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.

In general, the 95118 area is a little less expensive and is a bit more impacted by short sales and bank owned homes than the 95124 area (25% to 16%). Take it pocket by pocket, though, or subdivision by subdivision.  If you look at the Almaden Winery neigborhood in 95118, for instance, you’ll find very few distressed homes and listings that go really fast.

Buying Older Homes

If the home you are purchasing is 35-40 years of age or older, here are some things to watch for.

• Many older homes were built with galvanized steel pipes and those usually only last about 40 years, so the home may need to be repiped with copper
• Furnaces often need to be replaced by year 30 or 40, so if the heater is original, that may need changing. (The good news: the new furnaces are usually much more efficient!)
• Many of the 40+ year old homes were built with hardwood flooring.  If the house has carpets, see if you can learn about what’s under them!
  • If the house has forced air heat and the register is on the floor, sometimes you can lift it up just a tad and see if the carpet is covering hardwood.  If the register is on the ceiling, the chances are slimmer that there’s hardwood under that carpet.
• Is the 50 years or more old?  Linoleum floors that are 50+ years old may have asbestos backing and may require special crews and methods of removal.
• Does the home have an acoustic, textured ceiling?  The popcorn ceilings may contain asbestos, which was commonly used to insulate and protect against fire. Yes, it was considered a plus!  Some of the “popcorn” ceilings even include little gold sparkles.
• Most older Cambrian Park houses have breakers rather than tubes but may need the electrical system upgraded.
• Most older Cambrian area homes are bolted to the foundation, but not with the same level of quality as you’d find in a newly built house today.
• If the property is 50-60 years of age or more and is on a 10,000 SF lot or greater, there’s a good chance that it was originally on a septic tank.  When houses were connected to sewer, many left the tank in the back yard, buried.  If you’re buying such a house, try to find out if there’s a buried storage tank in the yard before you purchase!
• Homes built before 1978 may have lead paint. You can test for it if you like.

When buying an older home, it’s important to understand that it wasn’t built to our current building standards and to have a sense of what you are getting and not getting. you will want to watch for red flags.  It is imperative to get a GOOD home inspection (they are not all the same) so you have a sense of what you may need to upgrade for your safety or comfort.

Cambrian  is a wonderful place to call home, whether it’s your first house or your forever house.  Please contact me if you’d like help getting into a Cambrian home!

More information:
Asbestos – more information on my Valley of Hearts Delight website.
Lead paint – more information on my Valley of Hearts Delight site.

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?

The assumptions seem to be these:

• agents are all the same (anyone will do)
• buyer’s agents do not really “do” anything or “know” anything
• if I just working with the listing agent, he or she will make sure my offer is accepted
• maybe I’ll get it cheaper if the listing agent also works for me

 This is very misguided and generally shows a lack of understanding (and possibly discernment).  Would you buy a car without researching it on Edmunds.com or ConsumerReports.org?  I hope not. Would you just see any doctor for surgery?  Or any attorney for your legal issues?  Probably not – you’d probably do a little research, maybe ask around for referrals.  Even my kids like to check RateMyProfessor.com before deciding on a college class to take.  Many home buyers, though, are not so discerning – they will just work with whomever happens to be the listing agent on a home.  This is a mistake.

Why does it matter so much?  Because your agent’s skills can make or break  your decision-making by catching or missing important elements which are crucial to your getting the best home or best deal.  If you don’t have good info, you will have a hard time making a good decision.  A bad agent may miss “red flags” and this could cost you! 

What kind of “red flags” would a good buyer’s agent notice? All kinds!  Real estate professionals are trained to issue spot – that is, to point out any defects they might detect (see, smell, hear, or feel) and further, to explain to you what the ramifications might be and give you professional guidance.  Agents are not property inspectors, but they know enough to be able to convey to you a likely scenario if there is a red flag with the home or yard. 

Red flags can be found

• in a property (things like moldy spots, out of level floors, additions which appear to not be permitted)
• in a neighborhood (the home being close to buildings, freeways or other things which might pull down property values)
• in the purchase agreement, counter offer or addenda - clauses worked into or omitted from a contract might be easy for you to miss, but a good buyer’s agent will catch these things and explain the ramifications to you
• in the timelines – your agent can shepherd along the myriad of things which must be done on time and will notice if the other side is not performing whatever they need to do on time also

Additionally, a good, competant buyer’s agent can negotiate for you and with you.  Negotiation begins long before you ever walk into a property that you want to buy.  It begins with the way you set up your financing more than anything else.  All loans, all banks are not the same.  Same with your letter from your lender – they are not all the same!  Your buyer’s agent will help you to make sure that even before you find your dream home in Silicon Valley, you’ll  be poised for success.  Further, of course, your buyer’s agent can assist you in writing a good, clean offer that will entice the seller to want to work with you.  A badly written offer (full of errors or clauses which muddy up the offer) will often cause your contract to be passed up if there are multiple offers. 

Comprehending the disclosures and inspections is another area where your agent’s skill is paramount to you.  If he or she glosses over things like the preliminary title report, TDS, Natural Hazard Report or many other disclosures or reports or never adequately conveys the risks associated with various disclosure items, you could find yourself paying for it in the long run.

Also, of course, there’s navigating the escrow.  Sometimes finding the house and getting the offer accepted are the easy parts of home buying in Santa Clara County – the real work may just begin as the ink dries on your contract!  Unforeseen things happen and a good agent finds ways of addressing the problem, concern, issue or surprise.  In a way, it’s like surfing – we know that the waves are going to come and it’s up to us to have the skill to ride them. 

Just because a real estate professional has a listing or or is holding a home open doesn’t mean you should hire him or her.  The newest agents tend to hold homes open.  Some agents get their first listings not because of experience or skill, but because the owner is a relative or old friend.  You can and should hire carefully.  Check the Department of Real Esate’s website to see how long the licensee has had that license.  You might also consider finding one with extensive buyer representation experience or an Accredited Buyer’s Representative (ABR – I’m one).

Buying a house, townhouse or condominium will be the most expensive purchase you are likely to make for a very long time.  Your agent is your partner, teacher, coach, navigator, paper handler, translator, mentor.  Above all, your agent is to be your fiduciary – to take care of you and your money and your position as if it were his or her own.  That is your agent’s highest duty.  Not ever agent selling homes in the San Jose area is equally adept at all of these important elements, so find, select and hire the very best.

“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.
The first image is one taken from the walkway leading up to the Spanish style  house. Please note that there seems to be separation between the wall and the step, from the wall and the foundation and from the step and the walkway.  Also find that some of the stucco is crumbly.  These are all things to be concerned about.

Next is what greets the visitor who makes it to the front porch.  These are not just red alerts – they are more like emergency sirens going off!

It goes without saying that this is not a good sign. If it looks like this where it’s plainly visible, what does it look like in the crawl space?

And finally, there were issues looking up as well as down:

Only a structural engineer can have a look, do some tests and make a determination as to what is going on here.  What may be happening, though, is shifting – the home is moving or the ground is moving, or both are moving.

How can this happen?

Earthquakes can, of course, make things move. But so can changing levels of moisture in our clay soils.  In wet years, the ground swells as it becomes engorged.  In dry years, the ground constricts. Clay soil, adobe, is stronger than the conrete that goes into making our foundations.  This is powerful movement, and the house isn’t going to win!

In Willow Glen, there used to be a great deal of swampiness in some areas when the valley was first being settled by non-natives. My understanding is that either the water table is high in places or that there are underground aquifers there, and this made homes in Willow Glen more susceptible to the soil issues related to water quantity.  As aquifers rise and fall (with El Nino years or drought years), so would the homes above them.  In recent decades, though, the percolation pond system and other systems in place by the water district keep the ground from heaving as much as it did prior to these systems being in place.

Older homes may be more vulnerable to construction issues such as cracked foundations, floors out of level, etc.  In the Willow Glen area of San Jose, especially in the older and historic parts, those vulnerabilities are compounded by soil and water challenges. (These challenges are also very true in hillside areas like Almaden, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, and Saratoga as well as many others.) When looking in historic Willow Glen especially, watch for red flags.  Watch for separations that should not be there (chimneys separating from the house, walls separating from the floors, etc.).  Watch for floors being out of level, or doors or windows that don’t close.  These are only a very few of the areas about which you should be on the alert.

A good property inspector, preferably a member of ASHI (American Society of Home Inspectors) will find many more “red flags” during an inspection. A Realtor should be on the lookout for red flags too.  As a consumer, you are more empowered if you can learn about these things and spot them on your own too -  being educated is an asset that will help you to protect your investment in Silicon Valley real estate, so keep learning!