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…)

Monte Sereno is an upscale, small city of about 4,000 residents. It shares police, parks, library and school services with neighboring Los Gatos and the residents of Monte Sereno tend to be very involved in the life of Los Gatos for that reason. In a sense, they are like sister cities living next door to each other.

Monte Sereno is not just a mini-me of Los Gatos, though.  Unlike its larger next door neighbor, there’s no industry in this city.  Aside from the post office and city offices, it’s 100% residential: there are no commercial buildings whatsoever. And it’s pricey! Houses tend to be a bit more expensive in MS, even though it has the same schools (a larger driver of home values in Silicon Valley) and zip codes with LG. There are a good number of estate properties and luxury homes too. Looking for an exclusive neighborhood? This will fill that bill – along with much of Los Gatos and Saratoga.

How’s the real estate market in Monte Sereno?

I update my readers via this blog and also via my Live in Los Gatos blog fairly often on various Silicon Valley communities, including Monte Sereno. Here are a couple of resources for keeping a pulse on the market trends and statistics in this neat little city:

• blog post on this site on the Monte Sereno Real Estate Market
• my Monte Sereno Real Estate Report for houses, updated monthly
• check on listings, pendings and sold homes via my property analysis page

Properties for Sale in Monte Sereno CA

The vast majority of residential real estate in Monte Sereno is single family homes (houses & duet homes), but there are a few townhouses in the city limits too (some townhouses are held in PUD ownership, others in condominium ownership). Also, most (99%) of Monte Sereno is in the 95030 zip code (tiniest of fractions in 95032) and in the Los Gatos School District (tiny fraction in Moreland schools).

At any given time there are usually fewer than 50 houses or homes for sale. Below are the listings currently on our MLS, beginning with those listed most recently. If you click through, you may also view the available properties via map – an easy way to get a lay of the land!

Showing properties 1 - 5 of 9. See more city of Monte Sereno real estate.
(all data current as of 5/25/2012)

1. $3,999,999 : 18090 Daves Av, Monte Sereno
   
   6 beds, 6 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 7,000 sq ft

   Lot size: 43,560 sqft
   
2. $2,295,000 : 15630 Michael Ln, Monte Sereno
   
   5 beds, 4 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 3,924 sq ft

   Lot size: 9,583 sqft
   
3. $1,599,950 : 16172 Rose Av, Monte Sereno
   
   4 beds, 2 full baths

   Home size: 2,212 sq ft

   Lot size: 17,327 sqft
   
4. $1,799,950 : 16215 Rose Av, Monte Sereno
   
   4 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 3,508 sq ft

   Lot size: 9,147 sqft
   
5. $4,500,000 : 16036 Greenwood Rd, Monte Sereno
   
   7 beds, 7 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 7,336 sq ft

   Lot size: 1.17 ac
   

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

Homeowner Associations (HOAs) are created to oversee condominium complexes, townhome communities and planned unit developments on behalf of their members. These are non-profit organizations whose purpose is to manage common areas, enforce neighborhood rules and standards, and often, unofficially, to foster community unity too. In most cases, they collect fees from members and have local authority. In other words, if you do not pay your homeowner association dues, or abide by one of its rules*, the HOA can and usually will fine you or even foreclose on you!

There are loads of HOAs in Silicon Valley. As with all organizations, some are better run than others. Its a little different than owning real estate outside of a homeowners association.

What are the pros and cons?

At their best, Silicon Valley HOAs keep the communities they manage beautifully landscaped and maintained, they hire good providers for needed improvements, and minimize risk to all the members. By having reasonable rules and community buy-in, the neighborhood can look inviting and property values can be better maintained.

At their worst, HOAs can be unresponsive to members needs, erratic, arbitrary and irresponsible. They may, by poor planning, cause huge assessments to be necessary or raise HOA dues so that they are very high – to the point where they make homes hard to sell. Not only are those an unhappy occasion, they can also make it hard to sell a home with a special assessment looming. Fortunately, this is seldom the case in most areas – but if the HOA has a high number of defaults due to owner bankruptcy or inability to keep up with mortgage, property insurance etc. it can cost all of the members eventually.

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