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.

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How common are “all cash” transactions for Silicon Valley real estate right now?  Throughout Santa Clara County, they were 25% of all sales, up from 20% in October 2011,  among houses, duet homes, condominiums and townhouses (class 1 and class 2, does not include mobile homes, 2-4plex or apartment buildings or raw land).   What’s trending? Lots, including more cash offers.

Some areas and some types of sales are more frequently all cash than others.  Here are a few quick stats for the last month (last 30 days from today – numbers from MLSListings, crunched by me – disclaimer on good intentions but no guarantee). Also, please note that this is for CLOSED SALES. As of this writing, we are seeing a huge uptick in multiple offers in all price ranges in many parts of the valley, and it seems that many are all cash or very large cash downpayments.

• Santa Clara County: 25% all cash
• San Jose (entire city): 27% all cash
• San Jose short sales: 27% all cash (down from 33% in Oct 2011)
• San Jose bank owned or REO sales: 39% all cash (38% Oct 2011)
• Short sales & REOs were 52% of all sales in San Jose in last 30 days (was 48% Oct 2011)
• Of SJ homes listed at $300,000 or less: 44% all cash (was 48% Oct 2011)
• Of SJ homes listed at/under $500,000: 33% were all cash (didn’t track in October 2011)
• Los Gatos: 9% all cash
• Saratoga: 8% all cash
• Almaden Valley area of San Jose: 10% all cash

Some of these sales will have no financing and the new owners will occupy the home.  Particularly in lower priced homes, though, these are investor buyers who will be renting out the property.  This is often the case with the lower price distressed properties in particular.  In higher priced homes, some new owners will put financing on the property after close of escrow.

With the crazy new demands that keep coming at us from banks and new requirements being imposed on appraisers, now more than ever, cash is king.  That doesn’t mean that the cash buyer will get a deep discount, but there will be a slight one in most cases and certainly preferential treatment that will create a great advantage in multiple offer situations.

Learn more about buying and selling Silicon Valley real estate with cash offers:

Cash offers: what do you need to know if buying “all cash”?

Q & A: Making an Offer

What’s My Silicon Valley Home Worth? Estimating the Probable Buyer’s Value  (financing impacts market value)

Today we’ll have a look at the most recent closed residential realty sales numbers and then also view “live charts” which are updated weekly for Los Gatos real estate.  This segment of Silicon Valley real estate can be viewed from many angles: zip code, school district, sale type, view or no view, acreage, luxury home or basic home type…. This post will serve as a brief overview only. For information on YOUR Los Gatos subdivision or neighborhood, please contact me!

February 2012 sales numbers for Los Gatos real estate are in via my Real Estate Report.  Have a look:

(1) Houses and Duet Homes

Prices are going way, way up!  And yet the market is cooler – more homes are on the market, the list price to sales price ratio shrank a little.  The rest of the west valley areas are seeing multiple offers, overbids and rising prices – and we are hearing of them here, also.  That may not be reflected in the stats for another 30 days or so.

(2) Condos and Townhouses

More skyrocketing prices!  The LG condo market has been very challenged – but now there seems to be a great turnaround. Have a look at the chart below! (more…)

The annual market report is out at popehandy.REReport.com and we can now learn how 2011 compared to 2010.  The median sales price for houses in Santa Clara County was off 5.3% overall.  But from one part of the valley to the next it varied wildly with 6 cities or areas finding themselves in positive territory while others were off by double digits.

In the image to the left, I’ve put into bold the cities where the median sales price of houses which sold and closed escrow in 2011 were ahead of 2010′s pricing.

What is it that makes Gilroy, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Mountain View and Palo Alto “in the black”?

Most of these cities/towns are upscale, west valley communities.  But so are Saratoga, Cupertino, and Monte Sereno.

Gilroy was especially hard-hit with the housing downturn so perhaps in that case, it’s just coming back into more of a balance. (Then again, so was Morgan Hill and it’s still off by 12%.)

The LinkedIn IPO and others in the Palo Alto area drove prices up for some parts of the housing market nearby and it’s likely that this explains the positive growth for Palo Alto, Mountain View, and Los Altos Hills.  That said, it would seem that Los Altos, and perhaps even Sunnyvale would have seen stronger numbers on the same account.  Perhaps school scores are the key driver here.

Los Gatos, Saratoga and Monte Sereno often behave somewhat similarly as they are adjacent to one another and often attract similar home buyers who want good schools, a nice downtown area nearby and scenic beauty with the hills.  The annual numbers show Monte Sereno down 6.7%, Saratoga down 2% but Los Gatos up 6.4%.  With Monte Sereno, there are very few sales each month and each year (only about 4,000 residents), so there can be a wider swing without it necessarily being accurate. Saratoga and Los Gatos each have about 30,000 people who call these areas home, though, so the data is much more helpful.  Saratoga and Los Gatos both have multiple school districts, views, homes with better proximity to “downtown” and more variables – I think we’d have to dig a lot deeper to learn why these two neighboring markets are so diverse.  We might also have to look at multiple years of data to see if Saratoga spiked while LG slumped to explain the difference. (more…)

How’s the market for condos and townhouses in Los Gatos and Saratoga?  This morning I ran the numbers for “area 16″ (the Los Gatos and Monte Sereno areas, which includes a tiny bit of San Jose also) and “area 17″ (the Saratoga area, also includes borderline areas of San Jose and Cupertino) in our multiple listing service.

Hottest are the distressed condominium or townhome sales – short sales and bank owned or REO properties in Los Gatos and Saratoga.  Coldest (hardest to sell) are the “regular sales”.  Buyers are going after the bargain pricing that the pre-foreclosure and foreclosure listings offer.  Have a look:

The months of inventory are longest in Saratoga, with 9 months of inventory for town houses and condos.  The ratio of pending sales to active listings is lowest there, too, a mere 11%.

The months of inventory for Los Gatos short sales is a fast paced one month and the pendings outnumber the actives four to one!

Home buyers: if you are attempting to purchase a distressed condo in either of these high-end west valley areas, be prepared to act fast and present a strong offer.  Your odds will be better with a regular sale!

Home sellers: if you are selling a non-distressed condominium or townhouse in Saratoga or Los Gatos, especially if it’s a luxury property, be prepared to make your home the best value to attract a good buyer.  As has been said elsewhere, for this segment of the real estate market “it’s a price war and a beauty contest”.  Everything has to be just right for you to enjoy a successful sale now.

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). (more…)

Finding a home to rent in Silicon Valley can be an enormous challenge.  Most Realtors don’t do rentals (since very few are offered on our MLS), so consumers looking to find rental housing are often doing it on their own.  This can be especially tough if you are relocating to the San Jose area!

Who you gonna call?

In my experience, the best places to find homes to rent, besides literally driving through neighborhoods, is online with Craigslist or via Bay Rentals.  Bay Rentals does charge a fee but they do great work and you will know you’re not getting scammed.

Below you can browse properties offered for rent in Los Gatos, Monte Sereno and Saratoga.  There aren’t very many of them but it’s a piece of the information puzzle.

Showing properties 1 - 3 of 3. See more city of Los Gatos real estate.
(all data current as of 5/24/2012)

1. $12,500 : 16491 S Kennedy Dr, Los Gatos
   
   5 beds, 4 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 6,033 sq ft

   Lot size: 4.28 ac
   
2. $6,000 : 1449 Elwood Drive, Los Gatos
   
   5 beds, 3 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 2,620 sq ft

   Lot size: 9,010 sqft
   
3. $25,000 : 14530 Deer Park Ct, Los Gatos
   
   4 beds, 3 full, 2 part baths

   Home size: 12,500 sq ft

   Lot size: 17 sqft
   

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

Sorry, but we couldn't find any results in the MLS that match the specified search criteria.

Showing properties 1 - 3 of 3. See more city of Saratoga real estate.
(all data current as of 5/24/2012)

1. $5,200 : 13015 Via Escuela Ct, Saratoga
   
   4 beds, 3 full baths

   Home size: 3,100 sq ft

   Lot size: 13,200 sqft
   
2. $5,500 : 20475 Chalet Ln, Saratoga
   
   4 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 2,510 sq ft

   Lot size: 11,050 sqft
   
3. $5,200 : 13744 Camino Rico, Saratoga
   
   3 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 1,752 sq ft

   Lot size: 9,945 sqft
   

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