The ocean-view home at 3830 Calle Ariana in San Clemente’s Cyprus Shore neighborhood sold for $4.2 million, down from $4.5 million in October.
The home, which spent about a year on the market, had some major selling points.
There were some extra hurdles when it came to making the sale, though.
The owner didn’t need to sell, so there wasn’t much of an inclination to budge on price.
That was one of the challenges for Valerie Vella-Wood, the Teles Properties agent who represented the seller, who lives in Newport Beach.
Another was sentimental attachment.
The seller had inherited the property from his father, the late Maurice “Maurie” McKenzie, a noted custom homebuilder and fan of modern architecture who built the place in 1966. A home he built in the desert resort town of Borrego Springs was featured in the September issue of Dwell magazine.
McKenzie’s son never lived at the home on Calle Ariana, “but it was near and dear to his heart,” Wood said. “If the right person came along, he was willing to let it go.”
An additional challenge to selling the property was that it only had two bedrooms, which eliminated a lot of potential buyers, Wood said.
The home has a large courtyard area where an additional couple of rooms could be built, Wood said. But many would-be buyers didn’t want to pay the asking price and then put more money in a remodel.
Cheryl Marquis, an agent with Evergreen Realty’s office in Villa Park, represented the eventual buyers, a local couple who bought the home as a future retirement residence.
The buyers liked the location and its potential, Wood said.
They saw it as a treasure that was likely to increase in value, she said.
“The view is the clincher,” Wood said.
McKenzie built the home with a lot of windows to take in the scenery.
The home has a Mid-Century exterior and an open and minimalist interior design.
“The designer really took advantage of the limited amount of space that he had,” Wood said.
McKenzie added special touches to the single-story home, such as pecan flooring, cedar walls, and high ceilings.
The home was viewed by about eight to 10 people, and it received just one written offer.
The area where the home is a sought-after section of San Clemente.
Wood and her husband, Darrin, live there.
The area is made up of Cyprus Shore, Cyprus Cove, The Breakers, and Cotton Point Estates, each of which is gated.
The former residence of former President Richard Nixon, known as the Western White House, is in Cotton Point.
Cyprus Shore is the oldest neighborhood. Its home owners’ association owns the beach property but trades beach access with the other communities for access to their tennis courts and the pool.
Wood and her husband have bought, remodeled, and sold about 15 homes in the community. They’ve been buying and selling homes since they were in their 20s.
“We live in them while we’re remodeling,” Wood said. “We sell our houses fully furnished,” she said. “Everybody knows me. We’re the husband-and-wife team that does a lot of flipping.”
Another home recently sold in Cotton Point for $6.1 million.
The 10,728-square-foot custom home at 4105 Calle Isabella was the highest-priced sale in San Clemente in 2012.
Pauline Jordan, an agent with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Capistrano Beach, represented the seller on that sale.
Fast Start for 2013
January saw nine homes priced at $4 million and above sold in Orange County—three more than January 2012.
There were three sales at $4 million as of Feb. 11. Agents need to make six more sales to match February 2012 closings.
Among the recent deals:
n The 4,000-square-foot oceanfront home on the boardwalk at 1106 W. Oceanfront in Newport Beach sold for $5.9 million, down from $6.2 million in October.
Andy Stavros, an agent with Teles Properties, represented the seller.
Angela Creech, an agent with Redfin’s Orange County office, represented the buyer.
The two-level, newly built home has a 640-square-foot roof-top deck, four bedrooms and four bathrooms.
n The 10,500-square-foot home at 66 Golden Eagle in Irvine sold for $5.7 million, down from $7.9 million in January. The home had been listed on and off since 2008.
Jerry Snyder, an agent with Coldwell Banker Previews International, represented the seller.
Kimberly Markham, an agent with HÔM Sotheby’s International Realty, represented the buyer. The Shady Canyon home has five bedrooms and seven baths.
