Calabasas, CA

I'm currently working on a project that Janice Sutton threw my way (Thank you, Janice!) which involves another high end home in The Oaks, in Calabasas, CA. I am very familiar with this neighborhood, and have done several homes "behind the gates". Let me set the preverbal "stage" for you. The Oaks community is set in a beautiful, guard gated community that welcomes you with a water fountain featuring of a family of deer. It is the ONLY community in CA, which actually has a SECOND GATED community within the gated community - so I'm sure you catch my drift at the $$$ in this neighborhood.

Long story longer: This bachelor has what every bachelor has in his dining room - a POOL TABLE, of course! Well, his Broker suggested using a Stager to get his home up to par, since the exact same floor plan across the street is also for sale. (Thumbs up to him!) His Broker also suggested moving the pool table and making it back into a formal dining room. (no- duh!)

After talking with this home owner several times, we're 99% ready to move forward and I suggest this beautiful, handmade dining room set which seats 8. Everything in the home is Casa de Mexico, handmade, rich woods, terracotta tiles, etc. The dining room is 15' wide by 17' long, so this was my suggestion for a couple hundred bucks a month. Keep in mind, this is the ONLY piece of furniture we have to bring in for him, so this would be his ONLY furniture expense (besides the fact the set retails for over $8,000 - sorry the picture is a bit dark).

So flies in the Broker to save the day! His Broker has "a warehouse of furniture that he uses for staging that we can use for FREE!" - "Great!" I replied, "We can use what he has" - we do this every day, incorporate other pieces into the plan, besides it's only 1 room of the entire 6,000+ square feet of house - right?

Here's the kicker - THIS is the set that the Broker IS CURRENTLY USING in a house right down the street, which he is offering for us to use for free! How generous of him! Thankfully the Home Owner agreed that this set is a bit "weak"....I told him I'd rather leave the pool table where it is than to do his home that injustice...

By the way, this is the set in the house across the street.

That is why people hire experienced, Professional Home Stagers to STAGE homes, not just put furniture in a house....

The Dilemma:
A Teen boy who is a HUGE Star Wars fan but doesn't have anywhere to DISPLAY his collection. Yes, a teenager who actually is into collecting, but he also has 1 of everything to play with. (Mom used to work for Lucas Films ~ which doesn't hurt either). Keep in mind this is a boy who will soon be a teenager, so it needs to be something that can grown with him, but mom wanted to get the TV and video games out of the bedroom. Lastly, the room gets very warm due to the sun beating down on the windows all day, and not very good ventilation.

The Solution:
Floating wall shelves with ample enough space for all the collectables.
Completely new, reversible bedding.
TV is removed from room and replaced with a glass front storage unit for all the books, and top the room off with the COOLEST CEILING FAN EVER!

The cat is real, the dog is fake.

"Where'd the TV go?" you ask. That's the teen LOFT ~ next time!

Since Haroldine Gearhart lives in Calabasas and works at Rodeo Realty - Calabasas, she is always on top of any community news. Most of you, I'm sure, remember when Calabasas was the first city in Southern California that gained recognition for enforcing a non-smoking ordinance which banned smoking cigarettes in all public places. Well, now a new ban is on the horizon, and Calabasas is now enforcing a ban on mobile car washing operations in the city.

Calabasas is now alerting the community that the water run-off generated by the mobile car washing systems is a violation of State Law and of Calabasas Municipal Code Section 8.28. Their claim is that "This run-off is a source of pollution and contamination of the watershed system. Fixed-site car washes in the city invest significant resources to comply with all aspects of the law and mobile car wash services circumvent these requirements."

Therefore, commencing on April 30, 2008, Code Enforcement Officers will be patrolling the city and they will be specifically targeting illegal mobile car washing operations.

Subject to fines will be the individual homeowners, any Homeowners Associations, as well as, the car wash businesses themselves. Citations will range from $100 for a first offense to $500 per offense.

Haroldine has listened to many people in Calabasas who are expressing their opposition regarding this new ordinance and the obvious inconvenience that they will have to experience after April 30th. For years their use of mobile car washing vs. fixed-site car washes has been an ultimate convenience - since many of their cars were washed early in the morning before they left for work. Additionally, what about the harding-working and dependable mobile car wash operators and the incredible decline in their income?

Residents of Calabasas don't have much longer to get used to this new ordinance and I'm sure the controversy regarding the ban will be continuing for some time.

By Haroldine Gearhart

Several of my clients called me on Friday about the new, mysterious house for sale in The Oaks at Calabasas with the dramatically low price and no picture on MLS. I have all of my buyers set up with automatic MLS listings so they are emailed immediately when a home comes on the market that meets their criteria. The system is so great that every once and awhile my clients will know before me about a new listing. It just so happens that I was out with buyers on Friday and although I did see the notice of the new listing on my phone, I was busy and didn't read the details. It didn't matter, if news is important enough you'll hear it from more than one source and I certainly did.

So yes, there is a bank owned property on the market in The Oaks (REO's we lovingly call them). The house was built in 2006 and has five bedrooms and six baths. The lot is 12,050 square feet and the house itself is 5,353 square feet. Since there are no pictures on the Multiple Listing Service I grabbed my camera and took photos when I was there.

Public records show this home was purchased in March of 2006. The buyers originally borrowed $1,461,292, four months later they refinanced their first mortgage and took out a second mortgage for a total of $2,210,000 (an additional $750k). A year later the house was listed for $2,900,000 (6/15/07) just a few weeks before the July mortgage meltdown. Still not landscaped this house just sat on the market. Even a price reduction to $2,500,000 in August didn't help.

Unfortunately the house was foreclosed on just six months later. One wonders if there ever was a payment made on those new mortgages since the process of foreclosure takes just about six months. The house is now on the market again for $2,100,000. This is the lowest price per square foot in The Calabasas Oaks at only $392.30. But is it worth it? Now that's another question entirely. Following are my viewing notes (kind of like wine tasting notes). I don't usually publish my viewing notes publicly (I send them to my clients only) because as a Realtor we're not supposed to advertise another Realtors listing. But I'm making an exception in this case since they're so juicy.

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Foreclosure in The Oaks at Calabasas

There were thirteen closed escrows in Calabasas during February 2008 with an average sale price of $1,745,692. Currently there are 174 homes on the market and an additional 28 with open escrows. If you take a good look at this chart you'll see that the upper end is moving rather well.

This brisk movement in the upper end is an indication that the rich are getting richer because they are seizing the buyers market opportunity. I have had more buyers in the $2,000,000 and up range contact me since the beginning of the year than I did all of last year. This is any indication that the smart money is on buy now and don't wait until its to late.

There are several spectacular homes for sale in Mountain View, Mountain Park and The Oaks right now. I have been showing several buyers homes in these neighborhoods and the inventory is gorgeous and prices unbelievable. I have seen homes in both Mountain View and Mountain Park for significantly less than $400 a square foot that are updated with pools and views last month. Just a year ago, if you did find a home in one of these neighborhoods for this price it would have needed major work. Homes in The Oaks are selling well with most listed for significantly over $550 a square foot.

Please call me at (818) 652-2937 and I will be happy to share my viewing notes with you. I also track home prices by neighborhood and find that this helps clients make accurate decisions when buying or selling a home in Calabasas. If you would like more detailed information on selling your Calabasas home and moving up please call me for a detailed report.