Cambrian Park, or more broadly, Cambrian, is a west San Jose neighborhood or district and is one of the more affordable, high-value areas in Silicon Valley. The schools are good, the crime is low, and the commute is not too bad. For people relocating to Santa Clara County, this is a place to know about since quality education and affordability are often high priorities!

What’s the compromise for the more reasonable prices of homes for sale? Well, Cambrian doesn’t have an interesting, upscale downtown area like Campbell, Los Gatos, Saratoga, or Willow Glen.

But it does have tons of shopping & restaurants and even a Farmer’s Market. It also enjoys a top notch hospital (Good Samaritan) and plenty of parks as well as a fantastic rec center with a large park adjacent to it, the Camden Community Center, which has tons of programs (including an after school program for youth), classes, and a fabulous pool.  (My family and I lived in Cambrian in the “Cambrian Gardens” neighborhood for 10 years and loved it – our kids made great use of the community center too.)

Altogether, there are about 75,000 to 80,000 residents in Cambrian, spread throughout the three zip codes of 95124, 95118 and a little tiny bit of 95008.

If there is a “central Cambrian Park”, it would have to be near the original Cambrian Park Shopping Center, which was the first actual mall in San Jose! That area is sometimes known as Cambrian Village.  People sometimes use the three names interchangeably: Cambrian, Cambrian Park, Cambrian Village.:

Where is Cambrian Park? Map of approximate Cambrian Boundaries:

View Cambrian Area of San Jose in a larger map

Cambrian Park is a west side suburban area, part of the city of San Jose for the most part (there are a few county pockets, a bit now covered by Campbell, though), which is located adjacent to Campbell, Los Gatos, Almaden Valley, Blossom Valley and Willow Glen.

The Cambrian Park boundaries are, approximately, Foxworthy Avenue, Bascom Avenue, Carlton Avenue, Blossom Hill Road (except for a jut up in the Vista Loop area), Camden Avenue, the Guadalupe Creek (between Coleman Ave and Blossom Hill Rd.) and Almaden Expressway. There are many many zigs and zags, especially with the Los Gatos border, but I sketched out the approximate boundaries so that readers could get a rough idea of the area we call Cambrian Park – see the map above.

What are the schools in Cambrian?

Cambrian is served by 3 elementary school districts: The Union School District (in the area closest to Los Gatos), the Cambrian School District (the part to the north, closer to Campbell) and San Jose Unified School District (covering most of the 95118 section).   High Schools are served by Campbell Union High School District if the homes are in the Union or Cambrian schools area, or San Jose Unified in the rest of Cambrian. (Some school districts are elementary and middle only, with a separate high school district.  Others are “unified”, covering K – 12.)

The newest API scores for Santa Clara County’s public schools have been released as of Nov 29, 2011.  If you are unfamiliar with how API scores work, it’s on a scale of 1 to 1000.  The target number for the county is 800, so anything higher is considered good.  Getting close to or over 900 is rare and is the mark of an exceptionally excellent school.

Cambrian came out even stronger than in years past, particularly in the Union School District, where 5 out of 6 elementary schools were in the 900s and the other 1 school was at 878.

The middle schools in the Union area of Cambrian Park also scored high in 2010, with Dartmouth at 900 and Union Middle at 881. For some reason there are NO scores for 2011.

In the Cambrian School District there are 4 grammar schools, 3 of which slipped from the previous year and 1 of which went up.  Bagby was at 905 this time and the rest were in the 8s. Price Charter Middle School held steady at 864.

The high schools in this region (the Campbell Union HSD) all went up from the previous year, but only one of them, Leigh, is over 800 (Leigh has a strong 822 API).

Maps for the school district boundaries and school of attendance in Cambrian:

Map of the Union School District (loads slowly, please allow more time than seems reasonable):
http://www3.unionsd.org/unionsd/lib/unionsd/union_boundarymap.pdf

Map of the Cambrian School District of its boundaries (zoom in for better view), showing school of attendance maps also (they include the Farnaham charter School):
http://www.cambrian.k12.ca.us/oldSite/district_site/images/Cambrian_School_District_Map.jpg

The Cambrian elementary schools covered by the San Jose Unified School District are:
Almaden Elementary (782 API), Hacienda Science/Environmental Magnet Elementary (872) , and Reed Elementary (844).  The middle schools in Cambrian or covering Cambrian for the SJUSD are Castillero (795, slipped a little from the previous year – this school is in Almaden Valley) and John Muir (782).  The map of this district is not very helpful – cannot seem to zoom in:
http://www.sjusd.org/school/district/map_district/

The History of Cambrian, via the Cambrian Community Council

A friend & past client of mine (who purchased a home with me in Cambrian) very kindly told me about a wonderful article on the history of the Cambrian area which can be found on the Cambrian Community Council website.

Cambrian Area: It was always about the schools!

As with many parts of California, interestingly, the name itself goes back to the naming of a school (Cambria being another name for Wales).  This happened in the mid to late 1800s. The details of the founding of the Union School District and the Cambrian School District are shared there, too. It’s funny to think that more than a century later, the high quality schools in this San Jose neighborhood are still of prime importance and a main driver in home values.

Where was Cambrian originally?

The article further explains that the Cambrian area was an enormous stretch of land, and that Cambrian Park is within that general area (as is “Cambrian Village”, found at the crossroads of Union and Camden Avenues in San Jose).  The boundaries got defined differently at various points in time, and at times has included part of Los Gatos. (I read elsewhere that Cambrian was said to extend as far as Dry Creek Road at one point.) Some areas that were originally Cambrian are now part of Willow Glen or part of Campbell. Our local Realtor MLS defines the area as going roughly from about Foxworthy to the north to Blossom Hill in the south, Almaden Expressway to the east and Bascom Avenue to the west. (It touches Los Gatos, Almaden Valley, Willow Glen, and Campbell.)

If you live in this wonderful part of Silicon Valley, I encourage you to visit the CCC website and enjoy their colorful article, History of the Cambrian Area.

Cambrian Park Neighborhoods

Because I sell a fair amount in Cambrian and lived there, I am very partial to this area and have begun doing posts which are Cambrian neighborhood spotlight pieces.  I hope you will enjoy them.  More posts are to come but here are a few to get you started:

The Alta Vista Neighborhood, Where San Jose’s Cambrian Park and Los Gatos Weave Together Along The Base of the Hills

The “King Street” Neighborhood of Cambrian Park on the Los Gatos Border

Cambrian Park Neighborhoods: How to Choose Where to Live?

How’s the Cambrian Park Real Estate Market?

You can read about the Cambrian real estate market (as well as other Silicon Valley real estate markets in Santa Clara County) on my REReport, which is updated in the first week or so of each month.

The current RE Report for Cambrian Park Houses
The current RE Report for Cambrian Condominiums & Townhouses

What is my Cambrian home worth?

If you live in Cambrian now and are wondering about the market value of your home today, there are two approaches you can take.  You can request from me an online valuation (which will be approximate only as it’s “sight unseen”) at either of two places:

Price Your Home request on popehandy.com or at SiliconValleyHomeValue.com

Both of these come to me and I run the numbers personally for home owners who request them (sorry, this offer is not for home buyers).  I can usually turn the info around within a day, but sometimes it takes a couple of days if I happen to be travelling or otherwise overly busy.  If you make a request and for some reason don’t hear back from me within a couple of hours to acknowledge your request, please email or phone me!  Once in awhile, technology doesn’t come through and I don’t get an email alert when I should.

Alternatively, if you do not wish to share your contact info with me at this time, you can also simply browse the sold real estate listings in Cambrian on my Property Analysis page of the RE Report.  Just input an address (it’s not saved, I won’t see it) anywhere in Santa Clara County, and you’ll be able to view nearby sold, pending and available homes for sale close to your property.

What do houses cost in Cambrian?

If you’d like to buy a Cambrian home, you can browse the MLS listings of Cambrian Homes for Sale on this blogsite.  I have them listed by zip code on separate posts for houses, and below this section are the currently available condo and townhome properties which are on our MLS.

Houses for Sale in Cambrian Park, San Jose, 95118

Cambrian Park Houses for Sale in 95124

What do townhouses and condos cost in Cambrian?

Below, please browse MLS listings of Cambrian condos for sale and Cambrian townhouses for sale in 95124 and 95118:

Showing properties 1 - 5 of 11. See more 95124 zip code real estate.
(all data current as of 5/23/2012)

1. $269,000 : 3485 Wine Barrel Wy, San Jose
   
   2 beds, 1 full bath

   Home size: 868 sq ft

   Lot size: 840 sqft
   
2. $825,000 : 2173 Vizcaya Cl Ci, San Jose
   
   3 beds, 3 full baths

   Home size: 2,421 sq ft

   Lot size: 3,952 sqft
   
3. $725,000 : 2816 Paseo Ln, San Jose
   
   4 beds, 4 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 2,438 sq ft

   Lot size: 871 sqft
   
4. $519,950 : 2881 Meridian Av #157, San Jose
   
   2 beds, 2 full baths

   Home size: 1,383 sq ft
   
5. $439,000 : 6091 Calle De Amor, San Jose
   
   2 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 1,490 sq ft

   Lot size: 2,300 sqft
   

Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.

Showing properties 1 - 3 of 3. See more 95118 zip code real estate.
(all data current as of 5/23/2012)

1. $199,950 : 1325 Joplin Dr #1, San Jose
   
   2 beds, 1 full bath

   Home size: 810 sq ft

   Lot size: 435 sqft
   
2. $199,000 : 4970 Cherry Av #201, San Jose
   
   1 bed, 1 full bath

   Home size: 675 sq ft

   Lot size: 1,879 sqft
   
3. $219,900 : 4568 Waterville Dr, San Jose
   
   1 bed, 1 full bath

   Home size: 771 sq ft

   Lot size: 435 sqft
   

Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.

San Jose’s Cambrian Park district is a west valley community which primarily consists of the 95124 zip code region and the 95118 zip area with a sliver of 95008 thrown in.  Cambrian was once a very broad area including part of what we now consider Campbell and Willow Glen.  The heart of it was “Cambrian Village”, which can be found at Camden and Union Avenues.

Want to buy a Cambrian house?  The 95118 area is a little more affordable than the 95124 – you tend to get a bit more house for your money and/or a little newer house for the budget. (Please also see Cambrian Park Houses for Sale in 95124.)

Real Estate in San Jose: Cambrian Park Houses for Sale & Listed on the MLS

Below please find houses for sale in Cambrian Park, San Jose, 95118. Feel free to browse, click through, scan the map and enjoy the photos of these listed properties. No registration required!

Showing properties 1 - 5 of 21. See more 95118 zip code real estate.
(all data current as of 5/23/2012)

1. $670,000 : 4241 Ranwick Ct, San Jose
   
   4 beds, 3 full baths

   Home size: 2,199 sq ft

   Lot size: 5,000 sqft
   
2. $785,000 : 3339 Beacon Ln, San Jose
   
   3 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 1,952 sq ft

   Lot size: 6,784 sqft
   
3. $998,000 : 5715 Mireille Dr, San Jose
   
   4 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 2,000 sq ft

   Lot size: 6,566 sqft
   
4. $649,000 : 1373 Adobe Ct, San Jose
   
   4 beds, 2 full baths

   Home size: 1,966 sq ft

   Lot size: 8,800 sqft
   
5. $499,500 : 5576 Dwight Av, San Jose
   
   3 beds, 2 full baths

   Home size: 1,401 sq ft

   Lot size: 6,000 sqft
   

Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.

If you are a first time home buyer and you’ve zeroed in on the Cambrian or Cambrian Park area of San Jose as where you’d like to live, what should you expect?  Assuming that you are purchasing a house (not a condo or townhome), there are some basics you’ll want to know.

Cambrian & Cambrian Park and Zip Codes

First, it’s helpful to understand that most of Cambrian is in the 95124 area, which in general is a little older & more expensive than 95118.  You may be wondering if that’s good or bad.  It’s mixed.  In general, for the same money you’ll get a little more home in 95118 (a larger house, more square footage) but because of the age, you’re also more likely to have the “popcorn ceilings” which were more in style in the early 1970s.   Most of 95118 is also in the San Jose Unified School District, as opposed to most of 95124′s Union School District or Cambrian School District.  All are good but do your research: you may prefer one area over another.  Some of it may depend upon which way you’re commuting, too. Overall,  95118 is closer to downtown San Jose (and Almaden Expressway) and 95124 is closer to 85 going north to destinations such as Cupertino and Sunnyvale and Mountain View.

Both 95118 and 95124 are home to some really upscale neighborhoods that don’t fit the cookie cutter description that follows for the generic sold numbers.  The 95124 area includes both the beautiful “Vista Loop” area which enjoys views and feels like either Los Gatos or Almaden as well as the Alta Vista and original Cambrian Village areas which are bigger homes or lots or both.  The 95118 area offers the Almaden Vineyard neighborhood with beautiful newer homes built around a 5 acre, historic park (and adjacent to the fabulous new San Jose Vineland Library.)  Both areas have some of the same builders too, such as Garcia and Ponderosa, so in some cases you can find the same house but for a different price due to the exact location within Cambrian.

Recent Solds and Numbers by Zip Code

Just now I ran the solds over the last 3 months for “Area 14″ (our MLS designated area for Cambrian) by zip code 95124 and by 95118. (There is a very tiny sliver of 95008 but too small to be helpful for our purposes.)  Here’s a quick look at what you can get for your money in Cambrian as of the summer of 2010:

95124 – 81 homes sold/closed, 68 “regular sales”, 8 short sales, 5 bank owned homes (total “distressed sales” accounted for 16% of the closed escrows).  Average sales price was about $660,000 (av list price appx $655,000), average home size 1594 square feet and average lot size 6909 SF.  Average price per square foot $419.

95118 – 60 homes sold/closed, 45 “regular sales”, 10 short sales, 5 bank owned home sales (total “distressed sales” were 25% of the closed sales).  Average sales price was approximately $573,000 and average list price was about $572,000.  Average home size 1494 square feet and average lot size 6620 SF.  Average price per square foot $393.

In general, the 95118 area is a little less expensive and is a bit more impacted by short sales and bank owned homes than the 95124 area (25% to 16%). Take it pocket by pocket, though, or subdivision by subdivision.  If you look at the Almaden Winery neigborhood in 95118, for instance, you’ll find very few distressed homes and listings that go really fast.

Buying Older Homes

If the home you are purchasing is 35-40 years of age or older, here are some things to watch for.

• Many older homes were built with galvanized steel pipes and those usually only last about 40 years, so the home may need to be repiped with copper
• Furnaces often need to be replaced by year 30 or 40, so if the heater is original, that may need changing. (The good news: the new furnaces are usually much more efficient!)
• Many of the 40+ year old homes were built with hardwood flooring.  If the house has carpets, see if you can learn about what’s under them!
  • If the house has forced air heat and the register is on the floor, sometimes you can lift it up just a tad and see if the carpet is covering hardwood.  If the register is on the ceiling, the chances are slimmer that there’s hardwood under that carpet.
• Is the 50 years or more old?  Linoleum floors that are 50+ years old may have asbestos backing and may require special crews and methods of removal.
• Does the home have an acoustic, textured ceiling?  The popcorn ceilings may contain asbestos, which was commonly used to insulate and protect against fire. Yes, it was considered a plus!  Some of the “popcorn” ceilings even include little gold sparkles.
• Most older Cambrian Park houses have breakers rather than tubes but may need the electrical system upgraded.
• Most older Cambrian area homes are bolted to the foundation, but not with the same level of quality as you’d find in a newly built house today.
• If the property is 50-60 years of age or more and is on a 10,000 SF lot or greater, there’s a good chance that it was originally on a septic tank.  When houses were connected to sewer, many left the tank in the back yard, buried.  If you’re buying such a house, try to find out if there’s a buried storage tank in the yard before you purchase!
• Homes built before 1978 may have lead paint. You can test for it if you like.

When buying an older home, it’s important to understand that it wasn’t built to our current building standards and to have a sense of what you are getting and not getting. you will want to watch for red flags.  It is imperative to get a GOOD home inspection (they are not all the same) so you have a sense of what you may need to upgrade for your safety or comfort.

Cambrian  is a wonderful place to call home, whether it’s your first house or your forever house.  Please contact me if you’d like help getting into a Cambrian home!

More information:
Asbestos – more information on my Valley of Hearts Delight website.
Lead paint – more information on my Valley of Hearts Delight site.

San Jose’s westside suburb of Cambrian Park appears to have “bottomed out” in February or March.  Home prices are rising there now, at least in many price points.   Cambrian consists of two zip codes, 95124 and 95118 (and a sliver of 95008) and two high school districts, Campbell Union High School District and San Jose Unified School District.

The “months of inventory” reflects how long the current inventory of homes for sale would take to be absorbed if sales continued at the same pace and no new homes came on the market. Six months is a balanced market more than six is a buyer’s market, and less than six is a seller’s market.

As you can see, it’s a seller’s market in Cambrian Park in both school districts!  (This may not be true for all homes in all prices and all conditions, but it is indicative of the overal market.)

With inventory selling really fast, it is not surprising that prices are rising.  Below please view the Altos Report (to which I have a subscription) for the last 6 months:

This is a little busy, but here’s the same data but broken down by price quartile:

Here’s a view of what’s happening by zip code with inventory:

Buying a home in Cambrian? Be prepared for multiple offers – it may not be happening for all homes, but it is happening for many of them!

Cambrian Park is a very desireable part of San Jose and the greater Silicon Valley due to its great schools, low crime, proximity to Los Gatos and the general “west valley” area of Santa Clara County.  It’s more affordable than the tonier areas right up against the foothills (for the most part, Cambrian is in the flatlands, though one corder is in the hills snuggled between Los Gatos and Almaden Valley). 

This San Jose district is also a fairly good indicator of how the rest of the valley is doing, so even if you aren’t a resident of Cambrian Park or don’t want to own a home there, it’s helpful to keep a pulse on it.

A disclaimer: Cambrian Park has micro markets, just like everywhere else.  The “zone 14″ includes three school districts (Union, Cambrian, and San Jose), two zip codes and a fraction of another (95124, 951118 and a sliver of 95008) and the borders are messy with Willow Glen, Campbell and Los Gatos in places.  So this is an overview of the region and may not exactly reflect what’s been happening in your precise neighborhood.

Pricing is usually the single biggest question that homeowners have – they want to know if they have any equity: “what’s my home worth?”  In the Cambrian area of San Jose, prices have been declining for a couple or three years, but that phase seems to be over (the peak of the market was late 2006 to early 2007 and prices in Cambrian have now “rolled back” to about 2000-2002 levels in many areas, but some only to 2003 levels).  The low point seems to have been in January, with prices rising since then. Currently, the median sold price of single family homes in Cambrian is down 24% from two years ago (but it was even more 6 months ago). Of course, the dead of winter is usually the time with the least inventory but the best prices, so it’s possible that what we are seeing is only seasonal. We will get confirmation one way or the other soon because prices usually begin tapering in late summer. If prices continue to rise (which I suspect they will as I am seeing so many multiple offers), this will be an indicator that the Cambrian Park real estate market is indeed recovering.

Single family homes in Cambrian -

Condos and townhomes in Cambrian – the median sold price is down 45% over the last two years! The worst point was in February this year.

Supply and demand is what it’s all about – the low prices combined with great FHA backed financing and the $8000 first time homebuyer credit and fueling fence-sitting buyers to jump into the market in San Jose’s more affordable areas such as Blossom Valley and Cambrian Park. 

Below is the supply & demand chart for single family homes in Cambrian (zip codes 95124, 95118 and a tiny bit of 95008, which is primarily Campbell). The number of available homes (listed homes) is down 23% and the number of sold properties is down 20% from two years ago. The worst of it was 12 months ago, though. (Last June to this June: The number of for sale properties is down 37% and the number of sold properties is up 7%.)

Fewer homes are selling, but far fewer are listed, too.

Next, supply and demand for condos in the Cambrian Park area of San Jose:

The condo market is taking a beating because buyers are opting for more affordable houses rather than condominiums and townhomes.

The absorption rate or months supply of inventory in Cambrian Park: from two years ago, the average months supply of inventory is down 62.0% and from one year ago, the average months supply of inventory in Cambrian Park is down a whopping 80.2%.

And months supply of inventory for condos in Cambrian, which is down 43% from 2 years ago:

Now, a closer look at the most active part of the Cambrian market – the $400,000 to $650,000 price point among single family homes (and most of the activity is under $600k, and I am seeing multiple offers in that range especially).  The chart below displays the last 90 days worth of active listings, pending sales, and sold/closed homes that were for sale in Cambrian Park.  As you can see, many homes are selling quickly – but not all!  (Days on market were at their worst in March, which was when prices seem to have been at their lowest, and the DOM has been falling since then – not shown.)

The biggest challenge in the market right now is that those who bought a home after 2000 often do not have enough equity to move up into a larger home (or from a condo or townhouse to a single family home).  The buyers market belongs to first time home buyers, investors, and people with either a great deal of equity from many years in their last home or those with a windfall (inheritance, companies going public, other out of the ordinary infusions of cash). 

Homeowners who were counting on their home to provide part of the retirement fund are sorely disappointed in current market values and may feel, like the would-be move up buyers, trapped in their homes until the market recovers.  (Seniors: reverse mortgages are a better option, and are better regulated now, then they were a decade ago – so  this might be an option to consider.)

If you’re interested in buying, selling, or exchanging (1031 tax deferred exchange) your Cambrian Park home, please contact me.  I’d be happy to meet with you, review your wants and needs, and discuss your options and help formulate a plan of action to make your next move possible.