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.

Visit Saratoga and you’ll see 35 larger Eichler homes (on larger lots) just off Cox Avenue (“in the schools“) along De Havilland Drive. I showed one a few months ago and noticed that this street, despite enjoying the famed Saratoga Schools, is not so well kept – it could be that some neighbors were simply conserving water due to the then 10% water cutback demanded by San Jose Water due to the drought.  One home owner added on or remodeled but it was such that the architectural style of the original building was lost – a shame!  Many of these homes enjoy a creekside location.  The only real negative is that there’s freeway noise from nearby highway 85.  There are a few more Eichlers near the busy intersection of Quito & Allendale (facing Quito) along the Campbell border. 

The Willow Glen area of San Jose has an abundant supply of large & gracious Eichlers on wide roads: there appear to be hundreds of them spread out over several developments.  For the most part, these are beautiful neighborhoods with tree-lined, wide streets and a great sense of space. Most of these homes are more affordable than you’d expect and the reason is the public school scores in the area.  Had the homes been built out of the San Jose Unified School District area in into the Campbell schools area, they’d certainly sell for much, much more.  In that area is the very popular St. Christopher’s School (Catholic), which many kids in Willow Glen attend.

More affordable Eichlers can be found in central San Jose near Fruitvale and Bascom and again in parts of Sunnyvale.  In the least expensive areas, though, beware of deferred maintenance.  Last year I showed a home near Fruitvale in San Jose which was simply riddled with foundation cracks.  These are hard to repair with a slab foundation – it can mean jackhammering up the whole foundation! 

There are some mid-century moderns in the Cambrian Park area of San Jose both in the Rosswood/Bel Estos area (scattered in with some more traditional ranch style homes) and also just off Hillsdale and Foxworthy in the Hacienda Gardens neighborhood.

Cupertino and Santa Clara also have a good showing of Eichlers (Santa Clara also has “cooperatives”, which are a bit like condos or townhomes, which are Eichlers too). 

Continuing north, the supply of Eichlers in particular increases dramatically as you get to Los Altos and then even more in Mountain View and Palo Alto, where Eichler enclaves number in the thousands.  (Word of caution: some of these Mountain View homes are in the 100 year flood plain and it will require flood insurance if you purchase a home there  and utilize a loan.) Want to live on the Peninsula? You can find many mid-century modern homes there too.

Special concerns with mid century modern or Eichler homes

As with any 50 year old home, there are things to watch for in purchasing these properties! While many of the mid-century moderns are built on raised foundations, some aren’t – and Eichler’s aren’t. That wouldn’t be such a big deal except for the fact that the plumbing is embedded in the slab, and so is the radiant heating coils. If they go out, it can be a pain to replace them. (Eichler often built with copper pipes, luckily.) The radiant heating systems do sometimes fail and if/when that happens, homeowners can either add baseboard (which is fairly inexpensive and easy to do) or rip up the concrete and fix the coils.

A more common and persistent problem is with the open beam ceilings and the tar and gravel roofs over them: there’s no insulation.  Luckily, in recent years foam roofs have become a popular solution.  They not only protect the roof from the rain and other elements, but they insulate beautifully.  The downside is that if an area becomes damaged, you can’t “patch” it like you can with other roof types – instead, you really need to replace the whole roof. Yes, that’s expensive.  But clients of mine who’ve gotten the foam roof love it as their homes are more comfortable both in summer and in winter.

Many non-Eichler properties had plumming with galvanized steel pipes. Watch for that – those tend to last about 40 years, so if the home hasn’t been repiped it may be an expense waiting to happen.

A small concern with radiant heat is the type of floorcoverings that can be used over it. Often these homes are built with vinyl, linoleum or other hard surface flooring.  Carpeting can be difficult because the heated floors can be a problem.  So area rugs are usually preferred.

For further reading, please check out the Wikipedia article on Joseph Eichler and another on the Mid-Century Modern style.

What does it cost to buy an Eichler home in the San Jose, Los Gatos or Saratoga Area?

As of right now, prices range from a low of somewhere in the $500′s to well past a million dollars to purchase an Eichler style house.  These homes in Monte Sereno or Saratoga will cost much, much more than a similar home in Santa Clara or Willow Glen.  Browsing is perhaps the best way to get a feel for the pricing.

Some of the Eichler homes currently for sale or sale pending in Silicon Valley

If you’re interested in buying or selling one of these classic homes, please contact me today!

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Sunnyvale Townhome, Updated & In Quiet Location and Incredible Price!

1095 Reed Ave., Unit B, Sunnyvale

This is a must-see 2 bedroom, 1.5 bath property in beautifully green Sunnyvale Meadows community! Gorgeous townhome in quiet, back of complex location! Remodeled, contemporary kitchen with newer Ikea cabinets, countertop & appliances. Updated bathrooms. Beautiful wood laminate flooring in most of downstairs. Master bedroom includes a large wall of closets with great organizers. Spacious back patio with room to garden & storage shed. Even more storage at the carport. Complex includes sparkling pool & clubhouse plus lush greenbelt areas.

Dues were raised this year to the current $360 per month to cover the cost of wood repairs, painting and new roofs throughout the complex. Work is in process now and nearly done! The roofs are on and the last bits of painting are happening now.

This is the least expensive home for sale in Sunnyvale Meadows. Hurry!

Open House Saturday, Oct 2, 2010 from 2 – 4pm. Please stop by!

Read the full real estate description from the MLS below.

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The condominium & townhouse market is improving dramatically now.  It is evident both in looking at the stats countywide and in my recent experiences holding open my townhouse listings in Saratoga and Sunnyvale as well as recently participating in the sale of a townhome in Almaden Valley (representing a buyer) – all different areas and price points but all very active.

Here are the numbers for May sales of condos and townhomes for all of Santa Clara  County:

As you can see, the days on market are shrinking and prices (both median and average) are rising.  A few numbers cut back slightly in May: the sale to list price ratio retreated a little to 99.9% and the pending properties went down a little too.  But the number of sales were up.

The “months of inventory” or absorption rate is a great way to know how much of a buyer’s or seller’s market it is in any given place. Six months is considered balanced, less is a seller’s market and more is a buyer’s market.  Here are the months of inventory for selected communities in the “west valley” area of Silicon Valley – they are all “seller’s markets”, but some are strong and some are approaching balanced:

Of course, this is still painting with a broad brush.  The absorption rate for any of these areas may not be accurate for the various price points or school districts that might be found there.  For instance, a large luxury townhouse in Los Gatos which is downtown might be a really different type of market than a small, entry level one bordering Campbell or Cambrian Park.

What everyone’s wondering is if this seller’s market for condominiums and townhouses will continue despite the end of the federal home buyer credit.  To utilize that credit, homes had to be in contract by April 30th.  Most of those should be closed now, or nearing that date at best.  So we’ll really know more as we move into summer. My sense, though, is that what’s driving this market is much more the affordable prices of homes and of loans. The credits are a bonus, but many in Silicon Valley make too much money to be able to use them.

For information on your particular part of the Silicon Valley condo or townhome market, please give me a call or email me!

The real estate news is so mixed it’s mind boggling, whether it’s a national perspective, one specific to California, the San Francisco Bay Area, the “south Bay”, Silicon Valley or even San Jose in particular.  It is anything but a uniform, monolithic market. Even so, it’s good to look at the big picture along side the hyper local level, and that’s what we’ll do today.

Today’s San Jose Mercury News featured a front page article by Sue McAllister (an excellent reporter) on Santa Clara County housing values.  She shares that Zillow says that we’ve hit bottom here in Santa Clara County.  That is certainly good news to home owners accross Silicon Valley!  And I don’t disagree that countywide, we’re definitely looking up right now.  No guarantees for the future, but Zillow says that the threat of a second or double dip no longer seems likely. Whew!

Unfortunately, there’s another real risk to this recovery and it’s not the “shadow industry”. This time it’s homeowners walking away because they’re underwater (not because they can’t afford to stay, but because they choose not to).  Sixty Minutes did a segment on this phenomena of home owners walking away last night., which you can watch via this link.

But back to today.  Looking at the big picture, Santa Clara County’s median sales price is up about 5% over a year ago (for both condos and houses). That doesn’t mean that homes have all appreciated 5%, but rather that half of all homes sold for more and half less at a point which is five percent greater than the amount of a year ago.  It does indicate improvement, but most of that is due to more expensive homes which are selling now.

Some areas are “selling like hotcakes” when a good home comes on the market and is priced aggressively.  In those areas, home prices are trending upwards.  The myth is that it’s happening everywhere, in every price range, and in every type of residential real estate for sale.  It’s just not true.

I cannot cover every part of the San Jose area, or every type of home for sale, but will provide a few examples (again) of how terribly local “the real estate market” is.  In some areas it can change block by block! 

What follows are graphs from Altos Research (to which I have a subscription) displaying the median list price of homes for sale in Sunnyvale, Santa Clara and Saratoga – both condominiums & townhouses as well as houses & duet homes.  The historical period shown for all is the last 3 years.

The median list price of Sunnyvale houses for sale.

And the same data in Sunnyvale but by price quartile. Please note how very different the market has been from one price point to the next.  The least expensive homes hit the “bottom” more recently than the most expensive ones – the top quartile had its worst period in the winter of 2008 but the lowest quartile hit it a full year later.

What about condos in Sunnyvale?

Viewed broadly, it does not look like the townhouse or condominium real estate market in Sunnyvale has hit bottom for sure.  We see a tiny uptick at the end – but it’s hardly what you could call “sustained” at this point.

 When we look at the market for Sunnyvale townhomes and condos by price quartile, it appears that the most expensive ones may be trending upward in price.  Are they leading the recovery?  Perhaps.  But we’ll need to see more of this to know for sure.

I think I’ve made my point that real estate is hyper local.  Santa Clara County is clearly in recovery as a whole, but not every part of the market is recovering – some parts are still faring quite badly and are seeing further price declines.  But let’s continue on and have a look at the median list price of Santa Clara homes for sale next.

Santa Clara does not look like a market in recovery or which has hit bottom yet. Maybe – but we need to see the lack of decline continue on a lot longer before we could be comfortable declaring that the worst is over.

Here we can see that the lowest priced homes really do appear to be doing better than the rest of the Santa Clara market.  The bottom middle quartile, though, still appears to be having a slippage in list prices.  This is a much different “picture” than just viewing the Sunnyvale market as a whole.

Condominiums and townhouses for sale in Santa Clara next:

The movement upwards is encouraging, but it started so recently that we’re not yet sure if this is a blip or a new trend. Hoping for the latter.

The newness of the trend is affirmed when we look at the Santa Clara condo market by quartile: mostly what we’re seeing is that the declines have stopped. That is good news, at least!

Finally, let’s see what’s happening in the high end or luxury market of Saratoga. 

What a bumpy market it is in Saratoga!  While it looks like “the worst” was about a year ago, the current downward trend is not comforting.  Is more bad news still ahead?  Let’s see how it looks by quartile.

Now isn’t this odd? It doesn’t look nearly so bad in Saratoga when broken down by quartiles!  The most expensive properties in Saratoga are doing the worst, and the most affordable ones are appreciating, though.    Perhaps a closer look still would help – just the top and bottom price points by themselves.  Here’s a view of the top quartile of the median list price of Saratoga homes for sale.

The luxury or estate market in Saratoga is NOT yet in recovery.  In fact, it is still in decline with no evidence of a recovery even begun yet.

And the bottom?  This chart represents the most affordable single family homes (houses & duet homes) for sale in Saratoga over the last three years.

Anyone shopping in Saratoga (especially in the areas with the very best schools) knows that this is an appreciating market – homes in this strata of the market are going up every month, especially if the home is in good shape and priced right.  Although the recovery there is still rather new, I do believe that this part of the market has seen its bottom and is truly in recovery.

Saratoga condos and townhouses – how’s the market?

The condos and townhouses in Saratoga had a little rally last summer, but then it dropped down lower in the winter and had been rising until recently. Will it look different by quartile?

Here again it looks like the bottom quartile, or most affordable Saratoga condos for sale, is recovering .  The upper price points now appear close to flat but the most expensive ones have been behaving very differently from the rest of the pack since last summer.  Perhaps this was a vote of confidence among those who are comfortable?  The luxury condominium market in Saratoga is more than merely shelter, of course, and most Santa Clara County home buyers cannot fathom purchasing a townhouse or condo over a million dollars, let alone pay the hefty home owner association dues that goes with that lifestyle.

Saratoga CA luxury townhouses and condominiums – median list price of homes for sale (top price quartile):

Summary

Today we had a look at the real estate markets in Sunnyvale, Santa Clara and Saratoga – both houses and condos and in all price points.  We can see that while the whole of Santa Clara County does appear to be past the bottom of the market, there are still some segments of it which are declining in value, and others are rising.  To make the most of your real estate purchase or sale, it is extremely important to understanding what is happening in your part of the market.  Please contact me to chat about buying or selling a home within your area, budget and home type within Silicon Valley.

What does it take to be a successful move-up buyer in Silicon Valley right now?  How hard is that to do? What does it take for a move up scenario in the San Jose area to be a possibility?

(1) Buyers are extremely picky – most want a turnkey, perfect home.

(2) Homes that need work (updating, remodeling) are selling at deep discounts, if they sell at all.

(3) Loans are harder to come by then they used to be. If your credit is not perfect, clean it up!  Save for a bigger downpayment, especially in the arena of jumbo loans.

If you must sell the current home to buy the next home, you’ll need to get your house or condo into ideal condition.  If you can buy the next home without selling the current one, it’s a great rental market!  You may want to investigate the possibility of investing by holding your current home and renting it out. Talk to your tax professional about the ramifications of doing this before you decide. 

Although it is a buyer’s market everywhere, from Mountain View to Monte Sereno to Morgan Hill, the degree of it varies from one area and price point to the next.  You may do very well if you are selling in an area that’s more desireable and moving to an area which is experiencing a deeper buyers market. A couple of examples would be selling a home in Cupertino, Saratoga, Monte Sereno, or Los Gatos (where the schools are highly regarded and the commute is shorter) and buying the next property in the south county areas such as Gilroy, Morgan Hill or San Martin (where it is a deeper buyers market).

Another strategy that should be very effective in the current market is to suffer through the updating that your current home needs, and then buy a home that needs that also needs remodeling or updating. The homes that need to be updated or remodeled throughout appear to be selling at incredibly low prices, whereas some houses which are completely turnkey are getting multiple offers when priced right. Last week I saw an investment property which had been bought as a banked owned home, remodeled quickly and put back on the market (as a “flipped” home if it sells). So sell something that everyone will want, and buy something that no one wants now because of the effort involved in updating. Just make sure that the location is ideal!

This is, of course, “general information” and is not intended to replace a consultation with me or other real estate professionals who can assist you with specific information that pertains to you, your home, your wants & needs, and the current market conditions. Please contact me today for a private consultation.

Sunnyvale

The city of Sunnyvale, CA, is known for low crime and high tech. Its a city of about 100,000 residents and many businesses. Its a quick hop to the Cal Train in Mountain View, so is in a good commute location both for Santa Clara County but also for jobs ‘on the peninsula’ too.

Like the rest of California, Sunnyvales history goes back to the days of Land Grants (first Spanish, then Mexican, then US Patents). The first non-native beginnings of this city were in 1842 with the Rancho Pastoria de las Borregas land grant, held by Estrada and Inez Castro and later becoming Mountain View and Sunnyvale. (The arrangement with land grants was that the land was free, but the owner had to occupy it. Such a deal!) Its interesting history, so take a look!