Nothing's changed in Laguna

This Laguna Beach listing is an interesting commentary - the seller believes that a house that was "totally rebuilt" at the peak of the market should command the same price as was spent then, sans post-bubble pricing adjustment.

23 Emerald Bay, 92651
Asking price: $4,800,000

Beds:	3
Baths:	2.75
Sq. Ft.:	2,711
$/Sq. Ft.:	$1,771
Lot Size:	6,200 Sq. Ft.
Property Type:	Residential, Single Family
Style:	Two Level, Mediterranean
View:	Coastline, Ocean, Panoramic, Park/Green Belt, Water, White Water
Year Built:	2006
Community:	North Laguna
County:	Orange
MLS#:	L30699
Source:	CARETS
Status:	Active
On Redfin:	77 days

From listing: House totally rebuilt in 2006. Very nice. View looks directly at Emerald Bay beach and the ocean. View cannot be blocked. Total house square footage including decks and garage is 3389 per plans.

Leave it to Emerald Bay to kick the housing bubble. There is some serious wealth in this area, but we're not sure how you would make the argument that this property is obviously worth $4.8 million while this one should be $4.5 million. At these kind of dollar amounts, it's really all about personal preference. You can expect that all the houses at this price to be nice and have nice views.

Assuming the property can be sold for the current asking price, it would mean the property has appreciated 422% in about a decade considering that it went for $920,000 in 1998. That's a rate of about 38% per year every year - pretty nice! Of course, the question is raised that if the house had not been totally rebuilt, it would not likely be worth the same amount today. So, if the sellers can find someone to pay their price, we would reason that they're coming out a winner.