San Diego · Restoration + Ownership

Kensington Canyon

Of all the properties in our portfolio, Kensington Canyon may be the most personal to me. For a long time, it was simply home.

Kensington Canyon from the street: a brick and half-timbered Tudor with a red door, behind a river-rock wall and dark picket fence

Preserve what made it special.

The home has the scale and presence of something from a storybook, surrounded by the Spanish and Tudor-influenced homes that give Kensington so much character. Its renovation became a lesson in restraint. Not everything old needs to be replaced — the original hardwood floors could be restored, and existing architectural character could remain. The goal was to make the home function better without stripping away the things that made it distinctive.

One of my favorite examples is the kitchen island. After searching endlessly for the right piece, inspiration came from an unexpected place: a beautifully built rolling tool chest. With a custom butcher-block top, it became an incredibly functional movable island and a true piece of furniture. Sometimes good design has more to do with creativity than price.

Then home became an asset.

Eventually, Kensington Canyon became part of our vacation rental portfolio. That transition taught me something entirely different. It is not easy to hand your home to strangers. You create owner's closets, store sentimental pieces, rethink what linens and decor you are willing to replace, and accept that wear will happen. But you also realize that while you are somewhere else, another family is making memories in a home that otherwise might have been sitting empty.

The living room at Kensington Canyon with a vaulted wood ceiling, a river-rock fireplace and a long sofa
The kitchen at Kensington Canyon: a river-rock wall behind the range, grey cabinets and the rolling tool-chest island with its butcher-block top

You can protect a home without being afraid to use it.

Investment decisions are not always purely financial. Sometimes a property is both personal and productive. The key is building boundaries and systems that allow it to be both. And if the strategy stops making sense, you reassess — short-term rental, long-term rental, personal residence, sale. Real estate rarely gives you only one option.

The pool and spa at Kensington Canyon, edged in river rock beneath tall trees
The arched front door of Kensington Canyon set in brick, with a stone path and planting
The kitchen window at Kensington Canyon opening to the canyon, with a bowl of lemons on the butcher block
A bedroom at Kensington Canyon with a wood ceiling, a wood bed and French doors to a balcony

Real estate rarely gives you only one option.

Let's understand yours.

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