We live in Santa Clarita/Valencia (a "suburb" of Los Angeles, CA) in a new and growing upper middle class neighborhood, surrounded by lovely mountains. Santa Clarita, in a recent study, is found to be one of the safest areas in the United States. Our crime rate is extremely low. We have a six year old, beautiful, 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath home, beautifully and simply decorated with an eclectic mix of traditional and antique furniture and some wonderful paintings. On the main floor, we have a nice sized living room with 18 foot ceiling and a charming family room with wood-burning fireplace. There is a TV with cable, and a stereo-CD player in that room. The brand new kitchen, with all conveniences is open to breakfast room (table seats 6-7), large dining terrace (all screened in with glass shutter windows that open or close completely, depending on the weather) with large round glass table that seats 12. Guest lav and laundry "room" with auto washer and dryer, also on first floor. My office is in the garage with computer, printer and fax machine. 2nd floor: 1 bedroom used as an office (but with double sized futon), guest bedroom with 2 trundle beds (one twin size fits under the other when not in use) and TV, full guest bathroom with tub and shower, large master bedroom with King size bed, (also chaise lounge for naps), en suite bathroom with tub and separate shower and separate toilet room. Most floors in the house are gorgeous slate and/or tile. The bedrooms and living room are carpeted. Outside we have two brick or tile patios with umbrellas and tables and also a large deck and jacuzzi spa with very nice deck chairs, wrought iron table with umbrella. Our landscaping has automatic sprinklers but we would appreciate periodically your watering the plants that are in pots inside. The hose is on a rolling cart. The house is air conditioned which is not that frequently necessary. It is a wonderful, bright (lots of windows) house, great for just enjoying yourself. Of course, all the household equipment and linens remains for your use. The jacuzzi is large and there's a lovely private pool about 2 seconds from our house. It's not used by too many people and it's gated and only for use by owners in our own small development. There's also a small park with basketball court, play equipment and a picnic table next to the pool. Very quiet neighborhood, nice, friendly neighbors that keep pretty much to themselves. Children of various ages live on our block and adjacent blocks. We're fifteen minutes from Burbank and the film studios, twenty to twenty five minutes from Beverly Hills, Sherman Oaks; 30 mins. from downtown LA and Santa Monica; 40 minutes from the ocean at Malibu, 1 ½ to 2 hours from Santa Barbara. Anaheim and Disneyland are an hour south of us, Ronald Reagan Library about 25 minutes east of us. In the other direction, 15 min. from Magic Mountain and other theme parks if that's your bag. Joe is a retired drama teacher and financial planner. He is also a set and lighting designer and currently, a hopeful screenwriter. Bryna is a working professional actress (stage, screen, TV). We are non-smokers and we will only have non-smokers in our home. We have no pets and would not want guests to bring pets.

Although our home could really accommodate 6, we would prefer a maximum of only 4 guests. Our home is immaculate and we would expect our guests to be as respectful of it as we will be of theirs. We'll be wanting to exchange almost anytime in 2006 and 2007. If you're interested in discussing this further, I do have more photos which I can e-mail .

Los Angeles is an exciting and wonderful city with every kind of activity and entertainment you could want. Our area is old cowboy country and is very interesting in itself.

We have had four or five exchanges and all have been wonderful experiences. We look forward to more in the future.

Thank you.

Bryna and Joe Weiss Area Description

We live in a lovely area surrounded by mountains. The weather is ideal. It does get warmer in the summer but, dry heat, not uncomfortable usually, and then cool in the evening. There are many walking trails, bike trails, hills and trees and parks. Some of the trails begin a few feet from our home. There is also terrific shopping, fine restaurants, several theme parks a short distance from where we live.

This is NOT our first home exchange: we have exchanged before.
We can provide the contact information of previous exchange partners.