RURAL DREAM HOMES CALLED WORTH THE WAIT; POTENTIAL BUYERS CAMP IN CARS.

Byline: Gloria Gonzales Daily News Staff Writer

Linda Collet had waited eight years for a shot at her dream house - what was a few days and nights sitting in a car compared to those long years spent imagining the perfect, brand-new home?

``I moved to Newbury Park from the Valley eight years ago, and even then I knew about Dos Vientos,'' said Collet, who along with five other families started the line at about 4 a.m. Tuesday morning for the Saturday sale of the first 54 homes in the Dos Vientos development.

``We followed the news of the development every step of the way. It took eight years, but now they're finally building homes. I came in January to look at the models with an open mind, but when I saw ours - I just fell in love with it.''

Collet was No. 1 in a line of more than 100 eager potential home buyers waiting for a chance to purchase the first homes put up for sale in the much-debated and - for some - long-awaited Dos Vientos Ranch.

The first batch of 54 homes offered by Greystone Homes range in price from $230,000 to $365,000. When complete, 2,350 homes will cover about half of the 2,400-acre property already crisscrossed with new roads and ringed by a rustic wooden fence. Those in line hope for a shot at a home in the second tract if they don't close a deal Saturday.

``We'll give priority to those who are in line,'' said Chuck Dragicevich, Greystone division president. ``And we'll start selling the second tract as soon as the first one sells out.''

Dos Vientos, the last large-scale project planned for the Thousand Oaks/Newbury Park area, has been on the drawing board for more than 20 years.

Planned by Courtly Homes Inc., and built by several companies including Greystone, the project has met with opposition over environmental issues several times during its history. The City Council is still mulling over an environmental group's demand that the developer not build single-family homes where duplexes were originally planned.

``It's beautiful out here, and it's a well-planned, beautiful development,'' said Collet, who expects to move into a high-end, five-bedroom model with her firefighter husband and their three children when the first homes are completed this summer. ``All the pads are terraced, so each home actually has an opportunity to see everything. We'll have a beautiful view down a canyon.''

Most are attracted to the area's good schools and rural atmosphere. The project overlooks an equestrian ranch, and abuts protected open space on two sides and the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area on another.

But it's not only the excellent views that have buyers lining up in eastern Ventura County for the first time since the economic downturn of the early '90s. Buyers' appetite for the properties is a sign both of the statewide real estate market rebound, and of pent-up demand for new homes in the Conejo Valley, Dragicevich said.

``We started getting calls from people asking when the homes would be ready about two years ago,'' Dragicevich said. ``There's pent-up demand in Newbury Park especially, where families knew about Dos Vientos and were just waiting to make the move. We got several families that have already sold homes and are renting while they wait to get into a home here.''

Some families have sold one home and rent because the only sales that will be guaranteed Saturday are ``pre-approved, noncontingent,'' Dragicevich said, meaning the bank has approved the loan and it is not contingent on the sale of a current home.

One woman, a single mother who manages a medical laboratory and now lives with her 16-year-old daughter in Newbury Park, would have sold her home if it would have guaranteed her a new house in the first tract.

``I'm number 105, and I didn't have to camp out!'' said Stephanie Harner as she emerged from the sales office at noon Friday. ``I've been thinking about it for about 13 years, since I first moved here. I knew one day I'd be moving up and this would be the place. I just wish I'd had the forethought to sell my house ahead of time.''

Harner hopes to land one of the tract's lower-end homes, a 2-bedroom, 1600-square foot, single-story home with a price tag of about $230,000.

Like others in line, the area's good schools, open space and low-key, rural lifestyle appeal to her.

``It's a family and community oriented place, and most people who live out here are pretty down-to-earth,'' she said.

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) What looks like a massive traffic jam is actually potential home buyers lining up at Dos Vientos Ranch in Newbury Park on Friday.

(2--Ran in Simi Edition only) Would-be home buyers survey models at Dos Vientos, ranging in price from 230,000 to $365,000.

Myung J. Chun/Daily News