A 4,672-square-foot home in Woods Cove neighborhood of Laguna Beach traded this month for $15 million.
The deal marks the fifth-priciest sale for the roughly 170-home community in the southern part of the coastal city, located near Woods Cove Beach.
The five-bedroom, five-bathroom home at 2321 S. Coast Highway sits on the coveted front row of the South Laguna Bluffs, on the ocean side of Coast Highway.
The home’s new owner hails from Florida, according to Coldwell Banker Realty’s Tim Smith, who represented the undisclosed buyer and seller.
Doubling Their Money
The property’s new owner will get panoramic ocean views visible from all three levels, which are terraced along the bluff.
The custom home, built in 1999, includes a gazebo, a pool with a two-bedroom pool house and a “rare” three-car garage, according to Smith.
The seller sold the home for double the price they bought it for in 2019: $7.5 million.
“Oceanfront and bayfront Laguna Beach and Newport Beach homes couldn’t be a safer investment,” Smith told the Business Journal.
Price points in those communities have been on the rise, especially in Woods Cove, according to Livel Real Estate’s Meital Taub, whose office is based in Laguna Beach.
“Woods Cove is one of the most special, magical neighborhoods in Laguna,” Taub said.
The community is home to the former residence of late Hollywood legend Bette Davis.
The community’s “lush greenery, neighborhood-feel, scenic beach and proximity to restaurants and art galleries” has made it a coveted destination for buyers, Taub said.
Homes in the neighborhood since 2019 have sold for around $2 million to over $21 million.
Taub currently has a listing for a Woods Cove property with an asking price of nearly $9 million. The second-row home spans 2.862 square feet and touts 180-degree ocean views from nearly every room.
Prepping Homes for Sale
The 2321 S. Coast Highway property underwent a handful of improvements before it hit the market.
The interiors received a fresh coat of paint, new carpet, wood flooring, custom tile work and new indoor-outdoor ceiling speakers, among other upgrades.
“We wanted it to feel like a model home,” Smith said.
Home improvements, however small they might seem, are often necessary for selling luxury properties close to their asking price, brokers note.
“We live one way, we sell another way,” ÂÂÂ’ Randy Ora said in the marketing video for a different, recently traded Laguna Beach estate.
Prepping a home to hit the market, however, can be costly for sellers.
About a mile south of 2321 S. Coast Highway sits 7 Montage Way, which sold last month for $31 million.
That property, which is among the top deals in the city’s history, sold for less than the $31.2 million the seller paid for it in 2021. The seller bought the home—one of the 12 properties in the exclusive Montage Ocean Estates neighborhood, adjacent to the five-star Montage Resort—for $30 million and paid an extra $1.2 million out of escrow for its furniture.
They also spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on upgrades to the property.
Among the improvements were wood refinishes, property damage repair and replacements for glass panels. Replacement panes for the glass deck by the home’s pool alone cost $250,000, according to Ora, who listed the property.
Pricey home upgrades are a necessity in the local luxury market, which is currently rewarding near perfection, according to brokers.
With high construction costs and lengthy renovation timelines, buyers are willing to overpay for turnkey, coastal homes, brokers note. In turn, older, more inland properties have been undervalued by buyers, who are reluctant to spend the time and money to upgrade homes to their liking.
