Malibu City

It is a special week of celebration for Malibu, California for its 20th anniversary as an incorporated city.  Truly remarkable that Malibu maintains its rural standings — the clean ocean air, healthy natural foods, hiking, beach sports, horse back riding, fishing sports, relaxed lifestyle, etc.  What are you waiting for?
In the midst of all the high tech hustle and bustle, it is a relief that one can come and refresh their inner beings and come to a sense of “the why we exist” state.  Malibu has all the modern conveniences — the television- Verizon FIOS [super fast internet connection], most areas has water, electricity, phones, gas, internet and high technology available. 

If one chooses a rest from high technology - Malibu offers a refuge to the tired soul.  It is a perfect place to rest with no television or radio [it is still available but some people prefer to just enjoy conversation and scenery] – where people enjoy reading from hardcover books or paperbacks [fast becoming a thing of the past] and they enjoy doing things together [annual Chili-fest, annual Easter egg hunt for children, summer open air movies at Bluff Park]. Neighbors who care about each other — sometimes giving that helping hand whether it is a cup of sugar, couple eggs or that ride to go somewhere close by.  This is not the country — but close enough and still go into the city within 20 minutes for shopping, movies, etc. 

The Malibu Patch wrote an excellent article about the how and why this wonderful City came about – a link is provided so just click on the link titled “Malibu remains a Rural City”.  Malibu remains a highly solvent city, excellent public school system, clean air and natural resources, land – ocean to enjoy, plus upscale markets and stores to supply anything you wish.  Moreover -Malibu is close to Santa Monica, Calabasas and Westlake Village — what more can one want?

If you are interested in leasing,  purchasing a property or selling a property in Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Calabasas or the surrounding Beverly Hills/southern California area then please contact Judy Kunisaki for professional real estate advice in the Westside Los Angeles area, on 310-317-8396 her online contact form on her website.

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Shopping in Malibu, California is a very cool adventure – where else can you find that perfect gift in a relaxed setting?

Where to shop in Malibu?  Try the Malibu Lumber Yard, Malibu Colony Plaza Shops and the Malibu Country Mart/Cross Creek Shopping Center.  Be sure to click on this blue link that will take you the Malibu Complete website. This website includes individual store link, description of what is being sold, store address and phone number.  The Malibu Lumber Yard is the newest shopping center – developed with two large aquariums to enjoy a shopping break.

When you are ready to eat – you are surrounded by so many delectable choices –

Malibu Lumber Yard offers Café Habana, Chocolate Box Café, and Crumbs Bake Shop.

Malibu Country Mart offers Tra Di Noi, John’s Garden, Howdy’s, Nobu’s, and Coffee Bean.

Cross Creek Shopping Center offers the Malibu Kitchen, Marmalade, Guido’s, Starbucks.

Malibu Colony Plaza Shops offers Coogie’s, Sushi Bui, Subway’s, Malibu Yogurt, Starbucks, Ralph’s hot deli/salad bar.

Malibu Pier offers the Beachcomber and Ruby’s [great hamburgers and thick shakes]

The other standard restaurants include Moonshadows [on the water], Dukes [on the water] and Geoffrey’s [on the water].

Shopping in Malibu, California should be an experience, not to be hurried.  Any gift purchases will be enjoyed by the intended.

If you are interested in leasing,  purchasing a property or selling a property in Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Calabasas or the surrounding Beverly Hills/southern California area then please contact Judy Kunisaki for professional real estate advice in the Westside Los Angeles area, on 310-317-8396 her online contact form on her website.

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Pepperdine Placard

Pepperdine Monument

American Flag

Sea of Flags 1

Beauty of the Flags

It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words.  Today, these photos cannot express the solemn feeling of those who lost their lives unexpectedly on that fateful day – September 11, 2001.  Pepperdine University in Malibu, California honors each life lost on that day by displaying a flag in their memory -each flag representing the citizens of origin.

If you have the chance to come and visit – park briefly nearby and walk amongst the flags.  There are almost 3,000 flags that flow along Pacific Coast Highway as well as Malibu Canyon Road on the Pepperdine front lawns.  It is a good moment to pause pray and meditate on our nation, our leaders and those who protect us each day.

If you are interested in leasing,  purchasing a property or selling a property in Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Calabasas or the surrounding Beverly Hills/southern California area then please contact Judy Kunisaki for professional real estate advice in the Westside Los Angeles area, on 310-317-8396 her online contact form on her website.

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Both the Malibu Surfside News and The Malibu Times reports on June 10, 2010 that the Planning commission approves a permit for the construction of a private road that “would re-establish a link between the northern and southern sections of Rambla Pacifico Road.”

The road that connects Pacific Coast Highway to the Rambla Pacifico neighbors had slid in 1984 and remains closed.

In the Malibu Surfside News, page 3 — Scott Dittrich who is the president of the Lower Rambla Pacifico Road Owners Association reports “the road design has been approved by the city geologist since it actually improves the stability of the hill that slid in 1984.”  There are 72 members in this organization.

There will be a “construction of a 20 foot wide, 1800 linear feet long, private access road to re-establish a linkage between the northern and southern sections of Rambla Pacifico previously destroyed by a landslide.”  It is not the intent to “create a private gated community. Only a section of the road approximately 155 feet in length that lies within the former slide area is to be gated.”

Most of this $3.2 million cost will be funded privately by member contribution – approximately $50,000 per household.  The road will be maintained by the same association. Malibu Times further reports that “a five foot wide trail easement has been granted to allow for the re-establishment of the Malibu Pacific Trail. People will be able to access the trail through small entries located next to the vehicular gates on foot, bicycle or horse.”

If you are interested in leasing,  purchasing a property or selling a property in Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Calabasas or the surrounding Beverly Hills/southern California area then please contact Judy Kunisaki for professional real estate advice in the Westside Los Angeles area, on 310-317-8396 her online contact form on her website.

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If you are ever in Malibu, California and have a need for a good mechanic at reasonable rates – then give a call (310) 456-7790 to the Malibu Auto and Tire Service. It is located at 3728 Cross Creek Rd, just outside the Serra Retreat guard gates on Cross Creek Rd.  Take the path on the east side of the open gates and turn right – the Malibu Auto shop will appear on the right side.

Kelly Higgins is the owner and has a great reliable experienced service team. They give you their honest opinion what is wrong and what needs to be fixed, then they do it well and quick at a reasonable price.  I recently experienced low tire pressure in my car and learned the hard way that other nearby establishments in the area charge a fee to check and fill air tires.  Ouch! I was charged after the gas station mechanic filled the air and no warning about the price.

I drove up to Malibu Auto for a second opinion and learned they would do the same service for free. My tire light alarm would not go out so I asked them for help and they spent the same amount of time on my vehicle but it was free. Malibu Auto will work on both domestic and international vehicles. Their phone number is (310) 456-7790.

I also had a fabulous experience with America’s Tire Shop in Thousand Oaks, California.  They are located just 28 minutes away from central Malibu and they carry all the major tire brands with the Best Price and Best Service.  Actually they are located nationwide.  I bought my tire set from America’s Tire because they have low wait time – they work on your car almost immediately and tire prices are unbeatable!  They patched my tire, checked all my tires and treated my tire exteriors to look brand new – all included in the tire purchase.

Brian is the manager at the America’s Tire located at 399 E. Thousand Oaks, Thousand Oaks, 91360 – just east of Moorpark and Thousand Oaks.  Their phone number is (805) 418-9915. From the 101 Ventura Freeway, take the Moorpark exit and turn right on Moorpark and then immediate right on Thousand Oaks. America’s Tire is just 3 minutes away on the left side.  James was the advisor who worked on my car and his team did a fabulous job – way more than expected. The “Over the Top” experience included tire gloss on all four tires, plus I forgot to make an appointment but they worked on it right away.

If you are seriously interested in purchasing or leasing and want an “over the top” experience in  Malibu, Pacific Palisades or the surrounding Beverly Hills/southern California area then please contact Judy Kunisaki for professional real estate advice in the Westside Los Angeles area, on 310-317-8396 her online contact form on her website.

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According to the LA Times on June 1st the library will close for a $5.7 million renovation in order to qualify for certification under the LEED rating system - the Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design system developed by the US Green Building council.

The renovation will last until September 2011 and will be the first project in the city to meet the standards for sustainable design, construction and operation. HOWEVER! Do not panic! Library services will still be available through the internet and by a book mobile parked just outside the library.

In addition to the green renovations, there will be an new feature – an outdoor reading area and patio connected to Legacy Park. Approximately $5.2 million for the project was provided by the council from the library’s fees while the rest is to be raised by the Library Task Force.

Definitely exciting news for Malibu, the community and the Library!

If you are interested in purchasing a property or selling a property in Malibu, Pacific Palisades or the surrounding Beverly Hills/southern California area then please contact Judy Kunisaki for professional real estate advice in the Westside Los Angeles area, on 310-317-8396 or via her online contact form on her website.

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Housing trends are always changing, however currently with an aging population it is clear to see that baby boomers will play a vital part of the future of the housing market in Malibu and the nation.

Baby boomers are looking for low maintenance homes in mixed use, active lifestyle communities – Malibu is definitely an active lifestyle community! For sellers, it is important to plan for this change – as we wrote, you can as a seller prepare for a future housing market.

There is also another trend which is not so widely reported – that of the aging Generation Y – This generation is larger than the baby boomers, making up 68 million people. This tech savvy group is looking for walkable communities which are also environmentally conscious – they want Green Real Estate!

Also, the Urban Land Institute predicts there will be two major changes beginning in this new decade in our country that will affect the housing market.

The first is that home appreciation will slow. The report predicts annual appreciation of 1 percent to 2 percent. The second change is that the record-high U.S. homeownership rate will decline from 69 percent to 62 percent.

If you are interested in purchasing a property or selling a property in Malibu, Pacific Palisades or the surrounding Beverly Hills/southern California area then please contact Judy Kunisaki for professional real estate advice in the Westside Los Angeles area, on 310-317-8396 or via her online contact form on her website.

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When it comes to any relocation, selecting a home is half of the battle, the other half, if you have children is researching the local schools.

Well, we are proud to say that Malibu has some excellent schools as well as at a higher education level, a great College (Pepperdine).

Now there is some exciting news for Malibu school as they are competing for some new Federal funding;

The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education voted unanimously to apply for federal funding from the US Department of Education to improve education standards in eligible states.“Race to the Top” is a grant program that will distribute money to each state designed to improve educational performance nationwide.

California will receive anywhere from $350 to $750 million from the pool of $4.35 billion available to states and Malibu’s schools are clamouring for a piece of the pie! Funding will be divided among districts, with 50 percent for Title I schools and the rest going to all other schools. Title I schools contain a high percentage of low-income students. The “Race to the Top” one-time funding will be distributed during a four-year period.

Asides from being exciting, the schools have to go through a rigorous qualification process to show they comply with certain standard – which they already meet, being such high achieving institutions as they are!

If you are interested in purchasing a property or selling a property in Malibu, Pacific Palisades or the surrounding Beverly Hills/southern California area then please contact Judy Kunisaki for professional real estate advice in the Westside Los Angeles area, on 310-317-8396 or via her online contact form on her website.

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Well, 2010 looks like many changes are ahead for Malibu and southern California.

With the real estate market turning around, lawmakers have been busy making improvements to codes and tidying up general legislation to ensure better control over the real estate industry – but the changes are not just there!

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed 696 bills into law last year, 73% of the legislation that reached his desk. Some have already taken effect and others are coming soon.

Of course, much of lawmakers’ time in 2009 was spent dealing with budget issues but there were some great pieces of legislation to come out of the year, including a conservation mandate that will not take effect until next month. It requires city water retailers to develop plans by next year that would reduce urban water consumption by 10% by 2015 and by 20% a decade later.

Laws which pertain particularly to real estate include a new regulation change for the mortgage business – creating a new offense, “mortgage fraud,” punishable by up to a year in prison. Such crimes are defined as those in which someone makes “any misstatement, misrepresentation or omission during the mortgage lending process with the intention that it be relied on by a mortgage lender, borrower, or any other party to the mortgage lending process.”

Also with regards to fire safety there is a new regulation on fire prevention requiring government officials to improve guidelines for protecting property from wildfires, including larger brush-clearance zones and better access roads in regions vulnerable to such fires.

Something also dear to Malibu is a new regulation for Papparazzi which allows celebrities and others to sue for up to $50,000 when someone takes and sells their pictures without permission while they are engaging in “personal or familial activity,” such as taking their children to school.

Don’t forget of course on a Federal level we have the federal tax credits ending in several weeks time and more FHA changes coming!

If you are interested in purchasing a property or selling a property in Malibu, Pacific Palisades or the surrounding Beverly Hills/southern California area then please contact Judy Kunisaki for professional real estate advice in the Westside Los Angeles area, on 310-317-8396 or via her online contact form on her website.

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It is that time of year again! Yes, Christmas is upon us!

Asides from the festivities and the business at the malls and the stores it is a time for giving to friends and family. Forget the commercial side of Christmas and focus on what is important.

It is an exciting time in Malibu – not just because, despite the new year being around the corner, but because the real estate market has turned around, and the economy is starting to recover across the nation. It looks like 2010 is going to be a very good year.

Here in Malibu the chance of a white Christmas may not be there, the sun may shine but Christmas is still in the hearts of its residents. With all the months of preparation people are finally getting some time to relax and enjoy the season. They can now spend time with their families and friends and enjoy that Christmas Ham or Turkey!

So, from Judy Kunisaki and the real estate team here in Malibu, California, we wish you a very Merry Christmas!

If you are interested in purchasing a property or selling a property in Malibu, Pacific Palisades or the surrounding Beverly Hills/southern California area then please contact Judy Kunisaki for professional real estate advice in the Westside Los Angeles area, on 310-317-8396 or via her online contact form on her website.

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Judy Kunisaki – CA DRE license 00963582