Articles about ‘Neighborhoods’
Monday, February 6th, 2012
Cambrian Park, or more broadly, Cambrian, is a west San Jose neighborhood or district and is one of the more affordable, high-value areas in Silicon Valley. The schools are good, the crime is low, and the commute is not too bad. For people relocating to Santa Clara County, this is a place to know about since quality education and affordability are often high priorities!
What’s the compromise for the more reasonable prices of homes for sale? Well, Cambrian doesn’t have an interesting, upscale downtown area like Campbell, Los Gatos, Saratoga, or Willow Glen.
But it does have tons of shopping & restaurants and even a Farmer’s Market. It also enjoys a top notch hospital (Good Samaritan) and plenty of parks as well as a fantastic rec center with a large park adjacent to it, the Camden Community Center, which has tons of programs (including an after school program for youth), classes, and a fabulous pool. (My family and I lived in Cambrian in the “Cambrian Gardens” neighborhood for 10 years and loved it – our kids made great use of the community center too.)
Altogether, there are about 75,000 to 80,000 residents in Cambrian, spread throughout the three zip codes of 95124, 95118 and a little tiny bit of 95008.
If there is a “central Cambrian Park”, it would have to be near the original Cambrian Park Shopping Center, which was the first actual mall in San Jose! That area is sometimes known as Cambrian Village. People sometimes use the three names interchangeably: Cambrian, Cambrian Park, Cambrian Village.:
Where is Cambrian Park? Map of approximate Cambrian Boundaries:
View Cambrian Area of San Jose in a larger map
(more…)
Tags: 95008, 95118, 95124, Cambrian, Cambrian Gardens, Cambrian history, Cambrian homes for sale, Cambrian Park (SJ), Cambrian real estate, Cambrian Village, good schools, homes for sale, Neighborhoods, ranch homes, Real estate, Relocation, san jose, san jose homes for sale, San Jose real estate, Santa Clara County, Schools, silicon valley
Posted in Cambrian Park (SJ), Market Info, Neighborhoods, Parks, Relocation | No Comments »
Friday, February 3rd, 2012
The 95129 area of San Jose, which is sometimes referred to as the “Cupertino Border” area and is generally part of “West San Jose”, is highly desirable due to the excellent school scores in the Cupertino School District, well maintained homes and great commute location to companies such as Apple (headquartered in Cupertino).
Today we’ll consider the real estate market activity for houses in this area today and in relation to recent history.
This data will be automatically updated by Altos Research (to which I have a subscription) weekly. Altos uses list prices, not sales or sold prices, FYI.
Median List price for San Jose 95129
Median list price, all quartiles combined, going back about 6 years. Peak for pricing was in very late 2007. There was a bit of a rally in both 2009 and 2010, but gains were lost in 2011.

Median list price for just the last 12 months:

(more…)
Tags: Cupertino, home buying, homes for sale, neighborhood, Real estate, real estate market, san jose, silicon valley, Silicon Valley real estate, statistics
Posted in Cupertino, How's The Market?, Market Reports, West San Jose | No Comments »
Sunday, January 29th, 2012
How’s the Cupertino real estate market right now? Let’s start with the most basic window into conditions: supply and demand. (This graph and more info comes from my Cupertino Real Estate Report. Please click on the link for much more data and information – with statistics and trends dating back many years. Also you will find reports which are monthly, quarterly and annually generated. Finally, there’s a “property analysis” tab which enables you to check sales – and see images – around any Cupertino address. Please allow the analysis tab to do its slow load – it’s worth it – enjoy!)
Cupertino Real Estate Supply and Demand

Cupertino Real Estate Market Barometer of Supply and Demand
The realty market barometer is going through the roof! This implies that it’s very easy for Cupertino home sellers to get their properties into contract and to the closing table, that it is a hot seller’s market in Cupertino. Please note the darkest line reflects housing inventory – and it’s been plummeting for months. (Look at each year for October through December and you will note that the pattern is seasonal – but the actual number of homes available does vary considerably.) Now please note the pale gray line, which indicates the number of homes selling and closing escrow. The bigger the gap between these lines, the more choices buyers have, and the narrower the gap, the fewer. Right now, for the first time covered by the chart above, these lines have met, meaning that homes are selling at the same rate that they are coming on the market. When supply matches or outpaces demand, prices nearly always rise.
But what about home prices in Cupertino?
Here’s a look at the numbers, in brief, as reported with closed sales in December 2011. Surprisingly, although the market appears to be very hot, prices don’t seem to reflect that – perhaps “yet”. The median sales price of houses in Cupertino are off significantly from both the month prior and the year prior, and the average sales price is down a little. The number of sales is off a little and the list price to sales price is off some too (both year over year and month over month). Meanwhile, the days on market are growing pretty steadily.
| Trends At a Glance |
Dec 2011 |
Previous Month |
Year-over Year |
| Median Price |
$982,500 |
$1,122,500 (-12.5%) |
$1,082,500 (-9.2%) |
| Average Price |
$1,085,210 |
$1,127,420 (-3.7%) |
$1,092,580 (-0.7%) |
| No. of Sales |
24 |
28 (-14.3%) |
26 (-7.7%) |
| Pending Properties |
12 |
31 (-61.3%) |
21 (-42.9%) |
| Active |
23 |
35 (-34.3%) |
37 (-37.8%) |
| Sale vs. List Price |
96.4% |
98.9% (-2.5%) |
97.5% (-1.1%) |
| Days on Market |
52 |
37 (+42.1%) |
38 (+39.7%) |
What’s happening? Why this contradiction between the market barometer and pricing? First, the days on market reflect the inventory which recently sold, not the inventory which is available today. This tells us that many homes that have been on the market awhile are now being purchased. (Probably others went off the market for the holidays, which is typical for the season.) (more…)
Tags: Cupertino, home prices, median list price, median sales price, price, Real estate, real estate market, silicon valley, Silicon Valley real estate, statistics, trends
Posted in Cupertino, How's The Market?, Market Reports | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 17th, 2012
The annual market report is out at popehandy.REReport.com and we can now learn how 2011 compared to 2010. The median sales price for houses in Santa Clara County was off 5.3% overall. But from one part of the valley to the next it varied wildly with 6 cities or areas finding themselves in positive territory while others were off by double digits.
In the image to the left, I’ve put into bold the cities where the median sales price of houses which sold and closed escrow in 2011 were ahead of 2010′s pricing.
What is it that makes Gilroy, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Mountain View and Palo Alto “in the black”?
Most of these cities/towns are upscale, west valley communities. But so are Saratoga, Cupertino, and Monte Sereno.
Gilroy was especially hard-hit with the housing downturn so perhaps in that case, it’s just coming back into more of a balance. (Then again, so was Morgan Hill and it’s still off by 12%.)
The LinkedIn IPO and others in the Palo Alto area drove prices up for some parts of the housing market nearby and it’s likely that this explains the positive growth for Palo Alto, Mountain View, and Los Altos Hills. That said, it would seem that Los Altos, and perhaps even Sunnyvale would have seen stronger numbers on the same account. Perhaps school scores are the key driver here.
Los Gatos, Saratoga and Monte Sereno often behave somewhat similarly as they are adjacent to one another and often attract similar home buyers who want good schools, a nice downtown area nearby and scenic beauty with the hills. The annual numbers show Monte Sereno down 6.7%, Saratoga down 2% but Los Gatos up 6.4%. With Monte Sereno, there are very few sales each month and each year (only about 4,000 residents), so there can be a wider swing without it necessarily being accurate. Saratoga and Los Gatos each have about 30,000 people who call these areas home, though, so the data is much more helpful. Saratoga and Los Gatos both have multiple school districts, views, homes with better proximity to “downtown” and more variables – I think we’d have to dig a lot deeper to learn why these two neighboring markets are so diverse. We might also have to look at multiple years of data to see if Saratoga spiked while LG slumped to explain the difference. (more…)
Tags: 2010, 2011, Almaden Valley (SJ), Annual, Blossom Valley, Cambrian, Los Altos, Los Gatos, median sales price, Monte Sereno, Palo Alto, Real estate, san jose, Santa Clara County, Saratoga, statistics, Willow Glen (SJ), year over year
Posted in Almaden Valley (SJ), Alum Rock, Alviso (SJ), Berryessa (SJ), Blossom Valley (SJ), Cambrian Park (SJ), Campbell, Central San Jose, Cupertino, Downtown San Jose, East San Jose (SJ), Evergreen (SJ), Gilroy, How's The Market?, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Los Gatos Mountains, Market Info, Market Reports, Milpitas, Monte Sereno, Morgan Hill, Mountain View, Neighborhoods, Palo Alto, San Jose (all areas), Santa Clara, Santa Clara County (all), Santa Teresa (SJ), Saratoga, Sunnyvale, Willow Glen (SJ) | No Comments »
Sunday, January 15th, 2012
How’s the Saratoga California real estate market?
Annual Saratoga CA Real Estate Update:
Saratoga’s prices slipped a bit in 2011 over 2010. Here are the basic numbers with the stats for the annual review, including median sales price and average sales price of houses sold (see the Saratoga Real Estate Report for even more data):
Median Sale Price 2011 = $1,480,000 2010 = $1,510,000 (-2.0%)
Average Sale Price 2011 = $1,636,300 2010 = $1,657,140 (-1.3%)
For condominiums and townhouses it was stronger (finally, they’ve taken a beating!):
Median Sale Price 2011 = $660,000 2010 = $612,500 (+7.8%)
Average Sale Price 2011 = $684,500 2010 = $640,895 (+6.8%)
To see much more information please visit the full annual Real Estate Report for Saratoga condos and townhomes
Monthly Real Estate Update for Saratoga:
Sales of single family homes were up but prices were down month over month – but way, way up over December 2010! It’s taking much longer to sell houses compared to a year ago too – but look at the prices from a year ago – the low price went with a very brisk sale time (average 17 days on the market). That was nuts both for low pricing and for speed!

What about Saratoga condos for sale and sold? There are very, very few of these which sell in any given month, so the numbers can very easily jump around like crazy – and therefore aren’t terribly helpful. (more…)
Tags: CA, condo, condos, days on market, homes for sale, house, houses, inventory, market, quartile, Saratoga, Saratoga real estate, Saratoga real estate market, statistics, townhouse, trends
Posted in Condos & Townhomes, Houses, Luxury Homes, Market Reports, Saratoga, Single Family Homes | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012
How’s the Almaden Valley real estate market? Prices appear to have been rising, but slipped some this last month. There’s not much inventory in this part of the valley so it remains a seller’s market, incredibly. A fairly nice 4 bed, 2 bath house in most parts of the San Jose 95120 zip code will still cost about a million dollars (more if it’s in the best areas with best schools and best condition). A smaller 3-4 bedroom townhouse with good schools will be about half that much unless it’s really young and highly upgraded.
Average Days on Market & Sale to List Price Ratio for Almaden Valley (San Jose, CA 95120) houses in 2011:

Date is between Jan 2011 and Dec 2011
Property Sub Class is ‘Single Family Residential’
Area AreaIdName is ’13 Almaden Valley’
Results calculated from approximately 350 listings
Number of Homes For Sale vs Sold for Almaden Houses on the Market
Date is between Jan 2011 and Dec 2011
Property Sub Class is ‘Single Family Residential’
Area AreaIdName is ’13 Almaden Valley’
Results calculated from approximately 570 listings
Listings by Price Range
Date is between Feb 2011 and Jan 2012
Property Sub Class is ‘Single Family Residential’
Area AreaIdName is ’13 Almaden Valley’
Results calculated from approximately 470 listings
Sales by price range
Date is between Jan 2011 and Dec 2011
Property Sub Class is ‘Single Family Residential’
Area AreaIdName is ’13 Almaden Valley’
Results calculated from approximately 320 listings
Tags: 95120, Almaden Valley (SJ), Almaden Valley real estate, buyer's market, market conditions, san jose, seller's market
Posted in Almaden Valley (SJ), Market Reports | No Comments »
Monday, January 2nd, 2012

Cinnabar winery sign (Big Basin Way, Saratoga)
In many communities such as Saratoga, Los Gatos, Los Altos, Willow Glen, Campbell and Palo Alto, there is a high premium placed on homes which are close to the downtown area. Many real estate agents advertise these as “walk to town” but the idea is simple: it’s nearby, you can stroll, skate, ride or bike, wheel yourself and forget the car.
Downtown Saratoga, also called Saratoga Village, welcomes residents and visitors to a charming, scenic area with fabulous shops, spas, wine tasting venues, restaurants and more. This part of the city boasts top scoring schools as well as lovely older and historic buildings and a gorgeous park alongside Saratoga Creek. Whether you spend an afternoon or a lifetime in Saratoga, this part of town will call you back again and again!
What do you need to know about buying a house, townhouse or condo in downtown Saratoga?
There are a few points which you are well served to know when purchasing residential real estate in this upscale community. We’ll touch on a few of them here: historic homes, traffic & noise, natural hazards, parking, and special issues with condos, townhouses and PUDs (planned unit developments).
First, this downtown Saratoga Village zone is historic; while not every property is deemed historic, many are and that means that there will be restrictions on remodeling and expansion of single family homes or houses. For instance, original glass in windows may need to remain if you’ve got a Victorian house dating from the 1890s, and expansions may need to be off the back of the home so that the facade keeps its initial look and feel (just examples). This can be frustrating if you buy a luxury home that “needs work” and you are surprised later. If the house was built before 1950 or so, double check the rules! (more…)
Tags: California, concerns, condo, condos, downtown, historic, home buying, homes for sale, house, houses, issues, listings, Luxury Homes, natural hazards, PUDs, Real estate, restaurants, Saratoga, Schools, townhome, Townhomes, townhouse, traffic, Village, walk to town
Posted in Buying Tips, Condos & Townhomes, Older & Historic Homes, Saratoga, Single Family Homes | No Comments »