Westlake Village Real Estate Blog

Celeberate Father’s Day with a new home! This custom North Ranch single-story gem, situated on one of the most sought-after streets, has been lovingly renovated and beautifully maintained. The gated courtyard entry welcomes you. The gourmet kitchen features professional appliances, a center island and a breakfast nook. The expansive family room has vaulted wood beam ceilings, a rock fireplace and a wetbar. The private master suite features a fabulous walk-in closet, lavish his and hers spa baths and a private gym. The lushly landscapted yard, with gardens and citrus trees, has a stone deck, pool and spa, and and and entertainer’s patio with BBQ and granite bar. Enjoy North Ranch living as it ws menat to be!

Listed at $1,495,000 by Dana Olmes, Ewing & Associates Sotheby’s International Realty.

Map: 1642 Larkfield Ave., Westlake Village, CA

If you want to follow the trends, just follow the headlines. In the past two weeks we have seen headlines pointing to a more positive real estate market. From the Huffington Post and other news outlets, 30-Year Mortgage Rates Top 5%. Why is this positive? As interest rates creep up, sooner or later home buyers begin to notice. The sentiment that there is no hurry, that an even better deal will be there tomorrow, begins to slip away. As this article points out, if interest rates rise from 5% to 6% and the price of a home drops from $500,000 to $450,000, the actual cost of the home over 30 years will be $90,000 higher.

From the LA Times, California Luxury Home Sales Jump 21% (even the wealthy like a bargain). And the Wall Street Journal, Cash Buyers Lift Housing, cites data from the National Associations of Realtors indicating 28% of home sales last year were all-cash deals – double the rate in 2008.

Finally, from the LA Times again, Now May Be the Time to Buy a Home. Says the usually pessimistic economist Christopher Thornberg, principal with Beacon Economics in Los Angeles, “Certainly, we’re pretty sure we’re at the bottom” for home prices, as quoted in the luxury home sales article.

What does it all mean? If you are a home buyer, it may be time to step up to the plate. Stories of homes selling in multiple offers are not uncommon. This means you could soon find yourself paying both a higher interest rate for your mortgage and a higher price for your home.

If you are a seller who is buying up, now may be the time to pick up that dream home. And if you are selling because of a personal or financial situation, don’t wait for prices to rise dramatically unless you have a lot of time. During the 1990s, in the LA area,it took 9.5 years for home prices to regain their 1990 peak.

In 1975, the North Ranch area was being planned and developed. However, there was a caveat. A fire station was required in order to safely service the North Ranch Community. Although the agreed upon location eventually became a park, North Ranch was erected.

At the time, the City of Thousand Oaks wanted to save the Wildwood Mesa on the west end of Avenida de los Arboles as open space, so the city reached an agreement with the owners of Wildwood Mesa. Wildwood mesa agreed to allow homes to be built in the North Ranch area. As part of the agreement, Conejo Recreation and Park District would agree with the city and Mesa owners only if they could have the original fire station site to add to their park site. Therefore, a second fire station site was agreed upon, which is the northeast corner of Kanan Road and Upper Ranch Road. This is the site of today’s fire station: Fire Station 37.

Many residents of North Ranch and throughout the Conjeo Valley live in a Wildland Urban Interface, that is, bordering a natural area. Many others live within a mile of a natural area – the Ember Zone – and are at risk of embers blown from a wildfiare. It’s comforting to know that in North Ranch we have a great fire station ready to service our area if we need help. And by the way, this stations doubles as a polling center on Election Days.

Information retrieved from: North Ranch Living, October 2010.

CAbi. It’s a noun, it’s a verb. It’s even an adjective. Carol Anderson by Invitation. For the unitiated, Carol Anderson has been designing women’s clothing for three decades. She first displayed in Nordstrom, and then other retailers as well. She is well known for her reversible skirt.

In 2001 she reinvented herself, going directly to her customers. Now CAbi is sold only through in-home parties. It’s a marketer’s conundrum: Women who shop for sale merchandise all the time will go to a friend’s house for a CAbi party, have a glass of wine, try on clothes in front of each other, and pay full price. In this stubborn recession, CAbi enjoyed its best August in its history.

I have CAbi-ed for seven years at my friend Betsy’s home in North Ranch – twice a year, rarely missing a show. Last night Betsy’s CAbi rep, Debi Rote, unveiled the new fall collection. The theme this season is New York: Soho, Chesea, Madison Avenue – you get the idea – and the color is black. As the rep said, black is the new black. There were black stretch pants, black skirts, black sweaters, black dresses, black tubes, black jeans – with interesting colors such as spruce, blueberry and hot tamale sprinkled throughout. (Carol’s colors are never simply green, blue and red; even black is not black; it’s licorice.). You can see the collection online, but you can’t buy it there, and in truth the online presentation doesn’t do it justice. In fact, it’s not supposed to: You have to go to a party and get inspired, get undressed and get your wallet out. In short, you have to CAbi.

Prices aren’t cheap, but they are easy to justify. The fabrics are soft and non-wrinkly. The styling is detailed and glides sinuously over all types of bulges and bumps. And for those who really do their homework, CAbi leggings, for example, are at least $40 cheaper than a recent number at Nordstrom, and Carol’s Paris jacket a bargain compared with a dashing Nanette Lepore at the same store.

So 13 women, some plump, some skinny, some tall, some short, some 20-something, some “we shall not whisper their age,” some friends, some strangers – CAbi-ed last night. It was great fun, and I know those black leggings and that Chanel-like jacket will look smashing. And think of all the money I saved!

Little Hudson stepped out into his yard early in the morning, as he usually did, at his home in North Ranch. And, as usual, his owner watched him more closely than he watched the three big dogs who lived there alongside Hudson, who is, after all, only 15 pounds of much-loved white fluff. Suddenly a great shadow loomed over Hudson: a red-tailed hawk, commanding a wingspan of three feet, swooped down to seize its breakfast. Only the dog’s owner’s quick hands saved him from a terrifying flight.

 It seems the hawk, along with Hudson and other family pets,  now resides in the vicinity of Fairway Ct. and Golf Course Dr., in North Ranch – a reminder that we all live within a few feet of wildness.

Earlier this month the 462 property owners within the North Ranch Property Owners’  Association received a packet via mail  containing the proposed new CC&Rs and By-Laws. Within the week another smaller package arrived in the mailbox via hand delivery, this one asking for a vote to disapprove the proposed CC&Rs and By-Laws.

The letter accompanying the first package explained that the current CC&Rs, being more than 30 years old, predate California state statutes governing all homeowner associations.  New documents, the letter explained,  are  needed for the association to comply with state law. Furthermore, the current documents are sometimes ambiguous and not “user-friendly,” the cover letter stated.

The bone of contention prompting the second letter focuses on the storage of recreational vehicles.  The proposed new documents would allow for such storage provided RVs are not visible.  The 14 property owners who issued the vote-to-disapprove  letter argue that commercial storage is available for recreational vehicles and therefore no RVs should be allowed within the neighborhood.

Another issued posed by the concerned 14, which includes two current Board members, is the power Board members would gain in the new documents to create new rules without a vote of the property owners. In addition, the proposed By-Laws state there shall be one vote per lot, and that for election of Board members, owners may cast one vote for each open position but may not cumulate their votes for any one candidate.

In a letter to all property owners dated March 16, 2010, attorney Glen Kulik, whose law firm participated heavily in the development of the new documents, issued a rebuttal. In a nutshell, he indicated homeowners can disapprove just the items they dislike without disapproving the entire document, that banning RVs would be held illegal if challenged, and that other concerns would violate California Civil Code.

While this may be turgid stuff, if you are a North Ranch property owner, be sure to review the proposed package and subsequent letters, and then cast your vote – yeah or nay, no later than May 1.

If you are hoping for the CliffsNotes on the significant changes, you won’t find them.  There are too many changes to itemize them, according to North Ranch Center staff. For other questions, call the North Ranch Center at 805.373.3725 between 1:00 and 5:00 PM Monday through Friday.

1791 Shawness Ct., Westlake Village, CA 91362

This well-priced four-bedroom home, nestled in the heart of North Ranch at the end of a cul-de-sac, has been updated throughout with contemporary taste. The spacious gourmet kitchen features a large center island, granite counters, built-in pantry, stainless-steel appliances and a sunny breakfast room. Adjacent to the kitchen is the family room. There is one full bedroom/bathroom suite downstairs. A wide staircase leads upstairs to the elegant master suite with fireplace, sitting area and plenty of closet space. The grassy yard has ample room for play or entertaining. The home is close to the North Ranch Golf Course and Country Club, a large public park, and fine resutarnts and shopping. The school district is Conejo. Listed at $975,000 by Nicki La Porta and Karen Crystal, Ewing & Associates Sotheby’s International Realty.