If you dream of living in the neighborhood of the rich and famous, but find the home prices a tad too steep, there's still hope with Rancho Santa Fe condominiums. While Rancho Santa Fe home prices range from $1 million to $20 million plus (the highest home being at $40 million and the average price more than $3 million), Rancho Santa Fe condos range from $650,000 to $1,000,000 plus. In comparison to home prices, condos are quite a bargain, you'll agree.

Yet and still, Rancho Santa Fe condos provide much of the comfort and beauty of the neighborhood's homes. Consider a currently listed 2243 square feet, 3 bedroom condo in Rancho Santa Fe priced at $965,000. The property built in 1988 boasts of central cooling and combination heating, a fireplace in the living room, a two-car garage, a pool, a spa, a patio, brick-lined walls and above all, a beautiful locale, with views of the golf course and mountains beside, for which the Rancho Santa Fe neighborhood is famed. Influenced by the planning of local architect Lillian Rice, Rancho Santa Fe condos and homes are guided by aesthetics and meticulous design even today.

Rancho Santa Fe, fondly called The "Ranch", is an unincorporated area in the North County of San Diego. The Ranch is a California Historic Landmark known for its large lots, rural ambiance and celebrity residents. The Rancho Santa Fe community is also renowned for its horses (there are bridle paths throughout the ranch), golf and tennis, and its proximity to some of the best beaches in Southern California. The neighborhood is a picture perfect, elegant and sophisticated Spanish-style village. It is also one of the ten wealthiest communities in the United States and has magnificent estates to rival any European estates.

Rancho Santa Fe real estate is the best San Diego has to offer. When purchased and managed properly, Rancho Santa Fe real estate can be one of the safest and most solid investments available and one of the most important investment decisions one can ever make. The properties there boast of gorgeous landscaping and scenic beauty and the neighborhood has been picked as the number one place to live in the United States. Rancho Santa Fe condos are for those desiring a carefree lifestyle.

Rancho Santa Fe consists of the 92067 and 92091 zip codes. Currently there are 5 condos in Rancho Santa Fe that are available, with an average market time of 73 days. For luxury condo listings, The Willis Allen Company is a good place to start searching. Realtor.com also offers Rancho Santa Fe real estate listings, realtors, mortgage rates and more.

A notable trend in the Rancho Santa Fe real estate market is that condos are reverting back to rentals. As buyers find the housing market less affordable, the demand for condo ownership has also cooled. Conversions are slowing, and in some instances, condos are reverting back to rentals. Previously, conversion of condos, a huge craze, had taken substantial amounts of rental inventory off the market. Now that demand for condos has cooled, conversions are slowing and in some instances, condos are reverting back to rentals. According to experts, between 25-40% of the condos being developed or converted in many leading markets, including San Diego, are likely to be offered as rentals instead.

Thus, today condos in Rancho Santa Fe are not only available for ownership, but also for rent. According to City-Data, the median gross rent in Rancho Santa Fe in 2000 was $2,001.

It's hard to imagine the American dream as a two-bedroom apartment with a pool, instead of a single-family home with a white picket fence. But in some of the nation's priciest real estate markets like Rancho Santa Fe, that's what's happening. The financial reasons for renting instead of buying are the strongest they've been in 25 years. With the median mortgage payment nearly twice the median rent payment, condo renting is a practical option. Rentals are also an attractive option for vacationing.

While Rancho Santa Fe condos help fulfill the dream of residing in the celebrated Ranch neighborhood, condo residents are not privy to every privilege available to the Ranch's home dwellers. For example, only Covenant residents, excluding residents of the Ranch condominiums, can join the community's golf and tennis clubs or use the hiking and equestrian trails.

Nevertheless, condos still offer a large piece of the Rancho pie that is priceless – rolling hills, winding rural roads, towering eucalyptus trees, citrus groves and fenced pastures. In addition, the schools are outstanding, there's almost no crime and the sun shines 320 days a year. So does it really matter if only residents can join the community's golf club? In spite of the odds, condos in Rancho Santa Fe are here to stay and are an attractive option.