an agent with Keller Williams Elite Realty in Irvine, represented the buyer.
