Hope Ranch residents not thrilled about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's possible move

The residents of Hope Ranch, a secluded and exclusive suburb in Santa Barbara, California, are not thrilled about the possibility of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle moving into their neighborhood.

The royal couple, who currently live in nearby Montecito, where they bought a $14.65 million mansion in 2021, has been rumoured to be interested in buying a home in Hope Ranch since nine months ago, when the Santa Barbara News-Press reported it.

A realtor from Hope Ranch told The Post that they still receive calls from worried locals who don’t want the couple and their security team to disrupt the tranquility of the community, where houses can cost up to $22.5 million and privacy is the main attraction, only three roads are public.

“The people that made the calls to me don’t want change and they don’t want all the hoopla,” the realtor, who requested anonymity, told The New York Post.

“People are not happy, that’s the word around town. They want them to stay in Montecito and not be drawing that kind of attention to Hope Ranch,” another realtor and Santa Barbara native confirmed to The Post.

Some neighbors claim they have spotted Markle on the private beach of the town. “Locals are worried” that Harry and Meghan’s arrival could turn their area into “an extension of Montecito,” the second realtor added, referring to Meghan and Harry’s current star-studded suburb, where celebrities like Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom, Adam Levine, Oprah Winfrey, Jennifer Aniston, and Ellen DeGeneres have homes.

They are also concerned about what they have heard from their neighbors in Montecito, where one shop employee alleged to The Post that the duo’s security team had closed streets and hiking trails.

“It is really not right for streets to be closed down and things to be closed down. And that’s been very disruptive to a small beach community that’s used to being private,” the employee said.

“People pay a lot of money to live here, you know.”

However, a source close to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex denied this, questioning how private security could close a public road.

“Introducing some very high profile people [like Harry and Meghan] would totally change the area. That’s definitely not something that [locals] want and I think [the homeowners’ association] would fight hard against it,” said someone who used to live in Hope Ranch.

“The heads of the HOA are careful about keeping it that way and preserving privacy — that’s the No. 1 appeal of Hope Ranch. We’re the only ones in the area with a private beach,” the former resident said.

Bryan Neyer, a global luxury real estate specialist for Coldwell Banker Realty based in Beverly Hills, quoted to The New York Post that properties in Hope Ranch seldom go on the market and sellers can choose who they sell to.

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“It’s more of a small and very affluent community where properties do not come on the market very often because of that. It’s a lot of old money. Old generational wealth. These properties just get passed from one generation to the next,” Neyer told.

The Express reported this week that Harry and Meghan were “secretly” looking for houses in Malibu. But the second realtor insists that the couple have “been considering moving to Hope Ranch for a long time …. People are up in arms about it,” she said.

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