sanctuary_IHB
New member
I have only posted on this thread once before, though I check in on it almost dally as I look for a new home in OC. It has been a very valuable source for information about properties and values in Shady Canyon: I'm always sorry to see a page taken up with foolish commentary. That said, I will weigh in on the value of Shady versus the beach. I have lived in Laguna Beach for MANY years now, in a lovely updated 1940's home with a terrific ocean view and great privacy. With two growing tweens I find that as my husband and I look for a much-needed larger home the options are always a compromise: In Crystal Cove, your ocean view includes PCH, the parking lot & loading docks for Trader Joes, The Gap, etc.-- and you can count on seeing several neighbors from your master bed & bath windows. In Laguna, Emerald Bay offers some very large, new homes with views: share the gate, share the "public" pool, put up with the interminable speed bumps & the guard gate with no "fast lane" for residents, and you will get a lot that extends a few feet in each direction from your walls. Because it slopes down to the sea, views are plentiful in Laguna--more so than Newport or CdM--but lots and homes tend to be smaller because of the age of many properties. At some point, probably anywhere near any coast, the trade is proximity to the ocean and the view that comes with that, versus a more spacious home, more property, and more private amenities...like your own pool, gate, or grass lawn. As prices in Shady Canyon have been dropping to where they probably should always have been, its advantages in terms of large house, large lot have become more attractive. It should cost LESS to live there than at the beach, for obvious reasons, but it still has something to offer...something hard to find next to the ocean. Bottom line: unlimited resources bring unlimited choices....for the rest of us there is compromise!! And still, when my kids are grown, I will be back at the beach, not in Irvine. Family decisions are a compromise, too!