Dos Vientos or Eagle Ridge/Bellagio???? (Thousand Oaks, Cerritos: homes, YMCA, middle school)

[mtjc]

We are new to the state and looking to find a home. We have a son who is 4 years old. We found two homes we really like one in dos Vientos the other in eagle ridge! It is such a tough choice and I would appreciate any insights to help us make a choice!

[MovintoJax]

We moved to Eagle Ridge two years ago, after also looking in Dos Vientos. I think either are good options, but we chose Eagle Ridge and have honestly felt lucky every day to live where we do.

We had several reasons for our choice. Eagle Ridge was closer to my husband's work (and he already has a bit of a commute) so that made it an easy decision for us. We also felt there was more "stuff" that we like here - both in Thousand Oaks and Westlake Village, including dining options at nice places like Mastro's Steakhouse and the Grill on the Alley, shopping at the Westlake Promenade, and entertainment at the Thousand Oaks Civic Center, which has some decent shows here and there. There are so many supermarkets here, too -- not sure how it compares to Dos Vientos, but there are Vons and Albertson's right down the street (along with Little Gym for your little one), and if you go down the hill to Westlake Village you have Trader Joe's, Ralphs, and upscale stores like Bristol Farms and Gelson's (plus a Costco!). Whole Foods is also fairly close.

Schools here are top-notch, too. I know we have the #1 public elementary in Conejo Valley (Lang Ranch), with an extremely strong PTA and very involved parents who have thus far managed to raise enough money to offset budget cuts and keep programs like drama, dance and PE (I have no idea if that's true of Dos Vientos, but maybe someone else has that knowledge?). I believe Los Cerritos Middle School also improved last year to claim the top middle school slot in terms of test scores and thinking way ahead I was told that we'll have a choice between Westlake High School (one of the top high schools in the state) or Thousand Oaks High School, which I think is also quite good.

Dos Vientos has seemed to me like a place that has not yet quite fulfilled the promise of what it could be due to the housing bubble bursting. I know the shopping center has struggled quite a bit and last time I was there it seemed mostly vacant, with stores and restaurants coming and going. I think the YMCA is quite nice, though. When we looked two years ago I think housing price per square foot in Dos Vientos was less, but prices have fallen here so I'm not sure if that's still true. At the time, our realtor said if we didn't "have" to live in Dos Vientos (meaning Eagle Ridge was also in our price range), he didn't see why we would, but I think he was mostly looking at it from a location/commute time viewpoint.

Good luck with your decision!