Welcome to Talega
What can you expect from life in Talega? Great schools, quick access to more than twenty miles of hiking and biking trails, almost 2,000-acres of open space, and an abundance of community-sponsored family-oriented events. Practice your swing at The Talega Golf Club and its Fred Couples-designed 18-hole championship course. Situated within walking distance from numerous community parks, swimming pools, and recreational facilities, Talega is suburban bliss.
Enjoy panoramic views of the valley, city, and the Pacific Ocean. From Talega's farthest point from the famed San Clemente Pier, it remains a short, ten-minute drive to San Clemente's thriving downtown, including some of Orange County's best shops and restaurants, favorite beaches, and historical sites.
Exclusively residential upon crossing Talega's two primary entrances along Avenida La Pata or Avenida Pico, residents move here to get away from more hectic locales.
Talega Real Estate Market
As a submarket that is always in demand, if you're looking for Talega real estate, it helps to know what you want and the price range you're willing to spend. There's a variety, from single-story patio homes to floor plans of over 6,000 square feet.
The average price of a home for sale in Talega is $1.8 million. The typical range for single-family home value ranges from $1 million to $5 million for the grandest estates. Condo and townhome values typically start at $700,000 to $750,000.
Talega Homes for Sale
This is one of the hottest communities in South Orange County to buy real estate. Properties are in high demand, and regardless of the larger San Clemente housing market, Talega tends to dance to its own beat.
At just over two decades old, it's one of Orange County's more recent and most popular large-scale master-planned communities.
At 3,500 acres and featuring 43 distinct neighborhoods and more than 3,000 homes, including sections of condos and townhomes, supply and demand often occur on a micro level. Overall, the availability of homes for sale in Talega is limited. Homes do hit the market regularly but don't stay there for long.
As one might expect, properties featuring ocean or golf course views garner the most attention. The former typically involves larger homes occupying the most picturesque vistas in San Clemente.
Although single-family properties accommodating various family sizes constitute the bulk of Talega's neighborhoods, the community is also home to four highly touted 55 and older communities, collectively called The Gallery.
Talega Architecture
Similar to other areas of San Clemente, Spanish Colonial Revival is the preferred home style in many of Talega's most prominent neighborhoods. Estate homes will feature the Spanish influence to take advantage of oversized lots that can accommodate large courtyards and wide breezeways.
But Spanish Revival is not the only noteworthy architecture within Talega though its influence remains apparent even when not the focal point.
The Mediterranean home borrows a lot from Spanish design but deviates with a more symmetrical facade and ornate detailing around arches, windows, and columns. Additional accents are a trademark, including wrought iron or other metals, and a bolder exterior color scheme versus the stark white or cream color of the Spanish Colonial.
Mediterranean homes complement the Spanish style so much it can prove challenging to distinguish between the two, but you'll find a number of them throughout Talega's neighborhoods.
Lesser known outside of California, the Monterey home was a staple in the first half of the 19th century, pre-statehood, then again in the 1920s and 1930s. Blending Spanish, Mexican, Caribbean, and New England schools of design, depending on which disciplines the architect prefers, the most common element is a cantilevered, second-floor balcony.
In faithful Monterey designs, the balcony is wood construction and runs the home's width. Though the intent remains the same, less accurate representations will blunt the design. A handful of these unique homes appear in the Talega neighborhoods of Carillon, Escala, and Montellano.
Why You'll Love Living in a Talega Home
Far from your traditional suburban enclave, Talega proves the theory that everything you need to be happy is at home or mere minutes from home. Nothing in Talega is a compromise, and though over 40 different neighborhoods can initially prove intimidating, you'll appreciate the variety when uncovering your ideal combination of neighborhood and home.
Wherever your Talega home may be within the 3,500-acre community, you'll be steps away from an incredibly active outdoor lifestyle. Talega is a sanctuary of pursuits, including direct access to over 20 miles of hiking trails and bike paths and an abundance of parks and open space, including Liberty, Talega, and Tierra Grande Parks.
Families with young kids will appreciate the many tot lots spread throughout the various neighborhoods. Golfers of all ages will love Talega Golf Club being under five minutes from their door.
Of course, living in a Talega home means living in a San Clemente home. Should you venture further, beaches and downtown San Clemente are less than 10 minutes from the community.
Why Work with a San Clemente Real Estate Agent
Given Talega's location within the larger city of San Clemente and its collection of 43 distinct neighborhoods, including sections with estate homes, luxury single-family residences, and condo and townhome developments, navigating your home buying options can prove exhausting.
A seasoned real estate professional committed to fulfilling the dreams of home buyers (and sellers) since Talega's inception in 1999 will relieve much of that stress. They'll come to the table with historical insight and current market stats to help you make an informed buying decision.
To ensure a successful home search (or a lucrative sale if you're in the market to sell), partnering with Talega's top real estate agent is truly your best option.
Since 2000, when Talega's first houses sold, Doug Echelberger, along with his team at The Echelberger Group, has been that agent. Throughout his 27-year career, Doug has closed on $1.6 billion in real estate transactions.
Doug's track record in Talega is unmatched. In over 20 years, he's sold over 900 homes throughout the community and established himself as the premier Talega real estate agent. It helps that Doug is more than an area agent but a lifelong resident of San Clemente with a local office downtown. Talega real estate consists of luxury properties. Contact the Echelberger Group of Talega real estate agents & realtors to find townhouses, houses, condos & homes for sale in Talega.
Best Restaurants in Talega
As Talega is exclusively residential, the community lacks dining options within its boundaries. But you won't need to venture far for the best of San Clemente's eclectic restaurant scene.
As you exit Talega, the Barona Wine Bistro in Talega Village Center and the Board & Brew in Plaza Pacifica are fabulous for dinner and lunch, respectively. Across the street, in the Rancho San Clemente Business Park, you'll find a trifecta of craft breweries and a distillery:
- Artifex Brewing Company
- Delahunt Brewing Co.
- Lost Winds Brewing Company
- Drift Distillery & BBQ Eatery
Head towards San Clemente's Spanish-revival downtown for all the exceptional dining you can handle, including a few of our favorites:
- Fig@313
- Nick's
- South of Nick's
- Vine Restaurant & Bar
Things to Do in Talega
Covering 3,500 acres in the Santa Ana foothills overlooking San Clemente, Talega trades direct beach access for what many consider the best views in Orange County. Genuinely stunning vistas capture the entire horizon, from north to south. It's a small price to pay, but it comes with the bonus of access to over 15 trailheads and more than 20 miles of hiking and biking trails across the foothills.
Closer to home, the centerpiece of the Talega development is the 18-hole, par 72 Fred Couples "Signature" championship golf course. Established in 2001, the club also features a beautiful Spanish colonial clubhouse.
Talega also has many parks, picnic areas, tot lots for smaller children, and multiple community pools and sports courts. And, considering San Clemente is only 19 square miles, you're still less than ten minutes from area beaches, the San Clemente Pier, the Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens, and the Avenida Del Mar shipping district in downtown San Clemente.
Talega Schools
No master-planned community is complete without top-rated schools to educate the area's youth. Zoned into the Capistrano Unified School District, students in Talega attend Vista Del Mar Elementary and Middle School, which serves grades pre-kindergarten, and kindergarten through eighth grade. Centrally located within Talega, most residents can walk to Vista Del Mar in less than five minutes.
Upon completing Vista Del Mar, students attend San Clemente High School, three miles and a ten-minute drive down Avenida Pico from Talega's main entrance.