Westlake Village Real Estate Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Westlake Village’

Welcome to my blog: Westlake Village Real Estate Blog: Real Estate, Life and Times in Westlake Village and Beyond! Here you will find snippets and tidbits about everything from the local real estate market and home loans to happenings and openings around our town.

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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.

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.

If you would like to receive reports for your area on a regular basis, please send me your e-mail address and geographic area of interest. This information is offered on our company website: Ewing and Associates Sotheby’s International Realty.

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

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.

The Glass Is Half Empty

The median price of homes in Ventura County is 35% below the peak in 2006. Thousand Oaks is off peak by 30%, while Westlake Village and Agoura Hills are off by 20 from Dec. 2006 to Dec. 2009. Moorpark and Simi Valley are both off around 35%.

With federal home-buying incentives set to end in April, the budding housing market could be nipped.
Given the budget deficit and the lack of federal stimulus money, unemployment could jump again. And jobs shipped overseas may never come back.

The Glass Is Half Full

The housing market has stabilized and more gains are expected. Housing usually is the first indicator that a recession is ending.

Distressed sales are being absorbed as fast as they hit the market.

Ventura County’s median sales price is 15% higher than a year ago.

Locally, temporary unemployment is up, with the hope being that some temporary work will lead to full-time employment.

Thousand Oak retails sales are better than expected.

The Thousand Oaks Auto Mall has some of the best sales in the country.

While this is the worst recession since the Great Depression, we are, in the words of Cal State Channel Islands professor Sung Won Sohn, “beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

P.S. from Sher: In the Acorn articles I read about these two forums, there was no mention of the “shadow” inventory – the many homes that are in distress either as short-sales or bank-owned properties that are not on the market. But given the low supply of homes and condos on the market – only about 550 homes currently in the Conejo Valley, compared with 1300 by mid-2006 – it’s easy to believe many of these will be absorbed by demand. Currently, as Mark Boud of Irvine-based Real Estate Economics, said, “We’re burning off distressed sales faster than we’re creating them.”