Suburban cowboy: A horse-lover's oasis in Burbank

A confession: Writing this blog, with the constant drumbeat of doom and gloom, sometimes makes me forget why real estate in Los Angeles is such a local obsession in the first place. Then I visit a house like Stan Smith's in Burbank, and I understand again.

I'll give you the details, but won't do justice to it: 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 3,400 square feet, exquisitely redone (think Ralph Lauren if he was a real horseman), zoned for five horses (yes, horses in Burbank). It has 10 stalls, two tack rooms and a large pool on a huge lot (16,000-plus square feet). Four fireplaces, a three-car garage. Yes, it is very close to the 134. No, I couldn't hear freeway noise in the house. The owner, real estate agent Stan Smith, is embarking on a new chapter of life: he's buying an inn in southern Vermont. 1430 W. Valleyheart Drive, 91506. Listed for $1.65 million. More pictures below.

Photo credits: Stan Smith

Comments

[IToldu2CashOut]

Hey Lefty this looks like a good commission opportunity for you. This one might actually sell. I'm guessing this seller reduced his price below bubble levels.

[Patrick Duffy, HousingChronicles.com]

That area of Burbank is one of the best-kept secrets in L.A. (well, maybe not anymore!). I discovered it on one of the moonlight horseback riding trips starting from Sunset Ranch stables at the end of Beachwood Canyon in Hollywood; the halfway point on the round-trip ride stops at a Mexican restaurant in the equestrian-zoned area of Burbank. Highly recommended!!

[D]

Am I reading this right, are you trying to help your real estate agent friend unload his 1.65 million dollar house?

[peteviles]

D, Thanks for writing. No, Stan is not my friend. Never met the man before I walked into his house today -- it was an Open House on the Brokers' Caravan in Burbank today. And he'll sell it without my help, or the blog's help. I just thought it was a neat house. I for one did not know you could keep five horses in Burbank.

Later tonight I'll post about a handful of other Burbank houses I saw; this one was so unusual I thought it deserved its own post.

Pete

[IToldu2CashOut]

Most people don't know but having horses are the ultimate status symbol in LA; LA being a former ranching town. See Steven Speilburg, and other super wealthy.

The NYTimes did a story on this subject last year.

[sandiegan]

I call market bottom!

When Peter puts his house-lust online, I say we've hit market bottom.

Maybe it's just the bottom of the prow of a very long ship hitting, but I say we've found it.

I know a commercial RE professional who's looking to close on an SFH with over half an acre in central San Diego.

He's no dummy.

Some sellers are holding out for 2005 prices.
Other places that have to sell are going for cheap.

It's as good as it's going to get for those places.

[mbob]

Something about the outside of a horse is good for the inside of a human.

Kids were put on this earth so someone could care for ponies.

A horse makes a good royal tutor, they'll pitch a prince as soon as a commoner for bad behavior.

If more people in LA kept and rode horses, life be bettah.

Eternal shame to the city planners who allowed the bridal path down the middle of Sunset to be torn out.

Oil is so over.

LA never made any sense at all until surveying it from horseback. It's still plenty weird but at least I have a companionable chum with whom to warily regard it.

Thanks for the snapshots, Pete.

[E]

WOW!

Way too close to the freeway. Even if I didn't hear the noise (I wouldn't bet on it), the exhaust fumes would make my head hurt and my eyes burn. Nice proximity to Forest Lawn Mortuary if you happen to work there.

[Kathryn]

Beautiful house, great to see the LA Land blog not just covering the foreclosure crisis.

But I am a bit saddened to see Burbank is continuing to allow so many horses on little lots. What would pass as a average sized backyard to the rest of the country is now an equestrian sized lot in Southern California. But I still can't see how anyone is allowed to keep 5 horses on barely more than a 1/3rd of an acre. But then, Burbank has even allowed some equestrian developments to be zoned for horses on lots a small as 6800 sq feet.

Guess that's what's happening to equestrian communities with all this development. In Chatsworth, the horse people are being forced out so developers can build stretches of tract homes. Horses use to be kept on acres of land, now they're kept in tiny pipe corrals in people's backyards.

[debrap53]

Note to those who have never been close to horses. While watching all the lovely horses, buy lots of fly swatters and bug spray.

[dilbert dogbert]

Yikes! I can't let my wife see this. She would jump at it. We have been looking at horse property in Woodside CA for a while and gads! we can afford this. Moving to So Cal would be a bitch however.
Tell me when you hit bottom in So Cal. We up here in Palo Alto have only seen a slowdown not a price drop. A small house just up the street, less than 1500 sq ft went for $1 mil quickly. Then again the $8 mil place two doors down is going to say on the market forever at that price.
Whee aint California real estate fun?

[Inland Empire]

Are those Doc Bar bloodline Quarter horses in the back yard? The price should throw in some warmbloods for dressage.

[mbob]

Hey deb

Just shut all your windows and stew in your lethal condo's tox cocktail of outgassing building materials. No flies there! They all croaked.

Good horsekeeping is observed in the main, not the breach. You need to get out more.

[ILovethebottom]

Wouldnt pay more than $800k for this. We have a loooooong way to fall.

[puckhead]

I'm waiting for the first post that says that the house is worth $150K tops and that you could own 50 horses in Colorado or Idaho or Wyoming and build a mansion for $15 bucks and a can of beans. I know it's coming.

[AJ]

I agree with Kathryn. Here in Connecticut alot of towns have a 1 acre per horse mininum. A 1/3 of an acre is
too tiny for that many horses. Where would they get their exercise? There is no room. Amazing what they allow in California!