It’s No Longer a Well-Kept Secret

Selling points: Priceless ocean view without sticker shock

Location: Laguna Beach

Asking price: $125,000 plus $650-a-month land lease

Status: For sale

*

Barbara Humphreys is selling her two-bedroom, two-bath mobile home with its front-line view of the Pacific Ocean. But she’s not leaving El Moro Mobile Home Park, where she’s lived for 12 years. “I’m just moving closer to the beach,” she says.

The nearly 300 mobile homes in the park are in three areas: near Crystal Cove State Beach, near El Moro canyon and on a bluff that overlooks Coast Highway and the ocean. The last area, called the Terrace, is where Humphreys’ home is situated.

All the homes are under one blanket lease from the state, and the park has just received another five-year extension--guaranteeing a space into the next decade.

The lease payment includes trash pickup, water, laundry facility, tram to the beach and a guard during the summer and holidays.

“It’s very affordable,” she says, “especially since you don’t pay property taxes.”

El Moro began in the 1930s as a small tent city called Tryon’s Camp. Before that, it was known as a Native American healing ground.

“I used to come to this quiet little beach and read when I couldn’t stand listening to my children,” Humphreys says with a chuckle.

“It’s so peaceful. It’s so close to everything, but it’s so far. You’re five minutes from Fashion Island and 10 minutes” to John Wayne Airport.

“We’re kind of the world’s best-kept secret,” she says.

Information: (949) 376-4592