With October coming to a close, the fall season is officially upon us. This means an influx of pumpkin-flavored baked goods, hot apple cider, and spooky movies.

But that’s not all:

Fall is an excellent time of year to sell your Santa Cruz home. As the holidays quickly approach, buyers who have been waiting all summer for the perfect new home will be more eager to find a property that fits their needs.

While buyers will have less autumnal options in terms of Santa Cruz real estate inventory, it’s important to use the fall season to your advantage as a home seller. Allow your home to stand out from the crowd with unique curb appeal and cozy accoutrements.

Here are some tips for staging your Santa Cruz home this fall to help ensure a quick

Santa Cruz is an amazing city with a lot to keep you busy.

But sometimes you may want to get out on the open road and see what the wider area has to offer.

The choices can get overwhelming. Which is why we've put together this list of some of the best day trips to take from Santa Cruz.

Let's start with an easy one...

The Mystery Spot

The Mystery Spot is a popular local Santa Cruz attraction, just 10 minutes from downtown Santa Cruz.

So, what makes this a "day trip" worthy of the name? Well, for a start, there are all the wonderful "mysteries" you can enjoy there.

I know what you're asking already...

"What IS The Mystery Spot?"

The Mystery Spot is a collection of large-scale illusions, including oddly arranged environments

What makes Santa Cruz such an amazing place to live is its community.

This city is filled with people from all walks of life, making it an exciting and enriching place to live. And even though Santa Cruz is home to a diverse group of people, the community is undeniably tight-knit.

One of the best ways to keep our Santa Cruz community strong is to give back. There are plenty of ways you can volunteer around town to help people in need and to spread joy.

To help you find the best charity program for you, here’s where you can volunteer in Santa Cruz this fall:

Village Santa Cruz County

Village Santa Cruz County is a fantastic charity that aims to provide quality services to those in need around the community.

Sometimes, people need help

Halloween is an exciting time of year, especially for families. Watching your kids get dressed up to trick-or-treat is a priceless moment that will always be cherished.

But Halloween isn’t just about trick-or-treating. There are so many other festivities and events that make the month of October so sensational.

To make the most out of this spooky season, here are some ideas on how you can celebrate Halloween with your family in Santa Cruz:

Visit Local Pumpkin Patches

There’s nothing that gets you into the Halloween spirit quite like visiting a pumpkin patch. Luckily, Santa Cruz has tons of them!

Post Street Farms is a hidden gem located in an urban garden. This quaint patch has pumpkins of all kinds—from spooky-looking white ones to the

One of the best parts about living in Santa Cruz is having some of the state’s most beautiful landscapes in your own backyard. From the glistening Pacific Ocean to the redwood forests, there’s so much to love about Santa Cruz.

All of these fantastic natural spaces bring seemingly endless opportunities for residents to get outside and exercise.

Here are some of the best ways to stay active in Santa Cruz:

Hike Through the State Parks

Santa Cruz’s state parks have networks of trails that wind around redwood forests and natural landscapes.

These parks are the perfect places to go for hikes. They have tons of trailways that cater to different skill levels, making it easy to find hikes that best suit you.

One of the most popular hiking

If you’ve ever been to Santa Cruz, it’s easy to say that it’s one of the most beautiful places on earth. From the Pacific Ocean to the redwood forests, our city has outstanding landscapes that define the area.

In order to preserve the beauty of our city—and to sustain the earth in general—we need to become more conscious about how our habits affect the environment.

Currently, there’s a whopping 5,25 trillion pieces of plastic in our oceans and every year we dump in another 8-million tons.

Statistics like these show the importance of living a green lifestyle.

Luckily, there are tons of easy ways to be more eco-friendly. Here are some tips on how to live green in Santa Cruz:

Use Less Single-Use Plastics

Millions of tons of single-use

In a city like Santa Cruz, where neighborhoods are built outwards instead of upwards, finding a walkable place to live can be difficult.

Our city is sprawled out from the redwood forests to the oceanside, meaning it can be difficult to get around without a car.

But this doesn’t mean that Santa Cruz doesn’t have its pedestrian-friendly areas.

In fact, it has a ton! Here’s a guide to Santa Cruz’s most walkable neighborhoods:

Downtown Santa Cruz

As with most cities, downtown cores are typically the most walkable areas in town. Santa Cruz is no different.

With a fantastic Walk Score of 96, downtown Santa Cruz takes the cake for the most walkable neighborhood.

The area is filled with over 130 restaurants, bars, and coffee shops

It’s undeniable that Santa Cruz is one of the most gorgeous cities in the state, with its spectacular coastal location and unbeatable scenery.

No matter where you go in this city, you’re bound to find picture-worthy spots that you’ll want to share with all your followers on social media.

So, without further ado, here are Santa Cruz’s most instagrammable spots:

Natural Bridges State Beach

Natural Bridges State Beach is one of the most instagrammable locations in Santa Cruz for its outstanding landscape that defines the area.

Just off the coast, there’s a natural rock formation that looks like a bridge or an archway in the water. This spot is absolutely breathtaking and is sure to impress all your followers on Instagram.

You can visit

Recently, Santa Cruz was named one of the five least affordable real estate markets in the United States of America.

A median home in Santa Cruz would run someone approximately $650,000. Over 100 percent of a families wages would go towards paying their mortgage. With all this negativity towards purchasing homes in Santa Cruz, we’re going to bring a little positivity to the process. You might be asking yourself, is there affordable housing in Santa Cruz?

The short answer? Absolutely.

Here are the top five most affordable communities in Santa Cruz to buy homes:

Watsonville, CA

Located at the southern end of Santa Cruz County, Watsonville is known for its rich agricultural heritage. Moreover, it is a hotbed for berries. This “small” town

Like fashion and food, interior design goes through trends with furniture going in and out of style at the change of every season. As this industry continuously evolves, it seems impossible to keep up with contemporary decor.

But, you don’t have to spend a lot of time and money keeping your interior design in tune with current trends.

By simply adding and replacing small items from your existing furniture collection, you can modernize your designs and transform your living spaces.

Here are the emerging interior design trends for 2019 that you can try in your own home to revamp your space:

Brass Fixtures and Hardware

As design trends are moving away from stainless-steel and polished nickel fixtures, brass is taking over.

Brass