Mapped estimation of flooding due to sea level rises of 1, 7 and 14 meters

But what about Silicon Valley? And Silicon Valley real estate?  As the ice melts, sea levels rise.  If or when this trend continues, the San Francisco Bay Area, including Santa Clara County, will be impacted quite seriously.   Where will all the water go?  Our “Natural Hazard Reports” now list things like “dam inundation zones” and “earthquake fault zones” but not rising sea water zones.  

Geology.com has an interactive map which you can view and tinker with (see link at image above or here: http://geology.com/sea-level-rise/san-francisco.shtml) to get a sense of the projected flood areas.  As you might imagine, the low lying areas closest to the bay are most at risk – parts of San Jose, Alviso, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Milpitas, East Palo Alto and Mountain View are all threatened. Some of these are already in a 100 year flood plain, which forces buyers to pay for flood insurance and makes homes a bit harder to sell.   How much harder it might be if the water were to begin to rise rapidly….

There are a number of responses to this climate crisis, many of which you may know about such as the effort to reduce carbon emmissions.  Locally, there’s also an effort to restore the wetlands around the south bay as these can help to absorb increases of water from storms (or potentially a rise in sea levels) and also trap carbon. About 85% of the wetlands have been lost over time, so there are many reasons to restore them.  The South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project has a very helpful website with maps and information. 

Other solutions may arise too.  Having been to Holland, I have to wonder if there will be dikes built to protect certain areas.  Or would we fight the water like they do in Venice, by creating islands of sorts or floating blocks?   Time will tell.  Meanwhile, I see the popularity of the “green” movement becoming more & more relevant each day.

For more information, please watch this public television video “Climate Watch: California at the Tipping Point”.

QUEST on KQED Public Media.

This post was very much inspired by a good friend, fellow Realtor and blogger, Laurie Manny, who died very unexpectedly this week.  I dedicate this post to Laurie, who always encouraged, mentored and inspired many of us.  My blogs have been influenced by her and our friendship, and I will miss her immensely.  I exchanged messages with her on Monday, wrote this on Tuesday (and sent her a note on Facebook to let her know she’d motivated this post), and Wednesday learned that she died sometime between Monday evening and Wednesday morning.  Her influence will continue to be felt for many, many years to come. Rest in peace, my friend.

When working with my clients, for most vendors I provide a trusted  list of sorts.  For the various inspections (roof, chimney, home, pest, etc.) or other service (lender, home warranty, title company) there might be as few as two or as many as six resources listed.  Most often, my clients ask me if I have one or more which I prefer, and most of the time it is one company for each category (I have a favorite termite company, favorite home warranty company, etc.). 

The home buyer or seller in Santa Clara can pick or hire anyone or any company he or she pleases for these various jobs. We agents can and will assist with sharing the names and numbers of those whom we know, like and trust, but at the end of the day, it’s the client who chooses. So really it’s up to the client – he or she can do some research or not.  But if they tell me (as they most often do) to go with my preferred vendor, there’s one in each category and I don’t tend to “spread the business around”.  Over the years, agents tend to build relationships with people in these companies and get a sense of whom they can trust and want to work with. (We agents would hate it if a client with six homes to sell picked six different Realtors to rotate through, too. We tend to want and also to give loyalty.)

My expanded list of trusted vendors also tells my buyer clients that if the seller has done a pre-sale inspection and the company is “on the list”, I do trust them to have been honest and it’s probably ok to have that company do the work.  Sometimes they want a second opinion, which I totally understand and support, but an honest termite company will give the same report and information no matter who has ordered the report. 

If the seller’s done a pre-sale inspection and the company is an out-of-area firm that no one ever heard of (I have seen that with bank owned properties where they bring a termite guy in from Stockton, for instance), then I will usually suggest that my buyer hire someone who’s a known entity rather than assume that the provider picked by the seller is OK. There are a few companies which I truly don’t trust, and if the pre-sale inspection is from one of them, I will ardently work to get my clients to hire better vendors. 

(This happened a couple of years ago when my buyers were purchasing a Cambrian Park home where the pre-sale inspections were from companies with horrible reputations.  We hired all new inspectors and found $10,000 worth of items missed by the “bad inspectors” – all very visible to anyone who had actually gone into the crawl space.)

Finally, I would never hire or suggest hiring based on either speed of response or price alone.  Sometimes the very best in the category is someone who’s busy, and the one who can respond fast (or is cheapest) may not be as good.  For me the more important thing is whether the vendor is knowledgeable, ethical, dilligent and fairly priced (not over pricing).  Sometimes the cheapest vendors cost more in the long run if they miss a problem or won’t jump through hoops when we really need them to do so.  The best vendors will go the extra mile for me (us) because they know they’ll have my loyalty and they want to earn repeat business or endorsement. 

For an escrow officer, sometimes that means working late, accomodating a sign off after hours or doing other things that no one can really expect them to do (because they “close at 5″).  For a home inspector, it may mean squeezing us in late in the day or even on a Saturday if there’s some true emergency.  If vendors know that you’re only there one time out of five or ten, they won’t feel the loyalty that might urge them to try a little harder.  The relationships built between agents and vendors can truly help consumers when there’s a pinch, especially.  Those things cannot always be easily measured, but they can be vital to performing or closing on time and in the long run make transactions easier, smoother, and put the consumer in a better position overall.

• the purchase agreement, any addenda & contract disclosures (appx 12 -20 pages in most cases)
• a preliminary title report and possibly CC & Rs (Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions)
• if the home is a condo, townhouse or PUD, docs pertaining to the home owner’s association (can run hundreds of pages)
• the standard disclosures common in our area which require the seller to answer questions about the home, yard and area (appx 15-25 pages)
• a natural hazard report (stating whether the home’s in an earthquake zone, flood plain etc.), environmental hazard report (whether there are leaking underground storage tanks and such), tax report (any extra bonds or assessments that will show up on your property tax bill) and other area disclosures ordered by the seller and provided by a company such as JCP, Property ID and other firms (appx 80 pages)
• inspections: usually pest and home are ordered, often also chimney, roof, possibly others such as pool or other specific components of the home (varies but often at least 40 or 50 pages, frequently more)
• for buyers: disclosures on their loan
• for sellers: the listing agreement and disclosures related to it
• at the time of signing the final papers: escrow instructions and lots of forms for transferring title – you will also see the reports seen previously too
• additionally, some real estate brokerages have a lot of their own disclosure forms too
• if the sale is a relocation, there will be a lot of relo papers to complete as well
• if it is a short sale or bank owned home, you will have extra paperwork for that also

By the time it’s all said and done, you will have reviewed several hundred pages of paperwork that are several inches high if stacked. All of this can make consumers a little bit crazy, particularly when there forms which are very nearly duplicates. (It may be a little less if it’s a trustee sale or probate, but only a little less.)

Why is there so much of it?

For the most part, the disclosures, reports and inspections are consumer protection driven.  It is extraordinarily important for home buyers to have a full and complete understanding of what they’re taking on when purchasing a home. 

Disclosures are key: Sellers must provide information on anything which would “materially impact value or desireability“, so have disclosure forms to assist with that goal. These questions are intended to help the sellers to cover areas that might not occur to them without prompting. For example,  some sellers wouldn’t think a death on the property matters, but some buyers would, so there’s a question on one of the forms about that.  (The law in CA is that a death on the property within the last 3 years must be volunteered by the seller without asking by the buyer. They don’t have to offer that information if the death happened more than 3 years ago, but if a buyer asks about it, the seller is obliged to answer truthfully.)

Many of the questions, or nuances within the questions, are the result of a lawsuit at some point.  So to omit some “wiggle room”, the question was added or modified (usually to make it broader).  When you see questions that make you wonder, it’s pretty safe to assume that somewhere along the line, someone sued someone else over that very issue. (For example, “land fill” is now called just “fill” on a question asking about its presence since there was a lawsuit involving a Willow Glen home owner’s use of medical waste products as fill in a back yard. Gross, but true.)

Sellers sometimes do not want to answer the disclosure questions carefully  or truthfully because either they don’t want to spend the time or for fear that it will put off a buyer.  They sometimes think that a problem in the past was remedied so it’s no longer necessary to mention the issue. That’s just not true – the obligation includes explaining past issues that were fixed or repaired.  The #1 cause of real estate lawsuit is non-disclosure by seller to buyer.  The best way to keep the money you make on your home sale is to be very truthful and complete in your disclosure (not under-disclosing a problem).  Plan to spend at least 2 or 3 hours responding thoughtfully to the disclosure questions and trying to recall if there’s anything else not covered in the questions which ought to be disclosed.

Buyers sometimes do not want to be bothered to carefully read and understand the paperwork they were given.  Later, they may insist that they weren’t told about this or that, but a review of the disclosures or inspections may reveal that they were told but either didn’t read it or simply didn’t remember it.  It is very hard to take in and retain everything when buying a house, particularly because there are so many papers to go through.  But the best way to avoid an unpleasant suprise later is to take your time with the purchase paperwork now.  Read it as you get it: do not ignore it and think it’ll be OK to skim it at the last minute. In some cases you may read something that will warrant further inspection, asking the seller more questions or may even make you want to run it by an attorney.  If this happens you’ll need time so it’s imperative to take the info you’re given seriously and address it soon. 

Buyers, this is probably the biggest purchase you will ever make.  It is extremely important to take your time understanding as much as possible with the paperwork.  Sellers, you want to be done when you sell the home and not have a problem arise later due to non-disclosure or under-disclosure.  Be thorough and complete and you will be protecting yourself.

• pricing the home
• photographing the property
• describing the home on the MLS (and including good pictures)
• the quality of the flyers
• the print advertising
• the online advertising & exposure
• the networking with other agents
• the direct outreach and appeal to consumers
• the accessibility of the home
• staging the home to sell (appeal, cleanliness, no odors, etc.)

Marketing can be good, bad, or somewhere in between. Bad marketing will likely cost sellers money and good marketing will likely make them money.  

Today we’ll go over the most important elements of marketing because sellers should evaluate them when hiring a Realtor to assist them in the marketing and sale of their home.  While there are many areas of marketing, the most crucial, by far, are these three: pricing, photos, and the description on the MLS.

Pricing:  The biggest marketing mistake which is commonly seen is overpricing.  Sellers sometimes believe that their home is worth more than the buying public do and a home will remain unsold no matter what else is done right.  In fact, you could fly airplanes aroud the home and put full page color ads in every paper around the world but if the home is overpriced, it still won’t sell!  Pricing is the most important part of marketing.   With a too-high price, traffic will be diminished and offers will be low at best (lower than actual market value).

Of course, most homes are worth not just one exact dollar amount but somewhere within a range of prices, depending on terms, the speed of the sale etc.  If the pricing is well done and the rest of the marketing is also quite good, the home ought to sell on the high end of what is possible at that time.

Pricing mistakes are very costly and very easy to make.  Here are some of the ways which sellers can be misled about the probable market value of their home:

• using old comps
• relying upon online home valuations
• basing their home’s sale price on what they “need”
• hiring an agent based on his/her suggesting the highest list price (we call that “buying the listing” when an agent overstates value to secure the listing)
• expecting 100% back from all improvements done to the home
• believing buyers can “always make an offer” (if it’s overpriced, they usually won’t)
• thinking there’s no harm in just reducing the price later (if the market is going down, you will be “chasing the market down”)

The one thing that neither the sellers nor their Realtors control is the real estate market, which is fickle and can change.  In recent years it’s been up and down, depending upon location, price point, school districts and more.  Using six month old comparable sales to establish current market value just isn’t appropriate.  Sometimes even the most recently closed sale is not enough, especially if the market is sliding.  Instead of just relying on the solds, also look at the pendings and the current competition.  The less competition your home has, the better odds you have of selling it – and for more.  But a surge of inventory will cause home values (including yours) to drop.   To understand the probable buyer’s value, all of these must be factored in together.  (The online valuation sites do not do that.)

I should add that it is harder to sell a property that has issues such as high voltage power lines, deferred maintenance, messy tenants who make showings difficult, busy road, junky neighbors, or some other undesirable element.  Many agents will suggest a lower price to compensate for whatever issue is hurting the marketability of the home.

While it’s true that there is no problem that a better price cannot fix, most sellers are trying to maximize their sales price.  For that reason, I’d always suggest asking your real estate agent if there’s anything that can be done to improve the market value aside from that lower price.  Sometimes fresh paint and carpet and a professional house cleaning can do wonders for the home’s saleability.  Or giving tenants a lower rent in exchange for their cooperation during the sale will create an easier time for buyers wanting to see and purchase your home.   A little effort may have a great payoff.  (Some agents focus almost exclusively on price and may not be worried about any other element of marketing.  This is a mistake, so be aware that you may run into an agent with this belief.)

Photographs:  Beyond pricing, the next biggest area where we commonly see bad marketing is in poor photography of the home.  Buyers care a tremendous amount about the photos of the home, both outside and inside, and will not bother to see properties where the pics are absent or skip main rooms (such as kitchens and bathrooms, which are expensive to remodel). The presumption is that if it’s not photographed, it’s because it’s horrible.

Good photography will show the home in its best realistic light.  It will not have over-saturation (somewhat surreal looking, which seems to be in style now). 

A good main photo will show front of the home and include the front door and windows (without focusing on the garage).  Bad photography will not only zero in on the garage and driveway, but will likely include a car parked there (too much trouble to ask them to move it!) or maybe garbage bins, toys, hoses or other distractions laying about. This main photograph will show up everywhere from the MLS to the house flyer to a myriad of online websites; I cannot stress enough how important it is that it be nicely done!

The photo below is of a home in Saratoga that my parents owned for about 20 years, and which I sold for my dad after my mother’s passing.  This house is on a flag lot -  it’s behind another home and to get to it, you have to go down a long driveway.  At the end of the driveway, naturally, is a garage.  When photos are taken from there, what is prominent is a 3 car garage and a whole lot of concrete.  That’s the easiest place from which to take photographs, but not the best!

Photograph of home with front door as main focus

The interior and backyard shots also need to be good, of course.  Pictures should not be taken until the home is clean, staged and “show ready”.  For some home owners, it’s not difficult to get their home in shape for the public to view it online and in person. For others, it’s an immense effort.  If you fall into the latter category, get help!  It is cheaper to hire a stager to assist with decluttering and staging then it is to lose the buyer.

Remember, any main area of the condo, townhouse or house which is not photographed will be presumed to be bad by the buying public.  Make sure that the bathrooms and kitchen, especially, gleam and are well photographed!

The MLS:  The multiple listing service (MLS) is the # 1 way we reach buyers in the San Jose – Los Gatos – Saratoga – Silicon Valley area.  The description and photos there are key to getting qualified traffic into the home.  In addition to good still pics, it’s helpful to have a high-quality virtual tour.  Today many of the virtual tours are really just slideshows of still photos.  The better ones, though, include pan shots or actual videos.  (When I do virtual tours they include many photos which I stitch together to create pans of rooms and yards. In the last year or two I’ve been doing 40 – 60 photos per tour.)

The description on the MLS is also key. There are a limited number of characters for comments.  Using precise, descriptive words can be very powerful, while using vague descriptives can be very unconvincing.  Here are some examples:

Weak:
Nice floors
Gorgeous kitchen
Beautiful
Newer appliances
Well maintained
Updated kitchen
Newer roof
Newer windows
air conditioning
(also weak: no permits or finals or “permits unknown”)

Strong:
Hardwood floors, just refinished
Slab Granite countertops, stainless steel appliances
Wolf range, Bosch dishwasher, (brand names)
Kitchen remodeled 3 years ago
Presidential roof, 1 year old
Trane heater & A/C, 3 years old
(Brand name – Andersen, Pella etc) windows installed 2 years ago
If work done with permits and finals, say so!
If work done by well known builder or kitchen remodeler, say so!

Obviously, only offer the age of the components of the home if they’re newer!

Flyers and Print ads: Usually if there’s a problem with the flyers or ads, there’s a bigger, underlying problem with the photos or MLS and the bad flyers and ads are something of a trickle-down problem.  But let’s touch on the print media too since it’s a hot button for many, including me (I cringe when I see awful flyers).  

Recently I saw a one-sided house flyer of a million dollar home that has one terrible “main” photo which showcases the garage door & driveway and the street in front of it (with the manhole cover being prominent) and a bunch of very tiny thumbnail pics on the side which are too small to even figure out.  Takeaway: the garage is the big deal here. Forget the house. Oh and to top it off, there’s a car in the driveway! (Sorry folks, it’s not included in the sale.)

The description on this marketing piece was awful too.  The main title was a non-descriptive line: “Gorgeous Home”. That could mean almost anything, it’s so vague!  And the address line included the state – very silly since we are hundreds of miles from anything out of California.

To top it off, the price was missing on this info sheet, and so was the MLS number.  Why?  Usually agents do that so they can get the “up calls” and try to convert leads to buyers.  (So too was the agent’s license number missing, which is now required by the California Department of Real Estate.) 

It’s frustrating to see really terrible marketing, because I know that the seller is going to be hurt by it, but once a home is listed, other agents cannot interfere.  I wish that managing brokers paid more attention to the marketing that their agents did – it would help both the consumers and the real estate businesses to do a better job.

So what should you expect in a home flyer if your home is listed for sale by a Realtor?  Ask before you hire so you are not surprised!  Some agents (small minority) will do no flyer or just print out info directly from the MLS.  Some will do a lousy one sided piece.   Most agents will do a nice 2 sided, color flyer with photos on both sides for most homes, including condos.  For very high end or luxury homes, there may be a large handout with four sides and many photos and text.   (Some agents will produce a 4 sided flyer but reserve the last page to advertise themselves rather than their listing.)

But do flyers really matter at all? 

I believe that they do matter.  Buyers, their family and friends use flyers on the for sale sign’s post box to screen homes to see.  Great flyer? Go see the home!   Lousy flyer? Forget it.  (Buyers also use the flyer as a memory jog after seeing homes so they can keep them all straight.)  It’s not a huge percentage of impact, perhaps somewhere between 3% and 10%, but would you want to eliminate any significant chances of your home selling for top dollar? 

Print advertisements, on the other hand, are not effective for selling homes anymore.  They are effective for marketing the listing agent, though!  Buyers and their agents are not looking at the local newspaper or homes magazine but instead are browsing homes online. 

The magazines are beautiful but have a deadline several weeks prior to production, so by the time they are on the shelves at the local grocery store, the homes advertised may be long gone.  Newspapers are more current but still not 100% up to date for the same reason. 

But visit www.MLSListings.com (the public and the data you pull is current to within 15 minutes.  Can’t beat that.

So forget the print ads.  They make the sellers feel good to see their home in print but they are not effective at marketing the property, just the listing agent. 

To get the most bang for your buck with real estate marketing, focus first on correct pricing, fabulous photographs and ideal MLS description & comments.  These are the foundation for excellent realty marketing of homes for sale in Santa Clara County and throughout the state.  Also pay attention to staging (in conjunction with photos) and the home flyers.  Keeping the home accessible and pleasant not just on the day the photographs are shot but throughout the listing period is important too, of course. 

It’s a great bonus if your agent is a good networker, since often homes “sell twice”, first to the real estate community and second to the buyers themselves.  In some cases, this is extremely important, but most of the time the networking element is icing on the cake.  As long as the fundamentals are right, this last bit of marketing may not matter too tremendously in the majority of cases, but if your agent does it, consider that a plus.

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…

This is a benefit for the Susan G Komen breast cancer research fund, so will be a live auction and donations would be very much appreciated.

Bel Estos Drive near Rosswood Drive in San Jose

This is true for Rosswood Drive at Union Avenue in Cambrian Park.  On both sides of the intersection, there are many homes of 1200 to 1400 square feet (some larger too) all built around the same time.  Both are San Jose 95124 addresses.  Both are good areas – but the 2000 and 2100 blocks are  nicer than the 1800 & 1900 blocks of Rosswood and those homes sell for more. Why? What makes one area sell for more than another?

In the case of Rosswood Drive, part of it has to do with the beautiful canopy of trees that line the two thousand block of Rosswood and the adjoining streets (Bel Escou, Bel Canto, Bel Estos, Esther, etc.). Part of it is just that the homes are a little better maintained.  Historically, Union used to divide the schools too, and that used to be part of the higher prices – but that’s not really the case now.  (A similar jump happens along Los Gatos-Almaden Road by Harwood too – same builder, Leep, but prices nudge up just a little for homes closer to Blossom Hill Road.)

How can you tell, from looking at a neighborhood, how it compares with nearby streets in the same part of town generally?  Sometimes you cannot know from looking alone (for example a flood plain, earthquake fault or school boundary won’t show), but I’ll give you some cues as to what makes areas more or less desireabile visually.

These are some things I teach my San Jose area buyers to watch out for (lower values) in terms of appearance and sounds:

• too many cars on the street (the more, the worse) – sense of crowding
• junky cars, boats, RVs
• neglected landscaping
• homes in need of paint
• “bars on the windows” and “security doors” in more than one home on the street
• loud music
• trash and trash cans out when it isn’t garbage pick up day
• graffitti
• Lots of RVs (motor homes, trailers, boats)  especially if there are many of them, will pull a neighborhood’s value down
• wire or cyclone fencing in the front yard

Conversely, indicators that a street or area may be better include these:

• people out walking dogs
• people pushing strollers or exercising in the neighborhood
• tidy homes and yards
• if there’s front yard fencing, it’s picket style or similar (not wire or cyclone fencing)
• cars that are well maintained or newer
• most cars either in garages or in driveways – street mostly clear of cars
• tree-lined streets
• quiet areas (you don’t hear TVs, stereos blaring)
• “pride of ownership” evident – evidence of completed home improvement projects, for instance

Also please note:  when looking at values online, you may not realize that a house value might jump or decline 3-5% in some areas simply by crossing the road. Local agents who are active in the marketplace do know, though, so it’s good to get professional help when trying to understand home values.

As we walked through the property, my clients and I noted places where there was neglect.  The items were generally not big, but unfortunately there were many of them.  Had the owners brought in a painter to do minor cosmetic changes (patch and paint), the home could have looked “like new”.  Instead, it was as if the home were full of red flags. Talk about making a bad impression!

My buyers asked me what I thought, if what we saw would scare me off.  No, I told them, they all seemed relatively minor to me,  but I did understand their concern.  One of them explained that “if we see things like this, we believe that the sellers have not taken good care of their home; what else is wrong that we cannot yet see?”

Confident buyers write offers and tend to write good offers.  Nervous buyers who are concerned that there are hidden defects (and therefore hidden costs) either don’t write contracts at all or they write lower offers.

Realtors who list homes with these minor defects or deferred maintenance sometimes have an uphill battle conveying to the home owners why it is so very important to fix up the home and make it look good.  Sellers tend to think “I’ve lived with it, it’s fine” or “everything works, what’s the problem?”  Buyers are cautious and afraid, though.  If they are afraid about your home’s hidden defects,they’ll either pass or write a low offer.

In the case of my showing today, even though the buyers asked me if I’d have been scared off (and I wouldn’t), they were.  One of them said to me, “we had had such hopes for this home!”  They were very disappointed, but didn’t trust the house to be “solid”.

New paint, new carpet, needed repairs and staging can go a long way in making nervous buyers become confident buyers.  Sellers, don’t skimp in the preparation or the repairs!  Think of it like getting ready for a first date: you want to make the right impression!  If your agent tells you to do certain things to make the home sell for top dollar, pay attention.  After all, that’s why you hired your agent to guide you in the first place!

Mary Pope-Handy is an award-winning, top Silicon Valley Realtor and blogger.  She is the co-author of a book, “Get The Best Deal When Selling Your Home in Silicon Valley”.  The book is available on Amazon.com, in select local bookstores, or through Mary, who will provide it as a gift when you meet with her to discuss selling your home (no obligation).

Today we’ll have a comparative look at the median list prices in the housing market in three areas & zip codes of San Jose: Almaden Valley (95120), Cambrian Park (95124) and Willow Glen (95125).  First, how these three areas line up against each other and against San Jose as a whole in terms of the median list prices of homes for sale in the last year.

Please note: the charts below are “live” html and the commentary is appropriate as of today, July 30, 2010.  The charts will continue to change and be updated,though, so it’s possible that a year from now the commentary may seem disjointed.  Now you’ll know why!

First, a glance at Almaden, Willow Glen, Cambrian and San Jose genererally.  Overall, it looks like the higher priced homes are having the most trouble.  A closer look, though, shows that although Almaden is pricier than Willow Glen, Willow Glen’s median list price has gone down far more than Almaden’s.  My guess is that the school districts are having a large influence here – the schools in Almaden range from good to great, whereas in Willow Glen most of the zip code has only average schools.

San Jose as a whole, by price quartile is next.

The lowest priced homes have been inching up over the year. The second price point from the bottom seems to be about even with a year ago, the second from the top is down and the most expensive homes are down by about 5%.

Next, let’s focus on the Almaden Valley area of town by price quartile also:

What a change from San Jose as a whole – all of these price points are down from a year ago. (Buyers, take note: it’s easier to buy a home when you see these conditions.)  The price points are high, so Almaden is behaving like other more expensive areas of San Jose.  Next, Cambrian Park…

What about Cambrian Park, 95124, which is more affordable than Almaden?

Like San Jose as a whole, the entry level prices (lowest price point) are rising.  The middle ranges dipped but are back where they were a year ago. The most expensive homes, though, have dropped the most – it looks like about 15% – wow! What is surprising is that the upper quartile of 95124 started at about the same place as the upper quartile of San Jose as a whole - both right at about $1,000,000. Why is 95124 faring so much worse? It would seem to be a great time to buy in that price point there!

Willow Glen is usually priced right between Cambrian and Almaden. Looks like it’s behaving more like a luxury market than a middle class neighborhood as all four price points show lower median list prices now than a year ago. The drops are not as harsh in the upper quartile as they were in Almaden, though.  This indicates that it’s tough on sellers (and good for buyers) in Willow Glen today.

If we look at just the top quartile of all these areas, we can compare the high end pricing of them against each other.

Willow Glen (95125) has been sliding since the beginning of the year.  Almaden dipped but is rising again, as are Cambrian and the rest of San Jose. All four areas are lower than they were a year ago, with Willow Glen taking the greatest hit right now.

The Santa Cruz, CA, Lighthouse

Santa Cruz is just 30-60 minutes “over the hill” but in many ways is an entirely different world than Silicon Valley.  I spent a lot of time there while growing up in Santa Clara and Saratoga, mostly because my grandparents lived in Pasatiempo (a lovely neighborhood centered on a golf course) in Santa Cruz and later in retirement communities nearby.  Jim and I lived in Santa Cruz ourselves for three years when we were newly married.  [I taught first at Marello Prep in Santa Cruz (now closed) and later at Notre Dame High School in Salinas while living at the coast, in life before real estate.]

We have a lot of wonderful memories & experience with the Santa Cruz – Capitola – Aptos – Soquel area.  Today I wanted to share a few general tips and food tips for those who may be new to this part of California and spending some time by the coast.

Some general tips

1. Weather: always, always have layers available as the shore is unpredictible.  It might be 100 in Willow Glen but cold and windy with the fog rolling in at the wharf.   The coastal communities have varying degrees of fog, sun and wind: microclimates are the norm.  If it’s sunny and toasty at the lighthouse, it may not be that way at Seacliff Beach. Don’t rely on webcams!
   
2. Restrooms: know where the restrooms are before you visit.  The city of Santa Cruz has a list of public restrooms and a map online. It’s pretty awful if you spend a lot of time shopping on Pacific Avenue (downtown Santa Cruz), only to find no bathroom when you need one.  Your visit will be happier if you plan ahead!
3. There’s more to do than just the beach: the coastal communities near Santa Cruz have loads going on with festivals, shows, musical productions and more.  Check out the online roster of events near the Monterey Bay.
4. The Boardwalk has no admission fee and is a great place to people-watch and get tasty junk food, even if the rides don’t appeal to you.  In summer there are free music concerts on Friday nights (check the website for info) and on Monday & Tuesday evenings after 5pm they celelebrate 1907 nights: rides and hot dogs, cotton candy and most fountain drinks are just $1 each.   This is a bargain!
   
5. The Lighthouse on West Cliff Drive has beatiful views and is a wonderful place to take photos of the area.  It’s also a fun spot for watching surfers and those throwing a frisbee or walking or riding past (people watching, generally).  The area has a paved path which makes it great for bikes, roller blades, strollers and wheelchairs too. (When we lived there, we could occassionally see an otter or two in this area also. I’m not sure if that is still true or not, but I hope so.)
6. Traffic:  “Beach Traffic” happens in summer on weekends and holidays.  It can begin as early as 10am if there’s a very bad heat wave inland, but usually does not really kick in until 11am or later.  The return wave of cars climbing over the coastal range begins at around 4pm and can last until 7 or 8, depending on when the fog rolls in.  Beach traffic can double your time in the car, so try to avoid it!
7. Highway 1:  Although many improvements have been made to the connection between Highway 17 southbound and Highway 1 southbound, “The Fish Hook” is still no fun and the traffic on 1 south of Santa Cruz seems to be eternally congested despite widening.  While getting to Santa Cruz from San Jose may be smooth, things will nearly always slow down as you inch south from there toward Capitola, Pajaro Dunes or Monterey.  Allow extra time.  Or, just go extra early. (The pic below was taken on Friday, July 23, 2010 at about 5pm.)

Traffic Along Highway 1 South of Hwy 17 in Santa Cruz on a Friday Afternoon

Some food-related tips

1. Shadowbrook in Capitola is a wonderful restaurant - a great place for brunch, lunch or dinner.  It’s built into the side of a hill going down toward the Soquel Creek and you can ride the funicular down the the restaurant.  Great service.  There’s a nice patio overlooking the river – fun to watch the people in paddleboats go by and see the ducks and other birds too.  Romantic spot.  Do make reservations.  1750 Wharf Road, Capitola 95010   (800) 975-1511
2. Gayle’s Bakery & Rosticceria in Capitola can’t be beat!  Pasteries and desserts are fabulous, but so are the roasted meats and savory food items.  Eat there or take home; there is also outdoor dining available (with heat lamps and clear plexiglass walls to break the wind). Not fancy, but delicious!  504 Bay Ave Capitola, California USA 95010 831.462.1200
3. Mackenzie’s Chocolates in Santa Cruz.  Truly delicious chocolates in all kinds of shapes, including cell phones, airplanes, a lighthouse, banana slugs (the mascot of UC Santa Cruz) etc. They offer milk, dark and sugar free chocolates too.  Plan to go early and put the chocolate in a cooler for the trip over the mountains if need be!   They don’t have the same closing time all seven days of the week, and several times we have arrived there only to find the store closed (M-F closes at 5:30, Saturday at 4pm and Sunday at 5pm). 1492 Soquel Avenue   Santa Cruz, CA 95062   831-425-1492
4. The Wharf is full of great restaurants and super views, but my favorite is The Miramar Fish Grotto.  The service is good, food is great and prices are reasonable for the area.  45 Municipal Wharf Santa Cruz, CA 95060-5460  (831) 423-4441

Whether you are visiting the Santa Cruz area for a few weeks or a few hours, there are many things to do in addition to the most obvious attractions at the beaches.  I hope my tips will be helpful and you’ll love your time along the coast.