Santa Clarita Valley, CA
Cadê News · The Cadê Brazil newspaper and the California regions — each region with its own local paper.
Neighborhood Guide
North of Santa Clarita, up the 14 freeway, lies the Antelope Valley: bigger, cheaper houses, lots with room for horses and an economy driven by the aerospace industry. The trade-off is the distance to Los Angeles — and realtor Mariness Chata explains how residents deal with it.
Neighborhood Guide
Canyon Country, Newhall, Saugus, Stevenson Ranch and Castaic: Santa Clarita grew out of the merger of several smaller towns. Meet the areas with multi-acre properties, where you can build a custom home from scratch and even keep horses near Los Angeles.
Neighborhood Guide
With about 250,000 residents, wide streets and plenty of green space, Santa Clarita draws Brazilian families looking for a different pace than downtown Los Angeles. Get to know the area's profile and the highly rated schools driving demand.
Episode 1 · Part 3 of 5
Listings for homes that don't belong to the advertiser, deposits paid straight to strangers, properties with hidden debts. Realtor Mariness Chata explains the safeguards in the American system — and rule number one: a real estate agent never takes money from the buyer.
Episode 11 · Part 4 of 8
Showing a house is the easy part. Knowing the street that changed school zones, the neighborhood with a Mello-Roos tax, and the hillside that slides; negotiating; working with a contract revised every year; delivering natural hazard and sex offender registry disclosures; and coordinating up to 20 people through closing. How long all of it takes.
Episode 9 · Part 5 of 6
A 500-square-foot unit renting for $2,800 in Huntington Beach, an increase in value the builder puts at $150,000, and banks that already count the future rent. What the episode's numbers mean, the rules that limit how an ADU can be used, and the financing routes now that 3% interest is gone.
Episode 1 · Part 2 of 5
Leave central Los Angeles and you won't find a 'periferia' in the Brazilian sense: new subdivisions arrive with planned schools, parks and shopping areas. The reason lies in the fees and requirements the law imposes on builders — and that cost goes into the price of the house.
Episode 1 · Part 4 of 5
North of Santa Clarita, up the 14 freeway, lies the Antelope Valley: bigger, cheaper houses, lots with room for horses and an economy driven by the aerospace industry. The trade-off is the distance to Los Angeles — and realtor Mariness Chata explains how residents deal with it.
Episode 5 · Part 10 of 11
Canyon Country, Newhall, Saugus, Stevenson Ranch and Castaic: Santa Clarita grew out of the merger of several smaller towns. Meet the areas with multi-acre properties, where you can build a custom home from scratch and even keep horses near Los Angeles.
Episode 8 · Part 6 of 6
New construction comes with a one-year builder's warranty — and plenty of people only find the defects once it has expired. How the inspection done in month 11 works, what California's construction defect law (SB 800) guarantees beyond the first year, and how to request the repair.
Episode 8 · Part 5 of 6
A dark stain and a damp smell are not enough to declare there is mold — and declaring it without proof can end in a lawsuit. How air and surface sampling is done, what the lab answers, and what a buyer should ask for when the report flags moisture.
Episode 8 · Part 1 of 6
Roof, electrical panel, plumbing and air conditioning. More and more insurers are sending an inspector to the house before they will issue or renew a policy — and certain older items, like Zinsco panels and galvanized pipes, are common grounds for refusal until they are replaced.
Episode 9 · Part 1 of 6
A state planned around big houses on big lots, decades of people arriving and very little building. The extra house in the backyard started out illegal, became law in 2017 and is today one of the state government's weapons to force cities to meet housing targets. Understanding that history helps you choose where to build.
Episode 9 · Part 2 of 6
Since 2022, state law has allowed a single-family lot to be split in two and up to two units to be built on each one. In theory, one house becomes four. In practice, there is a three-year owner-occupancy requirement, excluded areas and cities that limit combining it with an ADU. What the law allows — and the difference between having two addresses and having two lots.
Episode 10 · Part 5 of 7
Anyone living in a rent-controlled apartment thinks twice before buying — the payment barely goes up. But the cap on increases depends on where the property is, when it was built and who owns it. State law, the City of Los Angeles rule, and what happens when the tenant moves out.
Episode 11 · Part 1 of 8
The show's realtors are betting on stability, not a crash: too few homes for sale, years-long construction timelines, and buyers who come right back once prices ease. The reasoning behind that read, what's changed in lending since 2008, and why the Airbnb desert tells a different story.
Episode 9 · Part 4 of 6
The quick answer — $200 to $300 per square foot with a licensed contractor — leaves out what pushes some units to $500: a sloped lot, a sewage pump, retaining walls. A small unit costs more per square foot, and construction takes six to eight months, with a city inspection at every stage.
