Sherwood Country Club is a private gated community realized by David Murdock, an American businessman, and owner of Dole. Built around Lake Sherwood, the oldest man made lake in California, Sherwood Country Club was built on the filming site of Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.’s 1921 movie ‘Robin Hood’. The ‘Robin Hood Cabin’ built for the movie still stands inside the gates of the country club. It is said that Fairbanks lived there during filming of the movie, and it has since become a registered historic landmark.
The Sherwood Country Club (91361) opened in 1989, covers 1,965 acres and is now home to over 500 families. Echoing Murdoch’s ideal:
‘a reverence for family, a respect for nature, a love for history and a deep loyalty to high standards of quality’,
Sherwood boasts pools, tennis courts and two Jack Nicklaus golf courses in addition to a spa, fitness center, and a luxurious 22,000 foot club house.
Douglas Fairbanks | Robin Hood
With elegance from another time and place, Sherwood Country Club is Southern California’s premiere luxury real estate community. Club services include facilities for large weddings and more intimate gatherings, with a wide range of indoor and outdoor settings to make any occasion an affair to remember. The beautiful surroundings lend themselves to a number of outdoor activities, including hiking, sailing, kayaking and fishing on Lake Sherwood, the community’s private lake. The Pacific Coast is only a short 20 minute drive from Sherwood.
Only 35 miles from Los Angeles, Sherwood Country Club is situated in the east end of Ventura County. Close to the Santa Monica Mountains, Sherwood is convenient to freeways and local communities such as Thousand Oaks and Westlake Village with shopping, business and recreational centers. Sherwood Country Club is also located within the Conejo Valley Unified School District, noted for its fine public and private schools, high academic standing and numerous awards for scholastic excellence.
Our tactics for marketing properties on the web
Marketing of luxury real estate is increasingly more complex with the digital landscape. Largely, this is because of social media. It’s not something we are afraid of. We can’t afford to ignore it. It is increasingly becoming part of our daily routine and marketing.
Of course, the digital age (for us) started with our handheld computers (i.e., blackberrys, iphones, palms) and are changing the way we connect with our clients. Our potential buyers and coveted clients are equipped with information that have forced us to change our traditional advertising thinking. We, as agents, are still “specialists,” but even more so now. Now we must be specialists not only in our local areas, but we must be armed with the knowledge and information that our potential buyers and sellers are able to glean from the internet.
Real Estate agents owe this to our clients
In the book, “Who Moved My Cheese?“, Dr. Spencer Johnson tells a story with 4 characters—Sniff and Scurry and Hem and Haw—the story is about “change” and how we are going through it. It applies to many industries. The story is important because we must adapt to the changes if we want to best serve our clients in their real estate transactions.
Agents of change
Try as we might, print advertising is increasingly less effective. This is not to say print is obsolete. It certainly has its place, especially with our luxury listings. Our affluent buyers and sellers still read the Robb Report, Wall Street Journal and Sotheby’s, so it is important to have a presence. However, the attention to these printed publications is narrowing because of change. Attention is not as much on the printed page as it used to. In other words, the “Big Shift” is happening now. It hasn’t fully “shifted.”
Real estate reality
The reality for many agents is that there are fewer buyers (as of today) and more competition. What this means is we (as REALTORS®) must be part of the change to digital. Since we began our careers in real estate, marketing was a fundamental in order to acquire listings, to broadcast listings and ultimately, to serve the market. It is our prediction that there is a new crop of REALTORS® that will set the pace. These agents will develop a new playing field. It isn’t going to be done at a conference or through a think tank. It is already happening. Visit Trulia, Realtor.com or Zillow.com. The consumer is there. The consumer is doing their own sort of comps, and collecting their own database through their savvy internet skills. The younger buyers are going to turn into younger sellers.
Keeping up means developing our own platform
We must develop our own voice. Whether you leverage your brand, as we do, with Sotheby’s, or you are forging your own. Use of these technologies and platforms becomes more and more essential. But, we must be careful how we use them. These tools are powerful and allow your brand to become extremely transparent. Transparent, however, is a sort of catch-22. If we all read Gary Vee’s book, Crush It, we know that he is a huge advocate of using video for social networking. Gary Vee also points out how Ian Watt uses the flip phone. If you’ve seen Ian Watt or Gary Vee, they are extremely effective and good at using this medium. They have a keen awareness of the media impact of using video and distributing it on the internet. Again, this is not for everyone. Neither is a podcast. Nor is a blog—especially if you are blogging for market share.
Simply put. A social media strategy for your real estate marketing must be authenticated by you. It is different for everyone. If you don’t have the discipline to write, or you are shy about writing, maybe facebook and twitter are your best tactics. But rest assured, there is a tremendous amount of attention and eyeballs on these platforms. But you must be yourself and be authentic. Otherwise, it’s the equivalent of a 3 line classified ad in the Detroit Times for the Sherwood Country Club…
… with that said… tomorrow we are starting a 4 part series on Sherwood Country Club… hope to see you there!!!
Thousand Oaks, California
Thousand Oaks began as several sleepy ranchos situated in Conejo Valley (the valley of the rabbits) of Southern California in the late 1800’s. Now with more than 125,000 residents, Thousand Oaks has been distinguished as one of the safest cities in the nation, and ranked among the top ten communities for statewide scholastic achievement. Balancing controlled growth and a mix of business, retail and industrial venues with residential areas, parks, schools and open spaces, Thousand Oaks is a pleasant place to visit, live or do business.
8160 Happy Camp
Halfway between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara on US 101, Thousand Oaks (91362) is a mere 12 miles inland from the Pacific coast, and 24 miles southeast of Port Hueneme, the only deep water harbor between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Thousand Oaks is situated 39 miles west of Los Angeles, on the southeastern edge of Ventura County and the western edge of Los Angeles County. The city covers 56 square miles and its elevation is 900 feet above sea level.
Thousand Oaks conducts over 3,100 recreation and leisure programs each year, under the supervision of the Conejo Recreation and Park District. The city boasts five playfields, 42 parks, including a large central park and the Thousand Oaks Library. Its seven community centers are home to the Thousand Oaks Teen and Senior Adult Centers. The District and the City of Thousand Oaks have formed the Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency (COSCA) to preserve over 15,000 acres of open land, including 1,750 acre Wildwood Park and 110 miles of walking and hiking trails. Golfers of all levels can enjoy the newly redesigned 6,274 yard, par 70* Los Robles Golf Course.
The Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Center plays host to many concert and celebrity performances each year. Close to shopping, galleries and fine dining, the Civic Arts Center is a destination in itself.
One Million Max | Mortgage Interest Deduction & your Tax
What is the rule?
There seems to be some confusion regarding the “1 million dollar” deduction homeowners can take on their tax return for mortgage interest.
- Is it that you can actually deduct up to a million dollars in mortgage interest per year?
- If that is true, is that only for your primary residence?
- Is it combined interest up to a million dollars, between your primary home and your vacation home and perhaps your HELOC (home equity line of credit) too?
I’m confused!
Bella Siena Rancho Santa Fe
These are the exact questions that my clients are asking…..and we are just a day or two away from Tax Deadline day!
I suggest that you quickly read Pub 936 on Home Mortgage Interest Deduction. Click here to download.
Or, file an extension and read it slowly.
Either way, the million dollars referred to is the MAXIMUM HOME ACQUISITION DEBT (loan amount), and that’s CUMULATIVE between primary and secondary homes. For example, if you have an $800,000 loan on your home and you have a vacation home at the beach with a loan of $500,000,even though you are paying interest on 1,300,000, you can only deduct the interest paid on the first million of mortgage debt.
Yes, you can deduct the interest paid on your second home loan, but only up to combined loan amounts of 1million.
And what about the interest you are paying on your HELOC? Well, according to the IRS, you are also entitled to deduct a maximum of 100,000 of home equity debt—and yes, that is a COMBINED total. (So, if you’ve used $100,000 of your primary residence HELOC, and $50,000 of your beach house HELOC, you can only deduct the interest paid on one hundred thousand—not on the combined $150,000.)
Seems like they should call this the $1.1 million dollar combined debt interest deduction. Whomever “they” are, but that’s another blog topic all together.
What is Escrow?
In a real estate transaction, an escrow is simply a deposit of funds from a buyer, for delivery to a seller, upon completion of specific conditions set forth in a contract.
In fact, in California, our Residential Purchase Agreement is also called “Joint Escrow Instructions”. These instructions are unique to your agreement, and are precisely what the Escrow Officer at the designated Escrow company will follow.
Why an Escrow?
All parties to a real estate transaction benefit from the safeguard of an escrow, whether you are a buyer, seller or a lender. The escrow holder has a duty to keep the funds safe and to only dispurse these funds when all the parties have complied with the terms of the Residential Purchase Agreement (Joint Escrow Instructions).
The buyer and seller may choose and agree upon a reputable and bonded Escrow company to ensure a comfort level by all parties.
How does an escrow Work?
white stallion
To keep it simple: the buyer makes an offer (usually through a real estate agent/ broker) on a Residential Purchase Agreement form. The seller receives the offer and either accepts it, rejects it, or counters the offer. Once there has been a “meeting of the minds” and the terms of the purchase are set forth and agreed upon, the real estate agent/broker will normally provide the escrow officer with the contracts, which contain all the information necessary for the preparation of your escrow instructions and documents.
The Escrow holder will then follow the instructions in a timely manner; handling the funds, paying all bills, and responding to any authorized requests or amendments to the original instructions.
Once all the required conditions per the contract have been met, any designated loans will be funded, the Title to the property shall be transferred from the seller to the buyer, and the escrow will be “closed” or complete.
Question:
I would like to sell my home in the next 5 to 7 years as I know my current home is not my ideal for the long term, but will suit me just fine in the short term.
Since I would like to sell at some point, does it make sense to do any home improvements? The only significant improvements that I believe would be attractive to a potential buyer are updating the kitchen (current kitchen is useable but would look tired to a potential buyer), installing energy efficient double pane windows and adding air conditioning. I would really like to avoid doing any of these because they would just add more debt to my loan balance and cut into my proceeds at the time of sale. However, I also want to make my house attractive when it comes time to sell.
I know these improvements have the potential to add value, but it is my understanding that I would not get that great a return on my investment. It seems like it would be a waste to do a kitchen remodel when a prospective buyer might not even like the updates that are done.
-Casey
Answer:
You raise a very common, yet important question.
It is my experience that buyers have a few “hot buttons” when they are forming a first impression of a property.
The first one is curb appeal. Curb appeal is a powerful selling tool, and you don’t need to create the Versailles Gardens. Simply mow the lawn, plant some pretty flowers, replace the mailbox, and perhaps paint the front door. If you spend about $1,000 on this, you will get this money back for sure.
I believe you should focus on smaller, more visible upgrades inside your kitchen (second hot button), such as installing new granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. Keep your costs down and use a few high-end materials to make your kitchen look fresh.
To answer your “recoup” question: While the amount you recoup may not be as high as it once was, projects like these will help you sell your home faster and for a better price than a home that isn’t renovated.
According to cost vs. value report that I recently read:
| Home Renovation Costs & How Much You’ll Recoup |
| Project |
Average Cost |
Average Amount You’ll Recoup |
| Replacing the roof |
$18,042 |
67% |
| Replacing the siding |
$9,910 |
83% |
| Turning the attic into a bedroom |
$46,691 |
77% |
| Extra closet space |
$1,250 |
50% |
| Remodeling the bathroom* |
$15,789 |
78% |
| Minor kitchen upgrades |
$21,185 |
83% |
| Installing an energy-efficient window |
$325 |
50% |
| Minor landscaping |
up to $1,000 |
100% |
Question:
I’m preparing to sell my house and have decided to change the shutter, front door, and garage color. The house is a pale yellow Cape Cod with white trim.
My instinct is to match the garage door to the house color and do the shutters and door in black. My REALTOR®, however, wants to go with muted browns. He indicates that the current market color palette is very organic and earth-toned and that these colors will be more ‘on-trend’. Do I trust the Realtor’s instincts or go with my more traditional perspective?
-Stanley
Answer:
My opinion is that it is best to go with the tradition of the architectural style of a home.
If the style is Cape Cod, then look at photographs in home design magazines and match the paint colors and palette that works with that particular style home.
I also recommend not getting too many opinions. Just trust your instincts.
- Karen Crystal
Forbes estimates he is the 183rd richest person in the world, with a net worth of 3.3 billion US Dollars, and he lives right here in Thousand Oaks, California. His name is David H. Murdock, and he is a property developer (among many other things).
I have been watching Mr. Murdock carefully with regards to his new phase of real estate development in Sherwood Country Club, and waiting patiently to see what this highly successful man will do. And perhaps even more importantly…when he will do it. You might say that this Billionaire is my own personal “economic indicator” for this geographical area.
Why? Because David Murdock only builds property that he believes will sell, and he does so, only when he is confident that the marketplace has the ability and the desire to buy.
Well……our Billionaire is building, and with the interest rates still at an historic low, it is definitely time to buy!
There are currently 3 homes under construction with completion dates at the end of June 2010, with 3 more already breaking ground. The pricing is very competitive: all under $2.5 million, and the sq. footage is a bit smaller than a typical Sherwood home : approx. 4,500 sq ft. on average.
Here are some photos I took the other day, along with a rendering of a very rare Single Level new home called “Amalfi”.
sherwood luxury construction
