Like what?

Most of all, with a condo or townhome (or planned unit development) you are buying a fraction of the entire complex as well as your own living space (condo or townhome). Condominium ownership includes a percentage of the community’s property. You will benefit from it, but you also will be responsible for it.

Additionally, there are a lot of  documents to read and understand when purchasing a condominium or town house. You will need to be able to accept the rules, bylaws, financial statements, meeting minutes, articles of incorporation and more.  You will want to read the newsletter (and minutes) carefully to see if there are any “issues” in the complex.  Plan to invest several hours in reading and digesting the information in the 2-3″ stack of papers.

Naturally another difference is that your neighbors will be in very close proximity.  If you are a non-smoker but the neighbor in the unit next door smokes, you may not be too happy about it later.  A few months ago I showed a Rivermark (Santa Clara) townhouse that was just darling but the next door neighbor came out and smoked on the front porch while we were there.  My buyers didn’t want to purchase the home for that reason – they did not want to deal with the smell later. You may have similar concerns about other odors or noises. 

Perhaps most important are the financial issues and risks:

  When you purchase a condo, you also will be accepting the community’s ability to saddle you with an assesment if the reserves are not good enough. That’s a big deal. You must understand the risk of getting assessments.  For example, let’s say that when the Home Owners Association (HOA) does its annual study of reserves it comes up short but they need to re-roof all the buildings (or tent for termites or do some other work).  What happens? They will either raise the monthly dues or they will levy a special assessment to pay for it.

Additionally, when you buy into a community with an HOA that has the right to enforce rules, you also must consider what those rules may be. Rules might be big or small such as:

 ”you may not wash your car on the premesis”

“no pets larger than 40 pounds”

“curtains facing the front of the home may only be white or beige colored”

“no smoking, inside or out” (now the law in Belmont)

All of this is to say, simply: if you are buying a condo, townhouse, or PUD in the San Jose area, realize you will need to read and understand and accept a large mound of paperwork. Your ownership rights and duties are a little different than when you purchase a house.  Do not just “assume it’s boilerplate” and skip it. Do your “due dilligence”. Read it and understand it before you buy it!

*There are townhouses and houses which are held in “condo ownership”. Just because something looks, architecturally, like a townhouse or a house does not mean that the legal ownership is not condominium.  The Villas of Almaden is a wonderful community but the houses there are held in condo ownership, for instance.  In Los Gatos there are townhomes held in condo ownership too…

In the graphs below, the reddish brown line represents the number of pending sales.  The blue line indicates the number of listings or homes for sale. Put simply, the closer these two lines are together, the hotter the market – that is, the more of a seller’s market it is.  When they are far apart, it’s more cold, more of a buyer’s market.  If the lines cross, it is a wild frenzy (that does happen in one case, as you will see). Below please find the graph for the homes in Santa Clara County overall (all areas).

Santa Clara County listings to sales Jan 2009 to June 2010

 You can see that these two lines pinch together in about December 2009 to January 2010.  Prices had dropped and investors were swooping in! The  market has cooled since then.

Santa Clara County condo & townhome listings to pending sales Jan 2009 to June 2010

 For condos and townhouses, all of Santa Clara County:Here the two lines  – or the market – were close together for about 3-4 months.  Buyers understood that condominiums in Silicon Valley were bargain priced, and they responded by buying.Now let’s look at various areas around the county.  We’ll take these in Alphabetical order, beginning with Almaden Valley.

Almaden Valley listings to pending sales Jan 2009 to June 2010

 As you can see, the market improved but never got as “hot” as in the county generally.  This is because it’s a more expensive area, and most of what was selling in winter consisted of entry level housing.
  

Cambrian Park listings to pending sales Jan 2009 to June 2010

  Cambrian had a couple of flurries, beginning in the spring of 2009 and again in winter 2009 – 2010.  

Campbell listings to pending sales Jan 2009 to June 2010

  Campbell, which costs about 10-20% more than Cambrian, never got so “hot” by comparison.  

Cupertino listings to pending sales Jan 2009 to June 2010

Cupertino, which is always in demand due to the superior school scores, had a longer than typical run of very close listings to pendings.   

Los Altos listings to pending sales Jan 2009 to June 2010

Like everywhere else, it looks like the fastest absorption of homes for sale was happening last December.   

Los Altos Hills listings to pending sales Jan 2009 to June 2010

   While there was a drop in inventory over the holidays, it was still not a great time for sales for Los Altos Hills last winter.   

Los Gatos listings to pending sales Jan 2009 to June 2010

   The Los Gatos area has fared worse than Los Altos….Sales are now improving, but listings are going on the market at an even faster rate.   

Monte Sereno listings to pending sales Jan 2009 to June 2010

   
Monte Sereno is similar to Los Gatos – listings and sales are both picking up, but new listings are outpacing new sales.

Next, San Jose as a whole – all areas, from Alum Rock and Berryessa to South San Jose, downtown, Willow Glen, etc.   When you view what’s happening in the city of San Jose generally, it is amazing: the numbers of listings did not keep up with the numbers of homes going under contract for 6-7 months.  Talk about a frenzy!   The San Jose real estate market began to cool in spring 2010 and that trend has continued through the summer.  

San Jose (all areas) listings to pending sales Jan 2009 to June 2010

 Saratoga, like other high end markets, is the other extreme. The market improved for sellers during winter (in terms of homes getting sold, but not necessarily for getting the best price), but nothing like what we saw in San Jose.  

Saratoga listings to pending sales Jan 2009 to June 2010

Finally, the Willow Glen market.  The market improved over sinter and wasn’t too bad in Spring, but over summer there has been both a drop in sales and a rise in inventory, making it much tougher on sellers in this part of San Jose.  

Willow Glen listings to pending sales Jan 2009 to June 2010

What can we take away from this?  In most parts of Silicon Valley, in recent months sales have dropped off while the numbers of listings have increased.  This makes it much easier for buyers and much tougher for sellers.   If your home is for sale, it is important to understand that the market is much different now than it was four or six months ago.  Buyers may not tolerate or accept some seller conditions (or pricing) from last winter or spring.  To get your home sold now will require better condition and pricing.  If you rely upon the sold prices, you may be deceived since the market is not the same.  Too much supply and not enough demand will put downward pressure on prices.  

Buyers who are jumping into the market now are bargain hunting.  Buyers, it’s a great time to buy – it may not stay like this for you a lot longer with fantastic prices and interest rates both!

Sellers, if you aren’t prepared to sell at today’s market values, you may want to wait until the market can bear your price. Otherwise the odds are that your home will languish on the market, racking up days on market but not getting sold.  To sell, your home has to be the best value and the most attractive home, priced in the bottom 20-30% of similar homes for sale.

The information here is general and what applies to one neighborhood or area may not apply within certain price points or school districts, for instance. For more information about your home or area, please call or email me.

Numbers from MLSListings.com, graphs created on that site - info deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

If you own income property (or rental property) in Silicon Valley and want to sell it, you may be aware that a 1031 tax deferred exchange is something to consider.  What you may not remember to do is to strategize about what to do with your tenants.  How do you get them to be cooperative, responsive to showing requests and neat? And preferably, to be absent or at least quiet and out of the way when the home is shown?

When residential real estate is for sale, the occupants’ lives are turned upside down.  It’s no small amount of inconvenience and risk to them with the traffic in and out, the calls at all hours, the loss of privacy and on top of everything else, the risk of personal propertybeing stolen.  If you are a homeowner, you are motivated because you will get cash out of the deal at close of escrow.  If you are a renter and the home you’re renting or leasing suddenly goes on the market, there’s not really a “silver lining” built into the scenario most of the time.  That can set the stage for trouble and even financial loss.

And even if the tenants mean well, many not have been coached as to how to help the home to be sold – or if coached, may not feel terribly motivated to follow through.  Most tenants mean well.  In the extreme, though, some tenants are somewhat hostile.  In worst-case scenarios tenants may do any of these things – all of which I have experienced personally:

• refuse to allow reasonable showings
• make the house unpresentable or unpleasant (trash on the floor, curtains all closed, lights out, music loud, cigarette smoke, bad odors)
• remove the for sale sign or flyers
• set the appointment to show the home, then not allow buyers and agents in to see it
• follow or accompany agents & buyers through the home for every second, talking about the problems of the house or the owners… or smoking while accompanying the visitors, making the showing extremely unpleasant
• Be in bed or have some of the tenants be in bed during showings (even if it’s 2pm)
• Make sure that the home is over-crowded during showings – actually invite people over so that the home is packed

The law in California says that if you are going to put your property on the market, the tenants must be given 48 hours’ notice prior to showings.  Making your home available to be seen with that kind of planning required will kill traffic, and without good traffic, you will not get top dollar for your home.  How much will it cost you to have such restricted showing conditions? Possibly as much as 3 – 5% of the home’s value.  That is a LOT of money.

There is a better solution: make it a win-win situation. Make sure the tenants buy in to the sale.  To glean your tenants’ cooperation (showings with less notice, keeping the house clean etc.), you need to make it a benefit to them to show and help to sell your home.  Here are some things to consider doing:

• Pay for a professional house cleaning just before the home goes on the market and is photographed for the MLS & other marketing
• Give a reduction in rent while the home is on the market as long as the home sells within 2 – 3  months or so
• Offer a move-out bonus at the end of escrow for the renters to be gone on time (preferably prior to close of escrow)
• Have time available for a reasonable showing schedule such as 10am to 7pm only M – W- F and S/S (or noon to 6pm etc.) but do have it somewhat restricted to protect your tenants
• On the for-sale sign, include a rider that says “Do Not Disturb Occupants: Appointment Only” to prevent lookey-loos from knocking on the door, walking into the backyard or peering into the windows

You can negotiate these things and in turn ask your tenants to allow showings with just a couple of hours’ notice rather than 2 days’ notice, to keep the home tidy and bright and to be quiet and out of the way during showings. You can and should explain to them to allow people in and then stay out of their way as they look through the home – if it’s nice weather, the occupants could sit on the back patio, or perhaps in one room of the home if they must be there for the showing.  Better is if they aren’t home at all.  Buyers linger longer when they feel that they are not intruding, so having people home at all will encourage the visit to be short, which will diminish your odds of selling.

It will be a smoother time for you and them, and more profitable for you in the long run, to make it a win for both them and you to get the home sold quickly and to have showings be similar to owner occupied homes.

Alternatively, you could give your clients’ notice to move out and then sell it empty, but often vacant homes don’t sell as well as occupied ones, so if you did that, most Realtors would then suggest that you have the property furnished and staged.  That costs money!  So the best scenario is often to have the home be occupied, but clean and accessible by cooperative, happy tenants who aren’t trying to undermine your sale.  If your tenants are happy with the courtesies you are extending and the financial benefits to them for being cooperative, you are far more likely to experience the win-win situation which leaves everyone better off and will get you, the seller, top dollar.

The absorption rate, or months of inventory, indicates that it’s a seller’s market:

The hottest segment is the bank owned or REO part of the Campbell condominium or townhouse realty market, and the slowest segment is the short sale section (which is about 20% of the available inventory). That’s very typical of other nearby areas: the hardest homes to sell are the short sales.  As a side note: there are 39 condos available and 29 which are sale pending. That is a high ratio, which also points to a seller’s market.

How does this compare to a year ago?  It’s completely different!

A year ago, the months of inventory was a whopping 72% higher at 8.8 for May 2009 vs 2.5 for May 2010. Solds are up 42% from 12 months ago.  Pending sales are up 200% from a year ago also.  So from every vantage, it’s much, much better than a year ago.

What about other data?  I have a subscription to Altos Research, which also charts the market but does it a little differently.  Often the numbers I crunch line up but sometimes theirs is an opposing view.  Here’s their current summary, which puts this market as a buyer’s market, not a seller’s market:

I like the fact that they track flipped homes, relisted homes and the percent of properties with price decreases.  This is especially important when you consider how many homes may get a price change and then a new MLS number, which may confuse some of the statistics.

Altos also breaks down more info by price quartile (they use list prices, not sales prices, for this info).   What I like about the following chart is that it gives you an idea of what your money will buy. (Seeing 4.5 bathrooms is throwing me, though – I don’t recall ever seeing a condo or townhome with that many bathrooms anywhere!)  Also of interest: the majority of condos or townhouses in Campbell seem to be around 1300 SF with 2 bedrooms and are offered somewhere in the 400’s.  That’s useful information for buyers and sellers alike.

So what can we say about the conflicting assessments of the Campbell real estate market for condos and townhomes?

I think Altos has some valid concerns about the long days on the market – 88 DOM does not sound like a “seller’s market”. I looked at the pendings to see if I could blame short sales – but even among pendings that are “regular sales”, the DOM is 64 (it’s actually less among short sales, oddly). That’s pretty long. We tend to think of a seller’s market as being applicable when homes sell in 3-4 weeks. Two months is a bit much to call it a seller’s market. Of the seven “normal type sales” which are pending, only two of them sold in under three weeks.

All in all, I think it shakes down to a fairly balanced market right now.  It’s not a bad time to sell, and it’s not a bad time to buy a Campbell condo.

The best resources I have found for locating rental properties in Santa Clara County are these (I cannot guarantee or waranty your results, but these are starting points for you):

• Craigslist (link is to the South Bay area)
• Bay Rentals (they do charge a small fee)
• ForRent.com (search by city name or zip code)
• Once you’ve located an area you like – drive around

The last bullet point might seem silly, but some of the best apartments, townhomes etc. never get listed anywhere other than a sign in the yard.  So if you love Los Gatos, Campbell, Santa Clara or anywhere else, drive it and watch for signs!

Perhaps you want to be in a hotel or inn for awhile before deciding where to rent or buy, or while on temporary assignment at a local business or university. You don’t need me to tell you where to stay in a hotel, but if you are moving here with a pet you might want assistance finding a place which will welcome your cat or dog.  Here’s a great resource for finding pet-friendly hotels, motels and inns here: DogFriendly.com’s San Jose (and nearby) City Guide, which includes accomodations, parks, outdoor restaurants etc.

KB Homes built “The Willows” in 1999 to 2000.  It is tucked away at the southernmost tip of Willow Glen, off of Foxworthy Avenue & close to Almaden Expressway, but only about 2.5 to 3 miles from all the action on Lincoln Avenue.

The tree-lined streets are built in something of a loop shape with Rubino Circle being the main access or loop road.  Situated on the inner part of the loop are homes with smaller lots that are a little more affordable.  The outer part of the circle is built with slightly larger homes on larger lots (but none of the lots are “big”). Sidewalks with soft curbs at the corners accompany the streets and make for a pedestrian-friendly, bike, wheelchair or stroller friendly area. Visit in the early evenings and you will see children and adults walking, strolling, taking dogs for a walk etc. – always a good sign! Because the neighborhood is a bit like an oversized cul-de-sac (no through traffic), it is very quiet in terms of traffic.  The area has large street lights, too, making for a safe feeling community.

Something not often found in other neighborhoods that’s a real plus here: the front yard landscaping is taken care of by the home owner’s association.  Living at the Willows is “easy care” since only the house itself and the back yard require maintenance!

Rubino Park is a frequent destination for residents at The Willows. It offers a playground, picnic areas, basketball hoops and a huge expanse of lawn.  Additionally, Canoas Garden Elementary School has access on Rubino Circle too, and it also has a large lawn area that the neighbors enjoy.

What are homes like in The Willows?

Houses here are all 2 story and all have attached 2 car garages. Homes range in size from about 1800 SF to about 2600 SF, generally, and are anywhere from 3 to 5 bedrooms.  One floorplan is either offered as a 4 bedroom or a 3 bedroom plus “loft”, which can be an office, den, TV area, exercize room or anything else (and can easily become a fourth bedroom).

Many of the homeowners at The Willows have enhanced and upgraded their homes and yards. When first built, most of these houses had white tile countertops, but a good many owners have added either Corian or granite countertops.  Kitchen appliances only last 10-15 years in most cases, so many have already been replaced, sometimes very nicely improved with large gas burner stoves, for instance.

What does it cost to live in The Willows?

Most of the homes for sale in the Willows are priced somewhere in the 600s to 700s depending upon a number of things, such as

• home size
• lot size
• upgrades, enhancements, improvements and remodeling
• exact location (regular street vs private court + other location issues)
• type of sale (short sale or bank owned will sell for less)

The homes in the inner part of the loop tend to be on lots of about 2,000 SF rather than between 3,000 and 4,000 SF.  Because they are on smaller, private drives, there’s not the same kind of parking as you get on a regular San Jose street.  For those reasons, the homes tend to sell for a little less.

Map of The Willows

View The Willows of Willow Glen (San Jose) in a larger map

I have just listed a wonderful home in The Willows at 870 Brevins Loop. To learn all about it, see a virtual tour, lots of photos and to check on the open house schedule, please visit the following page.

http://www.popehandy.com/870-brevins-loop-willow-glen-san-jose.html

Hope to see you there at the open house!

Months of Inventory in Almaden Valley

Here’s how the current inventory and sales breaks down, together with the months of inventory, for the Almaden Valley part of San Jose (95120 zip code). Info from MLS Listings deemed accurate but not guaranteed. The “closed” column represents homes closed (houses & duet homes) in the last month.

As you can see, up to about $1,200,000 it’s a very strong seller’s market with less than 2 months of inventory. But beyond that price point, it’s suddenly a completely different market and is instead a very strong buyer’s market.

What about distressed property sales in Almaden?

There are almost no bank owned properties currently for sale or recently closed in Almaden – just 1 in the entry level price band which is currently listed for sale.

There are not many short sales in Almaden: right now just 5 for sale: 3 in the lowest of these five price groups, 1 in the 2nd lowest and one in the highest. Closings among short sales are also few in number: 2 in the lowest price point and one in the second lowest.  The absorption rate or months of inventory among short sales was 1.5 in the lowest price point and 1 month in the second lowest. No closings among higher priced homes that were also short sales in the last month.

How About Home Prices in Almaden?

Altos Research (to which I have a subscription) has a wonderful system of charts which can display the market data in a wide variety of ways, but please be aware that they track list prices, not sold prices.

Here’s a look at the Median List Price of all Almaden Valley houses & duet homes over the last three years:

Notice all those dips? Now look at the dates – they all occur in January or in winter. It’s very consistent. So is the upswing in prices which follows. So to a degree, the up & down is somewhat predicatble or “seasonal”. We tend to see the lowest prices in winter – that’s true for most of Silicon Valley. It’s just that normally – if you were to track 30 years or so – you’d see that most of the time the overall movement in price is up, rather than down. It looks like the downward trend may be getting reversed, but it will take more time and data to confirm that.

Next, the same data but broken down into four equal price points or quartiles.

Taken together, the dips seem a little milder than might be accurate. Here’s just the top tier, median list price in Almaden:

Upper-middle tier:

Lower-middle tier:

And finally, the bottom tier:

Taken by themselves, the median list prices seem to be pretty negative news, though there’s now an “uptick” in progress.

Almaden Valley Days on Market

If we look at the days on market (which is a helpful number, but not as strong as the absorption rate), we see the drama that is our market change in much of the Almaden area. This next chart displays all price quartiles combined.

This is much more than a little reversal or a seasonally predicted trend. Let’s see how it plays out if we break down the quartiles separately:

It looks a bit chaotic, but please note that all four price groups are displaying the same change in the last few months – a very sudden, steep drop in the days on market or DOM. You may also be able to make out that the DOM tends to peak each year in the winter season. This part is normal and seasonally expected. What’s not normal is the “falling off the cliff” kind of change which is being experienced in all price points.

Inventory of Almaden Valley Homes for Sale

Almaden inventory of homes for sale, too, is a little reminiscent of the Giant Dipper over at the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz – lots of steep ups and downs over the last 3 years:

Each of the four quartiles has identical inventory patterns, so it is not helpful to break this one down by group.

Market Action Index in Almaden

Altos has its own proprietary “Market Action Index” by which they note if the market is more in the buyer’s or seller’s favor. For the Altos MAI, 30 is the cutoff – below that is a buyer’s market, and above that is a seller’s market. Here’s the MAI for all price points combined or “Almaden as a whole”

As a group (above), it’s very much a buyer’s market. But how about by price quartile?

Still a buyer’s market, but better for the less expensive homes, just as we saw when viewing the absorption rate or months of inventory at the beginning of this post. It might be clearer if we looked at a smaller window of time. Let’s see just the last 6 months:

Interesting that the upper middle (2nd from top) had been the “best” and has now fallen to second worst position. The very worst is reserved for the most expensive homes, which we also saw with the absorption rates.

Of all four price points, the lowest (or most affordable) is the one that seems to be improving the most. So we’ll see if this continues and it pushes through to hit the number where Altos would (also) call it a seller’s market. Based on the absorption rates shared at the beginning of this post, I would say that it already is a seller’s market in the bottom price points of the Almaden Valley real estate market. Conversely, the luxury home market in Almaden is taking a beating right now.

Get Historical Data on the Almaden Valley Realty Market

Want more information, with historical data on the Almaden Valley real estate market trends and statistics? Or data on the condominium & townhouse market in Almaden?  Please visit my Real Estate Report page for Almaden Valley homes, which is automatically updated monthly and contains monthly, quarterly and annual info dating back to 2001.

Find Almaden Valley Homes for Sale Now

What’s on the market or listed for sale in Almaden Valley right now?  Do a “real time” search that reqires no registration!

Search Almaden Valley Homes for Sale

Additionally, you may also search for homes by map.  This may appeal to you more if you want to be near a particular school, park, the community center, or any other landmark in 95120.

Search Almaden real estate for sale by map

If you search by map, the link above will pull up most or all of San Jose.  Almaden will be in the lower right corner of the map.

Just browsing? You can also view a list of homes for sale by price range
Almaden Valley Homes under $1,000,000
Almaden Valley Homes between $1,000,000 and $2,000,000
Almaden Valley Homes $2,000,000 and up

Today we’ll look at these four Silicon Valley communities and their luxury homes market to see what’s selling and where.

Almaden Valley (San Jose, 95120)

Currently in Almaden there are 11 homes for sale which are listed at or over $2,000,000.  In the last month, zero (0) sold.  That makes for an infinite number of “months of inventory”. It is an extraordinarily deep buyer’s market: great for buyers, a nightmare for sellers of high end homes there.

Will it improve? Probably not soon as there are no houses pending sale in that price range either. There are 55 pending sales in Almaden, but none listed at more than 1.6 mil and the average list price of these pending sales is under 1 mil.

Los Gatos (Town of Los Gatos, 95030, 95032)

Right now there are 49 homes listed in the luxury price point of 2 million or more, and just 2 which have sold & closed in the last month, so there is a 24.5 month supply of inventory.  It’s a very deep buyer’s market in Los Gatos among the most expensive real estate offerings for sale.  What about pending sales?  There are 10 homes in this price range “under contract” – so it is faring a lot better in Los Gatos than in Almaden Valley.

Monte Sereno (City of Monte Sereno, 95030)

In Monte Sereno, a very high end but very small community of only about 4,000 residents, currently there are 23 properties for sale in this upper pricing tier.  None have sold in the last month, so like Almaden, it has an infinite supply of inventory. There’s a little  light at the end of the tunnel, though, as there are two pending sales, both of which fall between 3 and 4 million dollars.

Saratoga (City of Saratoga, 95070)

Saratoga enjoys a good number of estate properties and very high-end real estate.  As of today, there are 43 such homes on the market and 6 sold and closed escrow in the last month.  In Saratoga, the months of inventory is 7.16.  This is a buyer’s market, but the closest to a balanced market of the four areas we’re studying today.  Additionally, there are 12 pending sales in this upper price range.

The average list price of the luxury homes under contract in Saratoga is $3,347,917; the average home size is 4252 & average lot size is 66,902 (about an acre and a half).  The most expensive home which is sale pending is a fabulous home on Fruitvale which was listed at $5,799,000.

Please note: In all of these areas, “the market” will be influenced further by each property’s school district and whether or not it’s a short sale, bank owned property, or regular sale – among other factors.

How can this information help you if you’re are a buyer or seller?

If you are a home owner thinking of selling an estate property, it is a tremendous help to know whether or not there is much demand for the type of home you wish to sell.  If nothing is “moving”, either the whole lot of listings is overpriced (which can happen) or buyers are voting with their feet and choosing another community in which to buy. Sometimes this happens because of schools, other times simply because the lower price ranges make a home purchase in a more exclusive area possible now when it wasn’t as possible before. In any case, if you need to sell in an area where little or nothing is selling, you will have to price your home so attractively that it’s probably painful.

On the other hand, if homes are selling, as is the case in Saratoga, pricing will still be important but you may not have to do the deep pricing cuts that might be required in Almaden right now, for instance.

If you are a home buyer interested in purchasing luxury real estate, you will also benefit from knowing how much competition there is for the type of home you wish to buy.  Right now, you may have an easier time negotiating in Almaden or Monte Sereno rather than in Los Gatos or Saratoga.  Of course it depends entirely on the house you like and whether or not it’s priced right.

Interested in understanding the market a little more? Please contact me for a confidential, no-obligation meeting.

Please have a look at the slideshow, photos, and panoramas and phone or email me if you have any questions! Or visit the websites, www.ValleyOfHeartsDelight.com or www.PopeHandy.com.

14654 Placida Ct
Saratoga, 95070

3 bedrooms (+ sitting room in Master), 2.5 baths, appx 2163 SF

Offered at $799,000

The community enjoys tennis courts, two pools and great proximity to downtown Saratoga (“Saratoga Village”), Wildwood Park, and is nestled amoung beautiful oaks and hills. Exceptionally highly regarded Saratoga Schools (including Saratoga High School, among the top 100 high schools in the nation!).

Open Saturday, June 12, 2-4pm. Stop by!

First have a quick look at the thumbnail image on the right.  You can tell it’s some sort of map with official looking writing in the lower corners.  Perhaps most salient even in the smallest image, one important feature of the plat map is that it provides the orientation of the properties (north/south/east/west).  That info is now readily findable online, but this used to be the easiest way (and most accurate) to answer the question “which way does the home face?” Look at the map, find the parcel and you’ll know its orientation.

The plat map also provides the Tract Number (and often the name given by the builder for the subdivision – in this case, Carlton Terrace). Along the right side, you can see the source of this information: the office of the county assessor for Santa Clara County.

Let’s look a little closer still.

Looking at an individual address or lot, you’ll note that there’s more information.  The house number for each parcel is listed, the shape of each property given (parcel boundary) and the approximate lot dimensions are provided too.  When a dimension is the same on both sides or as with the adjoining property, it’s not listed.  In the case of these homes, most of them have 60′ to 61′ wide lots and approximately 110′  to 113′ deep lots -  very typical lot size for a Cambrian Park home.

What about the large numbers in the middle of each property?  One of them is the builder’s lot number and the other is the parcel number assigned by the to the property by the county assessor’s office. The parcel number should be underlined and more prominent (bolded, italicized etc.).

The assessor’s parcel number, or APN, for each property is created by referring to the Asessor’s Book Number, the Assessor’s Book Page Number plus the individual parcel number, with each of these sets separated by hyphens.  To find the book and page number, look in the corners of the page with the plat map – they will be listed clearly.  In our sample, note the lower right hand corner.

So for the homes on this plat map, the APN will be 421-18- whatever the parcel number is for that particular home (the bolded, underlined, italicized number).

Can this information be really useful to you? You bet it can.  Sometimes we see homes for sale in which the lot size is said to be a certain amount, say 6000 SF, but having seen the yard, it appears much, much larger (or smaller). By studying this page, you can check the dimensions and see if the number quoted as the lot size is correct or not. 

Several times in my career I have found a lot size to be under-estimated or under-reported in the county records.  This is especially true with irregularly shaped lots (such as pie-shaped lots or lots with many sides to them – more than four).  If a builder primarily subdivided with 6000 SF lots, that number may be inputted to the county records for every parcel, even if the one you’re looking at buying or currently own is much, much more.

I won’t say it’s a fun geometry project, but learning that a home is sitting on a 9000 or 10,000 SF lot rather than 6000 is money in the bank if you’re buying or selling such a home.  Many Realtors will not get the lot measured in person or referencing the plat map, but this extra step is extraordinarily helpful in understanding a home’s true value.   So first we must understand how to read a plat map, then know and act on what we see if there’s anything that does not look correct.

Plat maps are so important that if there’s a small typo in them, the lender for a buyer will not fund the loan until it’s corrected. (I know, it happened to me about 10 years ago on a Willow Glen home I listed and sold on Arata Court.)  When you get the preliminary title report, whether you’re buying or selling, don’t ignore it!  The rest of the contents of the prelim are also important, but for today I want to encourage agents and consumers to take the time to look also at the parcel map at the end of the prelim and see if everything looks correct.  It may save you both time and money to catch any errors upfront.