How’s the market for condos and townhouses in Los Gatos and Saratoga?  This morning I ran the numbers for “area 16″ (the Los Gatos and Monte Sereno areas, which includes a tiny bit of San Jose also) and “area 17″ (the Saratoga area, also includes borderline areas of San Jose and Cupertino) in our multiple listing service.

Hottest are the distressed condominium or townhome sales – short sales and bank owned or REO properties in Los Gatos and Saratoga.  Coldest (hardest to sell) are the “regular sales”.  Buyers are going after the bargain pricing that the pre-foreclosure and foreclosure listings offer.  Have a look:

The months of inventory are longest in Saratoga, with 9 months of inventory for town houses and condos.  The ratio of pending sales to active listings is lowest there, too, a mere 11%.

The months of inventory for Los Gatos short sales is a fast paced one month and the pendings outnumber the actives four to one!

Home buyers: if you are attempting to purchase a distressed condo in either of these high-end west valley areas, be prepared to act fast and present a strong offer.  Your odds will be better with a regular sale!

Home sellers: if you are selling a non-distressed condominium or townhouse in Saratoga or Los Gatos, especially if it’s a luxury property, be prepared to make your home the best value to attract a good buyer.  As has been said elsewhere, for this segment of the real estate market “it’s a price war and a beauty contest”.  Everything has to be just right for you to enjoy a successful sale now.

Often I get emails from people asking if I can help them with finding a rental property. For the most part, my practice revolves around listing and selling real estate in San Jose, Los Gatos, and Silicon Valley generally, so my best information is on what’s for sale, not what’s for rent.  Once in awhile I work on rental housing, but not normally, as rental condos or houses through an agent (if they are listed on the MLS) will usually cost you more than homes you find to rent elsewhere.

The best resources I have found for locating rental properties in Santa Clara County are these (I cannot guarantee or warranty 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
• possible – the mls search – scroll down on left sidebar widget on this blog and pull down the menu under “all property types” and select Rentals OR run similar search by map on my popehandy.com site at this link ~ you must also find “property types” on left side and then locate rentals under that)

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! (Or talk with friends or acquaintances in areas you like – have them keep an eye out for you.)

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.

Right now, it seems to be the case that it’s harder to rent a home than to buy one – at least that is the word on the street.  (And it seems that like with the purchase market, the closer you get to Palo Alto, the tougher it is.)  Tougher still if you have pets or smoke.  If you have pets or smoke and find a rental, the cost per month will be higher.

Update:  SALE PENDING!

You’re invited to see this stunning young urban living condominium in Campbell close to everything featuring two bedrooms plus loft, 2 bathrooms and approximately 1610 square feet. All of this can be found in an elegant resort-like setting! New listing, open this weekend from 2-4 (Aug 13-14) so please stop by!

Urban Living in Campbell

This sleek condo, the Sapphire Penthouse floorplan (see below), is located just steps from the light rail and Los Gatos Creek Trail, shopping at Whole Foods and many other shops across Bascom, the Pruneyard a block or so away and downtown Campbell just around the corner!  A myriad of restaurants lie within a tenth of a mile.  One of my sellers told me that she had only put 1500 miles on her car in the year living there.  Imagine simply not needing your auto much at all!!  (The building does include two spots in the underground garage for your vehicle, should you still want one while living there!)

Resort Living, Contemporary Setting

Built by Pinn Brothers with great attention to detail, the Onyx offers tremendous features both in the condo itself and in the many fabulous shared areas.

Interior features include:

• open floor plan with high ceilings and dark floors
• elegant kitchen with mostly Bosch appliances (fridge is Fisher & Paykel), tremendous counter space with slab quartz countertops, recessed lights and contemporary dark cabinetry
• an abundance of natural light, loads of windows and recessed lighting
• spacious bedrooms (the master is really large!) and bathrooms
• Master bath features two sinks, large soaking tub and separate stall shower
• comfortable balcony

Community features include: (more…)

If you have just bought your first Silicon Valley home, you may feel very relieved to have survived the contracts, negotiations, the disclosures, the appraisal and the escrow and made it all the way to closing.  You are a successful home buyer!  You move in, unpack and then…. what? What do you do?

I have a few suggestions.

First, while it’s fresh in your memory, pull out the disclosures and inspection reports and (if you haven’t done this already) make a list of the items you must do and want to do.  I suggest you include at least 3 categories:

1. Health & safety items
2. Protecting the house from damage
3. Lower level items with aesthetic value (decorating and in some cases remodeling)
4. Ongoing projects you want to remember to do periodically around the house and yard such as changing the smoke detector batteries, cleaning out the rain gutters, doing a “walk around the house” to check for any issues with vent screens, roof tiles etc. (If you have bought a condo or townhouse, this is still important.)

It is too easy to focus on updating to dual pane windows (gratifying since they look nice) and ignoring foundation cracks, electrical problems and termites, so making this type of list will help you to keep on track with the better priorities (1 and 2 as opposed to 3).

Second, pull together all of the expenses you laid out in purchasing your home. Create a file with a spreadsheet of your costs and the receipts that go with it (include a copy of your HUD 1).   This will be helpful in establishing your tax basis and may protect you when you eventually sell the house from paying more taxes than you’re legally required to do.  Go over it with your CPA or Enrolled Agent or Tax Professional as some of them may be deductible on your taxes this year and some may not qualify as related to your tax basis. (more…)

How’s the Campbell, California, real estate market? There are always micro-markets to follow, narrowing what’s viewed to neighborhoods, school districts, and price point. In general, though, it’s a healthy market for this upwardly trending Silicon Valley city with a quaint downtown, good schools and more affordability than might be expected. For houses, clearly, prices are nudging up!

Each month I have a site specifically producing the Silicon Valley real estate market trends (at least for that part of Silicon Valley which is within Santa Clara County). You can see the report for Campbell houses & duet homes here and the condominium and townhouse report here. Just below, I’ll post the basic numbers/summary, though, for those who want a quick view of the market:

(1) Single Family homes (houses/duet homes) in Campbell:

(2) Condominiums and townhouses in Campbell:

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…)

The exquisite Saratoga Oaks neighborhood is nestled between downtown Saratoga and the beautiful coastal foothills, close to the famed Hakone Gardens.  With both pools and tennis courts and a location just a block or so from tony Saratoga Village (click to see slide show), it is resort living in Silicon Valley at its finest. But this is not just a place for retirees who want to downsize, though they are also drawn here – families with kids also move to Saratoga Oaks to make use of the top rated schools

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Which public schools serve this neighborhood?

Saratoga Oaks is within the very highly regarded Saratoga Union School District.  Although many other school districts in Santa Clara County assign children in homes to particular schools, Saratoga does not – it is an “open” school district. If there’s space and if the home is within the district, you may be able to chose which of the excellent Saratoga schools you wish for your student to attend. The nearest public school is Saratoga Elementary on Oak Street (API 958) but alternatively you may find enrollment instead at Foothill Elementary (API 943) or Argonaut (API 974).  The higher level schools are Redwood Middle School (API 972) and Saratoga High School (API 932).  All API scores listed here are from the 2010 County List of Schools. Additionally, there are two excellent private elementary schools nearby: Sacred Heart (Catholic) and St. Andrew’s (Episcopalian).

Where is Saratoga Oaks?

The Saratoga Oaks community is within the city of Saratoga, California, and is a part of Silicon Valley and what’s locally referred to as “the south bay” area.  It can be reached either via Springer Avenue, off of 4th Street in Saratoga or from Springer off of Big Basin Way (aka Hwy 9 or Congress Springs Road). This townhouse complex is literally where the town meets the hills – so it is not at all uncommon to find deer in the open spaces! Click on the map image to go to the live, interactable Google map. (more…)