Capistrano Beach

Capistrano Beach Homes for Sale

Capistrano Beach is the southernmost Dana Point neighborhood along PCH, with San Clemente just to the south and Doheny State Beach to the immediate north. It is a small quiet neighborhood of about 2.1 square miles with about 7,200 residents Many locals call the area Capo Beach. Capo Beach is the one neighborhood in all of Dana Point that has its own zip code, 92624.

Considered by many in the area to be one of the very few true “beach towns” that are left in California, Capo Beach is said to be free of the commercial exploitation that most of the beach areas in Southern California have fallen prey to, with residents enjoying a neighborhood that has considerably less tourists than most of the area neighborhoods built upon strips of sand.

Homes in Capistrano beach range from small beach houses and even a few mobile homes to multimillion dollar mansions. The quieter and more out-of-the-way nature of the area leads to the town being called home by many celebrities who live up the hill on Beach Road.

Capistrano Beach Real Estate Prices

Real estate prices in Capistrano Beach have a smaller range than a lot of the other beach front neighborhoods running along the coast from Dana Point To Newport Beach. The homes at the lowest end start at a little bit of a higher price and homes at the very highest end are a little bit lower than in many of the surrounding areas.

The least expensive homes you can find in Capo Beach typically start at around $550,000 for a (1,300 – 1,500 square feet) condo or an occasional trashed fixer upper of a single family home, but the majority of buyers in the area end up paying from $750,000 to $1,500,000 – at that price range you will find houses from 1,500 up to 4,000 square feet and the biggest factor in the price in these ranges is usually how hard you’ll have to strain to hear or see the ocean from there. Like anywhere in Orange County, the closer you are to the sand or the better the view, the higher the price of your home on an apples-to-apples basis.

If you actually want to see the ocean from your home in this neighborhood, you will likely plan on living on Beach Road and spending several million, as homes here run from $3 million to $8 million. As you would imagine, even a few million dollars only gets you a sliver of the road when you’re buying beach front real estate – homes listed in the $3 million to $4 million range might mention whether the distance between your home and your neighbors’ homes are 6 feet or 7 feet.

To make up for the small space between you and your neighbors, however, is the fact that in the morning you have the ability walk out the door to sand. Unlike many of the beachfront property in Orange County, this means your backyard is not a busy walkway filled with roller bladers, but just sand and ocean. Depending what part of Beach Road you are on, while yes, anyone can legally plop down on the beach, depending on where you are situated, pedestrians might be in for a very long walk, meaning you’re not likely to see a large crowd of people drinking beers and throwing frisbees just outside your patio.

Capistrano Beach Housing Pros and Cons

While a quiet “non commercialized” beach area might sound like heaven to some, the area definitely is not the first choice for everyone. While the whole untouched by corporate America thing sounds great for a brochure, some people who want to live on the beach want to walk to Starbucks from the beach and walk back and drink their coffee on the beach.

Capo Beach, however, doesn’t have a lot of businesses that are actually close to the beach, so there is a price to pay for quiet non-commercialization and relatively little tourist traffic.

Another complaint that has plagued some in the area: the area’s serenity makes it a magnet for “sober-living” homes – which is not a big deal – unless you live next to one of them. There are about 20 homes in the neighborhood that are “sober living” businesses, which means an investor buys the home, crams as many beds into it as he or she can, and fills the home up with people for the halfway-house version of drug and alcohol rehab.

It’s really great for people to get sober. It’s not really great to live next to a home with 10+ people in a tumultuous time in their lives. Before buying a home in Capistrano Beach, make sure to have your realtor double-check that you won’t be living next to one of these abodes.

On the plus side, 99% of the time, you’ll have just regular neighbors, so while the above isn’t a real danger, it’s one of those things to put on the checklist before buying a home, like whether the roof leaks or if the house is built over a sinkhole or something.

Living In Capistrano Beach

Capistrano Beach is one of the most peaceful, relaxing, beach areas in all of Southern California. While there’s not a lot of commercial activity, it’s not like it’s a long drive to happening shops and restaurants as Dana Point Harbor is just up the way. Also, while beach areas that fill up with tourists are magnets for petty criminals, the whole lack of tourists thing leads to a corresponding lack of crime.

As the Capistrano beach is a quiet area with very few condos or townhomes, it is a magnet for families, with about 70% of households consisting of family units, half of which have children under the age of 18 living within them.

A big plus for some Capistrano beach residents as opposed to some of the other beach communities in south Orange County is that the 5 freeway has an on and off ramp in the neighborhood, making it a popular location for those who either have to commute to central Orange County or Northern San Diego County – as compared to most of the neighborhoods along the coast that you could live in this one feature could easily save you 30 or more minutes per day of time in your car.

For those that want beach living without the beach commotion, Capistrano Beach just might make the perfect place to settle down.