Neighborhoods
Areas & Neighborhoods
A plat map comes with your preliminary title report (provided by your title company with maps from the Santa Clara County tax assessor’s office when you purchase or sell a home in California), tucked away at the back and somewhat mysterious with lots of numbers in small print. It holds quite a bit of helpful information if you know what it is you’re seeing. Today we’ll view a sample of one of these – breaking down the plat map shown as a small thumbnail image on the right to more readable parts so that you can learn how to “read” or understand a plat map.
Quick overview of what’s on a plat map
There’s a wealth of information on the plat map. Take a look and see what you can pick out on your own first.
Nestled in the rolling foothills of San Jose’s southeastern Evergreen area is a hidden gem known simply as the Villages.
As you drive up to the secured entrance, you’ll spot a sign: The Villages a Country Club Community. They take that claim to heart. A gated, community-oriented neighborhood centered around numerous country club amenities creates an immersive home for its residents. However this is a senior community, so to live at the Villages you have to be 55 or older. Therefore many residents are retirees who are active, love entertaining guests, and don’t want to mow the lawn every week. But you don’t have to be a resident to enjoy the country club side of things.
The Villages
Only about a 20 minute drive from downtown San Jose, this area was once agricultural land with vineyards. It is still home to the impressive William Wehner historic mansion, constructed in 1888 and designed by architect David Burnham (this estate is currently closed to the public). The mansion is sometimes called the Cribari Mansion for its later owners, a name that was adopted by the first Village development. The original stone columns (circa 1891) for the estate’s original drive still stand as a prominent feature on one of the golf courses.
Today, the community is still surrounded by untouched rolling hills. And that natural beauty is staying put, as the Villages owns 550 acres of open space with community hiking trails. Continue reading
8865 Wine Valley Circle, San Jose, is a wonderful home for sale (my listing) in The Villages Golf & Country Club, a 55+ community. This detached, single story house provides 2 bedrooms plus den or home office, 2.5 bathrooms, living-dining areas plus a family room open to the nook and island kitchen. Built in 1997, this single family home enjoys tall ceilings and abundant natural light in an appealing, open floor plan.
Feel free to visit the Virtual Tour here, or keep reading for the details!
8865 Wine Valley Circle, San Jose CA 95135
8865 Wine Valley Circle – quick facts:
- Offered at $1,080,000
- MLS # ML81778777
- 2 bedrooms + den or home office
- 2.5 bathrooms
- 2256 SF of living space
- 4977 SF lot
- single story, detached house
- built in 1997
- central air conditioning
- dual pane windows
- 3 sun tunnels
- high ceilings, recessed lights
- laundry room
- large 2 car garage with extra storage
- nearly carpet free (only carpeting is in one closet) – most of the home has wood laminate flooring
- The Villages is a senior community, 55+, located in the Evergreen area of San Jose
Island kitchen and nook
The Evergreen area of San Jose is includes many newer homes and communities. It is a highly regarded Silicon Valley community as Evergreen is scenic and most of the district enjoys highly regarded schools, particularly at the elementary and middle school levels. In this article I’ll provide some info on this section of the valley and then offer information on the current real estate market trends there, and that part will be updated periodically. Just want the Evergreen real estate market update? Please scroll down!
Evergreen Real Estate Market Report: Single Family Homes
The Re Report considers all of the Evergreen district together. Please find the full report on my Real Estate Report for the Evergreen area of San Jose. Further down, you’ll see live charts with more zip code specific details.
The Evergreen area is appreciating both month over month and year over year. It’s a strong seller’s market!
| Trends At a Glance | Dec 2019 | Previous Month | Year-over-Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Price | $1,340,000 (+8.7%) | $1,232,500 | $1,134,700 (+18.1%) |
| Average Price | $1,400,610 (+5.1%) | $1,332,360 | $1,187,490 (+17.9%) |
| No. of Sales | 33 (+10.0%) | 30 | 24 (+37.5%) |
| Pending | 23 (-42.5%) | 40 | 24 (-4.2%) |
| Active | 24 (-25.0%) | 32 | 33 (-27.3%) |
| Sale vs. List Price | 100.6% (0.0%) | 100.6% | 99.3% (+1.3%) |
| Days on Market | 38 (+3.9%) | 37 | 30 (+26.4%) |
| Days of Inventory | 22 (-29.5%) | 31 | 41 (-47.1%) |
Altos Research: Evergreen real estate market for single family homes or houses by zip code
95148
How’s the Mountain View CA real estate market? This is one of the very hottest areas within Silicon Valley and is home to a myriad of high tech companies and is a stone’s throw from others. With a charming and walk-able downtown, easy access to CalTrain, and a vibrant atmosphere conducive to both work and play, it is no wonder that people relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area or Silicon Valley place Mountain View squarely in their target. (Also popular are adjacent municipalities: Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Los Altos, and Palo Alto.)
All that popularity comes at a cost, though. Prices have been sky high in Mountain View for years, both for rentals and for home buying. The good news, though, for those with property or those who take the plunge and purchase: it doesn’t look like Mountain View is going to lose its appeal anytime soon.
In this article, which is updated monthly, we will include live Altos Charts which automatically update weekly (so bookmark this page!) as well as monthly insights from the Real Estate Report for Mountain View. From time to time I will be adding “in the trenches” commentary to bolster this information.
Overview of the city of Mountain View’s residential real estate market for houses:
See the whole Mountain View Real Estate Report online here.
Single family homes (mostly houses, but some duet homes) are regularly selling for more than list price and in under a month. There are more homes Sold or Pending than there are Active listings, so inventory is moving swiftly! These are strong sales numbers for early winter, which usually sees significant seasonal cooling. While there has been some of that, it’s been very mild and Mountain View is still in an active seller’s market.
| Trends At a Glance | Dec 2019 | Previous Month | Year-over-Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Price | $1,900,000 (-13.6%) | $2,200,000 | $2,070,000 (-8.2%) |
| Average Price | $1,828,320 (-19.2%) | $2,262,260 | $2,435,880 (-24.9%) |
| No. of Sales | 11 (-35.3%) | 17 | 10 (+10.0%) |
| Pending | 12 (-29.4%) | 17 | 5 (+140.0%) |
| Active | 6 (-50.0%) | 12 | 15 (-60.0%) |
| Sale vs. List Price | 104.7% (+5.1%) | 99.6% | 102.7% (+1.9%) |
| Days on Market | 21 (-22.7%) | 28 | 25 (-14.6%) |
| Days of Inventory | 16 (-20.1%) | 20 | 45 (-63.6%) |
How is the Morgan Hill real estate market? This article will include data, trends and statistics for both houses/single family homes and condominiums/townhouses (in the second half of the article).
The cities of Morgan Hill and Gilroy are usually a bit less in demand than parts of Santa Clara County which are either tech magnets or closer to these big businesses. So if most of the Silicon Valley has a sale price to list price ratio of anywhere from 100% to 105%, it’s generally lower here, making the home buying conditions calmer for weary buyers, though still a sellers market.
Market profile from Altos Research – this is updated weekly, so check back often! You can also view the weekly newsletter through the link below, where you can also subscribe to receive this update every week in your inbox. Prefer a particular zip code instead? You can type in your desired zip in the “Search Anywhere” line and then request that particular weekly update by email.
Altos Research weekly report for all of Morgan Hill
Altos weekly report for 95037 only
Altos weekly report for 95038 only
The latest Altos update (January 7th) shows lessening inventory and prices, but that the market is active and comes in at a slight seller’s advantage.
Trends at a Glance for Single Family Homes in Morgan Hill
Below is a chart with basic info, but to see more information, you may click on this link to see the Real Estate Report for Morgan Hill. Prices are up a hair from last month and year. Inventory is shrinking but the number of sales remained high. Days on market are up, but properties in December still sold quickly in just 1.5 months on average. Overall, the market seems to be pretty much holding steady with some indicators up and others down a hair compared to the month before. Overall, the Morgan Hill real estate market is showing mixed signals, but it appears to be relatively stable with some seasonally normal cooling.
| Trends At a Glance | Dec 2019 | Previous Month | Year-over-Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Price | $1,050,750 (+4.6%) | $1,005,000 | $950,000 (+10.6%) |
| Average Price | $1,091,400 (+1.7%) | $1,072,810 | $1,083,370 (+0.7%) |
| No. of Sales | 32 (+3.2%) | 31 | 19 (+68.4%) |
| Pending | 28 (-47.2%) | 53 | 28 (0.0%) |
| Active | 46 (-17.9%) | 56 | 47 (-2.1%) |
| Sale vs. List Price | 98.2% (+0.1%) | 98.1% | 99.2% (-1.0%) |
| Days on Market | 44 (+49.9%) | 29 | 32 (+35.7%) |
| Days of Inventory | 43 (-17.7%) | 52 | 74 (-41.9%) |
And the month before:
Continue reading
How is the Campbell real estate market? Campbell is in a strong seller’s market, but like the rest of the county, is in a period of cooling off in terms of numbers of offers, days on market, and active listings. That being said, sale price to list price ratio is up slightly this past month and days of inventory are steady. Compared to spring, there’s been some “up and down” recently.
If you’re selling, perhaps a last summer you’d have gotten 4 – 6 offers on your well prepared, beautifully staged, and aggressively priced home for sale. Now, maybe it is 1 – 2 offers instead. We are typically seeing buyers bring in offers with normal contingencies, particularly if there are not any competing bids.
The market has been cooling overall since spring, though it’s gotten warmer at the start of the year. We’ll only really know a few months from now if this trend will continue, when we are seeing it in the rear view mirror.
Here’s a quick view of the Campbell real estate market stats from Altos Research, using LIST prices:
And now – here are some quick stats, care of my RE Report for Campbell:
