Ever wonder which school a property is assigned to for the students that live here?  The boundaries, especially in larger districts such as San Jose Unified, can be hard to figure out.   In the Almaden Valley area of San Jose, for instance, some parents really want to make sure that their kids attend Leland High School rather than Pioneer (or Leigh or Branham or Los Gatos High – there are so many schools represented in Almaden!), for instance.

Until recently, you had to go to the Santa Clara County Office of Education’s website to see which high school and elementary/middle school district you would be in.  I will post many of those below. From there you had to enter your address to see the specific schools. After that, you had to go to another site entirely to get the API scores.

Now, however, some smart people have done a mashup of addresses, school scores and API scores.  I like this site so well that I’m advertising in a couple of zip codes (that’s my disclaimer).  Check it out:

www.SchoolAndHousing.com

Or you can do it the slower way – visit the school district sites below! (more…)

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

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!

If you arrived into Silicon Valley via Highway 101, driving south from San Francisco, you might believe that the Santa Clara Valley, the San Jose area and Silicon Valley as a whole has got to seem to be the ugliest place on earth. Although heavily traveled, that is not the “scenic route”.

So, too, if you are looking for a place to live and are groping to find a place that is reasonably priced, fairly safe and not a terrible commute distance. You might not even have “is nice looking” on your wish list. You might not think it’s possible if all you ever see are the ugly concrete tilt-up buildings in north San Jose, Santa Clara, Alviso, or anywhere along the 237 corridor.  That area is an architectural wasteland.

Let me assure you: there are a lot of beautiful places in Silicon Valley where you can rent or buy a home. But how do you find them? It helps a lot to have a local give you a few pointers.  I’ll give you some tips today on finding a scenic place to live.

Hills – An easy way to find a scenic location to make your home is to settle near the hills, especially those in the west valley (the Santa Cruz Mountains or the Coastal Range) as they are green year-round. Communities at the base of the west valley foothills include, in Santa Clara County, Palo Alto, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Cupertino, Saratoga, Monte Sereno, Los Gatos, and the Almaden Valley area of San Jose. All of these areas are adjacent to the hills or mountains and offer far better than average schools (many of them qualify as great – compare costs between these areas). (more…)

Located close to the Guadalupe Creek and the foothills of the coastal mountain range, the Montevideo neighborhood enjoys tree lined streets and scenic green views of the hills.  Houses and yards are nicely kept. It is fairly convenient for commuting as it’s not too deeply into the San Jose area of Almaden Valley.  About 500 residents call this beautiful neighborhood home.

The Montevideo Neighborhood in the Almaden Valley area of San Jose

Shuffle board area of Montevideo cabana

In addition to the pleasant vistas, the Montevideo home owners and residents enjoy the cabaña, which includes a community pool, clubhouse, recreation grounds (shuffleboard, volleyball court and more), a fun swim team for kids.   There are very few cabañas in the west valley, so this is a big draw.

Adjacent is the very highly regarded Guadaulupe Elementary School, which can boast API scores in the 900s (it was 930 in the 2010 study). (more…)

Almaden Valley, which primarily consists of the 95120 zip code area of San Jose, is well known for its scenic beauty, great schools and low crime.

For people working in downtown San Jose, it is also fairly convenient – it’s almost a straight shot up either Almaden Expressway or Highway 87 to get into the downtown area, often just a 20 to 30 minute commute.

Within Silicon Valley, Almaden is regarded as a high-end neighborhood and very desirable. In this post we’ll discuss the geography of the valley, the advantages and disadvantages of being in Almaden, the public schools in 95120, the market conditions for the luxury homes there and finally you’ll be able to browse a list of luxury & estate homes for sale in the Amaden area of Silicon Valley. (more…)

Yesterday I was showing homes in Almaden (San Jose 95120) to one of my buyers for that area.  A house in the Shadowbrook neighborhood had a really spectacular view of the hills from the upstairs bedrooms – could not resist snapping the picture to share.

If you are not familiar with this part of Silicon Valley, that’s Mt. Umunhum with the squarish building on top.

A few months back, I took an image of these same hills from the campus of Valley Christian High School.  You can see it in this post on this same blogsite:
View from Valley Christian High School: Santa Teresa Foothills & Coastal Range On that one you can spot Mt. Umunhum as the area with the flat top along the crest of the hills.

Want to learn more about this upscale, scenic part of San Jose (in Santa Clara County)? Read an intro post: What Are the Advantages of Buying a Home in Almaden Valley?

More posts on Almaden Valley, the Almaden real estate market etc. here.

I’ve been selling real estate for 18 years, full time, in Silicon Valley. Until recently I had never seen a dampwood termite in this area but a few months ago I caught sight of  a dead one at the Almaden Winery neighborhood (on the Cambrian and Almaden border) when our pest inspector, Miguel Torres from Thrasher Termite, noticed it.  Luckily there were no live dampwoods to be found! I thought it was a weird fluke.

Fast forward a few months, and  again this week I saw first the much smaller,  immature dampwoods (so I didn’t recognize them, but suspected that they were termites of some kind as they were coming out of rotting wood) and a few days later saw the large and now mature dampwood termites swarming in the same location in Belgatos Park, Los Gatos, close to where my family and I live. Initially I thought they were strange moths as there was a lot of flapping motion, but on closer look I could see that they were indeed termites and they were big!!! (more…)