Silicon Valley Real Estate

Known for engineers and high tech or bio-tech, Silicon Valley is actually much more than tilt up buildings full of well educated, hard working people. There is a ton of scenic beauty here in this sub-tropical area with 300 sunny days each year. I hope you will enjoy this slide show I put together to help introduce you to “The Valley of Hearts Delight", now known as Silicon Valley. Below, please find images from San Jose (Almaden Valley, Cambrian Park and Willow Glen, and downtown Vendome areas), Campbell, Saratoga, Santa Clara and Los Gatos. Enjoy!

Have you always dreamed of buying a home close to, or in, the western foothills in Santa Clara County, such as Almaden, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno and Saratoga? Some of the prettiest parts of Silicon Valley are snuggled into the base of the Santa Cruz Mountains. With views of downtown San Jose and the southern San Francisco Bay Area on one side, and rolling, grassy and redwood & oak filled hills on the other, its certainly scenic. Additionally, these areas all tend to have very low crime and good schools.

As a saavy foothill-area buyer, you will want to understand some of the unique issues that this geography may present. The most important of these may well be the issue of water control and drainage.

The Santa Clara Valley, and most of the neighboring Silicon Valley areas, is composed of mostly clay soil. This is an extremely strong substance - so much so that settlers used it, mixed only with a little straw and water, to form adobe bricks for building.  

The caveat with clay soil is that when it becomes wet, it expands, and when dry, it contracts. In fact, we call this condition ˜expansive. The amazing thing is that the clay is more powerful than concrete. And that is the problem for houses and other buildings if the ground is expanding, contracting, or alternating between the two.

What can a homeowner do?  Its imperative to try to control the amount of water near (or under) the home as much as possible.  

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