Santa Monica: It’s the Beach Baby!

Nicknamed SaMo, Santa Monica is situated along Santa Monica Bay and boasts outstanding oceanside recreation and scenery. There are places to swim, surf, bike, play beach volleyball, roller skate and roller blade or just roll around in the sand. There are free summer concerts at Santa Monica Pier with the biggest acts in the country performing. Snowbirds who miss the charm of chilly air during the holiday season can even skate at a seasonal ice rink at 5th Street and Arizona Avenue. For these reasons and more, Santa Monica is more than just a great place to play. Its population is estimated at around 90,000 with Westside listings in the Santa Monica area ranging from 1 bedroom, 1 bath condos in the mid $200Ks on up over $10MM for a spectacular secluded Hidden Hills manor. A 3 bedroom, 2 bath single family home listings start in the high $700Ks. West Los Angles real estate in Santa Monica did not quite experience the double digit drops in home values that the nation did. West Los Angeles homes in Santa Monica fell only 7.2% in value from 2008 with a slight uptick happening fourth quarter 2009.