Westlake Village Real Estate

The Conejo Valley Realtors Review once featured an article entitled "Thousand Oaks-It´s Where Everybody Wants to Live...But We Already Knew That." The article reports that Thousand Oaks and Westlake Village is the most desired location for new home buyers among all of the cities in Ventura County. This was according to a Community Rankings survey by The Meyers Group Real Estate Information, one of the largest providers of new home data in the country. 

Westlake Village & Thousand Oaks received the highest ranking because it has one of the nation´s lowest crime rates and is one of the top ten communities for statewide academic achievements. Additionally, Thousand Oaks offers a thriving business environment with attractive shopping and services as well as pleasant year-round temperatures averaging 75 to 85 degrees during the summer and 53 to 69 degrees during the winter. Likewise, citizens are committed to preserving the city´s idyllic setting that retains a rural-like quality while reposing within a picturesque plateau, rimmed by tree-dotted hills and scenic mountains. Parks, open space, trails, wilderness and wildlife entice many urban-weary San Fernando Valley families to seek relocation in the Conejo Valley. Thousand Oaks population is 124,000 with 46,200 households with a median age of 37.7 years and median income of $86,267. Joining Thousand Oaks, separated by northwestern edge Los Angeles County line, is incorporated City Village, an award-winning, master-planned community approximately 8,775 population with age 45 years median income $90,000 per household. The Westlake Village master plan stressed one fundamental premise: to preserve, protect even enhance magnificent natural environment of area. Since its inception in 1963, there has been little, if any, deviation from the original plan, which included 17 residential neighborhoods, parks, greenbelts, 150-acre lake, equestrian, hiking biking trails, tennis courts, golf courses, schools, churches, a cemetery, shopping plazas and light industrial areas. 

A variety of housing exists within The Conejo. Single family residences represent the largest segment with over 170 well-preserved, professionally managed neighborhoods, overseen by neighborhood associations, whose members are elected by residential homeowners to maintain the quality and appearance of the community. Many of the individual neighborhoods have adopted Declarations of Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC&R´s) to provide written guidelines for the responsibilities of homeowners in preserving neighborhood amenities. Resale prices range from the $300,000´s to over $8 million. Many neighborhoods have schools within walking distance, parks, greenbelts, cul-de-sacs, and other amenities. Some areas are designed with equestrian trails and space to keep horses. Some are gated communities providing privacy and security. Because of gently rolling hills, gulches and canyons, indigenous oaks and sycamores as well as natural and manmade lakes, the region offers every style of living from hilltop views to lakefront. Thousand Oaks and Westlake Village cherish their oak trees and require that a permit be obtained before a tree can be cut, removed, or moved. 

Dos Vientos Ranch is a master planned community in Newbury Park of 2,000 single-family homes and 350 senior, affordable apartments. This new community will features 20 distinct neighborhoods, most of which have completed construction by national homebuilders. Amenities include miles of hiking, biking, and horseback riding trails, a neighborhood shopping center, and over 50 acres of maintained parks. Construction has proceeded rapidly and is nearly completed. Westlake Village (residential) is built-out except for a few scattered projects. A wide range of townhouses and condominiums offer such choices as shoreline living, lake views, easy walking distance to shopping, and communities near parks and open space or overlooking golf courses, as well as close to California Lutheran University. Close to 100 new condominium units in Thousand Oaks are approved for construction, or have recently been completed. 

The Conejo offers many opportunities for retirement and senior living. A number of housing choices for seniors are available, including several residential care facilities, nursing homes, retirement villages, senior citizen apartments and mobile home parks. New senior housing has just been completed on Thousand Oaks Boulevard where exciting redevelopment plans have already begun to make "Thousand Oaks Boulevard the place to be in the new century."

Recreation Information

Recreation in Westlake Village is the salvation of every busy working person as well as a magnet for tourism and economic prosperity. Nowhere is diversity more concentrated than within this Greater Los Angeles-Ventura area where the farthest destination is no more than 165 miles away - from seashore to mountains, lakes to deserts, cities to farms, natural wildlife to working ranch life. 

Just about every sport under the sun is available within easy access to The Conejo. The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, adjacent to Westlake Village, provides an impressive variety of nature trails for hikers, backpackers, mountain bikers, picnickers, equestrians, and campers. Many scheduled programs are available, including naturalist classes, Indian arts and handicrafts, art exhibits and concerts. Thousand Oaks and Westlake Village maintain numerous scenic sidewalks, green belts, and protected bike lanes while various neighborhoods have networks of equestrian trails. In addition to walking, jogging, hiking, and horseback riding, locals and visitors enjoy golfing, tennis, swimming, fishing, boating and sailing.

Westlake´s 150-acre lake is stocked with bass, blue gill and catfish. Docking privileges, fishing licenses, boating and sailing are available to residents. Nearby commercial harbors offer sports fishing, whale watching and tours to Channel Islands National Park, five islands that begin just 12 miles off the mainland, where the marine sanctuary contains giant kelp forests that shelter more than 1,000 species of ocean life. Hiking and camping is permitted on all the islands and there are many sea caves and deserted coves that attract snorkeling and scuba diving, as well as kayaking and boating. Many excellent state and county beaches and campgrounds are scattered along the coastline just 9 miles across the Santa Monica Mountains. Swimmers, sunbathers, and surfers swarm to well-known beach parks such as Malibu, Point Dume, Zuma, Leo Carrillo, County Line, Sycamore Cove, Pt. Mugu, and others. Birdwatchers also flock to the beaches at McGrath and Point Mugu, among others, to watch migratory birds heading south for the winter. Herons, egrets, ducks and a plethora of birds soar, wade or nest around protected areas within easy observation range. Just an hour north is "The American Riviera" seaside resort of Santa Barbara.

If golfing is your game, there are 18 courses, 13 of which are public, within a short driving range. Oh, yes, there is also a driving range; in fact, there are several. There are 10 tennis court locations and several swimming pools open for public lessons. The Conejo Recreation and Park District manages 33 developed parks, 5 play field parks, and 1 district-wide park in addition to the 1,300 acre Wildwood Park, 12,000 acres of open space and 75 miles of trails. The District offers more than 2,500 organized recreation and leisure programs each year. Westlake Village manages three city parks and a recreation program as well. Organized sports available for youth through area organizations include soccer, football, softball, baseball, basketball, swimming, boating, and track and field.

The Teen Center provides a busy program of indoor sports, music and dance, arts, health and safety, and social activities for ages 12 to 17. The Goebel Senior Adult Center for ages 55 and over offers a calendar of activities every day from early morning to evening in everything from A to Z - aquatic lessons to zoo trips, bridge and billiards to painting or dancing, life writing to league bowling, and many more classes, trips or games, as well as volunteer opportunities. 

The city became a regional cultural center in 1994 with the opening of the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza. Since its successful beginning, the Arts Plaza has played host to a range of events, from national touring presentations, Broadway musicals, contemporary entertainers, and symphony concerts in The Fred Kavli Theatre for the Performing Arts to Young Artists Ensemble productions, musical and vocal concerts, and dance recitals in The Janet and Ray Scherr Forum Theatre. 

Excellent music is performed regularly throughout the area by local groups such as the New West Symphony, Conejo Valley Symphony Orchestra, Los Robles Master Chorale and Village Voices Chorale. The Gold Coast Theatre Conservatory offers classes and opportunities for children to perform in The Conejo Valley Children´s Concert Series. Several small theatre groups are active in the area, including the Conejo Players. Summer activities include free concerts in the park featuring popular entertainers. Visual arts are featured in numerous exhibitions, festivals and juried shows in local galleries and other venues sponsored by the Conejo Recreation & Park District, Conejo Valley Art Museum, Thousand Oaks Rotary Club, Thousand Oaks Library and other community organizations.

Several internationally prominent artists have studios in The Conejo. Local literary arts groups schedule frequent poetry readings, book discussions, writers´ conferences, living history tours, speakers´ forums, and other educational events.

A greatly anticipated annual five-day event called Conejo Valley Days celebrates The Conejo´s colorful past and includes a children´s parade, a grand parade, a chili cook-off, a grand marshal´s race, a "Whiskeroo" contest, a big-midway carnival, and main-stage entertainers. As if this is not enough, there is also a two-day rodeo with cowboys from the professional rodeo circuit competing for points to qualify for the annual National Rodeo Finals. Plenty of top competitors take their licks and spills in events that include bull riding, steer wrestling, calf-roping, barrel racing and bareback riding. Other local or nearby historic sites are the Chumash Interpretive Center in Thousand Oaks, Stagecoach Inn Museum in Newbury Park, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, Leonis Adobe in Calabasas and Malibu Lagoon Museum in Malibu. Theme parks within easy access to The Conejo include Magic Mountain, Universal Studios, Disneyland, Knott´s Berry Farm, and Raging Waters.