Oceanside Carmel Lot for Sale for $100,000

If you’re looking to snatch up some prime oceanside real estate in Carmel-by-the-Sea for just $100,000, now’s your chance. Just don’t plan to live there.

A listing has gone up for a plot of land overlooking the ocean on the iconic Scenic Road, SFGate reported. The unnumbered 4,200-square-foot lot, located across the street from 26169 Scenic Road, hit the market on May 23 and has been legally bound from development for nearly a century.

The property description calls the parcel a “non-buildable lot” perfect “for the person who has everything.”

“This lot is not buildable due to deed restrictions, size and other limitations,” the listing continues, according to SFGate. “However, this little piece of heaven could be yours forever. Bring a folding chair and enjoy spectacular sunsets.” The listing added that the broker is “unsure of property boundary lines” and encouraged interested buyers to “conduct their own investigation” of the premises.

The property is next door to the Clinton Walker House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1948 as the architect’s only seaside project. That home most recently sold to Monaco billionaire Patrice Pastor in 2023 for $22 million.

Listing agent Lance Monosoff of Central Coast Properties told SFGate he’s been fielding calls about the property since the listing went up, but couldn’t specify much else on the request of the attorney representing the seller.

The Carmel Point property has been deed-restricted since January 1923 when Carmel Development Company sold it to a woman named Margaret Macintyre for $10 — equal to about $191 today. In March 1924, Macintyre sold two lots across the street and the oceanside parcel in question to Lily White for $10. The transactions were recorded by the Bank of Carmel in April 1924.

The deed for the lot states that it’s intended “for the perpetual benefit of the pedestrian public, and none other.” Passersby are allowed to enter or pass through for activities like “sightseeing, fishing, sketching or picnicking,” but camping or “the setting up or maintaining of tents or other shelters” isn’t permitted.

If you’re interested, you must agree “not to build or allow to be built any buildings or improvements of any kind or character on the said described property, but to keep the same natural condition.”

— Chris Malone Méndez