If you live near a creek, pond or lake, you may have more trouble with wild life

Recently I was in a Silicon Valley neighborhood forum where someone asked what to do about a mouse (“or something”) in the wall of a house.  For better or worse, I have a fair amount of experience with this both personally and professionally: birds in chimneys, mice and rats in homes (inside plus in the attics, walls, crawlspaces, and heating ducts) and even a bat that got into first an attic and then into the living area itself – that last story goes with the photo from a backyard in Campbell of a townhouse I sold some years ago.

Sometimes this can be a do-it-yourself project but often it’s better if you leave it to the professionals: a good termite & pest control company is normally going to be your best bet for removing rodents and other unwanted visitors and keeping them out.

What happens if you hire someone to get rid of your mouse, rat, bat, bird or other invading animal?

Usually it’s a 3-4 visit process over 3-4 weeks to catch the house guest, then do “exclusion work”, which means finding how it got in and making sure that or any other access points are cut off, then rechecking another time or two to make sure that the problem is taken care of.  (What you do not want to do is get a dead rat or mouse stuck in your wall, so the pros will usually use traps where they can retrieve them rather than poison in the house’s attic or crawl space.)  The cost is often a few hundred dollars for this multi-visit process.

A lot of times, the rodents can get in through a torn exterior vent in either the crawl space or attic and from there go up or down the walls to get to the opposite side, so if you have the pest guys come out, expect them to need access to both the crawl space and the attic access (for most people, that means clear all the stuff off of the floor of the closet that has the opening to the crawl space and remove anything stacked up under the attic hatch).  If your duct work is loose, the truly adventurous and creative visitor may decide to see where it goes.  That actually did happen at my own house on Easter Sunday some years ago. It was noisy as the panicked creature ran along the length of the duct work under our house.  My kids were worried that it would pop out at one of the heat registers so placed books and heavy items at the access points to keep it from getting any closer.  And they dubbed our noisy athlete “the Easter Rat“.

Many termite companies have a branch that takes care of this type of work, but not all do. Thrasher Termite & Pest Control in Los Gatos  (408  354-9944) is who I suggest to my clients and who has helped us keep out intruders at our home (this is not a paid post).  I’ve been very happy with their work.  Many, but not all, termite companies have a division that handles these problems, so they are a good place to try if you have an unwelcome guest from the wild.

When you purchase a house on a corner lot, you may not realize that most likely there will be additional requirements of you regarding your landscaping compared to other properties which are not on the corner.  This is because corner lots need to provide a “line of sight” so drivers of cars can see what’s ahead should they round the corner.

In most parts of Silicon Valley (San Jose, Los Gatos and elsewhere), in the setback area of a corner lot you will not be allowed to have fences or landscaping that are more than 3′ tall – with the possible exception of a tree in which the branches really only fan out at a height of 7-8′ or more.

For properties which are not on a corner, drivers don’t really need to see through the property to get visibility on the road ahead, so the landscaping rules are much less restrictive.

These rules are not often or uniformly enforced from what I can tell, but you never know when a code compliance officer might show up with the requirement that you thin out or remove some landscaping or fencework, so keep that in mind if you buy a house on a corner lot that is heavily landscaped too close to the street.  Also, check with your own municipality (Campbell, Santa Clara, the county if not in an incorporated area, etc.) to see the residential real estate codes which apply in your specific property’s case.

Update:  SALE PENDING!

You’re invited to see this stunning young urban living condominium in Campbell close to everything featuring two bedrooms plus loft, 2 bathrooms and approximately 1610 square feet. All of this can be found in an elegant resort-like setting! New listing, open this weekend from 2-4 (Aug 13-14) so please stop by!

Urban Living in Campbell

This sleek condo, the Sapphire Penthouse floorplan (see below), is located just steps from the light rail and Los Gatos Creek Trail, shopping at Whole Foods and many other shops across Bascom, the Pruneyard a block or so away and downtown Campbell just around the corner!  A myriad of restaurants lie within a tenth of a mile.  One of my sellers told me that she had only put 1500 miles on her car in the year living there.  Imagine simply not needing your auto much at all!!  (The building does include two spots in the underground garage for your vehicle, should you still want one while living there!)

Resort Living, Contemporary Setting

Built by Pinn Brothers with great attention to detail, the Onyx offers tremendous features both in the condo itself and in the many fabulous shared areas.

Interior features include:

• open floor plan with high ceilings and dark floors
• elegant kitchen with mostly Bosch appliances (fridge is Fisher & Paykel), tremendous counter space with slab quartz countertops, recessed lights and contemporary dark cabinetry
• an abundance of natural light, loads of windows and recessed lighting
• spacious bedrooms (the master is really large!) and bathrooms
• Master bath features two sinks, large soaking tub and separate stall shower
• comfortable balcony

Community features include:

• large and gracious lobby with fireplace to welcome your visitors
• entertainment room with pool table, card or poker table, counches and flat screen tv
• private unit to rent for your special occasions (just off the lobby)
• exercise room
• storage unit for bikes, luggage – all kinds of things!
• underground parking for 2 vehicles (plus a bike rack)
• beautiful, sunny, tile courtyard with inviting fountain
• elevators

This beautiful home is offered at $529,950 (the best price per square foot at the Onyx today!).  We hope to see you this weekend! Co-listed with Kirsten Reilly.

Please note: the best place to park is in the Onyx retail spaces.  Come early and enjoy a meal at Chipotle or any of the find eateries in walking distance! This is Silicon Valley living at its best!

Tomorrow, Saturday July 23rd, e-waste items will be taken by West Valley Collection & Recycling at no cost in two locations from 9am to 2pm:

1. The Los Gatos United Methodist Church – 111 Church Street, Los Gatos, off Main Street by Los Gatos High School
2. Campbell Church o Christ – 1075 West Campbell Avenue, Campbell. Entrance around back, please enter on Hedegard Avenue

What can be accepted: TV monitors, computers, laptops, DVD and CD players, printers, scanners, vacuum cleaners, electronic toys and games.

What cannot be accepted: sorry, no kitchen appliance or light bulbs.

Silicon Valley residents, mark your calendars!  Plan to be at the Pruneyard in Campbell to listen to the Michael Jackson tribute band, Foreverland!

The band will be onstage Wednesday, July 27th, starting at 6pm, to help raise funds for Portera.  This is the 3rd annual event and it promises to be a lot of fun!

Since this is a fundraiser, donations of food, gently used clothing and cash are very welcome.  Please read all about the event on the downtown Campbell website.

How’s the Campbell, California, real estate market? There are always micro-markets to follow, narrowing what’s viewed to neighborhoods, school districts, and price point. In general, though, it’s a healthy market for this upwardly trending Silicon Valley city with a quaint downtown, good schools and more affordability than might be expected. For houses, clearly, prices are nudging up!

Each month I have a site specifically producing the Silicon Valley real estate market trends (at least for that part of Silicon Valley which is within Santa Clara County). You can see the report for Campbell houses & duet homes here and the condominium and townhouse report here. Just below, I’ll post the basic numbers/summary, though, for those who want a quick view of the market:

(1) Single Family homes (houses/duet homes) in Campbell:

(2) Condominiums and townhouses in Campbell:

If you arrived into Silicon Valley via Highway 101, driving south from San Francisco, you might believe that the Santa Clara Valley, the San Jose area and Silicon Valley as a whole has got to seem to be the ugliest place on earth. Although heavily traveled, that is not the “scenic route”.

So, too, if you are looking for a place to live and are groping to find a place that is reasonably priced, fairly safe and not a terrible commute distance. You might not even have “is nice looking” on your wish list. You might not think it’s possible if all you ever see are the ugly concrete tilt-up buildings in north San Jose, Santa Clara, Alviso, or anywhere along the 237 corridor.  That area is an architectural wasteland.

Let me assure you: there are a lot of beautiful places in Silicon Valley where you can rent or buy a home. But how do you find them? It helps a lot to have a local give you a few pointers.  I’ll give you some tips today on finding a scenic place to live.

Hills – An easy way to find a scenic location to make your home is to settle near the hills, especially those in the west valley (the Santa Cruz Mountains or the Coastal Range) as they are green year-round. Communities at the base of the west valley foothills include, in Santa Clara County, Palo Alto, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Cupertino, Saratoga, Monte Sereno, Los Gatos, and the Almaden Valley area of San Jose. All of these areas are adjacent to the hills or mountains and offer far better than average schools (many of them qualify as great – compare costs between these areas).

Of course, if you go into the hills instead of just being near the base of them, there will be valley views as well.  If you go to the summit area of the Santa Cruz Mountains, you could really luck out and get a 360 degree view of the Monterey Bay on one side and the valley and San Francisco Bay on the other.  (But that would not likely be a short commute to most of Silicon Valley.)

In San Mateo County, there’s Menlo Park, Redwood City, Belmont, Hillsborough…most of these communities are more scenic as you go closer into the hills. Some even offer a view of the San Francisco Bay.

In the east foothills of San Jose, there are many lovely areas too. Among my favorite are the old section of Alum Rock (with beautiful Spanish style houses up near the country club), some of the rural areas of the Berryessa district in San Jose and the southern part of Evergreen (near Silver Creek and the Villages).

Other hills and knolls - the coastal range and east foothills aren’t the only areas with a higher elevation and views.  Think of the Santa Teresa Foothills Blossom Valley, Santa Teresa areas), Communication Hill (Blossom Valley, Willow Glen), or the occasional small little hill such as Lone Hill in the Cambrian district of San Jose.  You don’t have to get very high up to have a great view.  Look at the terrain maps for small elevations and check those areas out!

Waterways - In addition to the mountains, there are many scenic spots in Silicon Valley alongside rivers, creeks and streams.  When I was a newlywed (back in 1985), my husband and I lived alongside Stevens Creek – that is, the waterway, not the major road – in Sunnyvale.  The apartment complex had a number of units overlooking the creek and there were tons of trees providing a great, green view.  You can check out that apartment complex online – it’s called Brookside Oaks.

Back to the bayfront housing:  you can get waterfront homes in Redwood Shores and Foster City, which are on the north end of “Silicon Valley” on the Peninsula.  Many of those areas are on landfill, and although well compacted, that fill is sitting on old bay mud.  Some structures in those areas have had problem with an undue amount of movement.  Others have had salt water get to their foundations, which can cause the re-bar inside to rust (making the foundation far less strong).  Both communities are super clean and attractive (I have sold homes in both).

Not quite Silicon Valley, Santa Cruz does offer many really lovely places in which to live too – great views from many spots.  Adjacent to Neary’s Lagoon there are apartments, townhouses (some of which are for rent) and low income housing too.  It’s a very scenic part of Santa Cruz and just about a mile from the beach on foot.  A few high rise buildings, such as the condo complex on Broadway, feature views of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and the Monterey Bay.

Flatlands – not to worry if you strike out with the hills and waterways.  There are still many lovely areas in Silicon Valley that are not included in those areas.  One is the beautiful San Jose neighborhood known as The Rosegarden. It is centrally located, with a great wide open space at the park, and loads of lovely older homes with tons of character.

If you enjoy classic architecture, you might check out a few areas closer to downtown San Jose: Naglee Park, Vendome area and Japantown.

Outside of San Jose, there are scenic urban living or downtown areas in the Willow Glen part of San Jose, downtown Campbell, downtown Saratoga, downtown Los Gatos, downtown Mountain View, downtown Menlo Park, downtown San Mateo, downtown Los Altos and of course the great magnet of them all, downtown Palo Alto.

In some of these places, the downtown area is also right up against the hills – and that is truly beautiful!  (Think Los Gatos, Saratoga, Los Altos, Menlo Park.)  One nice townhome community in Saratoga has both green views within the complex, is right next to the coastal foothills and is just steps away from downtown Saratoga.  The area has top rated schools too.  If interested, check out Saratoga Oaks.) And don’t miss either Japantown or Santana Row for urban living!

Silicon Valley has a number of neighborhoods with great ambiance despite the absence of either hills or a quaint downtown.  Santa Clara’s “old quad” neighborhood (located near Santa Clara University) is just such a spot.

And, of course, there are spots in Santa Clara County with stunning golf courses, parks or heavily wooded or open areas that may not belong to the public but which create lovely vistas nonetheless.  A few orchards still dot Sunnyvale, San Jose, Saratoga and other parts of the valley. (New townhouses on Bersano Lane in Los Gatos are on a hill overlooking Lake Vasona. Beautiful views!)

For scenic senior housing, a retirement home or residential care facility for the elderly (which can mean independent living, assisted living, nursing or other), quite a few spots enjoy scenic views also:  Belmont Village in San Jose looks out over Santana Row on one side and the Winchester House on another; the Atrium in San Jose’s Blossom Valley has views of Mt. Umunhum; Saratoga Retirement Community enjoys a lovely campus but also is in among gently rolling hills and has a view of the Santa Cruz Mountains; the Villages in San Jose’s eastside community of Evergreen sits among lovely rolling hills and a golf course in the middle.

Many people relocating to the San Francisco Peninsula or the South Bay come from areas where homes cost half as much and seem to be twice as big, where there may not be so much congestion and where there is more open space.  We do have places like that, but it’s important to let whoever’s helping you know that this is important.    Whether you’re here to rent an apartment or purchase a townhouse or condo, it can be in a scenic place.  You just need to find them!

Yesterday we looked at the types of home sales around Silicon Valley by price point.  Not terribly surprising, most of the short sales and bank owned homes were in the lowest price ranges.  Today we’ll look at this type of information not by pricing tier but instead by geography – in other words, by either town, city or district of San Jose (area).  This post will not cover every area but will be a sampling a few communities, mostly on the west side of the valley (since that’s primarily where I work).

By way of reminder, the small image to the left reflects Santa Clara County’s houses for sale as a whole – all areas and all price points. (You can see the full sized image by clicking on it.) The green area represents “regular home sales” and the brick red and light orange signify distressed  properties listed on the MLS for sale (red is short sales and orange is bank owned or REOs). Next let’s see a few regions within the county to see how things are faring geographically.

1. Almaden Valley area of San Jose – homes listed for sale by type – very few distressed properties on the market!

Almaden is a lovely southwest San Jose suburban community (zip code 95120) that grew up initially with the cinnabar or mercury mining activity.  Today it’s an upscale area of more expensive homes than most of the county, it enjoys really good schools and scenic views of the coastal range as well as the Santa Teresa Foothills.  Housing here is costly but residents love the quality of life. Since the cost of homes for sale here is high, it’s not super surprising, after seeing yesterday’s post, that there are very few distressed homes on the market here. Next we’ll check the other extreme….

2. Alum Rock area of San Jose – this is a less wealthy part of Santa Clara County and generally has been harder hit by the mortgage and housing crisis.

In this east San Jose neighborhood of Alum Rock (near beautiful Alum Rock Park), almost half the homes listed for sale are either short sales or bank owned properties.  That said, Alum Rock has some areas which are much more upscale (and elevated), some with many many acres of land and those pricier properties are not quite so badly hit with the distressed property deluge.

3. Cambrian area of San Jose – a west valley community that often closely reflects Santa Clara County as a whole

The Cambrian or Cambrian Park district of San Jose often has prices, days on market and other trends which are very similar to Santa Clara County so it’s often a good “gauge” of how the area is doing generally.  If you compare this graph to the one at the top of this post, you’ll find them very similar – about 2/3 of listed houses and duet homes for sale are “regular” or non-distressed sales.

5.  Campbell -a little more expensive, great downtown, popular area

Campbell is exceedingly popular as it’s got a charming downtown, enjoys light rail access and is part of the Los Gatos Creek Trail. It’s close to Los Gatos, but more affordable. Here about 70% of the homes listed for sale on our multiple listing service or MLS are regular sales, so a little healthier than most of Silicon Valley.

6. Los Gatos – a more expensive community, fewer distressed houses for sale

In Los Gatos, there are right now just 3 short sales on the market (for houses and duet homes) and NO bank owned homes. As you can see, it’s overwhelmingly “normal sales” and this helps a lot with home values.

A year or so ago, we had a cluster of short sales in one particular east Los Gatos neighborhood and it was really damaging the property values of the “regular sellers’” homes. It’s encouraging to see this correct a bit.

7. Monte Sereno – more expensive still – no distressed houses for sale right now!

Monte Sereno is a tiny city with 4,000 residents. It’s more expensive then neighboring Los Gatos, with whom it shares police, schools, library and more.

With no businesses or commercial buildings, Monte Sereno enjoys a quieter lifestyle.  Most of the activity is either around Daves Avenue School, the post office/city building or the horse trails!

8. Palo Alto -home to Stanford and classy luxury homes

Stately and vibrant Palo Alto is home to Stanford University (and the Lucille Packard Hospital, which is a world class facility).  Schools in this city are top-rated in Silicon Valley.  The city is beautiful and there’s lots to do.  For many reasons, then, Palo Alto is probably the most sought after address in the region, and home prices reflect its desireability. Not surprisingly, then, it’s not likely that home buyers will find many low-cost distressed properties on the market.  When they do appear, they tend to go fast.  As of this writing, there’s just one short sale and no bank owned homes available there.

9. Saratoga – great schools, scenic vista, highly regarded Silicon Valley community

Saratoga is not as costly as Palo Alto, but within Santa Clara County it’s right up there near the top for least affordable.

What I find most interesting here is not the small number of distressed properties on the MLS in Saratoga, but rather that there’s an equal number of short sales as there are REOs (bank owned).  Usually the ratio is more 2 – to – 1.  Maybe it’s a fluke? We’ll have to check and see down the road!

What we see when looking at Silicon Valley houses listed for sale by sale type is that the geographical differences largely mimic the pricing tiers.  The more expensive the area – or the home within it – the less likely you are to find that bargain priced property.

For more info on Silicon Valley Communities, please also see my website’s community information page.

After enjoying a visit with some friends at the Orchard Valley Coffee Roasting shop in Campbell, Jim and I headed home on this lovely, warm evening at around 6:30pm. We happened to drive past a place that made me chuckle so I got a couple of pics (he was driving). I would not have thought of “skull and crossbones” as a theme for a house, but here you have it. And it’s not even Halloween and this isn’t even my haunted real estate blog.

Often I have clients who are interested in purchasing a 4 bedroom, 2 bath home in a good school district in Silicon Valley, particularly in the South Bay and West Valley areas.    Tonight I did a study on the MLS of homes that have sold and closed escrow in the last 3 – 6 months with these characteristics:

• single family home (house)
• 4 bedrooms
• 2 bathrooms
• 1800 to 2200 square feet of living space
• 6000 to 10,000 sf lot

Disclaimers aside, here are the numbers as I shook them out for select West Valley Communities in the San Jose area with good schools (the first number is the average sales price per square foot, the second number is the average sales price):

The home prices tend to run with the school district API scores.  You can check the 2010 API scores in Santa Clara County for both the districts and the individual schools online here.        

As you can see, there’s quite a range of pricing for our model 4 bed, 2 bath home of about 2,000 square feet – it could run as low as about $560,000 on average (Cambrian with San Jose Unified Schools) to a high of about $1,455,500 in Palo Alto.

Please remember that these homes do not represent just the most fixed up homes in the most ideal locations, short sales, regular sales, bank owned homes etc. – it’s all types of houses, all types of sales, so average numbers.  So if you are a buyer who needs a “turnkey” home with everything remodeled or new in the best location, you might want to mentally add at least another 10% to 25% to this cost. (For example, in my experience, a really nicely remodeled home along these lines in Almaden with the best schools will run between $1 mil and $1,200,000 depending; in Los Gatos it’s about 15% – 20% more for a similar home.)

Here are a few areas in Santa Clara County which are well known for good schools:

Palo Alto Unified = 925 (includes elementary, middle and high schools)

Los Altos Elementary = 965 (includes elementary and middle schools only)
Mountain View – Los Altos Union (high schools) = 852

Saratoga Union Elementary = 965
Los Gatos Union = 921
Los Gatos – Saratoga Joint Union (high school district) = 898

Cupertino Union = 951
Fremont Union High School District (high schools serving Cupertino and nearby) = 875 (but 2 high schools are in the 9s)

Union School District (Cambrian & east Los Gatos) = 905
Cambrian School District = 878
Campbell Union High School District = 761 (highest scoring school is Leigh at 817)

San Jose Unified is enormous… In Almaden, Leland has very very high scores, as does Bret Harte Middle School, so those area are preferre (all of the elementary schools in Almaden are quite good).

But wait, there’s more!

These aren’t the only areas with great schools in Silicon Valley, of course.  West San Jose and Santa Clara have areas that share Cupertino Schools, for instance.  Monte Sereno is 99.5% in the Los Gatos School area (but there were no homes matching our outline in the last few months).  The Los Gatos Mountain communities such as Redwood Estates, Holy City, Aldercroft Heights and Chemeketa Park enjoy fabulous schools (Lakeside and Loma Prieta districts).  There are wonderful schools in the Silver Creek area of Evergreen, the Warm Springs and Mission Districts of Fremont, and the city of Pleasanton, to name a few.

Veteran’s Day is this Thursday, November 11, 2010.  Here are some of the local happenings to celebrate it in Silicon Valley:

9 am Downtown Campbell will have a Veteran’s Day Program at the Orchard City Green.

11 am, 12 noon The United Veterans Council of Santa Clara County is hosting its annual Veterans Day Parade in downtown San Jose on Thursday, November 11th, 2010.  The parade is at noon and the opening ceremony begins at 11am at Plaza de Ceasar Chavez. This will be the 92nd annual Veterans Parade here!

11 am Veteran’s Day Ceremony at the Veteran’s Memorial at Cupertino’s Memorial Park

Bargain hunting home buyers have a lot to be grateful for: interest rates are low and house prices are low in Silicon Valley generally and Campbell too.  Oftentimes these are distressed properties which are either short sale listings or bank owned homes. So there will be issues with purchasing these houses, but even so, they are usually sold at a significant discount for the trouble. It’s a great time to buy Campbell real estate!

Least costly houses, townhouses and condominiums in Campbell, CA

Below please find the most affordable homes in all categories of housing & residential real estate!  These are properties currently listed as available on our local MLS.

Lower Cost Campbell Houses for Sale

Specifically looking to buy a house in Campbell? Here are homes which are most affordably priced:

Showing properties 1 - 1 of 1. See more city of Campbell real estate.
(all data current as of 5/24/2012)

1. $425,000 : 1270 Hoffman Ln, Campbell
   
   4 beds, 1 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 1,462 sq ft

   Lot size: 15,252 sqft
   

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

Inexpensive Campbell Townhouses for Sale

If a Campbell townhouse is what you seek, here is a list of the least costly homes available today:

Showing properties 1 - 1 of 1. See more city of Campbell real estate.
(all data current as of 5/24/2012)

1. $335,000 : 1116 Capri Dr, Campbell
   
   2 beds, 1 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 1,336 sq ft

   Lot size: 1,150 sqft
   

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

More Affordable Campbell Condos for Sale

Condos in Campbell are highly desireable, especially when they are close to downtown, the Pruneyard and light rail. Here are the most reasonably priced condominiums on the market right now:

Showing properties 1 - 2 of 2. See more city of Campbell real estate.
(all data current as of 5/24/2012)

1. $175,900 : 2785 S Bascom Av #5, Campbell
   
   1 bed, 1 full bath

   Home size: 588 sq ft

   Lot size: 612 sqft
   
2. $250,000 : 340 N 1st St #4, Campbell
   
   2 beds, 1 full bath

   Home size: 798 sq ft

   Lot size: 2,000 sqft
   

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

For help with home buying here or elsewhere in the San Jose area (Santa Clara County), please call me today!

How is the Campbell condo and townhouse market?  The answer may well depend on both what part of that market we’re discussing and which data we’re focusing on.

The Campbell Condo Real Estate Market Summaries for Summer 2010

The summaries here are from my Real Estate Report.  Get the most current, detailed report at www.popehandy.ReReport.com.

Campbell condominium & townhouse sales in September 2010

The condo market in Campbell, California has been strengthening.  September 2010 was a good month!

August 2010 Condo Sales in Campbell CA

August was slow across Silicon Valley – real estate sales lagged (more than the “seasonal average”)

July 2010 condo market for Campbell, CA

June saw the market slow, and like much of the Santa Clara Valley, prices were up but sales were down.  When this happens it sometimes means that home values aren’t rising, just that more expensive homes are beginning to sell, but in Campbell we are now seeing modest price appreciation.

More detailed info from late June, 2010:

The absorption rate, or months of inventory, indicates that it’s a seller’s market:

The hottest segment is the bank owned or REO part of the Campbell condominium or townhouse realty market, and the slowest segment is the short sale section (which is about 20% of the available inventory). That’s very typical of other nearby areas: the hardest homes to sell are the short sales.  As a side note: there are 39 condos available and 29 which are sale pending. That is a high ratio, which also points to a seller’s market.

How does this compare to a year ago?  It’s completely different!

A year ago, the months of inventory was a whopping 72% higher at 8.8 for May 2009 vs 2.5 for May 2010. Solds are up 42% from 12 months ago.  Pending sales are up 200% from a year ago also.  So from every vantage, it’s much, much better than a year ago.

What about other data?  I have a subscription to Altos Research, which also charts the market but does it a little differently.  Often the numbers I crunch line up but sometimes theirs is an opposing view.  Here’s their current summary, which puts this market as a buyer’s market, not a seller’s market:

I like the fact that they track flipped homes, relisted homes and the percent of properties with price decreases.  This is especially important when you consider how many homes may get a price change and then a new MLS number, which may confuse some of the statistics.

Altos also breaks down more info by price quartile (they use list prices, not sales prices, for this info).   What I like about the following chart is that it gives you an idea of what your money will buy. (Seeing 4.5 bathrooms is throwing me, though – I don’t recall ever seeing a condo or townhome with that many bathrooms anywhere!)  Also of interest: the majority of condos or townhouses in Campbell seem to be around 1300 SF with 2 bedrooms and are offered somewhere in the 400′s.  That’s useful information for buyers and sellers alike.

So what can we say about the conflicting assessments of the Campbell real estate market for condos and townhomes?

I think Altos has some valid concerns about the long days on the market – 88 DOM does not sound like a “seller’s market”. I looked at the pendings to see if I could blame short sales – but even among pendings that are “regular sales”, the DOM is 64 (it’s actually less among short sales, oddly). That’s pretty long. We tend to think of a seller’s market as being applicable when homes sell in 3-4 weeks. Two months is a bit much to call it a seller’s market. Of the seven “normal type sales” which are pending, only two of them sold in under three weeks.

All in all, I think it shakes down to a fairly balanced market right now.  It’s not a bad time to sell, and it’s not a bad time to buy a Campbell condo. Search Campbell condo listings now!

Campbell CA Condos for Sale, Campbell Townhouses for Sale, Campbell Condominiums for Sale

Browse a list of homes in Campbell currently listed on our MLS as active & available. No need to register – see all condominiums & townhomes in Campbell (which are on the MLS).

Showing properties 1 - 5 of 7. See more city of Campbell real estate.
(all data current as of 5/24/2012)

1. $413,000 : 1124 Capri Dr, Campbell
   
   2 beds, 1 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 1,336 sq ft

   Lot size: 1,150 sqft
   
2. $335,000 : 1116 Capri Dr, Campbell
   
   2 beds, 1 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 1,336 sq ft

   Lot size: 1,150 sqft
   
3. $499,900 : 672 Cypress Ln, Campbell
   
   3 beds, 3 full baths

   Home size: 1,358 sq ft

   Lot size: 1,742 sqft
   
4. $250,000 : 340 N 1st St #4, Campbell
   
   2 beds, 1 full bath

   Home size: 798 sq ft

   Lot size: 2,000 sqft
   
5. $374,950 : 55 Redding Rd, Campbell
   
   2 beds, 2 full baths

   Home size: 992 sq ft

   Lot size: 1,025 sqft
   

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

You’ve heard that prices are a little high in Silicon Valley.  Even with the recession and the “rollback”, this is still true.  So what can you buy for a million dollars here?

In Santa Clara County (which is most of “Silicon Valley”), in the last 3 months there were about 50 -75 homes that sold very close to $1 million.  They were spread throughout the county.  Here’s a snapshot of what a million dollar home in Silicon Valley looks like.

Depending on where you live, you can get more or less for your money.  In some areas, a million dollar price tag will get you a townhouse rather than a house, too. In some areas, it’s a luxury home, but in many it’s simply a nice, middle-class home.

Today we’ll look at the ratio & relationship between real estate listings and sales of houses and duet homes in Silicon Valley over the last eighteen months. The goal is to get a sense of the market trends in terms of the overall absorption of homes for sale.  (We’ll give a glance at condo and townhome sales but the focus is on single family homes.) How hard is it to sell a home?  The answer has to do with supply and demand – the number of listings and the number of sales.

In the graphs below, the reddish brown line represents the number of pending sales.  The blue line indicates the number of listings or homes for sale. Put simply, the closer these two lines are together, the hotter the market – that is, the more of a seller’s market it is.  When they are far apart, it’s more cold, more of a buyer’s market.  If the lines cross, it is a wild frenzy (that does happen in one case, as you will see). Below please find the graph for the homes in Santa Clara County overall (all areas).

Santa Clara County listings to sales Jan 2009 to June 2010

 You can see that these two lines pinch together in about December 2009 to January 2010.  Prices had dropped and investors were swooping in! The  market has cooled since then.

Santa Clara County condo & townhome listings to pending sales Jan 2009 to June 2010

 For condos and townhouses, all of Santa Clara County:Here the two lines  – or the market – were close together for about 3-4 months.  Buyers understood that condominiums in Silicon Valley were bargain priced, and they responded by buying.Now let’s look at various areas around the county.  We’ll take these in Alphabetical order, beginning with Almaden Valley.

Almaden Valley listings to pending sales Jan 2009 to June 2010

 As you can see, the market improved but never got as “hot” as in the county generally.  This is because it’s a more expensive area, and most of what was selling in winter consisted of entry level housing.
  

Cambrian Park listings to pending sales Jan 2009 to June 2010

  Cambrian had a couple of flurries, beginning in the spring of 2009 and again in winter 2009 – 2010.  

Campbell listings to pending sales Jan 2009 to June 2010

  Campbell, which costs about 10-20% more than Cambrian, never got so “hot” by comparison.  

Cupertino listings to pending sales Jan 2009 to June 2010

Cupertino, which is always in demand due to the superior school scores, had a longer than typical run of very close listings to pendings.   

Los Altos listings to pending sales Jan 2009 to June 2010

Like everywhere else, it looks like the fastest absorption of homes for sale was happening last December.   

Los Altos Hills listings to pending sales Jan 2009 to June 2010

   While there was a drop in inventory over the holidays, it was still not a great time for sales for Los Altos Hills last winter.   

Los Gatos listings to pending sales Jan 2009 to June 2010

   The Los Gatos area has fared worse than Los Altos….Sales are now improving, but listings are going on the market at an even faster rate.   

Monte Sereno listings to pending sales Jan 2009 to June 2010

   
Monte Sereno is similar to Los Gatos – listings and sales are both picking up, but new listings are outpacing new sales.

Next, San Jose as a whole – all areas, from Alum Rock and Berryessa to South San Jose, downtown, Willow Glen, etc.   When you view what’s happening in the city of San Jose generally, it is amazing: the numbers of listings did not keep up with the numbers of homes going under contract for 6-7 months.  Talk about a frenzy!   The San Jose real estate market began to cool in spring 2010 and that trend has continued through the summer.  

San Jose (all areas) listings to pending sales Jan 2009 to June 2010

 Saratoga, like other high end markets, is the other extreme. The market improved for sellers during winter (in terms of homes getting sold, but not necessarily for getting the best price), but nothing like what we saw in San Jose.  

Saratoga listings to pending sales Jan 2009 to June 2010

Finally, the Willow Glen market.  The market improved over sinter and wasn’t too bad in Spring, but over summer there has been both a drop in sales and a rise in inventory, making it much tougher on sellers in this part of San Jose.  

Willow Glen listings to pending sales Jan 2009 to June 2010

What can we take away from this?  In most parts of Silicon Valley, in recent months sales have dropped off while the numbers of listings have increased.  This makes it much easier for buyers and much tougher for sellers.   If your home is for sale, it is important to understand that the market is much different now than it was four or six months ago.  Buyers may not tolerate or accept some seller conditions (or pricing) from last winter or spring.  To get your home sold now will require better condition and pricing.  If you rely upon the sold prices, you may be deceived since the market is not the same.  Too much supply and not enough demand will put downward pressure on prices.  

Buyers who are jumping into the market now are bargain hunting.  Buyers, it’s a great time to buy – it may not stay like this for you a lot longer with fantastic prices and interest rates both!

Sellers, if you aren’t prepared to sell at today’s market values, you may want to wait until the market can bear your price. Otherwise the odds are that your home will languish on the market, racking up days on market but not getting sold.  To sell, your home has to be the best value and the most attractive home, priced in the bottom 20-30% of similar homes for sale.

The information here is general and what applies to one neighborhood or area may not apply within certain price points or school districts, for instance. For more information about your home or area, please call or email me.

Numbers from MLSListings.com, graphs created on that site - info deemed reliable but not guaranteed.