Multiple offers have returned to many segments of the Silicon Valley real estate market, so it is more important than ever for motivated home buyers to pinpoint the pricing.

Most of the time, when there are multiple offers, the sales price goes higher than the list price.  Does that mean you would be over paying for the property? Possibly.  Or it could simply mean that the listing agent and home seller listed it strategically low – under its true market value.  In that case, the list price was never the expected sales price.  Unless you and your Realtor carefully analyze the comps (comparable listings, pendings and sales), you won’t have a sense of the probable buyer’s value for that house, townhouse or condo.

Common home buyer mistake

A very common mistake for new home buyers is to get as far as to analyze the comps and find what they think is market value…and then start subtracting for everything wrong with the house.  This is because they assume that the house is supposed to be perfect, or that they should not have to pay for any improvements or repairs after close of escrow.

The difficulty here is that most of the time, the house or townhome or condominium is not brand new.  The comparable sales were not new, either. A 40 or 50 year old property is not going to be in perfect condition.  Had you or any buyer seen all of the comps’ presale inspections and disclosures, you’d have learned that they also had a myriad of things wrong with them – mostly small but items to be repaired, replaced or improved nonetheless. (more…)

The weekend has rolled around and you are scheduled to see a few homes with your Realtor.

What should you expect?

Hopefully, the home will be clean, pleasant, and viewing it will be relatively stress-free.   Most of the time, the sellers will not be home and you’ll be free to walk through the home and mentally “try out” the space. How does it feel? Will your furniture fit? Does it work with the way you live?

Sometimes, though, sellers either can’t be gone or don’t understand that they should be gone for the viewing.  Once, when my family and I were house-hunting for ourselves, a homeowner not only followed us around very closely, but also followed us into the yard, where he moved a lawn chair so that he could aim it at us and keep a closer eye on us!  (To this day, my kids refer to it as the house where “that man followed us all around”.)

There can definitely be too much proximity.

Today I was showing four homes in AlmadenValley (an area of San Jose)  to my buyers.  I was very specific about when I’d be at each property, and rang the doorbell right on time at one house where the owner had volunteered earlier that “I have company but come on over, we’ll be out”.  Unhappily, it appeared that he wasn’t in the least thinking about being gone when we arrived – he opened the door and buttoned up his shirt as he let us in, looking a little disheveled, a little rattled.  His lady friend was likewise composing herself as we made our way into the foyer.

Now that’s embarassing.   Luckily, it’s also fairly uncommon, though many agents who’ve been in the biz awhile have stories of seeing more than they intended to while making their way through a home.

When you’re visiting residential real estate, almost anything can happen. So be sure that your agent rings the doorbell, knocks, and pauses before rushing in – even if there’s an appointment.  Better to take your time then see more than you bargained for!

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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