Solana Beach Real Estate - A Seaside Community
Extraordinaire
Solana Beach is a coastal community about 17 miles north of San Diego, just south of Cardiff by the Sea, and bordered on the south by Del Mar and to the east by Rancho Santa Fe.
Are you interested in living in this beautiful seaside community? Start your search for homes for sale in Solana Beach!
Explore the Solana Beach lifestyle - check out the slide show at the bottom of the page
Covering an area of about 3.5 square miles, somewhere around 13,000 people make their home in Solana Beach (the census for 2000 showed just about 13,000 residents but some reports indicate a small decline in population). Solana Beach was called Lockwood Mesa prior to 1923 and was incorporated as a city in 1986.
There is a fascinating history of Solana Beach on the town website (zip code 92075) as well as a wealth of other information about this coastal community.
A claim to fame, depending on your perspective, is the 2003 enactment of a smoking ban on its beaches, a trend that has been followed by many other California beach towns since. But Solana Beach is known as a desirable residential and business center (plenty of small businesses and high-tech companies here), with beautiful beaches, a health economy, pricey housing, and easy access to LA and San Diego via the freeway, the Coaster, and an Amtrak train (the Pacific Surfliner, with a stop in town).
Most of Solana Beach is centered along the Coast Highway (Route 101) from the Cardiff border to Del Mar, with a very popular and well-known design area known as the Cedros Avenue Design District just one block to the east.
Covering several blocks south of Lomas Santa Fe, the Cedros Design District is a shopping mecca, especially for homeowners who are remodeling or building a home and want assistance with interior and exterior design, furniture, gardening and landscaping, and much more. My favorite stores are Leaping Lotus and the David Alan Collection.
You can also enjoy a variety of restaurants, get styles, buy clothing, attend a live music concert at the popular Belly Up Tavern, poke through numerous art galleries, or simply stroll the area window shopping.
The 101 main street (aka The Coast Road) also offers a broad range of shopping and services, from the most plain and simple to luxurious. You will find the typical shops and services catering to a beach crowd (and vacationers) as well as more upscale clothing boutiques, home furnishings stores, restaurants, small businesses and services.
Several hotels are found along this roadway (e.g., the Holiday Inn Express and Courtyard by Marriott). The town can get quite busy during the summer, especially during the county fair and during thoroughbred racing season (typically early July through Labor Day in September 5) at the Del Mar Race Track just south of town.
Dining in the area can be quite good, and perhaps can be best described as eclectic, from the simple fast food to fine dining. A couple examples: Parioli Italian Bistro on the 101 has a good reputation; and the Wild Note Cafe at the Belly Up Tavern on Cedros is a terrific place for lunch, dinner or weekend brunch before or after shopping in the Cedros Avenue Design District.
Much of the Solana Beach coast line is bluff, occupied in many areas by pricey private homes (Pacific Avenue, Circle Drive) and expensive condo developments, especially along S. Sierra Avenue.
There are a number of access points for the public, such as Tide Park and the popular Fletcher Cove (offering a tot lot, restrooms, a grassy area, and basketball, plus the fabulous beach!).
Mother Nature, as always, has her way, and there are some areas along this coast where residents are at risk for bluff failures, active shifting of the bluffs, and the need for seawalls. Recently new hefty fees have been implemented against residents who install seawalls to compensate the public for loss of beach, but many do not have much choice given the erosion issues.
Children in town attend one of 6 elementary schools in the Solana Beach School District. Older children will attend public schools in the San Dieguito Union High School District. There a several private schools as well.
There are 2 golf courses in town - the Lomas Santa Fe Country Club (private) and the Lomas Santa Fe Executive Golf Course, which is public. There are a good number of golf courses nearby in Del Mar, such as famed Torrey Pines, and Rancho Santa Fe, most of which are private.
Housing in Solana Beach is fairly diverse, ranging from vacation and rental apartments, to a mix of attached and detached condos, single family homes, and luxury waterfront properties. Because of the hilly topography a good number of properties offer distant views of the ocean despite being some distance away (including on the east side of the 5 freeway), as well as the San Elijo Lagoon.
There are brand new homes as well as a large mix of bungalow and cottage style properties, as well as a mix of contemporary, traditional, spanish and other housing styles that defy classification; a drive through town will show a good number of substantial remodels taking place to take advantage of the views.
Be aware that residents, and the town, are especially concerned about preserving views; you will likely be required to show the silhouettes and elevations of any planned remodels and additions using Story Poles in the event views are potentially obstructed.
The Solana Beach real estate market traditionally does not have a large inventory of homes, or condos and town homes.
Combined with the coastal location, the beach life, and area amenities, this results in Solana Beach being one of the more expensive communities on the coast in San Diego County behind Del Mar and La Jolla, and neighboring Rancho Santa Fe, the priciest by far.
Solana Beach offers a wonderful seaside lifestyle and ambiance, with great shopping, good schools, varied dining, and beautiful beaches just 30 minutes or less to downtown San Diego.
There is easy access to shopping and other amenities in neighboring Del Mar and La Jolla, and the local train station gives you the option of visiting Los Angeles in a little over 2 hours via Amtrak instead of driving the freeway.
This high quality of life comes at a hefty price, but more reasonably so than in its closest neighbors to the south.
Are you interested in making the Solana Beach lifestyle yours? You can start your search for homes for sale in Solana Beach using the link below.
And please feel free to give me a call at (760) 840-1360 or email me at JeffDowlerSolutions@gmail.com if I can answer any questions or provide more information about Solana Beach and the homes for sale. I am happy to sit down and discuss your needs and budget, and help you plan a stragey for buying, or selling, a Solana Beach home.
Start Your Search for Solana Beach Homes and Condos for Sale
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