Calabasas, CA

CALABASAS Community Spotlight and Real Estate Market Report (Homes For Sale / Pending / Sold) - February 2010

Where is Calabasas, California?

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A little Calabasas history and background

Calabasas is an affluent city in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 23,123.

Calabasas was incorporated on April 5, 1991.  It is 12.9 square miles.  Calabasas is a green city and adopted a new green initiative to improve the quality of the environment, reduce green house gas emissions, use finite natural resources more efficiently, and save its residents money.

As of 2005, there were 23,123 people, 8,350 households, and 5,544 families residing in Calabasas. There were 8,350 households in Calabasas. The racial makeup of the city was 85.92% White, 2.18% Black or African American, 0.13% Native American, 7.71% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 1.31% from other races, and 2.71% from two or more races. 4.74% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

The city, much like some surrounding areas and into parts of the West San Fernando Valley, has a high concentration of Jews and Persians. Many of the people of the two ethnic groups mentioned are second and third-generation Americans.

Calabasas features many families with children -- in fact, 44.4% of Calabasas households had children under the age of 18 living with them. The city is known for terrific public schools and is zoned to the Las Virgenes Unified School District.

According to a 2007 estimate, the median income for a household in the city was $104,935, and the median income for a family was $122,482.

Some helpful Calabasas links

City of Calabasas Official Page
Calabasas Chamber of Commerce
Las Virgenes Unified School District
Calabasas Municipal Code

Calabasas Real Estate Market Report (Homes for Sale / Pending / Sold) - February 2010

• There are currently 141 homes for sale in Calabasas, with a median list price of $1,595,000 and a high list price of $14,900,000.
• There are 56 pending homes (in escrow) in Calabasas.
• In the last six months, 139 homes sold in Calabasas, with a median sales price of $955,000 and high sales price of $6,500,000.  The average days on market for homes sold in Calabasas in the last six months was 98. 
• In the last month, 26 homes sold in Calabasas.

As of January 22, 2010 there are almost 200 distressed properties in Calabasas, CA. In this video, I'll show you the breakdown of homes that have a notice of default filed, a notice of trustee sale filed and also the  bank owned properties. For more information regarding buying or selling property in Calabasas, CA, please call Tracey Thomas at (818) 652-2937

It looks like housing prices may creep up this spring here in Calabasas, CA. There are only 141 homes on the market as I write this blog and another whopping 74 in escrow! If you’re only counting active listings, that’s less than five months of inventory.

In The Oaks at Calabasas there are only 17 homes for sale. You can get a four bedroom, five bath, 4479 square foot mini mansion for $1,599,000 or scoop up a luxurious seven bedroom, nine bath estate with a pool, water slide, guest house, security cameras and more for a cool $12,500,000. In Mountain View Estates off of Mureau Road there are nine houses for sale, all of them over 6,000 square feet, ranging from $1,999,999 to $4,500,000. In Mont Calabasas there are only three homes for sale and 26 in Calabasas Park and Calabasas Hills combined.

If the demand for homes continues to outweigh the supply, prices will certainly start inching up. The graph below shows the housing inventory decreasing almost 40% since the fourth quarter of 2006. The mortgage meltdown occurred in July of 2007 and you’ll notice this is when houses under contract (in escrow) fell sharply.

For more information on Calabasas home sales and prices, please call me at 818-652-2937 or email me at tracey@tracey@traceyrealtor.com.

"I'm looking for a steal in The Oaks of Calabasas". At least once a week I get a call or email from a buyer hoping they can steal one of these McMansions for a song. Yes, yes, there are great deals, but no you're not going to get one of these houses for under a million dollars. So here are the foreclosure facts for The Oaks of Calabasas.

More than 10% of the distressed properties in Calabasas are located in the The Oaks. According to Dataquick there are 205 properties in Calabasas, CA that have a Notice of Default filed, Notice of Trustee Sale, or are Bank Owned as of today. Of these properties, a whopping 28 (13%) are located in The Oaks. Not surprisingly most of these homes were built in 2006 and 2007. Chase seems to be the big loser here holding 10 (36%) of these super jumbo mortgages.

In reviewing the histories of these homes it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that there was trouble in paradise long before real estate prices started to decline. All of these homes but two have a first and second mortgage and some even a third. Most of them have been refinanced several times in their three short years increasing the balance each time. Some of them have mortgages totaling 178% of their estimated current value according to Dataquick.

Not all of these distressed properties are listed for sale...yet. In fact of these 28 in The Oaks of Calabasas, only 8 are are currently listed on MLS. Many of these homeowners manage to refinance yet again or liquidate other assets to hang on yet another few months. But deals exist for savvy buyers if you're willing to wait long enough for a short sale to be approved or be aggressive enough to have your REO offer accepted.

If you'd like more information on Short Sale and Bank Owned properties in The Oaks of Calabasas call of email me for a list that is updated daily.

How many times you were trying to find something in a hurry, only to realize that there is too much stuff inside of your closet, in the kitchen cupboard, or on your desk? The clutter we keep prevents us from being on time, makes us procrastinate and requires extra time and money for cleaning. It keeps us in the past, makes us depressed and sometimes ashamed of ourselves. We feel disorganized and tired just by looking at the excess stuff we've accommodated during the years and can not part with.

We keep too much stuff because it makes us feel more secure, or because we believe the more we have, the better. In today's world, where we have instant access to practically every item's high and low price alternative, we buy to our heart's content. This causes our homes to be filled with stuff, some of which is rarely or even never used. Our rooms and garages are filled up to the ceiling, and it's still not enough. Want proof? Just look at the numerous storage rental businesses around you.

Are you one of the many who are paying mortgage for a very expensive storage space for their stuff? Is your home full of rarely (if ever) used items? Maybe you already have tried to get rid of some of this mess, but without success?

Here are some ideas on how to start:

Define "clutter zones" in your home and attack them one-by-one.
You can approach the clutter clearing in two ways: either schedule the whole day (weekends work best) for a given space (the fast way), or assign a certain amount of time daily, for example 30 minutes, to work on this task (slower results, but often the only way if you're busy on weekends).
Use the "empty and add" method: remove everything from the cleaned room (cabinet or drawer in case you're using the "slower method"), and clean it thoroughly. Then bring in only the essential items like the bed in the bedroom, the sofa and chairs in the living room, etc. Concentrate on the activities you perform in that space and items supporting those. Try to live with it for a day or two, and then bring in a few (and I mean a few) personal objects that will help to make the room your own. That's it!
Sort the remaining stuff into 3 piles: the 'Throw Away' (you know what to do with it), the 'Get Rid Of' (sell, give away, donate), and the 'Consider' pile (you can't or won't decide what to do with it right now - return to it in a month or so).
If you are a collector, try to rotate your collection so there are always some fresh and interesting objects on display, and the rest (pared down to the minimum, of course) is stored safely so it won't gather dust and block the energy flow inside of your home.
And the most important advice (this made a huge difference for me personally): do not buy any more new items if you don't get rid of something beforehand. And before you buy anything, always ask yourself: Do I absolutely love it? Do I really need it? Is the quality good enough to withstand years of use, so I don't have to throw it away soon, in order to buy a new one?

Getting rid of unnecessary stuff in your live will help you become more energetic, gain a new perspective and make a fresh start. It also will improve your overall health by minimizing the use of household cleaners for everyday cleaning of your innumerable possessions, as well as the health of the planet through frugal use of resources, and shrinking the mountain of trash produced by you every year.

Happy De-cluttering!

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