Yesterday we looked at the types of home sales around Silicon Valley by price point.  Not terribly surprising, most of the short sales and bank owned homes were in the lowest price ranges.  Today we’ll look at this type of information not by pricing tier but instead by geography – in other words, by either town, city or district of San Jose (area).  This post will not cover every area but will be a sampling a few communities, mostly on the west side of the valley (since that’s primarily where I work).

By way of reminder, the small image to the left reflects Santa Clara County’s houses for sale as a whole – all areas and all price points. (You can see the full sized image by clicking on it.) The green area represents “regular home sales” and the brick red and light orange signify distressed  properties listed on the MLS for sale (red is short sales and orange is bank owned or REOs). Next let’s see a few regions within the county to see how things are faring geographically.

1. Almaden Valley area of San Jose – homes listed for sale by type – very few distressed properties on the market!

Almaden is a lovely southwest San Jose suburban community (zip code 95120) that grew up initially with the cinnabar or mercury mining activity.  Today it’s an upscale area of more expensive homes than most of the county, it enjoys really good schools and scenic views of the coastal range as well as the Santa Teresa Foothills.  Housing here is costly but residents love the quality of life. Since the cost of homes for sale here is high, it’s not super surprising, after seeing yesterday’s post, that there are very few distressed homes on the market here. Next we’ll check the other extreme…. (more…)

Often I have clients who are interested in purchasing a 4 bedroom, 2 bath home in a good school district in Silicon Valley, particularly in the South Bay and West Valley areas.    Tonight I did a study on the MLS of homes that have sold and closed escrow in the last 3 – 6 months with these characteristics:

• single family home (house)
• 4 bedrooms
• 2 bathrooms
• 1800 to 2200 square feet of living space
• 6000 to 10,000 sf lot

Disclaimers aside, here are the numbers as I shook them out for select West Valley Communities in the San Jose area with good schools (the first number is the average sales price per square foot, the second number is the average sales price):

The home prices tend to run with the school district API scores.  You can check the 2010 API scores in Santa Clara County for both the districts and the individual schools online here.         (more…)

Spanish style houses evoke a kind of nostalgia for “old California”, and when we think of local history, homes with a Spanish type of architecture seem most appropriate, especially if the landscaping reinforces it – things like bougainvillea, hibiscus, ferns, palms, roses and citrus trees.

California features different types of Spanish style homes

There are a number of Spanish styles found locally and throughout California: Spanish Colonial Revival, Spanish Mission, Spanish Eclectic, Mediterranean, and Monterey, which is the only archietectural style hailing from California (and admittedly is a hybrid).

Where to find classic, older Spanish style homes in Silicon Valley

Some neighborhoods, like downtown San Jose’s Japantown and many of the older areas in Willow Glen, are filled with beautiful Spanish Revival bungalows which were mainly built in the 1920s and 1930s. The largest collection is probably there, close to Lincoln Avenue and near Bird & Minnesota Avenues, and especially in the “Palm Haven” neighborhood of Willow Glen.

More can be found in the older parts of San Jose’s Alum Rock Park (up by the country club), in Santa Clara’s oldest neighborhood (by the university), in downtown Los Gatos and downtown Palo Alto, more in south county, especially Gilroy, and scattered throughout the Santa Clara Valley.

What about newer Spanish style homes in Silicon Valley?

There are some newer houses and homes with a Spanish flair, but for the most part it’s limited to the exterior (or “elevation”). The interiors of most Spanish style homes built since 1950 are not at all Spanish style. There were a number of Spanish style tract homes built in the 70s and 80s, but they are essentially ranch style homes with a Mediterranean elevation only.

Too often, the very newest homes don’t seem to know what style they’re trying to reflect at all, but tile and stucco and a few arches are thrown in to attempt something generically Mediterranean. In the last 20 years, many builders have created neighborhoods with varying home styles – the same floor plans but varying styles on the exterior such that one is pseudo Spanish, another is pseudo Craftsman, another is pseudo English cottage or Tudor. Home buyers may get to choose which “style” they want if they get in before it’s built.

Resources for Spanish style homes in the San Jose area

Fabulous books can be found to help restore and remodel these homes. Older houses need remodeling for practical reasons, and the younger ones can benefit from it to make them more authentically Spanish styled.

Meanwhile, if you love Spanish style homes of all ages, browse some classic older ones here (all pre-1950).

For more reading:
Spanish Revival Style Home in Japantown Features Classic Tile Bathroom

Silicon Valley home buyers who are looking for a good deal can’t help but notice that prices on short sales and bank owned homes are a bargain compared to regular sales in the San Jose area. But what exactly ARE they? What’s the difference between a short sale and a foreclosure? What are the risks involved in buying one of these in Santa Clara County? Today we’ll have a look at the various types of distressed properties and the risks associated with purchasing each.

What are short sales?

Short sales are when home owners need to sell their home but there’s not enough equity in the property to pay off the loans and closing costs.  So the only way they can sell is if the bank agrees to accept a “short payoff“.  The bank or banks get paid in short, hence short sale.

This Thanksgiving, I want to list 25 top things we have to be grateful for here in beautiful Silicon Valley.

1. Silicon Valley Weather: we enjoy a subtropical climate and usually have 300 sunny days a year and just 20″ of rain on the valley floor annually.
2. Scenic beauty in the Santa Clara Valley: our valley includes coastal foothills with lush vegetation on the west and dry chaparral hills on the east.  Get up close!  Enjoy the redwoods!  Walk the trails at Alum Rock Park!
3. Low crime in Silicon Valley: we are in one of the safest areas in the US (San Jose is often ranked #1 for safest large city, Sunnyvale often #1 for safest mid-sized city and the Almaden Valley Country Club neighborhood of San Jose was just named as one of the safest 29 communities in the nation)
4. Fabulous parks in the San Jose area: both the Santa Clara County Parks and the local city or town parks provide wonderful opportunities to enjoy all that good weather.
5. Local wineries: you don’t need to go to Sonoma or Napa Counties to enjoy world class wine tasting!  Santa Clara County has more than 2 dozen wineries right here, mostly in “south county”, downtown Los Gatos, Saratoga or in the Santa Cruz Mountains but not exclusively there. J Lohr is in central San Jose, probably just 2 miles from the airport! You can find a partial list of local wineries on the Santa Clara Valley Wines site (but I noticed several missing, such as Ridge in Cupertin0).
6. The San Jose Sharks: there’s no shortage of support for our beloved hockey team, the Sharks.  If you live in or near San Jose, you’ll find that once in awhile, shark fins turn up in odd places, such as a police car….
7. Higher eduction: we have some great community colleges but also enjoy having three fantastic universities right here in Santa Clara County:  San Jose State, Santa Clara University, and Stanford University.
8. Silicon Valley is very Kid-Friendly: Money Magazine listed San Jose as #2 on its short list of America’s 10 Best Places to Grow Up. Great activities, low crime, lots of kids and good weather all contributed to the high ranking.
9. Diversity: Silicon Valley attracts people from all over the world to live and work here.  It’s a wonderful melting pot. (more…)

Mid-century modern homes, including those designed by Joseph Eichler, dot the Silicon Valley & South Bay Area real estate landscape.  There are probably more than 5,000 Eichlers in Santa Clara County altogether, plus all the other homes of that genre with the similar modern style, which was influenced by the ranch and prarie styles as well as the dramatic work by Frank Lloyd Wright (open beam ceilings, nearly flat roofs, lots of exposed wood & glass windows stretching from the floor to the ceiling).  Eichlers, especially, put a premium on privacy from the street but open to the outdoors otherwise.

Not every community in Santa Clara County has Eichler homes, but most have the mid-century modern style homes & neighborhoods. These homes vary from tiny, modest cottages of 1100 square feet to large & elegant  houses of nearly 3,000 square feet, featuring big, central atriums or courtyards.  (There are also some co-ops in the valley too.)  The quality varies, as the homes were constructed by several different builders with different home buying budgets in mind.  Real estate prices range from “entry level” to very expensive, depending on the location (city and schools), size of the home & lot, and condition of the property. Most of them are now about 50 years old, though some are a little younger.

Some of the West Side Silicon Valley Communities which feature Eichler and Mid Century Modern Homes

In Los Gatos there are no Eichlers but there are a small handful of single family homes which are mid-century modern on Eastridge Drive (just off Blossom Hill Road and Hillbrook). There are a couple more at the end of Magnuson Terrace (off Magnuson Loop and Los Gatos Blvd).  Additionally, there are some smaller mid-50s homes on El Gato (and adjacent portions of Escobar) off of Los Gatos-Almaden Road. Unfortunately, not all of these homes are “well kept”, though many are.

Monte Sereno is home to 16 Eichler designed houses on Via Sereno beginning at the intersection of Winchester Blvd with Via Sereno.  These houses were built in the late 60s to early 70s.
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What makes a Silicon Valley house a luxury home? How is high end real estate different from the rest of the market? When is a property not just a home with land, but an estate? 

In other parts of the U.S., spending $700,000 may fetch a 4000 square foot home, new construction, in an upscale gated community with country club amenities such as a golf course, tennis courts, and more. Here, that same $700,000 will procure an entry to mid-level single family home in many parts of Santa Clara County. 

Luxury connotes a combination of qualities, features, and amenities. And it includes pricing (relative to the nearby market), condition, land, design. 

Pricing Luxury Homes in Silicon Valley: What Do They Cost? 

Expensive Silicon Valley homes are not necessarily luxury homes. Depending on the city or town, the price tag could be higher or lower. For instance, a fabulous house on a large lot in Gilroy’s Eagle Ridge might sell for 1/3 as much as the identical type of home, land and neighborhood found in Saratoga, Monte Sereno, or Los Gatos, or Los Altos, if a similar home happened to be available. Generally, though, luxury homes could cost as little as $1,000,000 or so in some parts of Silicon Valley or in neighboring counties, but in most parts of Silicon Valley, a true estate type property will be valued at $2,000,000 or $3,000,000 or more.  In some areas, such as Palo Alto, that $2 million doesn’t go too far and the home you can purchase at that price tag may need major updating – or it could be “land value”.  For our purposes today, we’ll use $2 million as the bottom number for estate properties, but it may or may not be the case in some areas. 

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