Pure Saturday-morning light poured through the tall stained glass windows, casting magenta hues across the small crowd gathered in the sanctuary hall to listen to the speaker up front. Eddie San Jose wasn’t delivering a sermon, but rather an informative talk for those looking to buy a home.
The event was held in a building that was originally a church, but now it’s a combination of a realtor’s office, art gallery, and event space.
Homes N Land and Treasures 1 owner Bobette Stanbridge invited San Jose, a mortgage lender who owns Caliber Home Loans, to speak on programs available for first-time homebuyers. He detailed a number of programs and loan options and also spoke on the bedrock of principles that ensure success when buying a house or property.
“It’s basically just learning about finances and the importance of preparing,” San Jose told the Sun. “We don’t learn that in school, unfortunately—learning how to budget, learning how important a credit score is, and being responsible with your debts so that you don’t do something negatively that will impact you.”
The program was free, Stanbridge said, and designed to help educate locals on how to approach the complexities of buying their first property. Of course, she hoped the visitors would go through her as a realtor and San Jose as a lender when looking for a home, but all the info shared that day—including a large packet to take home—was free for everybody along with coffee and pastries.
Stanbridge moved to Santa Maria in November of last year when she bought the church property just off of Broadway on West Fesler. Her daughter, Tiffany Gnad, moved to the Central Coast with her to help out. The pair has done tons of work on the church building, from stripping out the carpet in the sanctuary to applying new coats of paint.
They used to live in Ventura County but got “priced out” of the real estate market, Gnad explained.
“Santa Maria, the weather is very similar to Ventura County, and it’s closer to the beach,” Gnad said. “It felt like home, and it’s a smaller but growing community. We like it small and wanted to be able to start fresh.”
Stanbridge said the Santa Maria area is more affordable and has some interesting properties up for sale.
“I guess I was looking for a real estate office,” Stanbridge said. “This showed up, I started looking at the pictures, and I thought, ‘I could do an art gallery here.’ I thought, ‘I could do weddings too.’”
There’s two sides to Stanbridge’s business: the Homes N Land office up front, and Treasures 1 in the sanctuary space.
Stanbridge shares a number of her original paintings in the vaulted room, including a series she painted that features different decades in American history done in a collage style. There’s also a series of illustrated children’s books that Stanbridge authored for sale there.
The space is also available for weddings, receptions, and both she and her daughter are licensed ministers who can perform wedding ceremonies, she said.
“We sell packages, and it’s really fair,” she said. “We can house probably 100 for a wedding, and 80 for sit-down dinners.”
The location was perfect for her range of interests, Stanbridge said, from her number-crunching realtor side to the creative painter who wants to share her work.
“I’ve got both sides working,” she said, smiling.
Homes N Land and Treasures 1 is located at 210 W. Fesler St., Santa Maria. More information is available at (805) 361-0524.
Highlights:
• The Santa Maria Firefighters Benevolent Fund is in need of golfers for its annual Fire on the Fairways golf tournament on May 21 at the Santa Maria Country Club, with check-in at 9 a.m. and a shotgun start at 11 a.m. Cost is $150 per player or $600 per team. Checks should be mailed to 1031 Farroll Ave., Arroyo Grande. More info: (805) 574-0345 or (805) 878-7488.
• The Santa Maria Elks Club’s Elks Recreation Inc. partnered with the Chamber of Commerce, and city of Santa Maria, local school districts, art students, and local businesses for this year’s Go Rodeo Days Window Painting on April 23 and 26. Local art students painted rodeo-themed scenes in windows for local businesses, including Woody’s Butcher Block, Rancho Bowl, the Santa Maria Public Library, Central City Vapors, and the Chamber of Commerce and Santa Maria Valley Historical Society. More info: (805) 925-4125 or elksrec.com.
Managing Editor Joe Payne wrote this week’s Biz Spotlight. Information should be sent to the Sun via fax, mail, or email at spotlight@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Apr 26 – May 3, 2018.