If you are a first time home buyer and you’ve zeroed in on the Cambrian or Cambrian Park area of San Jose as where you’d like to live, what should you expect?  Assuming that you are purchasing a house (not a condo or townhome), there are some basics you’ll want to know.

Cambrian & Cambrian Park and Zip Codes

First, it’s helpful to understand that most of Cambrian is in the 95124 area, which in general is a little older & more expensive than 95118.  You may be wondering if that’s good or bad.  It’s mixed.  In general, for the same money you’ll get a little more home in 95118 (a larger house, more square footage) but because of the age, you’re also more likely to have the “popcorn ceilings” which were more in style in the early 1970s.   Most of 95118 is also in the San Jose Unified School District, as opposed to most of 95124′s Union School District or Cambrian School District.  All are good but do your research: you may prefer one area over another.  Some of it may depend upon which way you’re commuting, too. Overall,  95118 is closer to downtown San Jose (and Almaden Expressway) and 95124 is closer to 85 going north to destinations such as Cupertino and Sunnyvale and Mountain View.

Both 95118 and 95124 are home to some really upscale neighborhoods that don’t fit the cookie cutter description that follows for the generic sold numbers.  The 95124 area includes both the beautiful “Vista Loop” area which enjoys views and feels like either Los Gatos or Almaden as well as the Alta Vista and original Cambrian Village areas which are bigger homes or lots or both.  The 95118 area offers the Almaden Vineyard neighborhood with beautiful newer homes built around a 5 acre, historic park (and adjacent to the fabulous new San Jose Vineland Library.)  Both areas have some of the same builders too, such as Garcia and Ponderosa, so in some cases you can find the same house but for a different price due to the exact location within Cambrian.

Recent Solds and Numbers by Zip Code

Just now I ran the solds over the last 3 months for “Area 14″ (our MLS designated area for Cambrian) by zip code 95124 and by 95118. (There is a very tiny sliver of 95008 but too small to be helpful for our purposes.)  Here’s a quick look at what you can get for your money in Cambrian as of the summer of 2010:

95124 – 81 homes sold/closed, 68 “regular sales”, 8 short sales, 5 bank owned homes (total “distressed sales” accounted for 16% of the closed escrows).  Average sales price was about $660,000 (av list price appx $655,000), average home size 1594 square feet and average lot size 6909 SF.  Average price per square foot $419.

95118 – 60 homes sold/closed, 45 “regular sales”, 10 short sales, 5 bank owned home sales (total “distressed sales” were 25% of the closed sales).  Average sales price was approximately $573,000 and average list price was about $572,000.  Average home size 1494 square feet and average lot size 6620 SF.  Average price per square foot $393.
(more…)

Many, many years ago, when I was a new agent, a friend of mine (who wasn’t a Realtor) suggested to me that being a listing agent takes knowledge and skill but “anyone could drive buyers around in their car”.  I was stunned that she could think that buyers’ agents do nothing more than drive from house to house and unlock doors for people. 

Lockbox and Keysafe Set

Last weekend I held a listing in Saratoga open and a young couple asked me if I could work with them in writing the offer on that home.  This happens a lot – buyers are out searching on their own, independent of any professional real estate guidance, and when they find a home they like they just “use” the agent who’s got the listing.

Apparently, the old view and the current one aren’t so different from each other.  It amounts to this: who needs a buyer’s agent?
(more…)

“Red flags” are clues that something is wrong or potentially wrong. They’re the hints that we need to investigate something further, the sign that we should be on alert.

Some parts of San Jose, and Silicon Valley generally, enjoy beautiful older homes with classic styling and beautiful finishing work.  These properties and neighborhoods are prized because they are not cookie cutter, not ranch, not too new.  They may be Victorian, Craftsman, Spanish, or any number of other interesting architectural styles.

One area of Santa Clara County that is well known for both charming historic homes and unfortunately also some stuctural issues among those older houses is the Willow Glen district of San Jose.

On Saturday I showed some clients about a half dozen homes, all in Willow Glen, and we saw a lot of “red flags” which hinted of foundation problems, among others.  I thought I’d share a few pics I snapped at one of them with my treo camera here.  All of these were taken on the front porch of this house – all visible structural  “red flags” before we ever set foot into the house.
(more…)