Santa Barbara Homes & Real Estate

Just 90 miles north of Los Angeles, Santa Barbara is a true gem on Southern California's coast. Along with neighboring Montecito, it one of the most expensive places to live in California. This vibrant city captivates with its picturesque beauty, featuring palm-lined streets, golden beaches, and breathtaking sunsets.

Santa Barbara offers a mild climate, inviting residents to enjoy a year-round outdoor lifestyle. With a strong sense of community, the city hosts numerous cultural events, showcasing its theaters, museums, and art galleries.

Santa Barbara Listings

About Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara is renowned for its stunning coastal location. The city sits between the Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, offering breathtaking scenery and a mild Mediterranean climate. Residents can enjoy beautiful beaches, palm-lined streets, and a laid-back outdoor lifestyle. Thanks to hardworking preservationists, much of the landscape surrounding the town remains in its natural, rugged state.

Santa Barbara evokes images of stunning beauty and glamour and, despite its size, offers most of the amenities one might expect in a major city. Santa Barbara has long been a draw to the Hollywood elite. But beneath the stylish veneer, Santa Barbara is a genuine place with friendly people from all walks of life.

But beyond the obvious physical attributes, Santa Barbara also offers world-class food, cultural events, museums, and entertainment.

Community

Santa Barbara is known for its tight-knit community and friendly atmosphere. The city has a welcoming and inclusive vibe, and residents take pride in preserving its unique character. Numerous festivals and events throughout the year, such as the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and the Old Spanish Days Fiesta, bring the community together.

While small, Santa Barbara boasts a rich cultural scene. The city has several theaters, art galleries, museums, and music venues. The historic Arlington Theatre hosts a variety of performances, including concerts and film festivals. The Santa Barbara Museum of Art and the Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum showcase diverse art collections.

As a coastal city, the Pacific Ocean’s influence on Santa Barbara’s culinarily scene is apparent; fresh seafood finds its way into many of its restaurant's menus, from high-end dining to street cart-inspired fish tacos. The dining scene represents nearly every cuisine at hundreds of outstanding restaurants, cafes, and numerous bars. An abundance of fresh organic produce easily fetched from several weekly farmers' markets.

Moreover, the ocean - especially the mindset emanating from surfing and beach culture - affects the town attitudinally, as the vibe in Santa Barbara is most definitely laid-back.

Santa Barbarans give back to their community, volunteering at numerous nonprofits and supporting its many cultural programs. This community genuinely cares about the region and works hard to preserve its character.

Santa Barbara Climate

The weather in Santa Barbara is one of its top draws. The mountains and beaches here face south, a unique orientation that creates a balmy oasis protected from rough seas and winds. Like Los Angeles and San Diego (and many smaller Southern California coastal cities), Santa Barbara enjoys a Mediterranean climate characterized by warm days, cool evenings, and a quite a few foggy mornings in the late spring and early summer.

Lifestyle

Even with the fog, Santa Barbara's relatively consistent climate means one can play outside year-round. Santa Barbara offers a plethora of outdoor adventures for nature enthusiasts. The city has numerous hiking trails that wind through the mountains, providing picturesque coastline views. Water activities like surfing, kayaking, and sailing are popular due to their proximity to the ocean. With its favorable climate, residents can engage in outdoor fun year-round.

Santa Barbara Real Estate

Venturing through Santa Barbara's streets, you will see that this town has unique neighborhoods, each with a distinctive character. This is not by accident. The city maintains standards that ensure that proprieties are compatible with their surrounding neighborhood, preserving the visual look (size and aesthetic). The standards are outlined in the City of Santa Barbara's numerous residential design guidelines, which also promote long-term sustainability.

Spanish-inspired design is the predominant architectural style of residential and commercial buildings in Santa Barbara. Gazing across the city skyline, one cannot help but notice the abundance of red tile clay roofs atop various structures in Spanish Colonial Revival, Mission, and Moorish styles.

However, architectural styles vary by neighborhood, from the historic Westside Victorians on Brinkerhoff, the iconic Mission Revival homes on Santa Barbara's Upper East, the charming cottages in tree-lined San Roque, and the eclectic Mediterranean mixed-use condominium developments downtown. As mentioned, each neighborhood’s distinctive style of architecture creates a unique sense of place.

The housing stock in Santa Barbara is heavily weighted toward single-family homes. At any given time, condos and townhomes represent roughly 20% of available inventory.

Santa Barbara Realtors

RubyHome's real estate agents are local experts. Contact us to work with realtors who sell homes and work with clients in Santa Barbara every day - full-time professionals who know the market from top to bottom.

If you're thinking of selling your home in the Santa Barbara area, our listing agents can provide dates and prices of recently sold homes near you and up-to-date Santa Barbara real estate market information.