Westlake Village Real Estate Blog

Archive for the ‘Musings’ Category

After watching the last episode of “The Pacific” recently, I decided we should fly my father’s Navy flag from World War II – unfurled now after 55 years in its triangular case. Count the stars. To all those who served so that we could celebrate Memorial Day with our families today, thank you for keeping us safe.

The Carpenters: Top of the World

When my son, now 20, was in middle school at Ascension Lutheran School, in Thousand Oaks, he came home one day after practice for the school production of “Charlie Brown” and in exasperation exclaimed, “It’s not going well. Mr. Carpenter says we’re not ready, and he’s a professional!” And then it dawned on me: Traci Carpenter was one of David’s classmates. Mr. Carpenter was Richard Carpenter, of the famed duo The Carpenters.

Richard and his wife, Mary, of Westlake Village, have long been supporters of the arts in the Conejo Valley. Now, their latest donation bears their name at Westlake High School: The Carpenter Family Theatre.

In a gala celebration last evening, a sold-out crowd thrilled to performances by students from the high school Drama Department, the Symphony Orchestra, the Wind Ensemble, the Choir and, of course, members of the Carpenter family, including Richard himself.

The new theater features improved site lines and state-of-the art audio, lighting and video capabilities, plus enhanced acoustics and all-new interior surfaces and finishes. Other improvements in the new theater include the elimination of the multi-tiered cafeteria floor, which is the entry chamber to the theater, while excavating the old theater room to accommodate the new seating.

Outclassed by performing arts centers constructed at Thousand Oaks and Newbury Park High Schools in the late 90s, the 1970s-era black-box theater at Westlake High School was long overdue for a theatrical facelift. Richard and Mary Carpenter approached the staff at Westlake High School and the school district about expanding and renovating the theater, and offered a substantial contribution to jumpstart the project.

With a $4 million budget, construction began in June 2009, using the Carpenters’ donation and funds from the CVUSD Measure R Bond and the State Modernization Grant. The Carpenters’ donation came through the Conejo Schools Foundation, the nonprofit fundraising arm for school district.

Introducing the final number last evening, “Top of the World,” as a continual royalty maker, Richard Carpenter called the song “the gift that keeps on giving.” And so his family’s generous gift to Westlake High School will keep on giving for generations to come. He is, after all, “a professional” in the true spirit of the word.

I always tell my buyer clients that if an ad sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t good or true. An ad for a house with wonderful upgrades, a large yard and recent remodeling, for example, at a price well below anything else in the neighborhood may be on a busy street, or it may have a lot of freeway noise, for example.

Today I learned of a new twist to this rule. I received a phone call about a listing I had placed on Craigs List – 684 Starbright Ct. Craigs List had flagged and removed my ad twice for a mysterious violation; I couldn’t figure out why. As it turns out, the call today and the penalty flag were related.

The caller said she had answered an ad on Craigs List for a lease on the Starbright Ct. home for $1,000 a month, and that the owner, a “Sally Smith,” shall we say, had sent her a lease agreement for signature. Ms. Smith had explained to the caller that she, the owner, was going to Nigeria for a year and need a small income on the home. The caller, astounded at her good fortune, checked back with Craigs List today but could find only my ad, and she was savvy enough to contact me. Can this be true, she asked, a house advertised for sale at $859,000 is only $1,000 as a lease? “Sally Smith,” my client, had even given her an e-mail address, she said: SallySmith @ ….com.

I asked the called to e-mail me the lease agreement. The writing was broken enough to be a tip-off, and the request to have funds sent by Western Union set off alarms.

As I always, say, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t good or true.

The Empty-Nester Mom (and Dad) Goes to the Dogs. It happened to me. Just ask Walter Landen, who came to our home within two months’ of our son’s departure to college.

Here’s a great “Wall Street Journal” article that every mother, whether she works outside the home or at home, can appreciate:

“Love Mom, Love Her Blackberry”

I remember racing madly around in the car with my young son anchored in the backseat. “Mom, I’m hungry,” and so, in haste, since I had, of course, not packed a snack, I drove through McDonald’s and got him French fries (true story!). I hear him smacking his little lips. “Mom, these French fries are really greasy.” The guilt spread like nausea through my system. And then, “Mom, these French fries are really salty.” Where was my barf bag? Could I manage it and still be on time? And finally, “Mom, they’re delicious!”

Fifteen years later I am happy to report he has turned out fine – a bright, ambitious college student who likes healty food and hasn’t been to a fast-food joint in more than 10 years.

And, yes, I text him all the time on my Blackberry.

Since taking office on 2007, State Controller John Chiang has made returning property to rightful owners has been one of his top priorities, according to his web site. In fact, the State of California is currently holding more than $5.7 billion in unclaimed property belonging to some 11.6 million individuals and organizations.

California acquires unclaimed property through California’s Unclaimed Property Law, which requires “holders” such as corporations, business associations, financial institutions, and insurance companies to annually report and deliver property to the Controller’s Office after there has been no customer contact for three years. Often the owner forgets that the account exists, or moves and does not leave a forwarding address or the forwarding order expires. In some cases, the owner dies and the heirs have no knowledge of the property.

To check if you might have an unexpected windfall, go to http://scoweb.sco.ca.gov/UCP/Default.aspx.

My thanks to Courtney Kittner for this profitable tidbit.

And this just in: A colleague went to this site today and found $500!

In honor of my friend Kelly Sinclair’s birthday today, I am repeating this post.

My son is now 20, and I have followed a low-carb diet since his 16th birthday. About a year ago, I just had to lighten up – or perhaps I should say, load up. I walked into Barnes & Noble for my bone-dry low-fat cappuccino and spotted a cinnamon scone. “Do you want it warm?” asked the attendant. I couldn’t resist. However, at $1.95 a triangle, I thought I could do better. How hard could it be to make scones?

As it turns out, finding a good recipe was very difficult. I tried recipes from the Internet and recipes from my lifetime accumulation of cookbooks. Nothing was as good as that cinnamon scone from B & N/Starbuck’s.
And then I found Rebecca Griffith. A fellow REALTOR®, she was having a broker “lunch” at a new listing of hers in my old neighborhood. “I came for the scones,” I announced unabashedly as I walked in the front door. And scones they were! Cherry and lemon zest, light and flaky, delicately proportioned, served on ethereal Caspari napkins with unsalted butter! The Golden Triangle found!

I have Rebecca to thank for the recipe that follows. Her scones – and now my scones – are better than those at the Four Seasons Sunday tea, better than those served at an obscure river plantation in Georgetown, SC, (where we stopped on a recent vacation) and, yes, even better than Barnes & Noble/Starbuck’s cinnamon scones.

In deference to my husband, I have even altered the recipe to make them gluten-free. Here goes:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour (or gluten-free bake mix with 2-3 teaspoons of xanthum gum added)
• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup butter
• 2 eggs
• About 1/3 cup milk mixed with cream

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease a baking sheet.
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. With a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
3. In a small bowl, beat eggs and 1/3 cup milk mixed with cream until blended. Stir egg mixture into flour mixture with a fork to make a soft, nonsticky dough, adding more milk or half and half if necessary. Add your choice of dried fruit (raisins, dried cherries, dried blue berries or my favorite – dried orange-flavored cranberries from Trader Joe’s) or lemon zest at this time.
4. On a lightly floured surface, knead dough 6 to 8 strokes. Form dough into a flat circle about 1 in high and 11 inches in circumference. Brush with milk and sprinkle with course sugar. With a sharp knife dipped in flour, cut 8 (I make 10, in deference to my low-carb diet) pie-shaped wedges. Carefully transfer the wedges to the baking sheet.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Do not over-bake!
6. Remove from baking sheet; serve warm with butter (or clotted cream) and enjoy the perfect scone!

So it rained and rained and rained. And my Cal Classic French door, installed after the 1994 earthquake, leaked and leaked and leaked. We hadn’t planned on replacing it soon, but Mother Nature intervened. Within a few weeks we will be the proud owners of two new Energy Star French doors.

Yes, two doors, because the Cal Classic in the kitchen is dog-ravaged. The only silver lining here, other than having nice new doors, is that a federal tax credit is available on our purchase (not installation and finishing though).

With the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act of 2009, homeowners who purchase “qualifying products” are eligible for a tax credit equal to 30 percent of the product cost. Installation is not included. For windows, doors and skylights, homeowners must obtain a manufacturer certification statement to be for the tax credit; the maximum tax credit for the current year for all improvements combined is $1,500 (including roofing, insulation, HVAC, and water heaters).

Remember: A tax credit is generally more valuable than a tax deduction or tax allowance of the same amount because a tax credit reduces tax directly, whereas a deduction or allowance only reduces taxable income.

For more information, visit www.Energarstar.gov, the ENERGY STAR Rebate Finder, or www.MyEnergyTax.com.

By the time our days are sunny and warm, with nary a cloud in the sky, our new doors should arrive. Meanwhile, let the old doors leak away and be scratching post for our dogs. And since the tax credit on the two new doors doesn’t quite add up to $1,500, let’s see what else we could fix ….

I enter California 154 off the 101, and am confronted with a panorama of hills greener than the Scottish Highlands. The roadside is dotted with bursts of color: yellow, gold, purple cream. Rain dances lightly on my windshield. Beyond the wildflowers, black cattle much on the green carpet beneath them. Vineyards form a checkerboard across the foothills.

I am driving from Westlake Village to Santa Maria for a day-long workshop on managing short-sale transactions. It is an eye-opening day, to say the least. The presenter is Sherman Smith, of Sherman Smith and Associates in Tustin. Since 1992 Sherman has handled hundreds, perhaps thousands, of short-sale transactions. His approach is systematic, practical and persistent. “You are looking for the person (at the lending institution) who will say Yes, he counsels. He gives us more than 40 pages of forms to use in the process: He is comprehensive too.

On the drive home, I stop at the Cold Springs Tavern, at one time a stagecoach stop for cappuccino. This place is akin to a frontier cabin. The lighting is dim the fireplace ablaze and the walls sport heads of deer and bear. There is no cappuccino.

I continue on, an unhappy wayfarer. Fog descends into the San Marcos Pass – thick, cottony and blinding. I imagine homeowners, many of them weary from long months of trying to do a loan modification, now turning to the short-sale process so they can move on with their lives. They are exhausted, floating like octopi in the pea soup of fog. Then I glimpse a few real estate agents, trying to swim through the grayness. Their strokes become more hurried and then random – flailing. It is a zoo – or an aquarium out there — in the world of short-sale transactions.

Finally, just a few miles before Santa Barbara, I escape the fog. I am listening to a Wyndam Hill recording, because I find it impossible to drive the California coastline and hills without hearing George Winston’s fingers skip along the keys. It has been a satisfying day. I am more confident now that I have the dialog, tools and systems, to negotiate short sales.

The ocean, also gray, with glimpses of brilliant white, passes by on my right. The rain continues. The traffic gets heavier.

I am home.