Best Buys In Ojai/Team Deckert – Our daily blog spotlighting the best in Ojai Valley real estate!

August 27, 2026

Quote of the Day

Faith is the courage to live your life as if everything that happens does so for your highest good and learning. Like it or not.

~ Dan Millman

This Day in History

August 27, 1967: Beatles manager Brian Epstein dies. On this day in 1967, Brian Epstein, manager of the Beatles, was found dead of an accidental drug overdose. The following day, the headline in the London Daily Mirror read “EPSTEIN (The Beatle-Making Prince of Pop) DIES AT 32.” Brian Epstein was, by all accounts, the man who truly got the Beatles off the ground, and in John Lennon’s estimation, it was difficult to see how they’d manage to go on without the man who had managed every aspect of the Beatles’ business affairs up until his unexpected death. “I knew that we were in trouble then,” John later recalled. “I didn’t really have any misconceptions about our ability to do anything other than play music. I was scared. I thought, ‘We’ve ******* had it.’”

The relationship between Brian Epstein and the Beatles dated back to Liverpool in late 1961. Entirely self-managed and without a recording contract, the Beatles had just recently returned from Hamburg and begun playing Liverpool’s Cavern Club. Epstein was then running his family’s record and musical instrument shop on Walton Road, just blocks away from the Cavern, but as he would later tell the story, he hadn’t heard of the Beatles until he had two young customers in quick succession enter his store looking for a copy of a record they’d made in Hamburg as the backing group for vocalist Tony Sheridan. Based on this rather modest “buzz,” Epstein arranged to go see the future Fab Four several weeks later.

The band that Epstein saw the first time he laid eyes on the Beatles was very different from the one that would soon conquer the world. They dressed in black leather, they played only cover tunes and they would freely eat and drink onstage during and between songs. Yet Epstein was immediately taken with their charisma and the crowd’s response to it. On January 24, 1962, he was officially hired by John, Paul, George and drummer Pete Best in a deal that gave Epstein a 25 percent cut of the band’s gross earnings for the next five years.

As a business deal, that management contract may seem to have been tilted very much in Epstein’s favor, but it is fair to say that the world might never have heard of the Beatles were it not for their manager and good friend. Epstein put the Beatles in suits, had them bow in unison after each number and, just a few months after being hired, got them their first recording contract with Parlophone Records.

Ojai Weather

Cloudy with a chance of rain this morning, partly sunny later – High 97 / Low 65

Lake Casitas water capacity – 96.2%

Thursday, August 27, 2026

9:45 a.m.

There are three new listings on the market:

11013 Creek Road – $2,750,000

609 Canada Street #H – $650,000

511 E. Aliso Street – $1,795,000

One of the embedded programs I’ve used for over 10 years to run this website is outdated and needs to be replaced. I am going to attempt to upgrade it after today’s update, but I never know how something “new” is going to affect the layout. So, just a warning – things might get weird in here!

Pic of the Day

Tuesday, August 25, 2026

12:00 p.m.

There are three new or “coming soon” listings on the market:

921 Shokat Drive – $2,250,000

1975 Maricopa Highway #23 – $399,000

314 Descanso Avenue – $829,000 (coming soon, 8/26)

Recently cancelled, withdrawn, or expired listings – back on the market as “new:”

182 Mountain View Street – $495,000 (this had recently been withdrawn on 6/12)

Pic of the Day

Captain Ramius: “We will pass through American patrols, past their sonar nets, and lay off their largest city and listen to their rock and roll…while we conduct missile drills.”

Picnickers: “Look, it’s a manatee!””

Friday, August 21, 2026

10:15 a.m.

There are four new or “coming soon” listings on the market:

569 Tico Road – $1,500,000

418 Descanso Avenue – $922,000

575 E. Thomas Street – $880,000

233 El Plano Drive – $1,149,000 (coming soon, 8/27)

Recently cancelled, withdrawn, or expired listings – back on the market as “new:”

365 Encino Drive – $1,995,000 (this had recently been cancelled on 8/14).
16825 Maricopa Highway – $2,995,000 (this had recently expired on 7/2).

Have a great weekend!

Pic of the Day

Realtor humor

Thursday, August 20, 2026

1:55 p.m.

There are no new listings on the market, but here’s a quick market update: Normally, I would include the graphs from Altos Market Data – but upon further investigation, I find their statistics to be off by quite a large margin. So, I have done the research myself on a few of the basic metrics we watch as Realtors & Brokers – including days on market, average and median sales prices, and the average list-to-sales price percentage.

These statistics include Ojai and Oak View only, and only residential homes (no commercial, mobile home, or land parcels):

Last quarter of 2025 – 10/1/25 through 12/31/25

Average Days On Market – 89

Average Sales Price – $1,388,668

Average Price Per Square Foot: $768.00

Median Sales Price – $1,175,000

Highest Sales Price – $3,848,000

Last quarter up to today – 5/20/2026 through 8/20/2026

Average Days On Market: 49

Average Sales Price: $1,541,926

Average Price Per SF: $766.00

Median Sales Price: $1,330,000

Highest Sales Price: $5,500,000

Overall, I would say (mostly from “feel”) that there’s a slight buyer’s edge in the market – allowing buyer’s to negotiate a little more effectively to secure a lower purchase price on their home. The large difference in Days On Market is likely seasonal – spring to summer are typically more active months than fall to winter.

Pic of the Day

Wednesday, August 19, 2026

2:50 p.m.

There is one new listing on the market:

1225 S. Rice Road #36 – $429,000

Pic (video) of the Day

(Click on the photo below)

“Yes, it was very sad when the guy stopped…drawing the deer.”

Tuesday, August 18, 2026

12:40 p.m.

One new listing has come to the market since Friday:

259 Prospect Street – $890,000

Recently cancelled, withdrawn, or expired listings – back on the market as “new:”

203 N. Fulton Street – $919,000 (this had recently expired on 7/27).

Pic of the Day

I can’t wait to see your Pong-inspired bathroom

Friday, August 14, 2026

11:35 a.m.

There are two new listings on the market:

160 N. Encinal Avenue – $939,000

306 E. Matilija Street – $2,200,000

Recently cancelled, expired, or withdrawn listings – back on the market as “new:”

16096 Maricopa Highway – $1,449,000 (this had recently been cancelled on 7/10).

Have a great weekend!

Pic of the Day

Amazon driver, arriving at Charolotte’s place:

“Aw, hell no!”

Thursday, August 13, 2026

10:00 a.m.

There is a new “coming soon” listing on the market:

125 Oak Drive – $835,000 (coming soon, 8/14)

Pic of the Day

Actual listing photo – what kind of orgy house is this?

Wednesday, August 12, 2026

10:55 a.m.

One new listing hit the market in the last five days, but it’s already a pending sale:

11374 Oakcrest Avenue – $850,000 (already under contract)

I just returned from a 10 day trip to visit my family in Chicago. It was a combination of sadness and joy – the sadness consisted of saying “goodbye” to our family home that the Deckerts had owned for 52 years. My younger brother – who bought the home from my father 15 years ago – made the move to a new home just 20 minutes away. We went through the last of the older family photos, letters, notes, and other memorabilia between my mother and father, combined their ashes and put them in smaller urns that all the kids could take with them (I received a minor inquisition from the O’hare TSA when I carried it with my on-board luggage), held a vinyl album lottery of my dad’s 1,500 or so records; sawed open an old safe that belonged to my younger sister (with her approval, of course) – hoping for a more exciting reveal than that of Al Capone’s vault; and my brother’s mother-in-law made throw pillows out of several of my father’s old work uniforms – complete with his name patch, as well as the company’s logo. Indeed, tears were shed.

But there was much joy as well: The six of my younger siblings and myself, goofing on each other during the album lottery; the last Deckert family baseball game to be held in the side yard; one of my younger brothers – who stopped playing sports by the time he was 10 years old – hitting a home run over the house; seeing my little sister, who only a year ago first signed up with the School of Rock adult band in order to learn to sing, then watching her perform live in front of a room of 200 people and absolutely nailing “You Got Today” (by Maggie Rose) – causing me to get the chills and tears to form in my eyes; watching my sister’s kids also perform live on that same stage; stopping at Portllo’s twice to get the famous Chicago-style hot dog (which I would pick over steak and lobster any day); and staying up until 2:00 a.m. just shootin’ the breeze with my brother.

All great and cherished memories of my former home – but it’s good to be back home in Ojai, my “forever” place to be!