Figuring the Bottom Line When Community Lines Move

What’s in a name?

Plenty, it seems, at least for folks living in the San Fernando Valley--make that Valle de los Encinos (Valley of the Oaks).

Father Juan Crespi first gave the Valley its name in 1769. Ever since then, residents have been naming and renaming their communities.

Last year brought on a bumper crop of these name changes. All of Sepulveda and a part of Granada Hills were renamed North Hills. Valley Village was created from a small chunk of North Hollywood. Chandler Estates got “moved” from Van Nuys to Sherman Oaks.

What’s the point of all this? Obviously to add some cachet to a neighborhood in hopes that it drives up the value of homes.

But does it really matter what we call Sepulveda?

The answer depends on whom you ask.

Temmy Walker, president of real estate brokerage James R. Gary & Co. Ltd. East in Studio City, believes that “it’s all an ego thing.” People often get behind a name change, she said, because “they don’t believe they have enough status.”

And, though changing the name doesn’t always improve status, she said, a name change can sometimes add up to extra dollars when it comes to selling a home.

It’s hard to come up with real scientific evidence that name changes boost home values because so many elements come into play in assessing the value of a home or neighborhood.

Walker recalled selling a home in Van Nuys (I mean Sherman Oaks), where the buyer threatened to pull out of the deal when he called the post office and was told that the property was in Van Nuys and not Sherman Oaks.

“I’m not going to live in Van Nuys,” the buyer told Walker. The house was just right for this buyer, and so was the price at $389,000--but not if it was in Van Nuys.

The deal was salvaged when Walker urged the buyer to call the office of Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky. A deputy at the office explained that the area had indeed just changed its name officially from Van Nuys to Sherman Oaks. The U.S. Postal Service would have to learn to live with it.

The phone company needs to get used to change too. Directory assistance still recognizes a part of the renamed neighborhood as Van Nuys.

It was in August that a 45-block area of Chandler Estates was changed from Van Nuys to Sherman Oaks. About a month later, another area to the west was also welcomed into the fold. The latter portion, it seems, felt too isolated and lonely to go it alone as Van Nuys.

Charles Rich, who has lived in Van Nuys for 28 years, is one of the residents who supported the change to Sherman Oaks. He said he doesn’t believe that the change has affected his property value, but conceded that Sherman Oaks does carry a bit more class. Besides, he said, “If we wanted to call ourselves Kalamazoo, what business is it of the U.S. Postal Service?”

Here’s what the post office has had to contend with since 1991:

* February, 1991: Part of North Hollywood became Valley Village.

* May: The western portion of Sepulveda changed its name to North Hills.

* August: A small part of south Granada Hills joined the new North Hills. Chandler Estates switched from Van Nuys to Sherman Oaks, followed by yet another defection from Van Nuys to Sherman Oaks only a few weeks later.

* September: A three-block area of North Hollywood, west of the Tujunga Wash, petitioned to become Sherman Oaks.

* October: Yet another portion of North Hollywood sought to defect just east of Laurel Canyon.

* By November, the eastern part of Sepulveda was upset at having been abandoned by neighbors west of the San Diego Freeway. The easterners voted to change their turf to North Hills too.

The name change in North Hills probably had no impact on value, Walker said. As for the new Valley Village, she said, it’s hard to tell.

“A lot of residents thought the changes would affect the value of their property,” said Ali Sar, press secretary to Councilman Hal Bernson. “Most of the changes are psychological in their impact.”

Not so, say real estate agents and brokers in the West Valley. Changing the name of a community can have an immediate effect on property values, said Bobbi Miller, vice president and manager of the Woodland Hills office of Fred Sands Realtors. When the western part of Canoga Park became West Hills in 1986, she recalled: “West Hills property became more valuable immediately with the name change. Everyone wanted to be in West Hills.”

Teddy Meyer, an agent with The Prudential California Realty in Woodland Hills, agrees with Miller.

“A lot of my clients won’t even look at Reseda and Canoga Park, but they’ll look at West Hills.”

Lest you think this an all new phenomenon, consider some of the changes that came before: Woodland Hills was Girard, Tarzana was Runnymede, Studio City was Lakewood, Northridge was Zelzah, Canoga Park was Owensmouth, Sun Valley was Roscoe, North Hollywood was Lankershim and Reseda was Marian.

To stem the current desire of so many communities to change their names, Bernson introduced a motion in the City Council this year for coordinated standards to be followed in renaming communities.

Critics contend that all this name-changing stuff is nothing but a bunch of malarkey. They see it as economic Balkanization and as an attempt by the “haves” to distinguish themselves from the “have-nots.”

Michael Ribons, a real estate broker and investor, was behind the movement to change his neighborhood west of the freeway from Sepulveda to North Hills.

“The freeway acts as a natural barrier; the two sides have been developed very differently,” Ribons said. West of the freeway is an area of primarily single-family homes. East of the freeway are lots of apartments--not to mention more crime.

The plan for a new North Hills didn’t pan out as it was expected to. Now Sepulveda has ceased to exist altogether, leaving Ribons and others west of the freeway a bit vexed. They’re even considering another name change.

Will a name change make all the problems of poverty, crime, prostitution, graffiti and violence go away? Not really, Ribons said.

“If it were that simple, Los Angeles County would change its name to Marin County.”