California’s abundant natural beauty can turn deadly when combined with warm, dry, windy weather. Now that Spring is here with Summer quickly approaching, it is important to take preemptive measures against wildfire.

As a homeowner, there are several actions you can take to protect your home from wildfires:

• Create a defensible zone around your home. Your local fire department can help.
• Using roofing resistant materials that are rated Class A. Common Class A roof covering includes asphalt fiberglass composition shingles, concrete or clay tiles, and steel or copper tiles. Screen all openings created by vents and roof materials. Keep roof and gutters free of debris.
• Landscape with fire-resistant plants.
• Make sure firefighters can see your address.
• Have an evacuation plan family members can follow, and don’t just talk about it, practice it.

If you’re ready to start the hunt in earnest, your next step is to get pre-approved for a loan. Most sellers, including all REO and short sale sellers, will not review an offer without a loan pre-approval, and many real estate brokerages require pre-approval in order to work with you. There are two ways to go—quick, or in-depth. You can get a quick pre-approval from your regular bank or credit union if you’re not sure which lender or mortgage plan you’ll be using. If you do know your specific lender and mortgage, go with the in-depth. With either process, you’ll need to fill out a loan application and submit it along with the following information: Work History, Credit Rating and History, Total Debt, Down Payment amount available, Investments and Other Assets and Residence History for Previous two Years. The amount of documentation will vary by Lender, this is just a general rule of thumb.

Let’s assume your application passes muster, and you’ve been pre-approved—congratulations! Don’t go too crazy celebrating though: If you make major changes to your credit, debt, or assets after pre-approval, but before you secure a loan, you could jeopardize your chances of getting any mortgage at all. Lenders commonly re-check your credit within five days of your home purchase closing, and any significant changes to your score may put the kibosh on your loan.

With more Homeowners leasing their homes, the Rent Rite Directory might be a useful tool. First launched in Dallas by real estate entrepreneurs in July of 2010, this growing database is now available nationwide. RRD provides comprehensive, detailed background checks on prospective tenants, including incident reporting, credit history, and criminal background checks.

The free incident-reporting system tracks a tenant’s previous dwelling history, including skips, evictions, on-property criminal activity and proxy-renters (those who sign leases on behalf of tenants otherwise unqualified to rent). The more comprehensive check runs $16 for a standard package and $36.50 for a premium package.

For more information visit www.therrd.com or call 855.733.2290.

Until recently, if you had a complaint, you had to take your chances appealing to the credit card company itself. Now the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has opened a one-stop complaint center for all credit card related issues.

To register your complaint, go to CFPB’s home page. There you’ll find a simple form that asks you to describe what happened and to categorize your complaint from a menu of about 30 items, such as “billing disputes” and “credit line increase/decrease.” You’ll also be asked how much money you lost (if any), when the incident occurred and what you have already done to resolve the problem.

Next, you’ll be asked to describe the outcome for your problem that you think would be fair, and for your contact information. Expect written confirmation from the CFPB, which will forward your complaint to the card issuer.

Once you have registered your complaint, you can check its status online. If the issuer does not respond in a timely manner and resolve the complaint satisfactorily, and the CFPB receives a number of similar complaints, it will likely launch an investigation. It’s too soon to tell how well this complaint process will work, but seems like a step in the right direction.

Recently, the Leonis Adobe Museum in Calabasas began an initiative to encourage members of the community to visit local museums. The museum has created a “passport” that visitors can fill by going to selected museums in the area. The amount of stamps earned correlate to a certain prize. At 25 stamps, the passport holder receives one, get one free lunch or dinner at the Sagebrush Cantina and at 40 stamps, a free Sunday brunch for two at the Cantina. As of now, the prize for the full 50 stamps has yet to be announced.

A representative from Leonis Adobe stated, “this is a wonderful way for families and all residents to journey through California’s rich history.” Other employees at the museum expressed that the true prize for visiting the museums is learning more about the history of California. This initiative is a great activity for Calabasas residents to partake in while also enriching their cultural knowledge of the state. To see the full list of museums visit the official “Passport2History” website and pick up your passport at the Leonis Adobe Museum.

Yesterday, the Calabasas Library revealed a mural in the Children’s Reading Room. Councilman, Fred Gaines once served on the Library Commission and was there for the Library opening in 2008. After the opening, he as well as other council members wanted to add something unique to the library. So in January, the City commissioned artist, Ricky Alvarez to paint a mural in order to add a “wow factor” to the Children’s Reading Room. Alvarez took a little over one month to create the awe inspiring art work.

The finished product has four tiers, each of which represents a different theme. The first layer depicts ocean and is filled with sea creatures and swimmers. The second layer’s theme is land accompanied by a painting of City Hall. The third tier is sky themed with a few birds and the last is of outer space featuring an astronaut. A mother from Agoura Hills said, “I think the depiction of City Hall and surrounding land is beautiful and amazing. My daughter loves it.” If you haven’t seen it yet, go check it out for yourself.

This gorgeous modern California Ranch style architectural estate is in the exclusive community of Rolling Hills. Approximately 14,374 sq ft of luxurious living space designed by reowned Cliff May. The owner states that 2 million+ was spent to remodel/upgrade the home in 2010 while staying true to it’s modern “California Ranch” architectural heritage.

This rare and “one-of-a-kind” property is situated on 4.19 acres of park-like grounds with panoramic city and ocean views, the home features a unique indoor pool with retractable roof and wet bar for a year-round use, North/South tennis court with large cabana, this is an entertainer’s paradise with all amenities with an expansive living area that boasts distressed American walnut wood floors, dry sauna, gym, 5 fireplaces, skylight, cathedral ceilings with an oversized media room and full bar, wine cellar, and gaming area. Gourmet kitchen features a commercial grade Wolf range and built-in sub zero freezer/refrigeration units and built-in coolers. Second master suite has a private patio. Detached guest quarters with full bath maybe used as maid’s quarters. It also features a built-in closed circuit camera security system and ample paved driveways with parking for up to 30 vehicles.

This property is listed at $12,950,000 by Diana Kim. 27 Crest Road, Rolling Hills, CA

Real Estate has Changed Views

By: Jeff Biebuyck

In the past, drones have been most closely associated with their ability to gather intelligence in wars or even science-fiction. As of late though, real estate agents have taken advantage of drones for a completely different reason. Photographers like Daniel Gárate have been hired to use their camera drones for aerial shots and videos of homes. Gárate’s services are used primarily to help realtors sell luxury homes in the LA area.

A few weeks ago this practice was deemed illegal by police and Gárate’s career along with others was brought to an abrupt stop. The LAPD warned real estate agents not to hire photographers using drones because they believed it violated a few aviation laws. This past Tuesday though, the President signed a new aviation law permitting drones to take aerial shots within certain parameters. Fortunately for Gárate he will no longer need to fret over paying the bills but while he celebrates should we be concerned about our privacy? This new law potentially gives drone users the ability to capture virtually anything from the privacy of your own home. Definitely something to think about.

By: Jeff Biebuyck

The Calabasas Coyotes’ men’s basketball won the Marmonte Championship last night, February 9, in overtime (65-61) against Westlake. Key players included Jeremy Lieberman who scored 26 points and Josh Cohan who scored 15 points and had 10 rebounds. The team has been the clear frontrunner in the league this season but these victories have meaning both on and off the court. On August 25, 2011 a car crashed into assistant varsity coach, Joseph Frazier in a hit-and-run accident. Since then, he has been in a coma in the Northridge hospital.

The team decided to dedicate their season in honor of his fight stay alive. This season also marked head coach, Jon Palarz’s 300th career win in double overtime against Simi Valley Royal. Having a strong season and ending the season on such a high note could not be a more perfect way for the team to show their appreciation for Frazier.

By: Jeff Biebuyck

At the City Council meeting this past Wednesday, February 9, Calabasas Council members announced the repeal of the current septic-tank inspection process in the city. The current ordinance will be replaced with the inspection protocol used at the state level. Owners of homes in Calabasas have been inspected for faulty septic-systems and charged thousands of dollars in repairs to fix leaks. The state law though, only requires owners of failed septic-systems to make repairs if they are 600 feet from bodies of water impaired of nutrients or 100 feet from bodies of water that contain pathogens.

Because of this, if a leaky system is only found to be polluting someone’s backyard then there will be no order for repairs. This change will prevent many Calabasas homeowners from paying high fees to repair their systems. In the City Council meeting, Mayor James Bozajian apologized for any difficulties since the beginning of the ordinace in 2009. Now that the ordinance has been repealed, there will be no inspections until the law has been officially changed. As of now there are 31 homeowners who have citations but City Manager Tony Coroalles stated “We do not expect many properties to fit into this category”. Calabasas residents can finally breathe a sigh of relief.