Real Estate Investment "Gurus" | A List of The Imposters

We work with a few real estate investors, and as any rational person would surmise: Not every single deal is a "Knock It Out Of The Park Home Run".
Investing takes some up-front education, and patience. But what it requires most is time and money. I stumbled upon an excellent resource for real estate investment advice today. John T. Reed has a website that evaluates virtually every single investment guru/real estate investment seminar that's ever existed. He throws several famous "gurus" under the bus, and explains in detail why their methods are shady or to be avoided.

If you have been toying with the idea of real estate investment, let me offer you 2 absolute truths:
1.) Start small. A $150,000 single family residence rental can teach you more than half of everything you'll need to know. Don't lose your life savings going big, or you won't be able to go home.
2.) Ask yourself if the advice you are hearing seems plausible. If you have to "reach" for a reason to buy into an idea, you are setting yourself up for failure. Many MILLIONS of people have been duped by these infomercial nimrods promising that their brand-new methods will make you a millionaire in just a year or two.

Reed's exhaustive list of the scumbags who've bilked Americans out of millions is frighteningly long, and sometimes contested by those same guru's. They claim Reed just wants to sell his own ideas. Regardless of who is right or wrong, if you are serious about investing, head over to that list of dirtballs, and see if he has a take on one of them. He seems to have a great deal of insight, not to mention, clout.

Real Estate: Trust But Verify

When I try to summarize what makes Santa Clarita..... "Santa Clarita," I would think I can count on 2 things: facts are facts, and opinions are opinions. Take the population figures, for example. We can all agree that the 2010 US census should be a good source, and anyone telling you about the SCV online would use those figures in their research.

So, what is the population of Santa Clarita as of 2010?

Answer: 176,320 people living on 52.71 square miles.

Unless you are Local.niche.com  (177,366 people living on 53 sq. mi.)

Or are the City of Santa Clarita (210,000 and 64.41 square miles)

Or are a California-Demographics site (181,557)

    Okay, no big deal. These figures get us into the ballpark of what size our town is. But the point here is, this should be a piece of data that is not subject to interpretation. The number was 176,320 five years ago. We appear to be growing at a rate of 1.6%, so the 2014 population by MY estimate, is 187,878. Yes, I too am jumping into this game of wild speculation, and that is the takeaway.

    When it comes to real estate, ALL the numbers you see that are NOT on a contract are subject to interpretation, or data gathering error. The only ones you can count on, are on a buyer's agreement. Even something seemingly cut and dry, such as the number of bedrooms and bathrooms a home has, are up for grabs on an MLS. So too, are the numbers of stories, with some realtors listing a home as "single story with loft...." and listing it in the MLS as a one story.

w about square feet in the home? This stat will change over the years as things are done to a property, and it is up to the buyer to compare what they are seeing with what is on the page.

    As an aficionado of statistics and general rock-solid number gathering, I like using numbers to tell a story. But earlier I mentioned there is one other method to tell someone what's what: State an opinion. Yelp, Trulia, Zillow and the gang all print out people's opinions about anything you can imagine, including opinions about laws, rules, ethics, expectations, and more. Too often, people rely on the reviews they see. Remember that old adage about how one favorable review is relayed to one other person, but a bad review is relayed to 10? That gets amplified online, where there are a lot of curmudgeons who are messing up my love of statistics telling a story. Thank God, the reviews of our services are all positive on these sites, but I worry about the power of one annoyed client. 

    The big takeaway here: Trust but verify. Everything. I mean everything. The entire real estate business is predicated on every single person doing what they are supposed to do: buyers, sellers, realtors, inspectors, lenders, appraisers, contractors, escrow agents, brokers, movers, landscapers, attorneys, mortgage brokers.. etc etc... If one person lets something slip, the entire process often comes to a grinding halt.

Pictured at left: 1 Bedroom with loft.

Investors: Throw Your Money A Lifeline

Investors who are under age 50, and are looking for a little more oomph in their portfolio might want to take a second look (or first look, for that matter) at small-market real estate investments. They don't have to be big splashy multi-million dollar properties, to generate some very useful income. One example: parents of students going away to college would do well to buy a multi-unit investment property with 2-4 unit, and have their child live in one of them. Another example: buying a duplex in a smaller town than the one you are in, and seeing immediate cash flow, plus equity building.

I am having great success in several markets. Two different investors are making their 3rd and 8th purchases with me, respectively. The world of investment property can be high risk/high reward... But it can also be low-risk/high reward. That's where I come in.

Give me a call to talk about strategies, and what you are trying to achieve.

The stock market is not a sure thing, and frankly many sectors are overpriced. Real estate? We're just getting started! No bubbles on the horizon here.

Passive income is a beautiful thing, as long as it is as passive as possible...

Call us for a no-obligation chit-chat. (818) 261-8306.

Santa Clarita May 2015 Home Sales Data Shows Selling Season is Here

June 13,2015

The home buying season is definitely under way in Santa Clarita with over 400 SINGLE FAMILY homes sold last month. Stevenson Ranch remained the most expensive market with median sale prices at $660,000 while Castaic was the value leader with median sale prices at just $407,000. 47.8% of all homes sold for at least the listing price in May, declining from 49.5% in April.

City-wide, the average house took 69 days on the market before it registered as sold, down from 97 in April.

NEWHALL had 36 new listings and 33 sales in May. The median sale price was $337,000. Asking prices are currently much higher, as the chart above, from Altos Research shows wildly different numbers than the data provided by the California MLS. Still getting to the bottom of those figures......

CANYON COUNTRY had 89 new listings and 66 sales in May. The median sale price was $408,600.

STEVENSON RANCH had 27 new listings and 21 sales in May. The median sale price was $660,000.

CASTAIC had 27 new listings and 22 sales in May. The median sale price was $407,000.

VALENCIA had 116 new listings and 86 sales in May. The median sale price was $452,000.

SANTA CLARITA as a whole had 411 new listings and 309 sales in May. The median sale price was $435,000.

Nothing To Do in Santa Clarita?

I get around... I hear things... I am.. in the loop! (For an over 50 year old, that is...)

So it comes to me as a surprise when I keep reading posts on various websites from alleged Santa Clarita residents bemoaning how little there is to do here... It's getting old.

Older than me, in fact.

Perhaps it's still cool to be jaded and withdrawn from the place you live, but life's too short to gripe about how awful the town you live in is... I love Santa Clarita. I can't seem to convince any of my old friends that it's great enough to MOVE here, but I'll keep trying. For the rest of those who happen upon my ramblings: A LIST OF STUFF TO DO IN SANTA CLARITA, in no particular preference:

Hurricane Harbor, The Aquatic Center (with Dive-in Movies), Frisbee Ultimate at Central Park on Saturday mornings, the Skatepark, the dog park, Vasquez Rocks, Mountasia, Gibbon Conservation Center, Art Slam, Thursdays in Newhall (themed street festivals with a band and food trucks), awesome hiking trails in ALL directions, just pick one. Paintball USA. Lake Castaic. Indoor Go Karts just southeast of the 5 and 14 intersection. Saturday Saugus Swap Meet. Frisbee golf in Central Park. Vista Valencia Golf Course (9 and 18 holes). Robinson Ranch Golf Course.. 
Greg Bratton's answer, while pithy, is short-sighted... IF all of these are unappealing, there are still church-organized activities, summer concerts, Friday outdoor concerts at the big box shopping center in Stevenson Ranch.
Magic Mountain, Comedy Club at Marie Callendars, beach volleyball at SC Sports Complex..
I truly could go on, and on... but I invite you to add to the list, in case I've forgotten something more obvious!

SLOW DOWN, Santa Clarita!

2 Words: Slow Growth,
Wait: Make that 3 words: Managed Slow Growth.
Now that the media has decided that the economy is back in gear (and I can't fathom why it would be, with almost all new jobs produced being low-wage or part-time work) builders and Santa Clarita planners seem to be in lock-step with the goal of building out Santa Clarita as soon as possible.

What's the rush?
1.) Where's the water?
2.) Where's the infrastructure? The existing roads need fixing, along with needed new roads.
3.) Where's that damn bullet train actually going to go?
4. Will the vilified Cemex mining operation actually start?

Plans are in the offing for huge developments in Eastern Santa Clarita over the next decade, and they all but ignore these 4 questions. Let the buyers beware: Do you want to live in a new home and choke cement dust, only to get in the car and sit in traffic behind a dump truck while you watch the "high speed" train lumber by at about 35 mph in Santa Clarita?

Both the builders and planners cite needed jobs and housing, and I agree with that part. But building with so many intangibles left unsettled is absolutely crazy, and anyone who buys a home in eastern Canyon Country in the next 5 years is asking for trouble.

The list of new development is lengthy and unmanageable as it currently stands:

The Five Knolls project at Golden Valley Road/Newhall Ranch Road adds 500 homes.

The Skyline Ranch project to be built between Whites Canyon Road and Sierra Highway south of Vasquez Canyon Road will add 1,260 more homes.

The Vista Canyon Ranch proposal, an 1,100 home project located across the Santa Clara River from Canyon Country Park.

River Village still has 400 more homes slated for building in western Canyon Country/Saugus.

Trestles, hiding in the shadow of Via Princessa, by the train tracks somehow adds 137 more units.

Working for a Realtor, you'd think this would be great news to me, but I've seen what uncontrolled growth does to an area (cough, San Fernando Valley, cough). Oh well, Santa Clarita, it was "awesome" while it lasted.

It ain't pretty.

.

Santa Clarita: Bigger Than San Francisco? Well, Yeah!

Just how big is the city of Santa Clarita, and how far is it from 'civilization' (according to all the alienated youth on Tumblr)?

The city is approximatly 65 square miles in size, though the triangular footprint of the city makes it seem like more.

From point A to point B? That's where it gets interesting.....

Santa Clarita is basically shaped like a triangle, as seen in the picture below, with the top angle being about 13 miles across, then 10 miles down to the bottom (Newhall) and 11 miles back to the beginning.

Above: Santa Clarita (13x10x11)

Below: Same dimensions overlaid on San Francisco. The triangle stretches well below Daly City.

See more astonishing facts at our website:

Case Study: Selling Your Home For $50,000 Above Zillow's Zestimate Price, in Under 5 Weeks.

(Or "Why You Need An Experienced Realtor, and not rely on Zillow or a friend to help you sell...")

Simply put, Zillow's price estimate (Zestimate) placed the value on a home we recently listed in Canyon Country at $545,000.

The estimate didn't reflect our knowledge that single story homes in that neighborhood are at a premium.

It didn't reflect that the value of the stunning view from the back yard of this home is worth an additional $30,000.

It couldn't account for how meticulous the homeowner was, in keeping their home in perfect condition. After all, the pricing information it was using was based on sales of home over a year ago! We know this, because nothing has sold around there in a year.

The video below shows a group of Realtors touring the property 2 days after we listed it, giving us feedback that was in sync with our valuation:

The home was worth far more.

We listed it for $85,000 more than Zillow's Zestimate, and knew we would have to "educate" every single person on why the home was worth more. 

But that's what a good Realtor does:

Educate.

Justify.

Calculate.

And yes, Sell. 

We entered escrow on this house at a price $50,000 above Zillow's estimate, and both the seller and buyer are thrilled. The seller is getting the true value of their home, and the buyer recognized a fair price, and didn't allow it to turn into a bidding war.

If this sounds like the kind of services you need, contact us at:

The Gallatin Group.

Top 7 Overlooked Questions By Home Buyers

In the rush of adrenaline that a buyer feels when they walk into a home they can tell they will want to buy, a few important details might just slip by them, if they are giddy with remodeling ideas and envisioning how it will look when it is theirs... Here are 7 quick questions often neglected by home buyers.

Cool City Showdown: Boulder Colorado vs. Santa Clarita, California

I left Boulder in 1985, and never looked back. The cold, slushy winters, unrelenting hipster vibe coupled with my increasingly lousy college grades to point me towards greener pastures. So I moved 40 miles or so northeast, to Fort Collins, and there was much rejoicing. That town was more grounded, and every bit as eclectic. Fort Collins remains one of the best places in the entire country to live, especially to raise a family. But it got me thinking: why do I still see Boulder trotted out as more of a focal point of Colorado, and not Fort Collins? Did I make a mistake leaving?

Now I live in Santa Clarita. Awesometown. I've lived here for 20 years, and watched it grow like a weed. I hesitate to ever use that phrase that probably coined by some PR company 10 years ago, as it seems just a little too boastful, even when it's absolutely true. Santa Clarita is now the 3rd largest city in L.A. County, larger than more famous cities such as Burbank, Glendale or Pasadena. Colorado and California are two of your better places to settle down. I know a dozen people who moved from Colorado to Cali, stayed awhile, but then high-tailed it back to Colorado, never to return, even as a tourist. Los Angeles has that effect on people. But Santa Clarita is NOT L.A., just as Boulder is NOT Denver. I know both cities pretty well, though Fort Collins is undoubtedly growing and changing quicker than the other two combined.

So, if Boulder remains the coolest city in Colorado, is it a better place to live than my new cool spot?
Let's dig in....

Scenery

 In the video below, which city are you looking at? There's mountains, there's even buffalo grazing....

Alright.. That is not Boulder. But...

The initially shaky and jarring video above,

(hey, you do a 360 degree shot in under 60 seconds.. time is money, people!)

and photo below are shot exactly one mile from my doorstep.

 I can walk 1 mile in 3 directions, and hit absolutely gorgeous hiking trails.

I have to drive at least 5 or 6 miles in Boulder....

 The Score:  SC:1 BLDR: 0

If the citizens of Stevenson Ranch would bust out a camera and take a picture of their own flatirons, I'd have an excellent photo to give you a side by side of... But trust me, these are an absolute clone of Boulder's famed Flatirons.

Quick.. Colorado... is this the front range?

Santa Clarita

Boulder

Boulder gets 4 full seasons, including SNOW. Point: Boulder

Score: SC: 1 - Boulder:1

Biking:

Boulder was a biking hotspot even back in the 1980's.. It was ahead of its time in a lot of ways. I was raised on hamburgers and lasagna, Imagine my shock when I rolled into Boulder as a freshman at C.U. to find a falafel shop and a yoga studio..Those things have only recently made it into the mainstream. Bike paths don't really exist in Boulder. You have to ride in the street, in your own "special lanes" and pray you don't get run over by someone who is fed up sharing the road with you.

I know Boulder has tons of bike trails, but...

Santa Clarita has Paseos...

 In 2007, the League of American Bicyclists awarded Santa Clarita its "bronze" designation

as a "bicycle friendly community." Santa Clarita was picked to be the end of Stage 6 in the AMGEN Tour in Calif.

 Score: SC 2  Boulder: 1

Okay.. Some quicker comparisons:

Collegiate Sports:

Boulder has a BIG school, and football team. CU.

SC only  has College of the Canyons.

Point: Boulder. Score 2-2 (Incidentally, that was probably the score at the last CU game...)

Nightlife: 

Boulder has The Hill, and Pearl Street Mall.

Santa Clarita has Old Town Newhall and Valencia Town Center.

Point: Boulder... Pearl Street is a thing of beauty.. 

Score: Boulder: 3 SC: 2

Housing:

Boulder: Estimated median house or condo value in 2012: $477,200 

Santa C: Estimated median house or condo value in 2012: $360,600

Point SC.. We know both towns have gone UP since then.

Boulder has a STRICT slow growth policy that drives up the price of housing.

Score 3-3.

Income:

SC Estimated median household income in 2012: $78,894 

Boulder Estimated median household income in 2012: $56,274

Score: SC: 4  Boulder: 3

Education:

Santa Clarita: 

Bachelor's degree or higher: 32.8%

Graduate or professional degree: 10.5%

Boulder:

Bachelor's degree or higher: 71.6%

Graduate or professional degree: 36.7%

Point: Boulder.. Score Tied 4-4

Famous Townsfolk

Santa Clarita:

Taylor Lautner (Twilight Trilogy)

Shane Vareen (New England Patriots)

Naya Rivera (Glee)  all attended Valencia High School.

Tim Burton: Film director

Dee Dee Myers: Former White House Press Secretary

Ashley Tisdale: Actress

Boulder:

Dick Anderson (former Miami Dolphins )

Steve Ells, founder and CEO of the Chipotle restaurant chain

Joan Van Ark  (Knots Landing)

Hale Irwin (Golfer)

Point: Boulder (I hated the Twilight hoopla)  
Score: Boulder: 5  SC:4

Industry

The Boulder MSA had a gross metropolitan product of $18.3 billion in 2010,
the 110th largest metropolitan economy in the United States.

In 2007, Boulder became the first city in the USA to levy a carbon tax. (Boo!!)

In 2013, Boulder appeared on Forbes magazine's list of Best Places for Business and Careers.

Santa Clarita is home to over 20 soundstages, approximately a dozen movie ranch/backlots, and numerous production-related businesses that generate dozens of movies, music videos, television shows and commercials annually. In 2006 CNN/Money Magazine rated Santa Clarita the number one best place to live in California and number 18 nationally. Santa Clarita has an estimated gross metro product around $12 billion. It is home to Six Flags Magic Mountian, and Princess Cruises, the 2 largest private employers in the city.
Score: Boulder 6  SC: 4

Crime
Crime Index for Boulder 189.4
Crime Index for Santa Clarita 140.0
(Santa Clarita ranked 3rd safest in COUNTRY)
U.S. Avg. 301.1
Score: Boulder: 6  SC: 5

Wallethub Ranking Based on These Factors:
Median Income, Housing Affordability, Job Growth, Economic Progress, Commute Times, Credit Scores, Reported 'Well-Bieng'
Santa Clarita: 28
Boulder : Not Ranked  (Denver ranked 31)
Score Tied.. 6-6

Distance to the Ocean: 
Santa Clarita: Approx.30 miles -  1 hour by car.
Boulder: 1030 miles - 2 DAYS by car.
Score: SC: 7  Boulder: 6

Distance To Decent Ski Slopes:
Santa Clarita: 80 Mins by car (Snow Summit)
Boulder: 50 Mins by car ( Lake Eldora)
Score: Tied 7-7

Prestigious Universities:
Santa Clarita:
In 2011, Newsweek ranked CalArts as the nation's number one college for students in the arts.
The L.A. Times called CalArts:
 "The Harvard Business School of Animation".

Boulder:
 Eleven Nobel Laureates, nine MacArthur Fellows, and 18 astronauts have been affiliated
 with CU-Boulder as students, researchers, or faculty members in its history.

Score: Remains Tied 7-7

Another aggregator of factoids, livability.com has been enlisted to break this tie......

Santa Clarita is the winner!!

I kinda knew it all along, the day that I looked around on my hike and thought

"This is where I want to be."

Which Santa Clarita Zip Code Is Searched For The Most on Trulia?

Out of 805 Los Angeles County zip codes, Valencia's 91354 is ranked 67th in home searches.

Newhall is searched for the least, at 161st.

 (Both areas still rank in the top 20% of all searches in L.A. County.)

Baby Boomers Are Staying in their Homes Longer Than Other Generations

This infographic from California Board of Realtors shows a couple illuminating facts about  why Baby Boomers are staying in their homes longer than other generations:
 1. They plan to move out of the state at a rate slightly faster than those who plan to move here, continuing a net loss of population in California (not including births here, and immigration of both the legal and illegal variety.
2. They're more broke than they ever counted on being at this point. Results of a recent survey by Natixis Global Asset Management with 1000 respondents show, 33 percent of Boomers have set aside less than $50,000. By comparison, 41 % of the Millennial or Generation Y group (ages 18 to 33) have already put aside $50,000.   Now factor in the fact that Baby Boomers have saved an average of $262,541, about a third of the $805,400 they predict they’ll need at retirement. What? 
It's flat-out amazing that people have been able to squirrel away even these amounts... 

Nine Useful Tools For Your Home Search - You're Welcome

There are a bewildering number of websites, real estate apps and software suites that enable a regular Joe to try to match the abilities of a professional at something. In music, recording studios have to compete against digital home recording studio software that costs 1/20,000th of the price.....

Tech can definitely level the playing field in a great many occupations, including Real Estate. With the advent of the big real estate portals, it seems like a person can find all they need to move out of their beaten-down apartment, and into the home of their dreams. As a Realtor, I use tech every day as well, to search MLS listings, unofficially pre-qualify a client, or even help them imagine what a sofa would look like placed in an empty room. I have an iPad full of tools, and an iPhone full of contacts hoping I use those tools correctly.

For instance, there is an app called BAO, or Business Analytics Online which allows you to quickly and easily get key demographic and market facts about any location in the U.S. The thing is, it's pretty easy to mess up and get bad data, and you wouldn't know it unless you knew the characteristics of a neighborhood really well. The app told me the median income in my neighborhood is over $80,000. I invite the makers of BAO to visit my neighborhood and see that unfortunately, that is not the case.

My point? Tech can lead you down the wrong path, with bad data from time to time, so never rely on one single app when making a decision.

So, with that caviat in mind, I have some great tools that many of my clients have found useful, starting with MY app. Self-serving as it is to start with that, my Keller Williams branded app pulls data from our local MLS, and ties that in with GPS, includes a mortgage calculator, and allows you to sort and save properties to a list you send to your agent for more information.

To get it, just text:  "kw1gzs81l" to 87778 (the last two characters are 1 and little L)

Now.. The rest:

Sometimes, communicating what style of home you hope to find to your real estate agent is impossible. Do you want a modern farmhouse, or an Andy Warhol-esque single floor? Grab the Houzz app, (iOS / Android) and browse the largest database of photos of homes you're likely to find. For that matter, you can even send a picture or two of an inside of a home....

When one person can't be present for a home tour, let the other one have a virtual presence, using Facetime on iPhones/iPads.. A wife can show her absent husband around the property and talk about what she is seeing at the same time...

Did you forget to bring a tape measure? EasyMeasure (iOS /Android) will get you pretty close measurements, by pointing your device at where the floor meets the wall...

If you are curious what a room might look like with the walls painted another color, try ColorSnap Studio (iOS/Android) With it, you can explore over 1,500 colors, get color inspiration from a photo or virtually paint your walls with the brush of a finger.

Walk Score (iOS/Android) is for renters. It will instantly calculate how close you are to nearby important amenities, such as schools, hospitals, coffee shops, grocery stores and bus lines..

Great Schools Finder (iOS)  Locate and see on a map nearby elementary, middle, and high schools. Search listings and view detailed ratings, reviews, and test scores.

HUD HOMES (iOS & Android) Official source for Government Foreclosures.


Once you get back home, and want detailed info on your neighborhood, visit the L.A. Times Neighborhoods for an overview of schools, crime, and general commentary about all the neighborhoods in L.A.

What about visiting the 800 lb. gorilla of the industry, ZILLOW?
Obviously the big real estate portals like Zillow and Trulia have pictures of properties and some data, but they are often outdated. They have little incentive to keep them completely up to date, and the "Zestimates" (Zillow's estimate property value engine) are often off by a large sum. A Washington Post article recently noted that:
"No algorithm, however sophisticated, can quantify the value of a kitchen that was remodeled just before a home was put on the market or a yard that is poorly maintained. It simply isn't possible for any AVM to predict the value of a home with a level of accuracy sufficient to make a housing decision."

Zillow even acknowledges that their pricing is within 5% of the correct value less than half the time!

I don't want to get off on a rant here, so I'll switch to design..
For design inspiration, I suggest you visit curbed.com. The site is one of the top 15 most influential real estate sites out there, with stunning photos of how to up your home's curb appeal, as a seller.

I will do a PART 2 on this topic in a couple weeks, as there are far too many cool tools to list in one report. If you have a GO-TO tool you recommend, hit the comments below and share!
-Chris Gallatin   www.gallatingroup.net

Homeowners Vs. Appraisers: A Genuine Meeting of the Minds

In January of this year, Housingwire.com had a post about Homeowner's valuing their properties differently than appraisers... For instance, if Jane in Los Angeles thinks her home is worth $400,000 and her appraiser sets the value at $440,000  the appraisers value is 10% higher than Jane's. A year ago, appraisers figures on typical house values were 6% higher than homeowners. That amount has shrunk to 3% as of November 2014, according to quickenloans.com (Western U.S. only).

First of all, I'm surprised that homeowners have ever felt their homes were less valuable than their appraisers. I join those who welcome this latest trend of similar valuations, but wonder why it is happening. The report only shows the changes in differences of opinion over the last month, and not the actual values. Are the appraisers lowering their figures, or are homeowners raising theirs due to the stabilization of the housing market after the foreclosure crisis?

The article suggests that if the trend continues, the numbers will flip, and homeowners will become troubled that their home is appraising for less than they will think it should. That will seem "normal" to me, although the article suggests that's a problem. I don't see why. Do you?

Disney's Golden Oak Ranch: A Peek at Those Remarkable Backlots

In the quietest of news releases way back in 2011, Disney and ABC Studios announced completion of  two state of the art backlots on the Golden Oak Ranch. The 42 storefront urban district was constructed entirely with filmmakers in mind, and its presence in the formerly scrub-brush filled plateau just southeast of Newhall is breathtaking.

     The lots allow any filmmaker to re-create 1920's Chicago or present-day New York, and everything in between. They've also constructed a residential street, consisting of 14 homes, each embodying a different architectural style on a curved road. Over the years (since 1950 in fact) they've been acquiring more land, and this has brought the total to just under 900 acres. While they only plan to use a small portion of the land, it is plenty impressive. Who knew how much they had going on back there on Placerita Canyon Road?

The film industry is growing increasingly important to Santa Clarita with annual revenues now approaching $56 million. Many have remarked that Santa Clarita is doing so well because it is able to look like almost any city in the U.S. Filming permits and days of work were up 23% year over year for October, and sound stage vacancy rates remain low, so the ranch will be plenty busy for years to come.  For example, Glee''s production crew was at Golden Oak Ranch last month.

I've grabbbed a few of the picturesque shots from the Disney development, and made a quick photo gallery here. A more extensive set of pictures was posted in May 2013 including: