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Mary Pope-Handy
Realtor
CRS, ABR, E-Pro, SRES
Sereno Group Real Estate
214 Los Gatos-Saratoga Rd
Los Gatos, CA 95030
408 204-7673
Mary (at) PopeHandy.com
License# 01153805


Selling homes in
Silicon Valley
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San Jose, Los Gatos,
Saratoga, Campbell,
Almaden Valley,
Cambrian Park and
Santa Clara County

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Articles about ‘photos’

A view from Downtown San Jose in Autumn

Tuesday, December 6th, 2011

Recently Jim & I had an appointment at a high rise in downtown San Jose near the Hotel De Anza. It was a clear day and the view was lovely, so I took a few photos and stitched them together to share.  Hope you enjoy it!  For those not from the Santa Clara Valley, this is looking east.  The hills you see are green during the rainy season and yellow-brown in the dry summer months.

A view from Downtown San Jose in Autumn

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Cal Fire operates “controlled burn” at Henry Coe State Park near Morgan Hill; skies smokey over San Jose

Wednesday, October 19th, 2011

Yesterday Jim and I attended the Los Gatos Creekside Sports Park kickoff celebration (will nearly touch Vasona Lake County Park and is just off of University Avenue) and as we often do, drove east on Blossom Hill Road to get home. Straight ahead of us, hanging over south San Jose and Santa Teresa and extending north, was a huge and darkened cloud. Smoke? Smog? Rainclouds?

We drove up Harwood Road and to the top of Harwood Court to get a better view of it. It did look like it started in south San Jose or further south than that. Some hikers were trekking up the challenging hill and we asked them if they knew if it were a fire. “Can’t smell it,” one replied “so it must be smog – just awful!” Smog, though, tends to dissipate from side to side and not hang together so tightly as what we saw.

Controlled burn east of Morgan Hill on Oct 18 2011 created smoggy skies in San Jose

View from Harwood Court in Los Gatos of the smokey skies created by the Cal Fire "controlled burn" in south county

 

We flipped on KLIV, the San Jose based AM radio station (channel 1590) that best covers local news & traffic, and learned right away that it was a controlled burn. This morning I googled the fire and learned that it’s a 2 day burn at part of Henry Coe State Park, overseen by Cal Fire, with more scheduled for today.

The Morgan Hill Times reports that “The prescribed burn is part of the ‘Western Zone Complex’ controlled fire in the remote area of the park. The fire will take place on the Middle Ridge Trail off Hobbs Road, about eight miles northeast of Morgan Hill, according to Calfire fire prevention specialist Chris Morgan. “

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Selling your Silicon Valley home? Ask to see the “full” agent MLS printout!

Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

Page 1 of 6 on the "agent full" mls printout of a house recently sold (my listing)If you don’t see the MLS printout on your property when it’s on the market, you could be missing errors and typos that have slipped past your agent.  Or you may simply prefer that certain elements be emphasized over others.  I’m convinced that many Silicon Valley home sellers never view or critique the agent report or comments though – if they did they’d probably have a bit of a heart attack.

Errors and typos are not uncommon.  Once I helped a buyer to purchase a 3 bed, 2 bath home which was incorrectly represented in the multiple listing service as 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths.  This of course was to our advantage, but the seller probably had less traffic, and ultimately a lower sales price, because of the data entry error.It should have been caught by the agent, of course, but the seller too should have been more responsible. No one knows your home like you do!

Sometimes the typos are funny, if unintentionally so.  I saw one house which boasted dual pain windows (makes you wonder!).  A walk in pantry was once said to be a walk in panty. This happens not just on the mls of course.  One friend mentioned to me reading a termite report that said that the wood debris in the crawl space of a home was called “cellulite debris” instead of “cellulose debris”.  Mistakes happen. If you’re the seller, try to find them before they go public – or worse, viral!

The comments sections (most for everyone, but a few for just real estate licensees and members of the MLS) are crucially important to a successful sale – almost as important as having a lot of high quality photographs.   Let me give you an example.  Would you rather have your home described by the first or second set of comments?

  1. LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION! Nice home in great area!!!
  2. Classic, updated & remodeled Victorian on tree lined streets close to SJSU. Large formal entry, remodeled kitchen with granite & profession 6 burner range, large living & dining rooms. Newer furnace. Foundation upgraded in 2005.  Big front porch & private back yard. (more…)
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Photo of Mt. Umunhum and Santa Cruz Mountains in Almaden

Thursday, August 4th, 2011

Lately I’ve been spending a lot of time in San Jose’s Almaden Valley neighborhood.  On one side of Almaden the Santa Teresa Foothills rest and on the other, the coastal range or Santa Cruz Mountains.  This view was taken in a more southern part of the area with a great view of Mt. Umunhum. So pretty!

Almaden Valley in San Jose (95120) - view of Mt. Umunhum and Santa Cruz Mountains

Almaden Valley in San Jose (95120) - view of Mt. Umunhum and Santa Cruz Mountains

The mercury mines (not one, but a network of them) aren’t far from here in the hills around New Almaden, the Calero Reservoir and Guadalupe Creek (which is about 4.5 miles west of the New Almaden Mine). All very scenic!

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Exquisitely Remodeled Willow Glen Home with Campbell Schools for Sale

Monday, July 25th, 2011

Remodeled kitchen at 1548 Santa Inez Drive, San Jose (Willow Glen) CA 95125Located on a quiet, tree lined street in the St. Francis Woods neighborhood of Willow Glen, San Jose, a stunningly remodeled and spacious home at 1548 Santa Inez Drive is a dream home in a fabulous neighborhood.

Offered for sale at $875,000 – Approximately 2028 square feet on a comfortable 8250 SF lot (per county records), this lovely 3 bedroom, 2.5 remodeled bath home has truly spacious living areas, a kitchen that will knock your socks off and a backyard perfect for entertaining. Please enjoy the virtual tour, below, then get all the details next.

Highlights of this Willow Glen home for sale include:

  • 3 bedrooms with lovely crown moulding & large, classic base
  • 2.5 elegantly remodeled bathrooms
  • High-end, remodeled kitchenfeaturing slab granite counter tops and complimentary tile back splash with granite accent pieces
    • Stainless steel sink and appliances
      • GE Profile set of ovens (2 plus warming drawer)
      • Miele 5 burner gas range
      • Bosch dishwasher
      • GE Profile microwave
    • Extra high ceiling with a canopy of recessed lights
    • Tasteful and unique two tone cabinets – wood on bottom, black on top pieces with under-cabinet lighting installed, pullouts and “lazy Susan” too
    • Loads of storage & counter space plus a pantry
    • Floor made of large tiles, theme carried from entry hall into half bath, laundry area and pantry too
  • Separate Living, Dining and Family Rooms  (more…)
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Los Gatos video by one who grew up here and returned to visit

Saturday, June 25th, 2011

I recently have gotten more busy with my YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/popehandy) and this evening I was surfing that site to see what sort of things I could find in our Silicon Valley area, beginning with Los Gatos since that’s where I live and where my office is. Found this and it’s a gem – I hope you enjoy it!< br>

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View of the Saratoga Hills from West Valley College

Friday, June 24th, 2011

Our daughter is taking some classes at West Valley College this summer and I’ve had the chance to revisit* the campus a number of times recently.  I took this photo of the Santa Cruz Mountains or the Coastal Range over Saratoga while on the WVC campus the other day – and thought it was pretty enough to share.  Hope you enjoy it!


Hills over Saratoga CA from West Valley College in Saratoga

*When I was a senior at Saratoga High School (a very long time ago – I graduated in 1977), I took a class at West Valley College in psychology. What I remember most was the segment on early childhood education and one particular line about the importance of paying enough attention to kids: “a child would rather be kicked than ignored”.  It had a profound influence on the way we raised our two kids – for the better!

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