Tanager Park is a tract of 328 detached single family homes in Costa Mesa, laid out across bird named streets: Tanager, Cardinal, Hummingbird, Oriole, Starbird, Wren, Swan, Sandpiper, Flamingo, Kinglet, Phalarope, Skylark, Bunting, Redwing and Pelican among them. Locals call it the Birds.
One correction worth making up front, because it gets described the wrong way constantly. In the MLS, every home here sits in area C1, Mesa Verde. Not South Coast Metro, not the 73 corridor. If you are searching for homes here and filtering by the wrong Costa Mesa area, you will not see this inventory at all.
The homes that have traded here recently carry assessor years from 1961 to 1975. Recent sales range from about 2,029 to 3,803 square feet on lots of roughly 6,000 to 14,303 square feet, in four to seven bedroom layouts. These are large homes on real lots, which is the whole point of the tract and the reason it prices the way it does.
There is no homeowners association. Every listing here reports HOA dues of $0. No dues, no design review, no gate, no shared amenities. What you maintain is yours, and what you build is between you and the city.
Most of the communities documented on this site carry monthly dues between $660 and $1,429, which covers insurance, grounds, security and a set of shared amenities. Tanager Park carries none of that, and the trade is exactly what you would expect.
You keep roughly $8,000 to $17,000 a year that would otherwise go to an association. You also keep the full cost of your own roof, your own landscaping and your own insurance, with no reserve fund standing behind you and no manager to call. For a buyer who wants a large lot, a yard, room to expand and no committee, that trade is obviously right. For a buyer who wants a pool they do not have to clean and a gate at the entrance, it obviously is not. Neither answer is wrong. Just know which one you are choosing.
Thirty seven homes closed on the bird streets in the last twenty four months. That is a deep sample for one tract, and it lets you say things here with real confidence.
Closed prices ran from $1,550,000 to $3,495,000, with a median of $2,350,000.
Price per square foot ran from $534.85 to $1,379.99, with a median of $873.54. That spread, more than 2.5 times from bottom to top, is the widest of any neighborhood on this site, and it is not random. It is condition.
Days on market had a median of 11. Not 11 weeks. Eleven days. More than a quarter of the closed sales recorded zero to four days on market. A correctly priced home in Tanager Park does not sit.
The tail is real though. One home took 279 days and another 154. Both were larger homes asking near the top of the range. Fast is the rule here, but the rule applies to homes priced against the tract, not against the best sale in it.
Here is what fell out of the data when I pulled it, and I did not expect it to be this stark.
Seven addresses in Tanager Park traded twice inside the same twenty four month window. Same house, two sales, in two years. Six of the seven resold higher:
An eighth home, on Flamingo Drive, sold at $1,625,000 and is on the market right now at $2,595,000.
Read that carefully, because it cuts two ways.
If you are buying here, there is a meaningful chance the beautiful home you are touring was bought as a project within the last two years. That is not a reason to walk away. Plenty of renovations are excellent. It is a reason to pull the permit history from the City of Costa Mesa, ask specifically what was permitted and what was not, and put a sewer scope and an electrical panel evaluation in your inspection scope rather than relying on a general inspection. The purchase price the flipper paid is public record. Ask for it.
If you are selling here, and especially if you are selling an original condition home or a home coming out of a trust, understand what you are sitting on. Two of the seven repeat sales started as trust sales in original condition, and both resold within two years for roughly $700,000 to $1,075,000 more. That gap is the reason your phone rings with unsolicited cash offers. You are not obligated to hand that spread to someone else, and you should at minimum find out what the finished number looks like before you accept the fast one.
Note also the Sandpiper home that resold $20,000 lower. Not every project here works. The market rewards good renovation at this price point and it does not reward lipstick.
Five homes are on the market on the bird streets:
Only one closed sale in two years cleared $1,266 per square foot, so the Flamingo ask is testing the ceiling of the tract. The two lowest per foot asks, on Cardinal and Kinglet, are the ones priced closest to the closed median, and those are the two worth watching if you want to know whether this market is still moving at pace.
Does Tanager Park have an HOA?
No. Every listing here reports HOA dues of $0. There is no association, no dues, no design review and no gate.
Where exactly is Tanager Park?
In Costa Mesa, zip code 92626. In the MLS it sits in area C1, Mesa Verde. The homes are on bird named streets including Tanager, Cardinal, Hummingbird, Oriole, Starbird, Wren, Swan, Sandpiper, Flamingo, Kinglet, Phalarope, Skylark, Bunting, Redwing and Pelican.
How many homes are in Tanager Park?
328 detached single family homes.
When were the homes built?
The homes that have traded recently carry assessor years from 1961 to 1975.
What do homes in Tanager Park cost?
Thirty seven homes closed in the last two years between $1,550,000 and $3,495,000, with a median of $2,350,000. Five homes are currently on the market between $1,950,000 and $2,999,500.
What is the price per square foot?
Closed sales ran from $534.85 to $1,379.99 per square foot, with a median of $873.54. That spread is almost entirely condition.
How fast do homes sell in Tanager Park?
The median was 11 days. More than a quarter of the closed sales recorded four days or fewer. A small number of larger homes priced at the top of the range took 150 to 280 days.
How big are the homes and lots?
Recent sales ran from about 2,029 to 3,803 square feet of living space on lots of roughly 6,000 to 14,303 square feet.
How many bedrooms do the homes have?
Four to seven, with five bedrooms being the most common in recent sales.
Are homes in Tanager Park being flipped?
Yes, actively. Seven addresses traded twice inside the last twenty four months. Six resold higher, by $650,000 to $1,315,000, and one resold $20,000 lower. Pull the permit history and the prior sale price on anything that looks freshly renovated.
Is Tanager Park gated?
No. It is an open, established neighborhood of public streets with no association and no gate.
Is Tanager Park a good place to renovate or expand?
The data says the market pays for good renovation here, with a per square foot spread from $535 to $1,380 on homes of similar vintage. With no HOA design review, your constraint is the city rather than a committee. Confirm setbacks and what you can add before you buy.
What should I do if I own an original condition home here?
Find out what the finished value is before you accept an unsolicited offer. Two of the repeat sales in the last two years started as trust sales in original condition and resold within two years for roughly $700,000 to $1,075,000 more.