Seacliff

Yes, if you want a planned neighborhood with a golf course in the middle and the beach and wetlands below the bluff. Most tracts date from the late 1980s and the 1990s Holly-Seacliff build-out, several are gated, and Huntington Seacliff Elementary sits at the north edge. The problems come from the ground. The area was oil field, so the Fire Department's methane rules apply to building, and some lots need coastal permits. A 92-acre oil parcel toward PCH is slated for up to 800 homes and a hotel, which means years of construction next door.

Mostly between the mid-1980s and the early 2000s, around a golf course that opened in 1966 as Seacliff Country Club. The city library's files record the council approving the Holly-Seacliff master plan in January 1990 for 4,400 homes on 768 acres. The Holly-Seacliff Specific Plan followed on April 20, 1992, covering 565 acres. A development agreement between the city, Pacific Coast Homes, and Garfield Partners set three phases running from 1990 through 2002. PLC describes its Seacliff community as 429 acres with 1,800 new homes, and the elementary school opened in 1999 as the tracts filled in.

Yes. The Huntington Beach oil field was proven on May 24, 1920 with the Huntington A-1 well near Goldenwest and Clay. The industrial area at Garfield and Goldenwest was still 'the center of oil production' when the specific plan was written in 1992. The plan requires a report on wells, contaminated soil, and methane before any building permit. City Specification 429 now sets the methane testing and mitigation rules for construction within 100 feet of an active or abandoned well. A 92-acre parcel toward PCH still holds oil infrastructure today.

Several are, mostly toward the bluff and the course: map data shows gated entries at Ocean Colony and Surfcrest west of Seapoint Street and on the streets off Peninsula Lane and Turnberry Circle. Gated tracts carry their own association dues on top of the master association, and the gates and private streets are part of what buyers pay for. They differ tract by tract, so I get the association documents for the specific home before we talk price.

Huntington Seacliff Elementary, Dwyer Middle and Huntington Beach High are the schools closest to Seacliff; the first two belong to the Huntington Beach City School District (K-8). Huntington Seacliff Elementary, a K-5 school of about 460 students that opened on September 7, 1999, is at 6701 Garfield Avenue on the neighborhood's north edge. Dwyer Middle School is at 1502 Palm Avenue toward downtown. Huntington Beach High School, at 1905 Main Street and founded in 1906, is in the Huntington Beach Union High School District. Each district's school locator gives the assignment for an exact address.

Up to 800 homes, up to 350 hotel rooms and 22.8 acres of parks, if the city and the Coastal Commission approve it. The site is the 92-acre Palm/Goldenwest Specific Plan area between Palm Avenue, Goldenwest Street, Seapoint Street and Pacific Coast Highway, and it still holds oil and gas production equipment. The city released the draft environmental impact report on August 20, 2026, with public comments due October 5, 2026. The draft finds air quality, vehicle-miles and greenhouse gas impacts significant and unavoidable, and it notes the site is on the state's list of hazardous materials sites. Nothing is approved yet, so if you're buying on the south side of Seacliff, read the project documents first.

About $1.9 million to $5.9 million for a house and $1.3 million to $2.35 million for a townhome or condo, based on the 14 homes for sale in late September 2026. Homes on the fairways, in the gated enclaves toward the bluff, and on the ocean-view lots ask the most. Most of the homes listed were built between 1985 and 2002, so as I read it, position drives more of the spread than age does.

Most Seacliff houses pay HOA dues, about $285 to $711 a month on the houses listed in September 2026. Townhomes and condos listed about $325 to $572 a month, and one 1970 house had no HOA at all. For Mello-Roos or other special taxes, don't rely on the listing: look the parcel up on the Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector's Mello-Roos tax map and read the Special Assessment Charges on the current tax bill, which name each district and give a phone number.

No. When I checked FEMA's current flood map against all 1,830 buildings mapped in the Seacliff area in September 2026, every one sat in zone X, minimal flood hazard. The tracts sit up on the bluff above Pacific Coast Highway, and outside FEMA's high-risk zones a federally backed mortgage doesn't require flood insurance. Maps get revised, so I recheck the parcel on FEMA's Map Service Center before closing.

No. The club at the center of Seacliff, which opened in 1966 as Seacliff Country Club, is a private club that sells its own memberships, and nothing on its membership page ties them to a Seacliff address. It sells four types: All-In Golf, Athletic, Pickleball, and Social + Dining. Golf members get the 18-hole course, and Athletic members get 13 tennis courts and 8 pickleball courts. Budget the club separately from the house and the HOA.

Seacliff is a golf-course neighborhood on the bluff built mostly in the late 1980s and 1990s, while Huntington Harbour is a 1960s and 1970s boating neighborhood of channels and islands at the city's northwest corner. Harbour waterfront homes come with docks, seawalls, and FEMA flood zones; every building mapped in Seacliff sat in zone X when I checked. Most Seacliff houses pay HOA dues, while 19 of the 30 harbor houses listed in September 2026 had none. Seacliff is in the Huntington Beach City School District, and the harbor is in the Ocean View School District. As of September 2026, Seacliff houses asked about $1.9 million to $5.9 million and harbor houses about $1 million to $11 million.

Read the Huntington Harbour guide

Yes. In Seacliff the two documents worth reading closely are the methane report on the lot and the city's draft EIR for the oil parcel, and I'll explain both in Russian before you commit. From abroad, we can start with a video tour of one gated street and one open street, so you see what the gate gets you.