Silicon Valley Real Estate Blog by Mary Pope-Handy

Home Types: How is a Patio Home Different than Other Houses or Homes?

Condos, townhomes, and single family homes would seem to be very easy to recognize. But that’s not always the case!

There are some townhomes that are not attached – that’s the case at the Los Gatos Village in Los Gatos.

There are detached houses that are actually condominium ownership – you’ll find those at the Villas of Almaden in San Jose.

Most townhomes, though, are attached, and they are condominium style ownership (though the parcel of land that the townhouse sits on is part of the unit for ownership purposes). Most condos don’t have any land that belongs specifically to that unit, but instead the condo owner also owns a percentage of the land held in common. But what exactly is a “Patio Home” and how is it different from other types of detached homes?

Patio homes are usually part of a “PUD” or Planned Unit Development. Normally they are detached, ..(read more)

Understanding Descriptions in the Listing Remarks

You're browsing through the online list of Silicon Valley homes for sale and only want a turnkey home. How can you tell, from the description, what the home's true condition is? (Photos are often the biggest help, but some agents don't post enough of them.)

Often it's not what the Silicon Valley real estate agent says, it's what he or she doesn't say.

For example, when a home's been remodeled, normally the agent will try very hard to convey this in the allowed words in the public remarks section. If anything has been replaced or updated, it will be in the remarks unless the agent is really not good at marketing the home. The comments should say "remodeled kitchen and baths" if that's the case. If the kitchen and baths aren't mentioned at all, that means that either they are original or are otherwise in need of remodeling now.

What about the word "updated"? Updated implies that it's not original, but it's not ..(read more)

New Silicon Valley Real Estate Blog by Mary Pope-Handy, Top San Jose and Los Gatos Realtor

The Valley of Hearts Delight website has been morphed into a blogsite with real estate information and insights on San Jose, Los Gatos, Saratoga, and Silicon Valley generally. The URL, www.ValleyOfHeartsDelight.com, will take you there!

What is included in this new blog for real estate consumers in Silicon Valley? Here's a quick list: Silicon Valley (Santa Clara County) area information, offered by city, town, or district, including Almaden Valley, Willow Glen, and Cambrian Park areas of San Jose, plus Campbell, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, and Saratoga. Other parts of Silicon Valley will be mentioned too, but the emphasis will be on the named parts of the westside of Silicon Valley. General home buyer information and tips General home seller information and tips Topics with seniors in mind, first time buyers, first time sellers, move up buyers and sellers, folks relocating to Silicon Valley, investors Strategies to assist consumers in ..(read more)

How Can You Take Advantage of Today's Real Estate Market in Silicon Valley?

Recession is such a dirty word. But we may as well get used to it - the economy is scary right now, interest rates are rising along with the cost of gas and food, and the only thing that's nearing affordability right now is housing. That is, housing to purchase is becoming more affordable. Rents are rising.

What can you do to benefit during this crazy time? The market is always changing and always benefitting someone. Who's getting the edge now in Santa Clara County or in the San Jose area generally? First time home buyers are in luck - they can purchase a single family house for about $500,000 in some parts of San Jose right now (the same homes sold for $650,000 a year or two ago). Prices are good!
All buyers who need a loan for a home at or under $729,950 - we have the "jumbo conforming" loan situation - good only until the end of the calendar year - which provides about a half percent "gift" to the buyer in terms of ..(read more)

Landscaping Your Silicon Valley Home to SELL

Staging is discussed a great deal and most sellers in Silicon Valley understand why it's important for maximizing their net when the home sells.

What many people don't understand is that staging the front yard is just as crucial, if not more so, when selling your property.

To get a quick and easy list of what to do to prepare your yard for selling, visit my Live in Los Gatos blog post, . Simple Rules for Landscaping to Sell Your Home.

Silicon Valley's Real Estate Scene: Short Sales, Foreclosures, and REO Properties For Sale

Which part of the Santa Clara Valley
is seeing all of this foreclosure and pre-foreclosure activity?

Depending on where you live in Santa Clara County, you may be seeing a whole lot of distressed properties on the market - or you may be seeing none at all. This is part of our current "bifurcated market" situation. Generally, the more expensive areas of Silicon Valley (Palo Alto, Cupertino, Saratoga, Monte Sereno, Los Gatos, Almaden Valley and Silver Creek) are not suffering from a huge number of listings in which the sellers are in financial straits. There are some, though.

It is the less wealthy areas in San Jose (including parts of downtown, the east side, south San Jose, Santa Teresa, Blossom Valley) and the south county cities of Morgan Hill and Gilroy) where there is an inundation with short sales - in the lower price ranges especially. How can you tell if a home is in pre-foreclosure?
(read more)

Analyzing the Silicon Valley Real Estate Market

The Silicon Valley Real Estate Market is really composed of many "micro markets". What is happening in Los Gatos is not the same thing as is happening in Morgan Hill or in Palo Alto.

And, in fact, what's happening in one part of Los Gatos is very different from what is happening in another, just as west San Jose is extremely different from south San Jose.

Recently I subscribed to another market research service, Altos Research. (I already have a subscription to The Real Estate Report, which is awesome in its own right.) With my new arsenal of graphs and charts, I can now view and study the market not just by city, but also by zip code.

Blossom Valley (a district within San Jose) has two zips: 95123 and 95136. They are performing similarly right now. Cambrian Park (another area in San Jose) is mostly in two zips, 95124 being the larges, but also 95118 and a little sliver of 95008 (which is mostly in the City of Campbell). Los ..(read more)

Seasonal Upswing in Silicon Valley!

In Santa Clara County, we have seasonal fluctuations in the supply and demand of single family homes, condos and townhouses. Not surprisingly, most years there are correlations between these normal cycles and pricing. Usually, spring gives buyers more selection and sellers better pricing than other times in the year.

With sales slipping for about two and a half years straight now,I wondered if things would improve after the Superbowl or not. Would it be a deepening buyer's market, or would we see the typical seasonal improvement about now?

There are a lot of micro markets, but generally, I'm seeing a noticeable improvement. At one end of the spectrum we have the houses hardest hit locally in the real estate downturn: places in east San Jose, south San Jose, Santa Teresa, Blossom Valley, and the south county area where there are a lot of foreclosures and short sales. At the other end of the spectrum, the hot sellers market ..(read more)

Thinking of moving up this spring?

If you are contemplating selling one home and buying another in the same general area, it may be that you need more space - or it may be that you simply want a home that's updated and you're not sure you want to experience, first-hand, the joys of remodeling.

Not too long ago, I stumbled upon a website to help folks work through this question:
www.RemodelOrMove.com.

Have a look. I think it's pretty unbiased information that can help with this angle of the "move up" question.

Home Selling Plans for Silicon Valley Home Owners

We're through the holidays and slugging through some rainy January days here in Santa Clara County. The communities along the coastal foothills - Los Gatos, Saratoga, Los Altos, Almaden Valley, Monte Sereno, and Cupertino - got even more rainfall than downtown San Jose or places closer to the San Francisco Bay. This is not a bad time to sell a house, most years, but usually sellers want to wait a little later into the new year to put their homes on the market.

This year especially.

Last month, closings in Santa Clara County were at an incredibly low number - it was the fewest closings since 1984! And it doesn't seem to be picking up yet. Some of the information I get is anecdotal, but it's often a hint of what's going on. One piece of info along these lines I heard yesterday was some friends at a local title company. Normally, when the title company's employee goes to the county office to officially put transactions on record, it's ..(read more)

It's Mid-December: Should You Pull Your Silicon Valley Home Off The Market?

If you've been trying to sell your home in Los Gatos, Saratoga, Almaden Valley, Cambrian, or anywhere with good schools but haven't received an offer yet, don't dispair!

With our mild winters, you really can sell any time of year. And this one is a far cry from an El Nino winter.

Not only that, but in mid-December a lot of folks DO pull their homes off the market, and the result is a tightening of inventory. The ratio between listed and sale pending homes improves dramatically. It's less of a gamble now than ever....

But you're thinking: it's a hassle. It's the holidays.

And you're right. So do it differently.

But before I tell you how to do it differently, it's important to address something. How is your home positioned in the marketplace? What's the feedback been like if the home hasn't sold?

If the price is too high, the condition is too poor, you need to first address those items. All ..(read more)

Preparing Your Silicon Valley Home to Sell: What Will It Cost?

Preparing your home to sell should be done enough in advance of when you want to have your home go on the market that any unplanned repairs can be completed first so that you net the most money possible from the sale. It's hard to know how much time to allow for the unknown, but my suggestion is to provide yourself a month or two, if possible.

In the San Jose area or Santa Clara County generally, we have very mild winters and it's not usually difficult to get most repairs done even in winter (unless they are "outside" repairs and we're in the middle of a rare El Nino year). If you start now, you should have no trouble finding inspectors (presale inspections are more than just a good idea!) and contractors. If you wait 'til February, you may not be on the schedule of your own choosing.

So where to start? What to budget?

In my experience (almost 15 years), most homes that have been lived in for many years often ..(read more)

Home Buying and Selling in Late Fall and Winter in Silicon Valley

Is now a good time to buy or sell a home in the San Jose area?

This current market cannot be generalized - there are many micro markets, micro climates if you will, that comprise the Santa Clara Valley real estate market.

It is a difficult market for selling entry level condos in San Jose's eastside and south county. It's an easy market in Saratoga, with Saratoga schools, in the 1.5 to 2 million range if the home is turnkey and has "no issues" (no high voltage lines, no busy roads, etc.) This is a GREAT market if you're ready to sell your large home in Almaden, Los Gatos, or Saratoga and downsize to a condo or smaller home. Recently I did an in-depth post about the Los Gatos market on my Live in Los Gatos blog and in that market, the condos are selling well and entry level houses are a little sluggish. So there, it's a great move-up market from condos to a single family home.

Overall, we have a healthy or balanced ..(read more)

San Jose Makes Forbes' List: Top Market for Landlords

This morning I viewed a piece on Forbes.com that said that San Jose was on it's "top 10" list of good places to be a landlord. Investors, take note!

http://www.forbes.com/2007/09/04/landlord-subprime-realestate-forbeslife-cx_mw_0905bestlandlordmarket_slide_11.html?thisSpeed=15000

Hiring an Agent to Help You Sell or Buy a Home in Silicon Valley

I'm a Realtor in Silicon Valley with almost 15 years experience under my belt. On top of that, I grew up with a Realtor mom and recall "the stories" from way
back when. What stories? I'm talking about the Bad Agent Stories. As Realtors, part of our Code of Ethics (which is totally sacrosant) is to not
"disparage the competition". So I'm not going to name names. But I have to warn you. And I have to vent. Please, please be careful when you
hire. This week I've run into a few agents who've worked deceptively. So my response
is to warn you so at least my readers aren't duped. <h2><i>So Many Realtors in Santa Clara County</i></h2> Here in the San Jose area, there are about 12,000 people with a real estate
license (issued by the state of California). Of those 12,000 individuals, 8,000
are also Realtors. "Realtor" is NOT synonymous with "real estate salesperson".
A ..(read more)