Huntington Beach Home Tour: Inside a Super Stylish Beach House in DowntTown

If you love the idea of living four blocks away from the sand and four blocks away from Main Street in downtown Huntington Beach, you're gonna love this place. Welcome to 509 8th Street in Huntington Beach. This home is listed by Brian Davis with the Altman Brothers at Douglas Elliman for $2,850,000. Let's go inside and take a look. I love it, man. What a welcome. Yeah, man. Good to see you. You too, Brian. Thanks for having me. I'm super pumped to do another collab. All right, let's do it. Let's check it out. Yeah, let's start from the front. Dude, so before I go on the grand tour, tell me why this place is so special. Well, take a look at it. I mean, look at this architecture. Everything else in downtown Huntington Beach is a square box. This actually has a little personality to it. And the design details on the interior are, you know, crazy. I can't wait to check it out. What else? You know, the other thing I really like about it is the location. You've got Main Street's four blocks this way. So much fun. Four blocks to the sand. There's so many good restaurants and stores and things to do on Main Street. And then the lifestyle, you know, being down by the beach, surfing, bike riding, all the things that come with that. I love that. Huntington Beach lifestyle is super fun, super casual. Right. And the other good thing is the price. You can get this house for a third of what it would cost in Newport Beach. Nuts. So if you want that beach lifestyle, but you're on a lighter budget, this is the place to be. This is the town. And we just did 301 Jasmine in the village in Corona Del Mar. And you guys, congratulations for selling that in such a record timing. But that went for close to $3,000 a foot. Right. And this one is priced around $1,000 a foot. And we see in the village, $2,000 to $3,000 is pretty normal. Yeah. So half price or a third of a price in Huntington Beach, not a bad buy. Right. That's only going to get you a back unit in Corona Del Mar that's 1,200 square feet. Right. So right here, you have a single family house. Fully remodeled and beautiful. Awesome. Well, man, I cannot wait to go check it out. Thank you so much for giving my team and I the opportunity. I'll catch you in a little bit. See you later. Thanks, Brian. All right, guys. Welcome to Huntington Beach Surf City. This is my first video in Huntington Beach. And I want to tell you why I'm here. So a lot of people reach out to me about Newport Beach. My channel is called The Newport Beach Life. But a lot of people that are coming from out of the area go, Robert, I see all your stuff about Newport Beach, but I'm also thinking about maybe Huntington Beach or maybe Laguna Beach. So I thought this is a great opportunity to come out, showcase some beautiful real estate in Huntington Beach, and help you understand the nuances between buying a home here versus buying a home in Newport Beach, one of which is budget. Like we said in the intro, you can get this property, full single family home in Huntington Beach for $2.85 million. This same home in the Coronadal Mar Village is probably like $6 to $8 million. Homes here go for half to even a third more affordable than Newport Beach. So that's why I'm here. And I'm excited to show you guys around. So this patio, this front patio is the second outdoor space of five. So you saw the very first space. That's a great place to sit down, have a coffee, have a margarita, and just people watch. But if you want a little bit more privacy, a little bit more intimacy, I love the three steps that come down. Anytime I feel like I'm in a sunken living space, it just feels a little bit more intimate. I love the tile work. I love the Adirondacks. I think it's a great space. But I want to really show you why I love it. Let's go inside so I can show you what it's like to live inside and outside together. Check that out. So you've got this awesome garage door. It's got a side mounted motor, which you know I'm becoming more and more obsessed with. But look, these lots. So in Corona Del Mar, the average lot is 30 feet wide. So in Huntington Beach, they're 25 feet wide on average. So this home is a little bit more narrow. And so when you have properties like this, you have to find ways to make it feel more spacious. And there's a lot of design elements in this home that show that. But starting with this living room right here, if this garage door wasn't here and that outdoor space wasn't there, this living room is like 10 to 11 feet wide. Once you open this garage door, you literally almost double the size of the space. So I could see myself sitting here, hanging out with friends, having some friends outside, but just being able to create one community room just by opening up the garage door, game changer. Now, we talked a lot about this not being your typical square box. There's a lot of design elements and architectural elements that were used to create this geometric space. Super fun, super playful. Starting with this focal point in the living room, this old school fireplace. I love it. You've got this slab that surrounds it. You got this big tall window behind that allows for tons of natural light. Got this cool retro looking fireplace for those chilly Huntington Beach nights. And then I love it. I love the higher ceilings. I love the industrial look of the garage door. It's just such a wow factor when you walk in. We walked in this way. We didn't even come through the front door. But you know, I love a great Dutch door. So you've got a really cool Dutch door here. So you can create that cross breeze when you're living by the ocean. And then you've got this beautiful staircase that takes you up to the main level. One thing I do want to point out, this is barn wood from Oregon. It's over a hundred years old. It is literally unbelievable. It's beautiful. I love the texture. I love the look. These beautiful steps lead us to this main level where you have distressed white oak. Now, if you've seen any of my videos, you know what white oak looks like. But this is the first time we're seeing this shade of white oak. It looks a little bit more rugged. It looks a little bit more rustic. But it really flows with the barn wood from Oregon. And it really flows well with all the design elements in this property. I love this oversized table. I think one thing this oversized table does is it makes this space feel wider. So again, this is a 25 foot wide lot. You probably have three foot setbacks on the sides. So you don't have a lot of space in here. You've got 19 feet of living space. This table really spreads it out. And then they did something super smart. Built-in seating along the edges. So you don't need to put chairs there. Everything's taken care of for you. And you just have chairs here. Beautiful space. I love these fixtures. I love the shades that they have there. So you can really get maximum sunlight if you need to. Because that's what living by the beach is all about. It's sunlight. It's ocean views. It's just ocean breezes. That's what the life is all about. There's a lot of cool design elements here. This is the same 100 year old Oregon barn wood. They've created floating shelves. I love the paneling on the walls as we walk into the living room. You also have the paneling on the walls here. We don't want to forget this wet bar. Because if you live here, you're probably fun. You're probably young. You're probably energetic. And you're probably entertaining. So it's always nice to have an extra fridge and a wet bar just in case you need it. And I just love this living space. It feels super cozy. You don't have crazy high ceilings. These ceilings are maybe eight feet tall. But you got to remember, we stepped up to come up here. And there are height restrictions when you're dealing with properties like this. Because there are view restrictions that your neighbors are hoping you don't violate. And then I really love this right here. It's very industrial. You got this monster beam. You've got nails that are coming out of it. You got burn marks. You have cuts. It just looks so raw. It looks so organic. And then you got this black steel that's supporting the beam from every angle. And you got this awesome post right here that just makes me feel so secure. You got built-in cabinets here. That's another thing I love about this place is there are a lot of built-ins. Because when you're dealing with such limited space, a narrow space, bringing in more furniture sometimes makes it feel cluttered. So the way they used built-in here, super duper smart. So as we transition through the rest of the home, this is kind of a transition area between the living room and the kitchen, which I like. It just makes the space feel more open. And then you've got these double doors that go out to a dog run. So I'm not even counting this outdoor area as one of the five. So if you count this area, it's actually six. It's actually very well maintained and curated. So we'll definitely show you some footage of that. And then behind me, we got a super cool powder room. Very, very moody. We've got tons of storage here. That's really helpful. And then I love this powder room. So you've got the same wood paneling. You've got a wood-looking tile there, which is always a smart move in a wet area. I love this micro sink. To me, this looks like a cement mold, but look how small the sink is. It's about 14 inches wide, which is so perfect for a space like this. We talk about design concepts all the time. And a lot of times, stagers will use smaller furniture in smaller rooms to make the room feel more spacious. And so when you're dealing with a tighter property, smaller spaces, what is the best way to get what you need into it? Maybe just shrink everything a little bit. But it's not so small that it doesn't make sense to use. So I really love that. And then we talk about the kitchen. This is pretty grand. When you're talking about 2,755 square feet, 25-foot wide lot, this kitchen is pretty grand. This is like a 10-foot long island. Beautiful farmhouse sink. You've got high-end appliances, Viking, four-burner stove. Beautiful. Tons of white cabinetry. I love the German smear that we've seen in properties we've shot in the past. I think it was 616 Narcissus in the village. Beautiful. I love this wood right here. This almost looks fluted, but it's not. It's a wood accent with a beautiful vent that takes all the kitchen odors out. Nice ceilings, recessed lighting. Super cool fixtures. I love it. It reminds me of just kind of ties in the beams. Floating shelves with this steel bracket that's holding everything into place. And then you've got your third outdoor area right here. Check this out. So you saw the front space, people-watching space. You saw the side space near the front that expands the living room. This is the third outdoor space. So this space is off of the kitchen. You've got two sets of double doors here. You can open them both up. And this is a lot more of a private space. So you've got a couple chairs. You've got a nice table here. And then you've got your barbecue here, right? So if you want to barbecue and cook some meats and have some fun and not be seen by people walking by, this is absolutely the spot. I love that it's open above, so you get maximum sunlight. It's a really cool space and it's very convenient. So let's go back into the kitchen and let me show you the rest of the kitchen and the garage. So it's always nice to see different rooms from different perspectives. And when we talk about ways to maximize space in smaller environments, I love the use of this kitchen bar. So they use this countertop. They've got a couple chairs here. So if you want to eat in the living room, you can. If you want to eat in the family room, you can. If you want to eat at the dining table, you can. If you just want to have a quick bite at the kitchen counter, you also can. This island doubles up as an eating space. And then you've got an oversized fridge and freezer. And that leads us into the garage. This is a clean garage. And if you live in downtown Huntington Beach, parking might be a challenge. Even though every time I've come here, I've never had any issues. But you've got beautiful epoxy floors. I love the frosted glass on the garage door. It allows for more sunlight to come in. I think that's a game changer. You've got space for your toys. You've got space for your tools. You've got space for your car. You've got a TV here. If you're out here working and you're being occupied by that, you've got all the tankless water heater stuff, all your appliances. This is a clean garage. It's an absolute necessary garage when you live by the beach. And it makes this type of living super duper convenient. So we've seen three outdoor spaces. You've seen most of the living space. Now we have two more levels to show you. Let's go to level number two. Let me show you the bedrooms. So I just want to talk about a few things as I walk up. You've got, again, the 100-year-old barn wood from Oregon. It's such a nice touch. So much character. Beautiful fixtures. All the windows throughout are upgraded. They're dual pane, which is important to note. I love these fancy lights as you walk down the staircase or walk up the staircase, especially at night. It's nice to just have a little bit of an illuminated pathway. And then this is a really nice landing. So again, with a narrow style of property, this feels really wide. This hallway feels really wide. Now there's a really cool room back there that we'll show you in a second. But check out this laundry room. I love the barn doors too. Kind of goes with the theme of the barn wood. But you've got beautiful washer-dryer laundry setup. It's not its own room, but it's tucked away really nicely. You've got beautiful, fancy-looking designer cabinets. Nice countertop for easy storage and easy working. And then I just love how these just slide. And they just hide everything and make it look super clean. Boom. I love that. And then you've got two rooms back here. So there's a total of three bedrooms on this level. And then there's one master bedroom on the final level, the third level, with a sick rooftop deck. So come with me. Let me show you this first bedroom here. You've got the same type of white oak upstairs, which is really nice. It adds to the organicness of the home. I love this really big mirror that's on the wall. The right mirror in the right location absolutely makes space feel bigger. Got a beautiful window with tons of natural light. Another window brings in a ton of natural light. But this is what I really love. Again, I have to remind you guys because many people that are watching this video are not used to living in a property with a 25-foot wide lot. So the design elements here matter more than you can imagine because functional living is harder with a narrow lot. They did a great job. They pushed this space out. You've got space for storage, for hanging clothes here. You have drawers to put your things away. And you even have enough space for a little retreat to read a book. And you have your bed here with your nightstand. It's absolutely perfect. Super straightforward, super clean. Then you've got another bedroom back here. Now this bedroom opens up to this bathroom. But it also has an opening here because this bedroom is also going to use this bathroom. But let's check out this room first. So this room is a little bit different. It's a little bit more of a traditional size in terms of like being more of a square versus a rectangle. What I love about this room specifically is the vaulted ceiling. So the ceiling is probably about 15 feet tall at its peak which makes it feel a lot more grand, a lot more open. And then you've got this awesome window that faces the front of the property. I don't know about you guys, but I'm a big people watcher. Like I live on a busier road and people go, I don't know why you live on a busy road. Doesn't the traffic noise bother you? And I'm like, no, I love to see things happening in life. I like to see cars driving by. I like to see people walking by. When it's too quiet for me, I get a little bit nervous. And not everybody's like that. But comment, let me know. What's your personality? Do you want to live on a dark cul-de-sac that's super quiet? Or would you like to live in the heart of Huntington Beach on a crazy fun street watching people walk by and having fun conversations? Let me know because you know how I roll. Let me show you this bathroom and then we'll go over and see the first master bedroom on the second level. It's pretty special. But this bathroom has everything you need. You know, you got a nice sink, plenty of counter space, lot of cabinets, stand-up shower, really nice touch. Again, we see so many bathrooms. And every time I see a bathroom, it has its own personality. And I think that's really fun. So if you're designing bathroom spaces, don't be afraid to splash out a little bit. Don't be afraid to throw in some color or try things that kind of, you know, make you feel uncomfortable at first because the bathroom is a great place to kind of show your personality. Come with me to the other side of the house. Let me show you this bedroom here. It's pretty insane. So as I walk to the final room on this level, I see the length of the property. And one thing I didn't talk about, I've said 25 feet wide a bunch of times, but the length of the lot is 117 feet. So it's about 2,930-ish square feet, which is a little bit smaller than what you get in the village because usually village is 30 by 120. So now I'm in one of two master bedrooms. The reason why I call this also a master bedroom is because it just feels a lot more grand than your traditional bedroom with an ensuite. I love the size of the room. I love this bay window here. Just this small pop-out creates enough space to put a chair and a little ottoman where you can chill and hang out. If the home ended here, you'd lose this. Plus, again, we talked about this not being a square box. And so this bay window really adds an element of additional character, which I really love. I think the use of barn door here is nice once again. So if you just want to kind of close off the bathroom area. And then you've got toilet, beautiful walk-in closet with organizer set already built in, a nice single vanity here, beautiful stand-up shower, and soaking tub. I love the design elements here. I love the marble on the floor. I love the fixtures, the gold fixtures, the gold handles. I really think this is a beautiful lighting fixture here. And I love this wall. It's very, to me, feels very aquatic. You know, we're by the beach. Water is a big, big deal in this area, right? So I love those like water elements. And then this leads to the fourth of five outdoor spaces. And this is pretty big. Come check it out. All right, guys, welcome to another beautiful day in Huntington Beach, California. Holy moly, the wind, the sun, no clouds in the sky, blue skies. It is such a beautiful day. It's like 65 degrees. I'm in love right now with the weather. And that's why people want to live here. So anyway, this is not an insignificant space. This is the fourth of five outdoor spaces. Huge outdoor balcony off of the first master bedroom. And you've got so much space here to entertain. I love this wall here. It creates just enough privacy. So when you're sitting down, you feel cozy and intimate, but not so much to where you can't see. And then look, you got some telephone wires here. The bottom line is, is that when you're living in an older beach city, we see this in Corona Del Mar. We've seen this on the peninsula. You see these in older cities. We see it in Laguna Beach everywhere. In fact, Laguna Beach is now starting the process to bring these cables underground, which I have no doubt at some point, maybe it's five years, maybe it's 15 years, all these cables will go away. But if this is what you have to deal with to live in this insane house, four blocks from the beach, four blocks from Main Street, with this beautiful weather, I'm okay with it. Comment, let me know. Are you okay with it? Let's go inside and take a look at the third level. So before we leave this room, a couple things. I really love the double door entry. You notice here, it's actually two micro doors, but again, it still looks very elegant. And then you've got this hallway closet here, great for linen storage and all that stuff. It's actually super duper deep. So guys, we have one more floor left. Do you have it in you to stick with me for a little bit longer? Come on, let me show you. All right, this is it. I'm kind of sad actually that this tour is coming to an end. I'm obsessed with this place. I absolutely love it. I think the design elements are so cool. The layout, the way the architecture is, it's just so much fun. I will say here that this level creates a lot of sunlight, a lot of natural light. You've got window, window, window, high ceilings, window, doors, a lot of natural light coming in. I will say one thing, and I'd just be curious to know what it would look like, is some of the properties we've done, had a light fixture going all the way down in the middle of the stairwells, kind of tying all the levels together. So as much as I love this lighting fixture here, it's super cool. I'd be curious to know what a 25-foot lighting fixture would look like in a space like this. I'm not a designer. It might look horrible. I'm just curious. Behind me, you've got a rooftop deck, which is an absolute must when you live in this area, in this type of property. You've got the cool double door entry, which makes this room feel a little bit more special than the average room. And this is the master bedroom. This is the biggest, grandest room of all. A few features that absolutely stand out to me right away. Crazy high ceilings, beautiful skylight. I love this built-in here for just a little bit of extra storage. Really cool lighting fixtures. You've got this bay window again, just gives you an extra 20 inches of space to work with. So now you can have this beautiful ottoman here, but not obstruct the walkway. And I gotta say, one of my favorite design features in this entire property is this wall right here. If you've watched my videos, you know I like to watch YouTube videos, especially when it comes to real estate, architecture, and design. In fact, if you have any creators that you love watching, designers, architects, real estate agents, comment and let me know who they are, because I'm always looking to expand my knowledge base. But one thing I learned was a lot of homes live in a two-dimensional space, which means if you're standing up and you're looking, everything is kind of eye level or below. So when designers use techniques like this, it naturally pulls your eyes up. And when it pulls your eyes up, it makes the space feel bigger. It makes the ceilings feel taller. And so this is a really clean and subtle way of creating more height in the room without having to use art. It's just beautiful. I love the way they did it. And this room feels so bright, so light, so airy that I could literally wake up every morning and feel like, let's go, let's get this day done. All right, storage-wise, you got a little bit of extra storage compared to the downstairs master. You've got storage here built in, and then you've got a nice walk-in closet here with plenty of space. And then you've got a beautiful bathroom here. So here you've got the dual vanity, which I think is the right move. Again, just a little bit smaller sink, but it creates the ability to have two people get ready versus one. I love this divider here. This tile here reminds me of the video we did at 301 Jasmine. I want to say this looks very similar to the backsplash in the kitchen. I might be wrong, but if you watch my video and you saw that, let me know if I'm right. I'll probably go do it myself. And you got these huge tiles, four feet by four feet tiles that go into this seamless shower space with no glass divider. And I love that you've got storage here. You've got porcelain tile. You got marble. You got porcelain. This might not even be marble. This could just be a synthetic material that looks like marble. But the bottom line is it's covered in tile so that if it gets a little bit wet, you're good. I love the little micro sunlight here. Micro skylight. You got about a 14 inch by 14 inch skylight. Again, anything to find more ways to bring light in, I think is a great move. So guys, we have one more space left. The rooftop deck. Come with me. All right. This is it. The fifth outdoor space of five outdoor spaces. And I got to say each outdoor space has its own personality and each outdoor space is actually quite significant. These aren't little tiny three feet by four feet outdoor spaces or balconies. These are like significant. This is 12, 13 feet by 12 or 13 feet. You have enough space to do so much here. They've got a few chairs. You can do anything up here. The compressor is up here. So I love this planter that just sort of tucks the compressor away and makes it feel a little bit more intimate. You've got views of your neighborhood all the way around like 250 degree views. From here, I could see the metal roof. Metal roofs are great. They're popular. They last so long. I love the non-sanded stucco texture. It's super clean. They did a really great job. And then you've got this utility closet here. That's about five feet wide by about eight feet long. And this is where you can access some of the duct work as well as store certain things that you don't want the elements to mess with. So guys, that's the grand tour of this beautiful property at 509 8th Street in Huntington Beach. All that's left now is to talk about the subtle nuances between Newport Beach and Huntington Beach and who's the perfect buyer for this place. Let's go and talk about that. All right, guys. Thank you for being with me at this point. If you're still with me, thank you. I appreciate the love. I have so much fun doing these home tours, especially when I'm doing properties that I absolutely love. And I had so much fun today at this property. I think it's so much fun. I could totally see myself living here. Before I get into who's the perfect buyer, I do want to talk about the subtle nuances between Newport Beach and Huntington Beach. I think the first thing that comes to mind is Newport Beach is a little bit more polished luxury. I think Huntington Beach is a little bit more casual. You've got a big surf scene here. And you have a big surf scene in Newport Beach as well. You also have a skating culture in Huntington Beach. It's just a little bit different. The cool thing is, is they're right next to each other. So living in Huntington Beach gives you easy access to Newport Beach. And if you're living in Newport Beach and you want to pop over to Huntington Beach, you can do that too. Two completely different vibes within 10 minutes of each other. Price is probably the most significant reason for people that want to live in Newport Beach to buy in Huntington Beach. It could be a great stepping stone city or property before you move to Newport Beach. And hey, if you just love Huntington Beach, that's cool too. You live in Huntington Beach, you're closer to Long Beach. You're closer to LA. You live in Newport Beach. It's all personal preference. But I'll tell you this, they're both amazing cities. They both have their pros and cons. And they're both beautiful. So today I want to talk about who's the perfect buyer for this place. So I have three people in mind. Number one buyer, the local buyer, the move-up buyer. Somebody who might live in Orange County, wants to live by the beach, has Huntington Beach on their radar, has a couple kids, four bedroom works perfectly for them. They don't mind the stairs. They want to walk to the beach. They want to walk to Main Street. They're young. They're active. They're vibrant. This is the perfect spot for them. In fact, last year I helped somebody move from Santa Ana to Huntington Beach into this downtown area. And they absolutely love it here. So that's the first buyer. The second buyer avatar is the out-of-area owner that maybe comes to Huntington Beach one or two months a year. This home for them is a second or third home. We talk about lock and leave all the time. This is a total lock and leave here. You can leave and go for five months, six months, eight months, come back, and your home is going to look the same way it did when you get back. Same type of family dynamic. You know, a couple, two or three kids. This place is perfect for them. They love the ocean. They love great restaurants. This is the hot spot. The third buyer I see living in this property or buying this home is the aspirational Newport Beach buyer. Somebody that has Newport Beach on their radar. Somebody that's like, I will do whatever I have to do to live in Newport Beach, but right now it's just not in the budget. We talked about this. This same home in the Corona Del Mar village, a single family home with four bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms at just under 2,800 square feet is going for like six million, maybe seven million, depending on your proximity to the ocean and maybe any views, right? Here, you're getting it for just under 2.9 million. It's almost a third or half of what you would pay. So somebody who wants that Newport Beach lifestyle, loves the ocean, loves water, loves walkability, but can't necessarily afford maybe something on the peninsula or maybe something in the Corona Del Mar village can buy here, live here, enjoy the life, dabble with Newport Beach, let the market do what it does, which is appreciate over time, and then sell this property and transition to Newport Beach. So that's what I think. What do you think? Guys, I hope you found value in watching this video. More importantly, I hope you had a lot of fun, as much fun as I did making it. I'm making these videos for you guys. So if there's anything that you want me to touch on, teach you about, let me know. And don't forget, I sell homes in Newport Beach. I sell homes in Huntington Beach. I sell homes in Laguna Beach. And that's what I do for a living. I've been doing it for 21 years. There's a QR code on the screen. If you'd like to pick my brain, if you'd like to talk to me about the market, if you're ready to relocate to Orange County and live that Newport Beach or Orange County coastal lifestyle, send me a message, get in my calendar. Let's meet virtually or in person. I'd love to help you make this place home. I'll see you on the next home tour.