West Hills, Agoura Hills, Oak Park or Calabasas? (Simi Valley, Woodland: HOA fees, low crime)

[yenal]

Hello,

I work in Woodland Hills and it's time for us to buy a house. The quality of public schools and safety are really important for us when considering neighborhoods.

Technically there is a very good elementary school in Woodland Hills (Woodland Hills Elementary Charter For Enriched Studies) but the middle and high schools assignments are not great. Our kid is just finishing kindergarten. So we would be fine for about 5 years but we want to buy a house that we feel comfortable living there the rest of our lives without thinking about moving somewhere else. I know, wishful thinking...

We're only interested in parts of West Hills where school assignment is Welby Way or Haynes Charter. I don't have a specific area in mind for Oak Park, Agoura Hills and Calabasas.

Our budget is $850k. Obviously that does not go too far in most of the areas I mentioned (with exception of West Hills). We're looking at a 3 bedroom 1500-2000sf single family home.

Please tell me what you think of these parts of LA (I know some parts might be Ventura County). Also please let me know if there are other parts of LA I should be considering? I don't want to go further west then Agoura Hills though.

FYI: I used the search function but most topics I've found were pretty old. Years can definitely change neighborhoods

Thank you!

[nightlysparrow]

Originally Posted by yenal

I used the search function but most topics I've found were pretty old. Years can definitely change neighborhoods

Really, the only changes have been improvement with gentrification, higher housing prices, and of course, the inevitable traffic increase. Oak Park (technically in Ventura County), Agoura Hills and Calabasas all have good schools, but Calabasas is probably too pricey.You can probably get a house in OP or AH for that budget. Both are low crime, attractive, nice places to live.

Another place to look is Simi Valley, which is less expensive but also has good schools and low crime and almost exactly the same distance from the Valley as AH.

[Miss Pip]

I love Agoura Hills, it's beautiful and great for hiking.

[saimamom]

There are homes in the Deer Springs neighborhood of Calabasas that seem to be what you're looking for. It's a non-gated community, so no HOA fees. Across the street from A.E. Wright Middle School, close to Lupin Hill elementary.

They're all around $800,000. They're 3-4 bedrooms and close to 2000 sq ft.

The neighborhood is next to De Anza Park, easy drive to Agoura Hills and down to Malibu. I like Calabasas because the people are friendly, good schools and it's safe. Agoura is great too. But I've heard from kids who transferred out of Agoura middle schools due to bullying they encountered there.