Often on this blog we look at specific, hyper local real estate markets in Santa Clara County (as with Saratoga, Campbell, Los Gatos, or even a larger city such as San Jose – or parts of it such as Almaden or Cambrian – or even subsets of any of those). Today, though, we’ll check in on Santa Clara County as a whole, which is home to 1.8 million people and many diverse markets.

The number of homes being sold in Silicon Valley is trending upward now. Prices, though, while higher than a month ago are down about 5.4% from a year before. Let’s see it visually:

Pricing of houses sold in Santa Clara County

Both median and average sales prices are shown in the graph below (which is from the printable version of my Santa Clara County Real Estate Report; you can also view an online version at popehandy.rereport.com). Note the trends with several “peaks and valleys” over the last five years or so.

To check on particular areas within the county, please visit my RE Report and select the city, town, or area within San Jose that you want to better understand.

Did you buy your house at the peak of the market?

Recently I met with some of my past clients, who purchased their San Jose house close to the height of the market (2005-2007).  In those days it was a hot seller’s market (not unlike many parts of the Silicon Valley real estate landscape today, actually), and buyers routinely purchased their homes “As Is“, meaning no repairs provided by the sellers.  Desperate to get in when prices were appreciating fast, it seemed that most home buyers said “we’ll take care of it after we own it“.

But they forgot.

Actually this didn’t just happen during the peak of the market here in Santa Clara County – there’s always a percentage of consumers who buy As Is to get a better price.  They have good intentions about taking care of the mold, the termites, the roof and whatever else might not be either in good working order or free of infestation.  But once they move in, the “to do list” doesn’t seem to have those items as a high priority, and over time they completely fall through the cracks.

Pull out your old file, find your inspection reports and review them, especially if you are preparing to sell your home

Today I want to encourage you to dig out your old home inspection and pest reports, dust them off, and have a look.  Did you need to address a problem with termites, electrical issues, leaks?  Is there something to take care of with the roof, gutters, dry rot or fungus?  All of those things do not self-correct, but instead grow worse over time.  (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…)

Sometimes the differences are not what’s outside, but what’s inside.  When Silicon Valley home buyers are looking at real estate around the south bay, they tend to care a lot about the rooms which are most expensive to remodel: the kitchen and the bathrooms.

But sometimes they don’t look closely enough, or ask questions, when they ought to.

If you only look at the cabinetry from the outside, for instance, you won’t know:

• whether the cabinets have been refaced or replaced – but if you open up a door, you can tell!
• whether the vent seems to blow air back into the kitchen or if it’s more likely to vent outside
• whether the cabinet’s interiors are shelves, pullouts or include other special features such as a lazy Susan, deep pantry or spice shelves, recycling tubs, or other goodies!
• on a simple level, whether or not the drawers and cabinet doors operate smoothly or not (more…)

Not everyone is familiar with the term “patio home” or “zero lot line” house when searching for Silicon Valley real estate.  Recently a listing agent of such a property called me for feedback and when I told her that my clients did not want a zero lot line home, she didn’t know what I was talking about. She had no idea that this term applied to her listing!

So I thought maybe this topic deserved a little more attention.

What does zero lot line mean?

With most houses, the structure is set into the lot or land such that the property boundaries are at least a few feet away on all sides – often 5 or 8 feet.  One common exception is garages in older parts of Willow Glen, Los Gatos, downtown San Jose, etc., where often these buildings were set directly against the property line on one or two sides.

When a house is right up against the property line, directly on the line, that’s referred to as a zero lot line and is usually referred to as a patio home.  To view that wall, you’d literally have to go onto your neighbor’s lot to have a look.  Although this is not terribly uncommon in dense, urban areas, it’s fairly infrequent in Silicon Valley.

Why are homes designed on zero lot line properties?  The main reason is to increase the density while providing more yard to the home owner.  Rather than having two 8′ side yards, perhaps you’ll have one much larger 16′ yard.

Interestingly, these houses do not seem to sell for less with the zero lot line – at least not that I have been able to discern. (That’s counter-intuitive….)

How can you tell if it’s a zero lot line house?

It should be disclosed in the MLS as such, but often isn’t (sometimes the listing agent doesn’t even know), so you’ll have to look carefully at the neighborhood and the property to see.  Here are some clues: (more…)

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…)

Sometimes sellers want to sell their home without the representation of a licensed real estate agent.  But to try to encourage agents to show their home to a buyer, those same sellers might offer a buyer’s agent a commission (often somewhere between 2.5 and 3%, but it varies).  The sellers are surprised when they don’t get a ton of real estate professionals clamoring to see and show their properties.

What’s going on?  Why are licensed real estate sales people sometimes (or often) reluctant to show the home of an “unrepresented seller” (or “for sale by owner” seller)?

There are a couple of reasons why Realtors and other licensees may not be wildly enthusiastic about getting into a transaction with an unrepresented seller.

1. There is more liability for the licensed real estate professional
2. There is the risk of “implied agency“

Sometimes, as you know, transactions don’t go as planned and buyers or sellers are both unhappy at the end and the whole mess may end up in court.  (Knock on wood, this has not happened to me!) If it does, the judge may well look at everyone involved and find that there was one professional real estate person in the bunch.  The liability may shift greatly onto that person – even if he or she was not representing both sides (was not a dual agent) and was not compensated for the responsibility of both sides. (more…)