Britney Spears, among several other famous celebrities, has decided to settle down and buy a home near Thousand Oaks, Calif. instead of the more famous areas of Los Angeles.

“Within the past few months, the real estate market has gone up eight percent nationwide,” said Casey Gordon, an independent real estate agent for Rodeo Realty in Westlake Village. “It is the biggest jump that we’ve had in years for real estate. Right now, it is probably one of the best times since the Great Depression.”

According to the Los Angeles Times, Spears purchased a home back September 2012 in Lake Sherwood. Within a month after the home was put on the market for sale, it was withdrawn from the listings in order to keep it hidden that a celebrity had purchased the house. This is partially why this news was so delayed in coming out to the public.

Many celebrities, including the Kardashian family, already live in Calabasas, Westlake Village and Agoura Hills, all cities less than 20 miles away from CLU.

Now that it is a good time to buy homes, more celebrities are purchasing closer to the Ventura County area.

“The interest rates are so good right now for buying a home that there are more buyers out there than you could possibly count,” said Gordon.

He said that it is good for business because there are more homes being sold, but the downside is that there is very little inventory of homes on the market in Ventura County.

“Most of our listings are getting multiple offers within a matter of days,” said Gordon.

California Lutheran University students seem to think that celebrities who move here are trying to escape from the commotion of Los Angeles and Beverly Hills.

“There is clearly no drama in Thousand Oaks,” said senior Dominick Solley. “So moving from Beverly Hills to here, it is a good change in pace for her.”

Junior Camille Adair said that she has been a fan of Spears for a very long time and thinks it is great that she moved to this area.

“I am excited about it. Thousand Oaks is generally a good neighborhood. It’s on the top list of safest neighborhoods, so I guess that is what she was looking for,” said Adair.

Gordon agrees that the rich and famous move here to have a little bit more privacy, but still be in close driving distance to everything around.

“There are a lot of movie stars and athletes that live there,” said Gordon.

He said he recently sold a house in Lake Sherwood to a stock broker and that house was right across the street from the home of Wayne Gretzky, the retired professional ice hockey player.

“The reason why is because Lake Sherwood is a guard-gated community that is very private,” said Gordon. “It is gorgeous and you are so close to everything. You’re 10 or 15 minutes from Malibu, you’re still close to Los Angeles, but you get a little bit more of the privacy in a smaller area.”

He also said that Lake Sherwood has a very strong homeowners association, as well as a lake, a golf course that hosts the Professional Golfers’ Association’s tournaments and the very exclusive Lake Sherwood Country Club.

As for Spears’ house, Gordon said that her house is up in the mountains and is very private.

“The house is a little bit over 8,000 square feet and she has incredible views. Those homes go from a little over a million into the multimillions,” said Gordon.

In result of these recent home purchases, people in this area may start seeing more celebrities in their everyday lives.

Heather Ford
Staff Writer
Published Feb. 13, 2013