San Jose’s Cambrian, or Cambrian Park, area is a very hot seller’s market.  Multiple offers are not uncommon, especially in the Union School District, where schools are trending upward.  My Cambrian Park Real Estate Report has just been published with the updated numbers from the closed sales in April. Please click on the link to see much more information there.

Prices are up nicely year over year! Inventory is crazy low – just 35 homes for sale in April compared to 57 in March and 84 in April 2011. Days on market is far lower too. All around, it is a deepening seller’s market.

Even stronger is the Cambrian condo market, which is skyrocketing!!!  Please see the Cambrian Condominium & Townhouse Real Estate Report for all of the numbers, but I’ll include a quick summary below.

Here again, notice the ratio of active to pending homes, the sale vs list price (over 100%), and most of all, the tremendous rise in both the average and median sales price.  Few homes closed escrow in February, so it is possible that these numbers are a little exaggerated.  We will know more in a month – if it’s a trend or if this is a fluke.

Now let’s work with Altos Research’s graphs and get a feel for the Cambrian realty market in “real time”.  These use list prices, whereas my REReport uses sold data.

First, the statistics by quartile for houses in San Jose 95118:

Next, the stats and trends by price quartile for houses in San Jose 95124: (more…)

How is the Monte Sereno real estate market? Because the city is small, with just about 4000 residents, there usually are few homes listed for sale or selling, and with small numbers we can get seeming volatility.  Here are the quick statistics for the closed sales in the last 4-7 weeks to give a sense of how things are going. Sales data for April comes from my Monte Sereno Real Estate Report  and data for the last 30 days comes from me via the MLS (I crunched them this morning).

Median sales price of houses sold in Monte Sereno in April was $1,415,000.  For the last 30 days, it was $2,169,857.

Average Days on Market of houses sold in April was 97.  But for the last 30 days, it’s 78.

The sales price to list price ratio in April was 95%.  The last 30 days it’s up to 97%.

The market is better all around for home sales in Monte Sereno than it was just a couple of months ago. Next, let’s look at the live charts from Altos to see how active listings reflect the market as seen from viewing the solds.

Live Altos Charts for the Monte Sereno Real Estate Market

The median list price of all homes listed on the MLS in Monte Sereno and in San Jose – an interesting comparison!  San Jose has far fewer dips and jumps than Monte Sereno….Good improvement showing recently, though.

(more…)

Real estate professionals are becoming increasingly aware of the need for caution in their line of work.  It is good for our Silicon Valley buyers and sellers to be aware of some of these issues, since it may not be obvious to everyone:

1. Don’t have your first meeting with a stranger at a home for sale, especially if it’s vacant.  It is best for consumers and Realtors to initially meet in a public place, such as the realty office or a coffee house, and for others to know where you are during that meeting.




2. For sellers who are marketing their home for sale without professional representation, be very careful about showing your property to people who call you from an ad or otherwise learn that your home is for sale. A few years back, an elderly woman showing her condo as a “for sale by owner” was attacked and killed in her northwest home by a pretend buyer.  (Real estate licensees know that agents are murdered around the country when alone or sometimes even in pairs, but home buyers and sellers are not usually aware of this risk to our safety.)  Homes which are shown by real estate licensees will usually be on a lock box – you can be gone when the home is shown, and each agent who accesses the key using the box will have his or her information recorded.  Safety is greatly increased. (I have looked but cannot find the link to that story about the older home seller. If any of my readers remember the city or town and can share that info, I’d be most grateful. I think it was in the greater Seattle area where that crime happened.)




3. Similarly, if you have listed your San Jose area home for sale with a broker or agent, buyers should come to view your house through the proper channels (i.e., during an open house or with their agent, who called ahead of time).  Do not open your door and allow entry in by people who simply “pop by” when they saw the sign, whether they are buyers or agents.  If agents, they can pull up your property’s information on the MLS, call and make an appointment.  If you have a lock box, you can perhaps let them enter if the agent is willing to use his or her display key to open the lock box – officially recording the visit with the agent’s ID now known.




4. For buyers who see signs on properties: do not presume that the house is empty and that you can peer into windows or walk around into the back yard of the house. (I have seen people do this and it is creepy at best.)  You don’t know the situation – the house could be for sale but not viewable.  Some homes are offered with the instructions that the home can only be seen once an offer is accepted (“write offer subject to inspection”).  The home could be tenant occupied.  A resident could be ill.  Children could be in the house and if they look up and see a stranger at the window it will scare them badly. Don’t do it.  (Most buyers won’t do this, but I have seen it often enough that it warrants saying.) If you need more information, call your own agent to pull it up.  If you aren’t working with a Realtor, call the listing agent. In all cases, don’t go onto the property except to grab a flier from the box on the sign post.




5. When entering a home that you have scheduled to see, be cautious and enter slowly to avoid surprising anyone or being surprised yourself.  Sometimes sellers forget that you’re coming, have the time mixed up, or someone in the house failed to tell someone else about the appointment.  When I go into a property with my clients or alone, while previewing, I do so slowly.  First I knock and/or ring the doorbell.  I wait. Sometimes people are in the bathroom, have stepped into the yard or can’t respond fast.  Give it a minute.  Then I’ll use the lockbox, and while opening the door and stepping in I’ll call out loudly, “hello! Real estate!” so that anyone in the far reaches of the house can hear me.This is where you’re most likely to encounter a surprise – when you first enter the home.  I’ve seen just about everything, including unclothed people running for cover, couples who were occupied with each other (they knew we were coming right at that moment!), all kinds of things.  Once I had a small child with a baby snake come running at me, pushing his pet into my face.  (Good thing I like animals and didn’t freak out.)   Sometimes sellers are home but don’t answer the door, so as you go through the house you may find them. (I hate that!  They should at least hollar for us to use the lock box.)  I’ve stumbled onto sellers sleeping on a couch, showering (we leave fast) etc.  It’s not good to either suprise sellers or to have them surprise you!




6. Be cautious when trying to locate the correct house, especially in the foothills or mountains where it can be hard to find some addresses due to private roads, unmarked houses etc.  Once I went down the wrong driveway and had a man emerge from his house holding a rifle.  Another time I went down a wrong driveway – should have been the one next door – and the owner drove up behind me and blocked me in such that I had no exit, came over and started hollaring at me in  a very threatening way.  Turns out I needed to be at his sister’s house next door, but the homes were not well marked and I simply had the wrong leg of the road.  He apologised but it was harrowing.  Both of those experiences have made me appreciate cell phones and GPS (both happened in the early to mid 90s). (The listings agents for these homes should have directional arrows and alert the neighbors about properties for sale nearby.)

It’s very important, when buying or selling homes, to keep your wits about you.  Crazy things can happen so pay attention and follow some basic rules of caution for your safety and that of those around you.

One of the mental traps I see that can foul up real estate expectations across Silicon Valley is the over emphasis placed on “price per square foot“. Here’s where the internet can seriously mislead people into thinking they understand home values more than they do, resulting in botched negotiations, frustration and disappointment. So let’s talk about it.

As one factor among many, it’s completely fair to include the price per SF when trying to determine what a home’s probable market value ought to be. (Remember, too, that a house, condo or townhouse isn’t worth one exact number, but a range – because the terms involved also impact the sales price.)  Although price per square foot is one way of finding approximate value, often is not the best, especially if you use it alone, because there are other factors besides the square footage of the house.  Here are some of the other factors that can mess up that valuation based on price per SF alone:

• precise location (view, proximity to something undesireable)
• lot size
• lot shape & access (flag lots may sell for less than homes directly on the street)
• whether the house is below or above grade/street level (most people don’t prefer being down from the street)
• back yard size
• amount of remodeling (and how recently it happened, whether with permits/finals)
• care for the home
• additons vs original square footage (more…)

How’s the Saratoga California real estate market?

Today we’ll look at the monthly sales numbers for Saratoga, CA 95070 and also view live charts reflecting homes listed for sale on the MLS. Both houses and condos/townhomes will be considered as will varying price quartiles via the live charts.

Monthly Real Estate Update for Saratoga – prices of houses rising:

As with much of the “west valley”, the Saratoga, CA real estate market is a seller’s market, but it does not appear quite so overheated as neighboring – and far more affordable – Cupertino right now. Unlike many other areas, though, inventory is a little looser and is up month over month (which is seasonally expected) and year over year (not a seasonal issue, of course). 

Here are the real estate sales statistics for closed sales in March 2012 among houses in the 95070 zip code (click on link to read the full Saratoga Real Estate Report for houses):

And February

The median sales price, which is the number indicating that half of the homes sold for more and half less than this number, has risen almost 8% from a year ago.  This implies that more expensive homes are selling – and possibly that home values are rising too. The average is also up about the same amount year over year.

Next, please find the basic statistics for closed sales in February 2012 among townhouses & condominiums in the 95070 zip code (see the Saratoga Real Estate Report for condos & townhomes):

And February

A Silicon Valley home seller’s joy and buyer’s nightmare, multiple offers are back and exceedingly common in San Jose and nearby areas right now.  It has been true for many months that the most affordable houses in Santa Clara County, especially those under $450,000, are often selling with several purchase contracts on them (about 25% of which are investors, and many of those are “all cash“).  One Sereno Group real estate agent shared that their client was up against a whopping 37 other offers last week for a house in the entry level pricing tier!

What’s new, then? The price points.  Today we are experiencing the same situation in homes between $1 million and $2 million (though fewer offers) and sometimes higher still.  A few days ago I was involved with bids on a Saratoga house priced a little under $2,000,000 and it ended up getting 5 offers.  This wasn’t a turnkey property with a Section 1 pest clearance, but rather a nice house with “good bones” that needed work.

Why are we seeing so many multiple offers, and in such a broad range of pricing, in Silicon Valley?

Feeding the frenzy are the low, rock bottom interest rates (for most real estate consumers in lower or mid range pricing), lower home prices than a year ago – resulting in increased demand – combined with a dire shortage of inventory, or lack of supply. (Some sellers are waiting until later this year, when they think that they can make more from the sale of their home, too.)  If that weren’t enough, we have money pouring into the valley due to the initial public offerings of companies like Zynga in Los Gatos and LinkedIn and Google in Mountain View plus Facebook in Menlo Park.  And don’t forget Apple, in Cupertino, which is now trading at over $500 per share!  Even for companies which are either not yet public or there’s a waiting period for selling stock, there are means of cashing out some value via private exchanges or borrowing on options.  Some tell me that this has been the case for a year! (more…)

Right now I’m working with a number of very frustrated home buyers.  Silicon Valley real estate inventory is painfully low, and in the lower price ranges especially, that means multiple offers are fairly common.  FHA home buyers, in particular, are getting out bid and out negotiated by all cash buyers, many of whom are investors.

How low is the inventory?  Let’s have a look at January’s inventory for houses & duet homes (“class 1″ or single family homes) over the last ten years in Santa Clara County (San Jose, Los Gatos, Campbell, etc.):

2012  1,382
2011  2,007
2010  2,426
2009  4,759
2008  4,872
2007  2,698
2006  2,202
2005  1,285
2004  1,612
2003  3,119

The average January inventory of available houses over the last 10 years is 2,636.  At 1,382, January 2012′s available inventory of houses for sale in the San Jose area was just 52% of normal.  (more…)