Montecito Real Estate wasn’t always incredibly expensive. Why, way back in 1769 it didn’t cost much at all. Father Serra was wandering around up on what is now Hot Springs Rd back then looking for a place for a church but after he died Father Lasuen decided that wasn’t such a great idea after all and the place didn’t get built for quite a while.

Finally about 1857 the East Valley Catholics decided they needed some place closer than the Old Mission to worship so some workmen from the San Ysidro Ranch built an adobe chapel on the Juarez property at 53 East Valley Rd.

Montecito didn’t really get rolling until 1876 when some of the “first families” with such names as Jaurez, Romer, Olivas, Robles, Dominguez, Lopez and Lorenzana decided it looked pretty good to them. It was about that time that a grapevine was planted at what is now 850 Parra Grande Ln. and agriculture in the East Valley was born.

In 1887 the Southern Pacific Railroad came to town and things really started to take off. At that point William H. Crocker, and his mother-in-law Mrs. Caroline Sperry, bought Rancho Las Fuentes south of East Valley Road and thus was born The Crocker-Sperry Ranch which at the time was primarily citrus.

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As we moved into the 20th century, big money started coming our way. Montecito became a fashionable health resort and huge luxurious private estate began springing up. People like the Rockefellers, Carnegies, Fleishmanns, Cudahys, DuPonts and Swifts discovered the place. Homes with 30 to 200 acres began sprouting up everywhere.

In 1915 the Montecito Country Club came into being. Things went great for the Country Club until Maj. Fleishmann and a few friends decided they needed something more exclusive so the Valley Club of Montecito was born. Later on in 1968 the Birnam Wood Country Club joined the Valley Club in the same area and Montecito Social life became a real whirl.

Today Montecito Real Estate is some of the most prized dirt in the world. The huge estates are still there and interestingly enough there’s still some agriculture there. But there are also smaller buildings which have been made up of some of the estates that were sub-divided.

So far for 2005 215 Single Family Homes have changed hands in Montecito which is down slightly from where were in 2004. The average sales price for a home in Montecito for this year is $3.16 million and the median sales price is $2.47 million. Currently there are 92 properties on the market with a median list price of $3.75 million and an average list price of $5.57 million.

The highest priced sale for 2005 was $22 million and the least expensive sales this year was $1,075,000. Some of the properties currently available are:

• 2 Bedroom 1 Bath home for $1,025,000
• 3 Bedroom 2 Bath property for $2.1 million
• 4 Bedroom 4 Bath home for $3.95 million
• 5 Bedroom 6 Bath property for $4.45 million
• And the highest priced listing currently on the market is 6 Bedroom 11 Bath home for $24.9 million

Well that’s about it for now for Montecito Real Estate.

Gary Woods is a Realtor in Santa Barbara and is the trainer for the Santa Barbara Association of Realtors. You can hear Gary on Radio 1290 AM Mondays from 9-10AM. http://www.montecito-real-estate.com/.