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.

32070 Canterhill Pl., Westlake Village, is one of the most beautiful homes to ever come on the market in Westlake Village! On a recent broker tour, the listing agent commented that the owners spent a million dollars on remodeling it in 2003, and it shows. No stone appears unturned in this Oscar Schuster-built traditional. All baths and the kitchen have been stuningingly remodeled with gorgeous materials. Among its many features: wood floors and wrought iron staircase. The home is over 5,000 square feet on a lot of more than 35,000 square feet, and offers a pool, spa, barbeque, patio, lawn and a dramatic mountain view. Listed at $2,195,000 by Stacy Richardson, Dilbeck Realtors.

5838 Cape Horn Dr., Agoura Hills, on the Lake Lindero Golf Course offers serene grassy views. It has 4 bedrooms and a remodeled kitchen, as well as recently installed A/C, central heating, newer carpet and paint, newer lighting, roof and roller garage door. On a recent broker caravan, bouquets of fresh flowers greeted visitors, creating a welcoming atmosphere in this light and bright home. A nice buy at $494,000. Listed by Jennifer Auten-Ramsyer, Prudential California Realty.

For more details, go to Property Search/Listingbook,.

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.