Silicon Valley Real Estate

Where can you vote tomorrow in San Jose, Los Gatos, Saratoga, or in Santa Clara County? The registrar of voters for the county has an online polling place finder - just input your address and see where you should cast your vote.

Many of us were unhappy to be informed that our precinct had fewer than 250 voters and therefore we were stuck with mail-in ballots. Those can be dropped off tomorrow at any polling place, and you can find the nearest one by checking the link above too. (To clarify: ballots must be received, not postmarked, by tomorrow at 8pm.)

Almaden Valley in San Jose is comprised of many neighborhoods and subdivisions. One of them, close to the border with Los Gatos and Cambrian Park, is particularly popular: Oak Canyon.

There are many reasons for its draw among Silicon Valley homebuyers: the houses were well built by Shea Homes in about 1980, so they are relatively newer by Silicon Valley standards.  They’re larger homes on comfortable lots, often 8000 sf or so but some as small as 6500 sf and others larger than a quarter acre. Most of the homes boast a 3 car garage, which is a big help with storage of stuff, if not storage of cars. The roads gently turn, which makes a more pleasing look. It’s a very “conforming” neighborhood where everyone keeps up the homes and yards. Much of Almaden is viewed by consumers as somewhat remote, but this section, near the mouth of Almaden, is not too deep into the valley and is a better commute location for most. One of the largest pulls for the area, though, is the nearby elementary school, Guadalupe School, which has API scores in the 900s.

Where is the Oak Canyon neighborhood in Almaden Valley, San Jose?

Oak Canyon is found near the intersection of Camden Avenue and Coleman Road in San Jose but is bordered by Coleman on one side and the Guadalue Creek on the other sides. (The far side of the Guadalupe Creek at this point is Cambrian Park.)

And to provide some bearings, here’s a map of the Almaden Valley district of San Jose generally:

What Are Homes Like in the Oak Canyon Neighborhood of Almaden?

Most of the homes in the Oak Canyon neighborhood range between 2000 and 3000 square feet, though a few may be as small as 1700 or 1800 and if someone’s added on, it could be larger than 3200 - but those are the extremes.

The floorplans are unusually well planned and open, particularly for homes built around 1980. They tend to have good, practical laoyouts that most buyers appreciate. Kitchens often face the back yard and are open to the family room (some with wet bar). A formal dining area normally sits adjacent to the living room. Ceilings are high and ordinarily there’s a good amount of built-in storage in Oak Canyon homes. One floorplan offers the master bedroom, which is upstairs, a private balcony overlooking the front yard. For many, that means a lovely view of Mt Umunhum.

Shea built a variety of elevations for different looks, with ranges from Spanish or mediterranean to contemporary or ranch. Some homeowners have renovated and made their homes appear to be Craftsman style too. This is definitely an upscale neighborhood, but still tract housing. It’s not hard to recognize the few floorplans as one walks or drives through the area.  Something unusual is that the sidewalks are built directly against the street. The plus is that front yards appear larger. The minus is that there is no uniform “tree lined street” feel since there’s no strip of land between the sidewalk and street where trees have been planted.

Special Concerns with Oak Canyon Homes

Every neighborhood has some issues. This one has very, very few!

Because of the proximity of Guadalupe Creek, and the closeness of the hills, wildlife can be a concern. For years there was an issue with large numbers of pigeons. More recently, hawks have become abundant and the pigeon population is down. It is possible that mountain lions, coyotes, skunks, possum and other wildlife will make their way into Oak Canyon as it’s an area close to the hills and close to a water source. However, I’ve never read of sightings of anything scary in Oak Canyon.

Folks interested in Oak Canyon should view the natural hazards map to understand the proximity of the Shannon Earthquake Fault.

Water in the Guadalupe Creek should not be drunk or played with as it runs through areas with naturally-occuring mercury (there were mines for mercury up Guadalupe Road not far from this area).

Part of Oak Canyon is really close to high voltage power lines, which is a negative. Others back up to Coleman, so there’s a noise issue. Most, though, have no negatives in terms of location within the community.

What Does it Cost to Live in Oak Canyon?

Oak Canyon homes may be as inexpensive as the 900k range or run into well past a million dollars, depending on location, size of home, lot size, and condition. Large homes on large, interior lots with no “issues” will run 50% more than homes backing to Coleman or high voltage lines in need of updating.

If you’d like more information on buying or selling a home in Oak Canyon or anywhere in the San Jose and Silicon Valley area, please contact me today!

Here in the Valley of Hearts Delight, aka Silicon Valley, the market continues to be a buyers market with downward pressure on prices, longer days on market, and bigger gaps between list price and sales price. What is happening area wide or county wide is not always exactly what we find in smaller market areas. Some parts of Silicon Valley, and some price points, are doing quite well relatively, while others are falling through the floor.

What is happening with San Jose real estate? Let’s look at four San Jose districts, mostly in the west valley area, by their zip code (or main zip): Almaden Valley (95120), Willow Glen (95125), Cambrian Park (95124) and West San Jose (95129).

Below, please find the trends for the median list price of single family homes for sale in these four areas of San Jose:

For the most part, it appears that the west valley area of San Jose real estate is continuing to experience noticeable declines in list prices throughout these districts. Interestingly, Almaden Valley and West San Jose (zip 95129) both saw improvement in spring before returning to the downward trend. By comparison, how is San Jose as a whole (the entire city) looking?

Read more »

The weather’s great and there’s plenty to do to celebrate Halloween in and near Silicon Valley! Here are
a few events you might consider in our Santa Clara County area:

And these two have multiple dates and times, so check them against your calendar too:

For even more Halloween fun, make the trip to Half Moon Bay, where several of the pumpkin farms have ongoing events too.

And if you like “real” ghost stories, please stop by my Haunted Real Estate blog.

Happy Halloween!

Recently I put together a Los Gatos Homebuyers Starter Kit page on my main website and thought I’d share it with you. There’s nothing to download, nothing to register for - just a page with an abundance of information offered by links tailored specifically to Los Gatos home buyers: Los Gatos real estate, Los Gatos neighborhoods, Los Gatos homes for sale, Los Gatos real estate market information, Los Gatos schools, Los Gatos parks, you name it. If you are thinking of buying a home in or near Los Gatos, please have a look & bookmark the page!

Silicon Valley residents are aware that Sunnyvale has a particularly low level of crime, good schools, and a lot of strong businesses that call it home. Even so, it’s nice to see that CNN took note too, and listed Sunnyvale in its top 100 of Best Places to Live.

Why Sunnyvale, as opposed to nearby Mountain View (a “contender"), Los Altos, Cupertino (a “contender"), Saratoga, Los Gatos, Campbell, Santa Clara (also a “contender") or San Jose?

Apparently it’s the combination of affordability, schools, low crime, and short commutes that did the trick. Sunnyvale does a lot of programs in a more efficient way, such as the amazing public safety department there.

The award is well deserved. Congratulations, Sunnyvale!

The other day I was hunting for local maps of Santa Clara County (Silicon Valley) dating back 100 years or so, and although I didn’t find exactly what I wanted, I did find a treasure trove that I hadn’t expected to find at al.

Here please find a tiny snippet of a USGS Map from the late 1890s (actually part of the Palo Alto Map). According to my husband, who has a hobby of viewing and collecting maps, each “dot” on this image represents a house. If that is the case, you can see how sparcely populated Saratoga and Cupertino were at this time.

And what is that Azule Springs? Was it another hot springs type resort, like Saratoga Springs? A map like this raises a lot of questions!

If you love - or at least enjoy - history, I invite you to visit the USGS website and look at the historic maps there. One section includes Palo Alto, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Cupertino and the coastal areas such as Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay. Another section of the map includes Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Campbell, Almaden, Cambrian Park, Santa Clara and many parts of San Jose.

It’s fun to see where things “used to be” and how they “used to be called". Take a few minutes and enjoy!