Panoramic Ocean View and
$500,000 in Upgrades Found in
Fabulously Remodeled San Clemente Home
Read about this great San Clemente Home Below.

It’s love at first sight when you visit…..

553 Avenida Buenos Aires
San Clemente, CA 92672
Cell:  949-463-4111 |  eMail: Debbie@DebbieFerrari.com
Offered at $1,799,999

Background:

Preceding the year 2000 renovation of 553 Avenida Buenos Aries, the owner spent over a year visiting an Internet home seeker’s web site nightly to view new listings.  The cities searched were Newport Beach, Corona Del Mar, Laguna Beach, Dana Point, Capistrano Beach and San Clemente.

The search criteria included ocean view, 3 bedrooms and 3+-car garage.  The 3-car garage requirement limited availability of product so it was dropped from his search criteria.  The owner then discovered the quality of homes found in Corona Del Mar and Laguna Beach were simply sub-standard in his price range.

The search criteria were then altered to locate a ”fixer upper” with Monarch Hills the primary target neighborhood.  Alas, the window of opportunity had passed within Monarch Hills so he shifted his attention to Dana Point, Capistrano Beach and San Clemente noting home prices for comparable homes lowered the further south he looked.

Every morning after an interesting new listing appeared he jumped on his Harley… splitting lanes on the freeway to expedite his travel to potential homesteads.  All but discouraged, he finally visited 553 Avenida Buenos Aires at 7:30 AM in the morning after it made its appearance on the MLS.

It took all of 15 minutes to appreciate the innate value of the property and appreciate its  key elements, including its panoramic ocean view, 4 car street width, and open floor plan from which he immediately envisioned most of the changes you see in today’s finished product.

The only contingency written into the new owner’s offer to purchase was that the property’s geographical survey must disclose the structure to have been built on cut versus filled land.  The survey confirmed that 553, and 3 or so homes on either side of 553, were indeed built on cut versus fill soil.

A Truly Thoughtful Remodeling:

The new owner then filed with the City of San Clemente as the project’s General Contractor, and submitted plans that met earthquake and other codes that at the time were then similar to those imposed by Laguna Beach.  He then submitted his landscape plan to the homeowners association, and when both were approved commenced work.

It’s important to note that home buyers looking in this price range will not easily find equivalent lot size, street width or more than two car garages in Newport Beach, Corona Del Mar or Laguna Beach.  Furthermore, Laguna Beach is not an easy accessed area due to dangerously narrow roads, whereas San Clemente is.

Moreover, traffic going south of the Irvine Spectrum becomes progressively lighter versus progressively more congested as one travels north.  This said, the owner like most, was originally predisposed to purchasing a home north of Dana Point but wouldn’t trade his experience in San Clemente if he had it all to do over again.

The project took one and one half years to complete.  The architectural, hardscape and interior design are fusion Tuscany with its native Mediterranean theme.  The home was originally built in 1979 and had seen no improvements over the years so the windows were in bad shape and the floor stone/bath tile were dated.  As first order of business the home was completely gutted down to the slab and the roof/windows/doors were removed.

While the home was gutted, a long beam was tied to the vaulted great room/dining room adjacent cross beam and run all the way through the garage with a support beam set in a 6 foot caisson behind what is now the kitchen pantry (formerly the refrigerator’s location).  This structural change was designed to distribute the torque from tremors, which will then be transmitted to and damped by the vertical support beam anchored in the aforementioned caisson.

In addition, the entire ocean side of the house was shear walled, the bay window/fireplace were top and bottom strapped to their contiguous walls/sections and joist/header angles installed to further enhance structural integrity.  Nobody really knows how a home will fare in an earthquake but the owner selected an engineer who had inspected Northridge damaged structures to deploy the best plan.  This information is not to be construed as a guarantee and it’s noteworthy that the nearest known fault is well offshore from San Clemente.

The house was almost entirely electrically re-wired and plumbing overhauled.  Ironically, other than some sheet rock the only surviving original features are the cabinetry which received the faux finish with beveled glass added around the kitchen area… and the dining room light fixture which has the rust color with patina that adorn the light fixtures throughout the home.

The home is also wired for cable and satellite TV, is wired for in/out door sound, has a built in security alarm system and two line AT&T Partner phone system.

The north side of the property was designed to carry its contiguous indoor function outside… hence the barbeque area outside the kitchen and arbor dividing this area from the outdoor living/dining spaces.

As the hardscape took shape the owner installed deep root barriers the entire length of the property’s tree lines to preclude any opportunity of future hardscape and pipe damage.  It’s this kind of hard work and attention to detail that one never finds in track or spec homes.

The plan added a 7-foot extension to the north wall of the original washer/dryer area just inside the garage entrance as well as the garage itself.  The added spaces now function as a multi-functional utility room and the owner’s gym.

The owner’s brother is a VP with Cummins Engine who contributed an Onan 1200 standby, 10 KW AC electrical generator.  This ultra-quiet power plant and the HVAC system are located behind the privacy wall along with trash containers.  By they way, in six years the AC has only kicked in a few times during the month of August.

The city approved and the owner ran a 3.5” gas line from the roadside main to the far western burm above the property’s slope to feed the aforementioned 10 KW generator, grill, space heater, fire pit and pool/spa heater.  The home’s heat, hot water and stove also run on natural gas.

The windows are manufactured by Pella and every window was replaced.  The original western and northern entrances were French doors, which are now replaced with 12 and 14-foot sliding doors off the bedrooms and French replacements with side lights and transoms lending cosmetic and ocean view improvements.  Also, the kitchen box window is a functional addition.  You will also note that every arched window is appointed with exterior projection moldings to maximize curb appeal.

Fine-Crafted, Yet Also Designed

For Comfort, Entertaining: 

Great care was given to the selection of honed travertine for inside and rough travertine for the entrance and northern outdoor spaces.  The travertine is inlaid with Spanish Madera brown marble boarders and spots within the outdoor and indoor entrances. 

The same Madera marble was selected for the kitchen, fireplace hearth and counter tops throughout the house.  The owner also used the same material to surface the great room coffee table.  The sinks and lavatories were carefully selected with Italian hand painted sinks selected for the master bath.

The mill work inside and out were done by three different craftsman including: the mahogany fire place fascia/mantle, stairwell landing library and stairway railings... the oak kitchen stove/bar island plus family room entertainment center… and the teak door to the water wall fountain off the master bath.

The statuary and fountain elements were selected to present a masculine entrance and feminine side and pool area motifs.  The outdoor stucco walls and pilaster caps were custom molded for the project.  The six large magnolia planters surrounding the house as well as the statuary and wall/pilaster caps were patina stained to complement out door colors and tones.  You will also note the pool and spa have been resurfaced with a river pebble surface and the hardscape coping throughout the entire western hardscape is randomly laid brick matching the colors of the clay roof tiles.

The large fire pit is the owner’s entertainment focal point which features two large gas rings comfortably drying and heating this area’s cool night air.

One can also appreciate the care given to the general outdoor lighting including spot, ground well, wall/pilaster and rope step lighting surrounding the pool area.

Another unique engineering element is the sunken pool filter, pump and heater located at the northwestern burm above the slope, which effectively abates noise and sight of this equipment.  The placement of the equipment pit was purposely set on top of one of two community sewer mains which communicates with the property’s pool area drain system… while the north side and entrance drains communicate with the street main which are too elevated to have effectively drained the pool area.

Finally, the wrought iron entrance and wine closet/storage doors as well as indoor and outdoor railings were all custom made by a friend of the owner.

Please don’t hesitate to ask Debbie questions as they arise…

The current property owner wrote the above, and wanted you to see it, as an aid in making your buying decision, with the assistance of Debbie Ferrari, Realtor/Broker of Prudential California Realty.

Click Here to see DOZENS of interior and exterior photos of this home.
 

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