Open House Sunday 1-4 pm at New Price; A Deal Awaits

I have previously posted this large West Hills Pool home, but now it is at a new price and is a deal. With another recent huge reduction, a good deal just became great! Take advantage, as this is a fine property at a great price. Traditional sale of this large spacious pool home on a quiet street. Lying in an award winning school district is this private two story six bedroom family home. Well maintained with several recent functional updates. Property features an open floor plan with newer carpet downstairs w/ both north and south exposure allowing a ton of natural light to flood into the property. Good size kitchen with eat in breakfast area. Multiple doors lead out to the stunning entertainer's backyard with large pool, hot tub, and built in bbq; also a dog run. One bed downstairs, and five good size rooms upstairs. If you desire lots of bedrooms and a stunning private backyard in an A+ school district, this is it.

23515 CANDLEWOOD WAY, WEST HILLS

$599,000 (Reduced $126,000 from $725,000) 6 Bed 3 Bath 2472 Sq. Ft 11,160 Sq. Ft Lot

See a detailed tour of the entire property at http://23515candlewood.com/

Now let's discuss what this home and what it isn't. It isn't modern, the kitchens and baths are dated, there is no wood flooring, and some of the paint choices are questionable depending on one's taste. Now with all that said, what it is is a fine 6 bedroom home in a great area with a prime school district for the kids. It also has an exquisite backyard with a great recently redone pool. All of the functional needs have been updated within the last three years (ie plumbing, electrical, etc). The beauty of this home is that the lines and floor plan is there, it just needs a bit of vision and updating. If it was updated though, the price would be higher, and this way you get to put your stamp on this property and create it in your own tastes. I must admit that I am a bit surprised that it is still available. We certainly started too high from the start, but are now priced extremely well. I show this property about three times a week, so we are getting "action," but no offers to this point. Considering I had the property professionally photographed, there should not be too many mysteries upon entering this home -- either it works for you or it doesn't. I would encourage buyer's in this area to take another look at this property, as it is now at a great price, and keep an open mind as it could be a truly great home in no time with not too much money invested. The great owners, who have lovingly maintained this property for 25 years, are downsizing and are ready to sell. Come out and see this great property for yourself this Sunday from 1-4 pm. If you can't make it and would like to see this home, please contact us anytime @ 310.600.9172 or email smilayproperties@gmail.com.

One of Best High Schools in Los Angeles May Get Even Better

My Listing in West Hills

I have a listing in West Hills, which happens to be in a fantastic school district that includes El Camino Real High School. This high school has won five out of the last ten National Academic Decathalons, as well as many titles in various sports. I wanted to repost this article from the Daily News yesterday, which discusses the move of El Camino becoming a charter school. If you have children this is definitely a great neighborhood for them to get a great education. My listing has six bedrooms, 3 baths, and an entertainer's dream backyard with a large pool and hot tub. It is being offered at $645,000. You can see a detailed tour of this fine property here.

DAILY NEWS ON 12/14/10

EL CAMINO REAL SET TO BECOME CHARTER CAMPUS - EDUCATION: Move being made to get acclaimed Woodland Hills high school more funding, flexibiility.

El Camino Real High School - a powerhouse both academically and athletically - is poised to become the latest campus to break away from Los Angeles Unified.

With overwhelming support from its teachers and staff, the Woodland Hills campus is slated to present its charter petition today to the Board of Education, the first step to becoming an independently run, publicly funded campus. Charter proponents noted that El Camino locate in a well-to-do neighborhood in the West San Fernando Valley, fails to qualify for many of the state and federal grants awarded needier schools.

El Camino also has faced devastating budget cuts, which have threatened the school's academic and athletic programs. We just had to find another solution, said Shukla Sarkar, who has worked 25 years as a teacher and instructional coach at El Camino and sits on the school's charter committee. Sarkar said 86% of the school's staff supports the plan to convert El Camino to a charter campus. "This was a teacher-drive effort that was done with the best interest of our students in mind," she said.

School board member, Tamar Galatzan, who represents the area, said she will be disappointed to see the 41 year old school leave the district next fall. "Superintendent Ramon Cortines and I have been working with their key staff to see what we could get them." Galatzan said, but when it came down to it, this was a matter of money. "They are doing what they need to do to be able to survive and thrive as a public high school and maintain the programs they have become so recognized for."

Teams from El Camino have won the National Academic Decathalon six times - more than any other campus in the nation - its achievement displayed on banners in front of the school on Valley Circle Blvd. It also is a LAUSD'S highest performing comprehensive high school, scorirng 798 on the state's Academic Performance Index which uses student test scores to rank schools on a range of 200 to 1,000. Athletics programs have also thrived at the school which have won City section titls in softball, soccer and baseball.

El Camino is the latest school in the SFValley to convert to a charter, following on the heels of Carpenter and Colfax Elementary and Birmingham and Granada high schools.

Charter status will give El Camino a bigger chunk of state money, as well as more flexibility to spend it, since it will be free from many of the state district mandates. Some of those programs for instance require money to be spent on low-income and minority students.

Galatzan said the autonomy may encourage other suburban schools to propose charter status. "I am disappoined that because of the way education is funded in California and nationally right now, this is the only way for this school to continue educating it students," she said.

In its 90 page charter position, to be considered today by the board El Camino leaders promise to maintain many of the programs which have made the school so successful while expanding other areas, like computers and technology, in which they've previously been unable to invest. And while most charter schools do not have to hire union workers, the plan calls for educators at El Camino to continue to be represented by the United Teachers Los Angeles.

The district has 30 days to respond with comments or concerns with their plan before scheduling a final public hearing and a board vote. Cortines, the superintendent, said he'll be disappointed to see the school leave the district, but praised the campus and its leadership. "They are an excellent school with great leadership and we have an excellent relationship", Corginas said.

Connie Banos @ Daily News