Westlake Village Real Estate Blog

Archive for the ‘Business Spotlight’ Category

Despite all the doom and gloom we hear about the housing market, the LA area continues to be high on home buyers’ search list. According to REALTOR® magazine, the most searched housing markets in August were:

1. Chicago
2. Las Vegas
3. Detroit
4. Los Angeles-Long Beach, Calif.
5. Atlanta
6. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla.
7. Philadelphia
8. Phoenix-Mesa, Ariz.
9. Dallas
10. Boston-Worcester-Lawrence-Lowell-Brockton, Mass.-N.H.

Perhaps the most qualified tennis pro in the area, Nico Riego de Dios is head pro at Pacific Tennis Club in Westlake Village. In charge of both the junior and adult programs, De Dios also coaches several top-ranked area young players, including Kareena Manji, Jack Sanford, Hank Workman and Isaiah Volk.

De Dios’s tennis career began when he was four, serving as a ball boy for his father in Olongapo City. Both his parents play tennis and instilled in him great technique and a passion for the sport. He played throughout his high school years there and competed in pro circuits.

A world-class player, de Dios has represented the Philippines in numerous tournaments in Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Brunei, Vietnam and South Korea. He also manned the No. 1 position for Eastern Washington University, a well-known Division I school.

De Dios is also working to become a physical therapist, completing several PT internships. He can be reached at 805.444.2183.

Since SNÖ arrived in North America in 2009, it has been featured in VIE magazine as a top gift pick by The Film Festival and NBC and has sponsored the Miss Universe 2010. SNÖ of Sweden, a leading jewelery maker, recently won the beautiful business award, as well as 2010’s exporter of the year award. With representation in over 1,600 retailer locations, Kingo Couture has finally brought this coveted jewelery line to North America.

SNÖ of Sweden originated in northern Sweden. Founder Lena Jonsson Näslund designs the simply made Scandinavian-style jewelery. Nature’s own materials and colors are woven into a design with a stylish touch. SNÖ of Swedens works almost exclusively with semi-precious stones such as onyx, rose quartz, cherry quartz, jade, clear rock crystal, smoked crystals and cultivated freshwater pearls. The materials are linked by chains of coated silver and titanium plated copper and/or iron base which is nontarnished. All jewelry is nickle tested.

SNÖ of Sweden releases four new collections per year, which makes each collection highly desirable since it’s only available for a few months. Check out some of their handiwork at www.kingo.ca.

Soon, Westlake Village will have a venue at well. Wood Ranch resident Anette Manninen represents the line. If you are interested in purchasing a piece or selling it in your store, contact here at anette@kingo.ca.

Gentlemen, it’s February and Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. What to do? Remember the old adage, Diamonds are a girl’s best friend? Or, in the current economy, let’s say, Jewelry is a girl’s best friend. So here’s an idea for you: Stella & Dot.

Enter Jessica Dreyfus, Stella & Dot stylist in Thousand Oaks. Stella & Dot is sold primarily through in-home parties – groups of friends enjoying a glass of wine, munchies and, of course, jewelry.  You can also purtchase it directly from Dreyfus (see contact info below). According to Dreyfus, more than half the line sells for less than $50 – a great price point for the quality. For the little Valentine princess in your life, a little girls’ line debuted last year.

Says Dreyfus, “I love the versatility of Stella & Dot.  I can find one piece that works at the park with my son, out with the girls, and at a spring wedding .”

So, gentlemen, perhaps you can get by this Valentine’s Day with only one purchase for less than $50! Contact Jessica Dreyfus (310.351.9652) to make your selection!

It began as an epiphany, became a passion and is now a multi-faceted business. Six years ago Thousand Oaks resident Stephanie Jaffe experienced a meal at Planet Raw Organic Restaurant, a Santa Monica raw foods vegan restaurant.  Already a long-term vegan and used to buying foods in bulk directly from a distributor, Jaffe wondered if she could use her purchasing power and palate to re-create delicious organic raw-food vegan raw meals. The task became her raison d-être.

Today Jaffe has a vertically integrated company:  She grows some of the food in her own yard, where she cultivates 65 fruit trees and a dozen herb plants. She develops recipes, prepares food and sells it from her home and online; she teaches classes and caters parties.  She also sells smaller quantities of her bulk purchases (25 pounds of nuts, for example, can go a long way, even when used in a lot of preparations). Jaffe prepares all of her recipes herself in her state-of-the-art kitchen, which, coincidentally, she designed.  She will even make deliveries to her local customers.

At first blush, a human diet of raw food sounds frankly, ridiculous, if not impossible. So sampling is in order. At a recent pot-luck dinner Jaffe contributed her marinara pea and green-bean pasta. “Delicious” is an understatement!  To be honest, some of the foods, such as this dish, require light cooking or steaming, no more than a minute in 110-degree water for this delicate Asian pasta. Other preparations – such as the “breads,” which look like Triscuits of different colors and shapes – consist mainly of dried seeds, nuts, fruits and vegetables.

In the works, Jaffe reveals, is a new offering: the Weekly Box, which will likely be prepared foods for a family of four, for example, consisting of four complete meals for that week, at the reasonable price of about $70.

Jaffe is exuberant as she talks about her company. Frequently she refers to her product as “my food.” Now, however, her food can also be your food at www.rawliciousliving.com. Bon appétit!

Pictured below: granola, marinara pea pasta, hemp heart cookie, Jaffe teaching a class, untuna, veggie sun bread

This encouraging article appeared in the 9/16/2010 edition: 10 Reasons To Buy a Home – WSJ.com.”

If there’s something Thousand Oaks didn’t need, it’s another grocery store chain. At least that’s what I thought until I went to Sprouts.

The second specialty market brand developed by the Henry Boney family, who sold their Henry’s Farmers Markets in 1999, Sprouts has sprouted onto the scene as an alternative food store of healthy, organic, local, fair-trade options (did I miss any buzz words?). Located at the site of the old Circuit City, in Thousand Oaks near The Oaks Mall, Sprouts is definitely a destination store – and it’s worth the trip. There are gluten free products, local produce at, believe it or not, local prices, fresh (really fresh) meats and fish. Oh, yes, there’s a selection of low-carb food too, as well as “bin” coffee and grains.

Prices are surprisingly modest. Some would say (although lately the charge is not entirely fair) that Sprouts is Whole Foods without the whole paycheck.

Take a check, check it out, and enjoy a fresh Sprouts meal tonight.

To be sure, the Conejo Valley has its share of excellent French and Italian cuisine. But now, as the anemic economy nibbles into the everyday budget, comes some lighter fare with European flair: Europa.

Located in the North Ranch Shopping Center, in Westlake Village, Europa is owned by Jorge Gruener, a professional chef and graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, in Hyde Park, NY. “Good coffee is my passion,” he explains. “I wanted a European-style coffee house where you could get a great cup of coffee with light, healthy food.”

Indeed, the coffee and teas (all loose leaf) are organic and certified fair trade. Gruener orders the coffee on one day, and the next morning it is roasted and delivered in the afternoon. Each cup of espresso is made with a Rancilio espresso machine – Italian and the best in the world, Gruener says – and served in a biodegradable cup. The panini is made on the premises with La Brea bread, and the pastries come from a boutique bakery.

Outdoor seating and soon-to-come wireless Internet service complete the café. Europa is open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, and perhaps later on weekends.

Europa Cafe, 3945 E. Thousand Oaks B.vd, Suite A, Westlake Village 805.494.1089

I have learned over the years that the top is always relative. And so we see that www.portfolio.com has reported that Newport Beach is the richest city in the nation. In this paradise by the sea, each resident’s annual income (children included) is more than $86,000, and 28.6 percent of households earn more than $200,000.

Even in affluent Westlake Village, these numbers are smashing. For a view from the top here, we turn to Lake Sherwood, where the good news is that the billionaire developer, David H, Murdock, has broken ground on six new homes, after a long dry spell of selling standing inventory.

So what is he building, and why? The why part is easy. He believes he can sell them. This is a vote of confidence for our high-end home market, even if the price point is far less lofty that what you’d find in Newport Beach. Like the stock watcher who follows Warren Buffet, the higher-end home buyer here can take his cue.

Admittedly, the new Sherwood homes are a bit more modest in both size and price than many other homes in this luxury community.  All the new homes are less than 4,500 sq. ft. and priced below $2.5 million.

With interest rates still at historic lows, now may be the just the right time to step up to the “top end” and into a new home in Lake Sherwood, “one of the most beautiful places to live,” in the words of the developer himself.