Make Myself at Home: Open Houses Galore This Weekend

I visit a lot of open houses. Sometimes I’ll plan my weekend around the schedule of an interesting-sounding home for sale. Other times, I’ll take a quick break from the office to tour a house during the brokers’ caravans that are held on weekday mornings. We’re lucky here in Santa Barbara that we can visit open homes year-round, but the current season — the spring-into-summer bridge that is the month of May — is the ideal time of year for open-house hopping. Gardens are in bloom, and neighbors are outside painting fences and dabbling in DIY projects. Whether or not you’re currently in the market to buy a home, it’s still fun to stroll through, take a look around, and imagine yourself creating in the kitchen or floating in the pool. The real estate agents who host the open houses know everything about the home-buying process and hope that one day they’ll be able to help you find your dream home.

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties is holding a mega open house event this weekend. Hundreds of homes from San Diego through Santa Barbara will put out the welcome mat and invite you in for a visit. Here are a couple of the company’s area house listings that are scheduled to be open this weekend:

3950 Via Real #113, Carpinteria

This mobile home in Carpinteria challenges everything you thought you knew about manufactured residences. It sits on a sunny corner less than a mile from Santa Claus Lane Beach in Sandpiper Park with a year-round heated pool and Jacuzzi, tennis courts, a clubhouse, and a dog park. The house was built in 2013 and has three bedrooms, two baths, and a fully fenced yard with fruit trees. I walked through the front door into the living and dining rooms, which open to a spacious kitchen with newer appliances and a center island. There’s a laundry room, big closets in all the bedrooms, lots of storage, and a spacious front porch. One of my favorite touches is the bay window over the kitchen sink, with gorgeous mountain views. Doing the dishes in this home would be a pleasure. It’s listed by Suzy Dahl for $399,900. Contact Suzy at 451-4332 or suzy.dahl@bhhscal.com.

514 Foxen Drive

San Roque is a quintessential family neighborhood with wide streets, mature trees, and a bucolic setting. Foxen Drive is a large loop off of Grove Lane, making it even more peaceful. While unassuming from the front, one step into this charming home and I was captivated. From the entrance, the bedrooms are to the left, with the kitchen and dining room to the right, flowing into the living room with a sunroom beyond. The hardwood floors, warm colors, and open floor plan are inviting, but once I glimpsed the backyard, I had to step outside and drink it all in. The backyard is a tranquil, secret park. Huge oak trees and a verdant landscape keep it cool and quiet yet beckoning. It’s easy to imagine both garden parties and all sorts of kids’ adventures being conjured in this space. Besides the three bedrooms and two baths in the main house, there is a detached office or artist’s studio, or the option of a fourth bedroom overlooking the serene setting. This is listed by Randy Freed and Kellie Clenet for $1,450,000. Contact Randy at 895-1799 or randy@thesantabarbaralifestyle.com, or Kellie at 705-5334 or kellie@thesantabarbaralifestyle.com.

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties open houses can be found at bhhscalifornia.com/openhouse, or by downloading the mobile app available at the iPhone App Store or Google Play Store; search “BHHSCalifornia.” This weekend’s open houses from all area real estate companies are shown in this issue on pages 14 and 15.