Health & Fitness
La Mesa (Mt Helix) joins Millionaire's Page in Dream Homes Magazine
Prestigious Dream Homes Magazine features a page of statistics of homes that sold for over $1M by area. La Mesa/Mt Helix & East County had been excluded but are now included.
Dream Homes Magazines, a high-gloss publication of to-die-for properties, are delivered to my La Mesa Village office every month. I place the stack of magazines outside my front door and watch them get snapped up like fresh chocolate chip cookies.
And no wonder. With page after page of vanishing edge pools, drives lined by towering palms and white-water views, these mini-resorts inspire a lot of day dreaming and can-you-imagine’s.
Toward the front of the magazine, their “Round Up” page features stats of million dollar home sales in different parts of San Diego. The following towns are included:
Find out what's happening in La Mesa-Mount Helixwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
La Jolla
Rancho Santa Fe
Find out what's happening in La Mesa-Mount Helixwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Santaluz
Del Mar
Carmel Valley
Solana Beach
Encinitas
Carlsbad
Poway
Mission Hills/Hillcrest
SD Downtown
Bonita/Chula Vista
Point Loma
Coronado
See anything missing? Where's Mt. Helix? East County? Some of the most breathtaking homes and estates I’ve ever seen are right here in East County, many of them in La Mesa.
A few weeks ago, I was at the home of the former president of San Diego Association of Realtors (SDAR). His driveway, at least ¼ mile and shaded by a thick canopy of leaves, was so Southern - stately old trees lining both sides like sentinels – I was half expecting Scarlett, Ashleigh and Melanie to greet me as I parked.
A party was being held at a two-story tall gazebo that puts the gazebo at the Hotel Del to shame. Where was this remarkable property? El Cajon. What was it worth? Well over $1M - the criteria to be on this page.
Earlier this year, I contacted Dream Homes Magazine to ask why La Mesa (Mt. Helix) and other parts of East County were not included on the Million Dollar Home Sales page and would they rectify this?
The prestige would be good for La Mesa, Mt Helix and other East County high-end zip codes and I could see no legitimate reason for the magazine to exclude us.
Over several months, I spoke with and emailed Sean Malone, head of advertising sales, but felt I wasn’t making progress. I was about to recruit dozens of East County Realtor friends to ante up the pressure when along comes Grant Gowen.
He’s the guy who delivers the magazines. Very friendly, always on the go. With his sun-tanned skin, surfer physique and shaggy blonde hair, he looks more Moondoggie than Distribution Manager but there you are.
Last month when he walked into my office, I said, “Grant, why are we not on this page? Poway is on it. Chula Vista is on it for Heaven's sake! I’m going to blog about Dream Home Magazine’s snub of East County!”
Grant told me to hold off on the blog (I did), he would talk to the publisher and see what he could do. He agreed that East County has their share of gorgeous, million dollar homes, and he very importantly added, "more land."
Well Grant delivered and more than magazines. Thanks to Grant, Sean and Publisher & Editor Michael Blassis, La Mesa/Mt Helix (91941,91942) plus (91901 Alpine, 91935 Jamul, 92019 & 92020 El Cajon) are now included on the “Millionaire’s Page” of Dream Home Magazine.
