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Laguna Beach is a wonderful place to live filled with art festivals and some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. This also makes it one of the most desirable places to live with over 20,000 people calling Laguna Beach home. The city is divided into four sections with North Laguna occupying the section north of the main beach and towards Newport Beach. This is where you will find the highest priced real estate and also three luxury oceanfront gated communities known as Emerald Bay, Irvine Cove and Smithcliffs. Here is your guide to the North Laguna Beach gated communities.

Bluff Park is an exciting area halfway between the Belmont Shore and the downtown Long Beach, California area. This is one of my favorite neighborhoods as most of the homes are located within a several block radius to the ocean. Long Beach has a wide variety of neighborhoods from luxury waterfront homes to smaller vintage cottages. Bluff Park is among one of the best neighborhoods with large two story estates that have a lot of charm and character to them.

The Ocean Club In Long Beach offers some of the best views in the downtown area of Long Beach, California.  Located on the plush Ocean Blvd, The Ocean Club has a lot to offer residents looking for penthouse and oceanfront views.  Consider this one of the best condo buildings with units offering high 9 foot ceilings, spacious room,s wide hallway and a 24 hour security.   The condos located here can have a combination of ocean, mountain and city light views depending on where the unit is located.  Units facing the ocean will typically have less road noise than those facing the street and mountains. 

Oceanside is a great beach town with many different neighborhood where you can find historic homes.  The city dates back nearly 100 years when some of the first homes were built.  For those considering purchasing a historic home there are many options depending on different price points.  Here is a quick guide to find the best areas to buy historic homes in Oceanside, California. 

Real Estate investors and savvy home buyers are always looking for distressed deals that will make money in the long term.  One perfect example of such an opportunity is at the St. Cloud gated community in Oceanside, California.  Like a lot of stories that are told of new developments that were being built at the height of the market when homes and condos were selling for record numbers before the real estate bubble hit and things started to change on a downward cycle.  This is what happened at the St. Cloud Oceanside development in Southern California as this luxury gated complex was built at the wrong time and condo sales suffered because of downturn of the real estate market.  Since then condos in this central Oceanside location are now being offered for sale again as a three bedroom townhouse with an attached 2 car garage is currently listed at $349,000.  This is a very competive price for the Oceanside area as three bedroom townhouses start at $315,000.

The Seacliff Oceanside community offers some very nice ocean view condos located near the Oceanside Harbor in Oceanside, California.  The complex has a very unique setting that sits next to the San Luis Rey River that runs into the Pacific Ocean which affords a panoramic and coastline view of the Oceanside beaches.  These are luxury condos that are located on the ocean side of the freeway and often offer wonderful ocean and sunset views.  Condo prices are surprisingly affordable considering the close proximity to the beach.  At the moment, two bedroom units that offer 1,143 square feet can be purchased for an asking price of $475,000 and $545,000.  One additional two bedroom condo which offers 1,387 square feet is currently on the market for $699,000 and offers spectacular Ocean, Harbor and River views.

Long Beach has many different communities where you can find historic homes for the early 1900's.   One of the nicest and most desirable locations is the historic Belmont Shore neighborhood.  In the early 1920's, Belmont Shore saw a large number of Spanish and Bungalow style homes being built.  The homes are typically on the smaller size as these were vacation beach homes for those who lived in the Los Angeles.  On average the homes will feature two to three bedrooms and often have less than 1,500 square feet of living space.  Typically these smaller homes can still be purchased for around $700,000 and are located just several blocks to the beach.

The St. Malo tradition of quality homes in the Oceanside, California area continues to this day as three premier gated communities fall under the St. Malo name.  St. Malo Village, St. Malo Heights and St. Malo Beach are three exclusive communities that can be found in the South Oceanside area and are built in the wonderful and charming French Normandy architectural style.  The community located directly on the beach is the Saint Malo Beach neighborhood which sits next to the ocean and nearby lagoon.   

Naples Island is a very special place in the Alamitos Bay that offers beautiful water front homes located directly on the bay.  This is a great interpretation of the kind of homes you would find in Venice, Italy with three separate islands that have quaint canals that run in between them.  The entire island is surrounded by the Alamitos Bay with a small passage way that leads out to the Pacific Ocean.  This by far is the most expensive area of Long Beach and one glimpse of the homes and you will see why.    

The Sunset Beach area of Huntington Beach has it's own unique style and personality.  One of the reasons for this is that for the longest time this area was it's own individual city.  It was only a couple years ago that the Sunset Beach area joined under the Huntington Beach umbrella and now enjoys the services that the city provides.  When I think of Sunset Beach I think of a very old Southern California beach town with original beach bungalows and welcoming beachfront homes.  The area was originally discovered in 1905 and quickly formed as one of the main areas for oil dwelling.  Now, the town still thrives and still has it's own independent spirit even though it's connected with Huntington Beach.