Full Service Realty Sales and Management Company Serving Santa Clarita

City of Santa Clarita

Santa Clarita, officially the City of Santa Clarita, is the third largest city in Los Angeles County, California, United States and the eighteenth largest in the state of California. The city has annexed a number of unincorporated areas, contributing to the large population increase. It is located about 35 miles (56 km) northwest of downtown Los Angeles, and occupies most of the Santa Clarita Valley. It is a notable example of a U.S. edge city or boomburb. Santa Clarita was ranked by Money magazine in 2006 as 18th of the top 100 places to live.

Santa Clarita was incorporated in December 1987 as the union of several previously existing communities, including Canyon Country, Newhall, Saugus, and Valencia, all of which are situated on the land of the former Rancho San Francisco.[7] It is bounded on the west by the Golden State Freeway (I-5). The Antelope Valley Freeway (SR-14) runs northeast-southwest through an irregular east border, and the Newhall Pass is the city's southernmost point.

Santa Clarita is often associated with the Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park, though the park is located just outside the city limits, and the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), located in Valencia.

Santa Clarita was incorporated in December 1987, but its history stretches back several centuries. About AD 450, the Tataviam arrived, numbering around 2,000 at their zenith.

In 1842, Francisco Lopez made the first "documented" discovery of gold in California. The event is memorialized in an 1842 mining claim issued by Gov. Juan B. Alvarado. The discovery was made in Placerita Canyon, an area later used as Hollywood's original back lot.

The community of Newhall is named after Henry Newhall, a businessman who made his original fortune during the California Gold Rush after opening up the H.M. Newhall & Company, an extremely successful auction house in San Francisco. Newhall's next business interest was railroads. He invested in rail companies that would connect San Francisco to other cities and became president of the San Francisco and San Jose Railroad. In 1870, he and his partners sold the company to Southern Pacific Railroad, on whose board of directors he then sat. After railroads, Newhall turned his eye to real estate and ranching. He purchased a number of the old Spanish and Mexican land grants in the state for a total of 143,000 acres (58,000 ha) between Monterey and Los Angeles counties. The most significant portion was the 46,460 acres (18,800 ha) Rancho San Francisco in northern Los Angeles County, which he purchased for $2/acre, and which became known as Newhall Ranch after Newhall's death. Within this territory, he granted a right-of-way to Southern Pacific through what is now Newhall Pass, and he also sold them a portion of the land, upon which the company built a town they named after him: Newhall. The first station built on the line he named for his hometown, Saugus, Massachusetts. Following his death, Newhall's heirs incorporated the Newhall Land and Farming Company, which oversaw the development of the communities that now make up the city of Santa Clarita.

On September 26, 1876, Charles Alexander Mentry brought in the state's first productive oil well at Mentryville, giving rise to the California oil industry. The oil was brought to a refinery at Newhall, now the oldest existing petroleum refinery in the world: It was operational from 1874 to 1888.

A few days earlier, on September 5, 1876, Charles Crocker and Leland Stanford joined their railroads in Canyon Country, linking Los Angeles with the rest of the nation for the first time.

The Saugus Cafe, on Railroad Avenue in Saugus, was established in 1887 and appears to be, by far, the oldest still-operating restaurant in Los Angeles County.

Filming in Santa Clarita began shortly after the turn of the 20th century with a veritable Who's Who of actors, including William S. Hart, Tom Mix, Harry Carey and a young John Wayne. Hart and Carey made their homes in the Santa Clarita Valley; today both are operated as county parks.

The Santa Clarita Valley was the scene of the second worst disaster in California's history in terms of the number of lives lost. Known as the "worst civil engineering failure of the 20th century". Shortly before midnight on March 12, 1928, the St. Francis Dam collapsed. By the time the floodwaters reached the Pacific Ocean near Ventura five hours later, nearly 600 people were dead. Within modern Santa Clarita city limits, the present day site of the Westfield Valencia Town Center mall would have been buried beneath muck, mud and debris. Numerous buildings in Newhall became makeshift morgues.

After numerous failed attempts to form a city and at least two failed attempts to form a separate county, the people of the Santa Clarita Valley finally succeeded in incorporating the City of Santa Clarita at 4:30 PM on December 15, 1987 after voting in favor of incorporation by a margin of two to one in that year's general election. The other proposed name for the new city, which was narrowly defeated, was "City of the Canyons."

Santa Clarita, according to the United States Census Bureau, has a total area of 62.16 square miles (161.0 km2), of which 62.10 square miles (160.8 km2) is land and 0.06 square miles (0.16 km2) (0.099%) is water.

Santa Clarita is situated near the San Fernando fault zone and was affected by the 1971 San Fernando earthquake, also known as the Sylmar quake. The city was also affected by the 1994 Northridge earthquake, and many commercial and residential buildings were devastated by its aftermath, including the nearby Newhall Pass, the Valencia Town Center, and Six Flags Magic Mountain. The 38 story tall Sky Tower at Magic Mountain swayed six feet in each direction during the Northridge earthquake with only minor damage.

Santa Clarita is within a Mediterranean climate zone, characterized by warm and dry days most of the year with mild-moist winters. During the summer, hot weather is predominant with occasional days of high humidity and cumulus buildups over the higher terrain surrounding the valley. During influxes of monsoonal moisture in the summer, thunderstorms sometimes occur. Due to its close proximity to the Mojave/Upper Desert and Pacific ocean, varying micro-climates are common. Characterized by dry hills covered in brush and chaparral, the months of late summer and early autumn are often referred to as "fire season." Moreover, wildfire activity occurs throughout the entire year during drought conditions. The warmest months of the year are July through September, although it is not unusual for hot weather to occur in early October. During this time, temperatures typically remain in the high 90's and low 100's, but temperatures can reach as high as 117 degrees, as it did in September 2010. Winters are mild, with temperatures dropping below freezing only occasionally on clear winter nights. Rain falls primarily from December through February. Snow has occurred before and was last seen on April 8, 2011 and February 26, 2011, where some areas received a dusting. The area also received measurable snow on January 2, 2011 (1-4 inches).

The City of Santa Clarita is a general law city and as such is governed by a Council/Manager form of government. The city council is made up of five council members elected to four year terms. Each year the council selects a member to serve as the Mayor, a largely ceremonial position.

The City of Santa Clarita's leadership has placed a priority on offering recreational facilities and programs since incorporation. Many youth-friendly activities and diversions exist in order to steer the city's children away from crime and gang activity. The city has established many neighborhood parks and maintains a comprehensive recreation program. There is a recreation center in Canyon Country that includes an aquatic park with wading, diving, and Olympic swimming pools along with a bicycle/skatepark, community swimming pools in both Newhall and Canyon Country and a community center in downtown Newhall. The city's largest park is located in Saugus and is known as Central Park. There are seventeen parks scattered in various neighborhoods throughout the city. Many have lighted tennis and basketball courts, baseball and soccer fields. There are over 3,000 acres (12 km2) of open space and 32 miles (51 km) of off-street trails within its boundaries.

Over the past several years, the city has cosponsored a summer concert series offering a variety of music in cooperation with various local businesses. These concerts are free of charge and take place on weekends in Central Park. The city offers a wide variety of fee-based and free classes and programs in a variety of locations throughout the year. These programs are listed in the quarterly magazine Seasons which is delivered to all residences within the city limits via mail.

The Santa Clarita Marathon is held annually in November. The race was first run in 1995 and is now a qualifying race for the Boston Marathon.

Santa Clarita was picked to be the end of Stage 6 in the AMGEN Tour of California, in 2007. Santa Clarita was also picked to be the end of Stage 6 and the beginning of the final stage, Stage 7, in 2008.

There are several public and private golf courses in Santa Clarita, including, TPC Valencia, Valencia Country Club, and Vista Valencia. The city is also home to a public ice skating rink called the Ice Station Valencia.

On July 1, 2007, to offer new businesses tax incentives to operate inside Santa Clarita, the industrial and commercial areas in northern and western Santa Clarita were zoned as a federally recognized Enterprise Zone. Additional warehousing and office space was also constructed. Presently, the Santa Clarita Enterprise Zone covers 97% of all commercial, business, and industrial zoned land within the city of Santa Clarita. This zoning allows local businesses to claim hiring, sales and use tax credits.

The newly designated Enterprise Zone is now the base of operations for several large companies, including True Position Technologies, Salt Creek Grille, Condomman.com, and Trigg Laboratories.

Metrolink provides commuter passenger train service to the Santa Clarita Valley along its Antelope Valley Line which runs from Lancaster to Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles, where transfers can be made to destinations in Southern California and the rest of the nation. Metrolink services 3 stations in the city, Via Princessa Station in the Canyon Country community, Santa Clarita Station which is centrally located in the city and serves most of the Valencia and Saugus communities, and the Newhall Station which serves the community of Newhall. All stations have large parking lots to allow commuters to "park and ride."

Metrolink service operates 7 days a week, with reduced service on Saturdays and Sundays.

Property Management in Santa Clarita, CA

Serching for Property Management Company in Santa Clarita, CA to manage your rental property?

Click on the REQUEST QUOTE link above to get connected with a highly trained professional property manager in Santa Clarita with over 25 years experience to help you manage your rental property investments.

Integrated Properties offers complete property management solutions in Santa Clarita that meet every property owner's needs. Our property management company will perform any and all services at one low price. With professional property management, you will maximize your investment while giving your property the attention and care it deserves.

10 Most Common Reasons to hire a Property Manager

If you are like most property owners, you have probably managed your own property and may have done a very good job. With the ever changing Tenancy Laws, dealing with uncooperative tenants, and the hassle of dealing with maintenance issues can sometimes take its toll on even the more experienced investors. Here are the 10 of the most common reasons why property owners have chosen to hire a professional property manager to manage their rental properties.

•You’re not a home maintenance guru.

•Don’t want to have to make yourself constantly available to deal with issues.

•Have difficult time raising the rents regularly to keep up with market.

•Tired of having to deal with collecting rents, late payments, bounced checks.

•You don’t understand the Tenancy Law or the ever-changing fair housing law.

•Don’t want to have sleepless nights due to conflicts with tenants.

•Too busy with work or want to take more vacations without worrying about your tenants.

•You dread confrontations with your tenants to make sure they take care of the property.

•Tired of showing your unit to unqualified tenants and struggle with picking the right tenant.

•Don’t have access to a well written Lease Agreement to protect your interest and cover all basis.

With our low cost management fee for full property management services, makes it difficult not to consider hiring a pro to handle your management needs. For a fast free quote, click on the link below and start giving yourself some rest and peace of mind.

We are committed to providing quality property management services to all our clients, regardless of size or location of your rental properties.

We are your neighborhood Santa Clarita Property Manager!