Bay Area Real Estate Leaders’ Forecast
The Bay Area Luxury Marketing Council’s May 21st meeting had a panel discussion entitled “San Francisco Real Estate…Where Is It Headed?â€Â The panel was comprised of heads of seven leading Bay Area real estate firms (including Larry Knapp, President of Alain Pinel Realtors). More than anyone else, these leaders are…
What’s Hot and What’s Not
The best indication of which MLS sub-market areas are “hot” and which are not, is the ratio between pending sales and total inventory. “Hot” does NOT mean that the market is not in “distress” because of short sales or foreclosures, it just means that those properties are being absorbed in the sales process. …
Ah, How You Will Delight the Angels!
Every week I look forward to receiving a newsletter and podcast from Krista Tippett’s Being (previously Speaking of Faith). This past week, May 14, 2009 is the culmination of an online project Repossessing Virtue where a broad spectrum of people share their experience of how the current economic downturn has…
Hot vs. Cool Silicon Valley Housing Submarkets
As everyone knows, real estate is highly localized, so within a relatively small geographical area there may be both fast moving, lower-priced sub-markets with multiple offers and nearby, more expensive communities where sales are still relatively slow and inventory is growing seasonally. That’s the case in Silicon Valley, where there…
Benefits and Perils of the Bay Area High Speed Rail
On November 5, 2008 California voters approved Proposition 1A (the Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act) to establish a clean, efficient high-speed train service linking Southern California, the Sacramento San Joaquin Valley, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Click>here for the California High Speed Rail Authority proposed routes and some interesting trip…
Rent vs. Buy in Silicon Valley?
 A recent study by the California Association of Realtors indicates that in the current market environment, prospective first-time buyers will save monthly out-of-pocket expenses of owning versus renting. According to the study of two household scenarios, the First-time Buyer’s monthly PITI would be $1,630. That is $250 less than…
FEMA Flood Hazard Maps for SCC Updated
Today, May 18, 2009, revised Flood Hazard Maps from FEMA go into effect for Santa Clara County. Flood insurance is generally required for federally backed mortgages on homes within a “Special Flood Hazard Area”, also called a “100-year flood” zone. The revised FEMA maps will expand the 100-year flood zone…
California Housing Forecast Update
 A couple of weeks ago I attended a presentation by Robert Kleinhenz, Deputy Chief Economist for California Association of Realtors. Here are some highlights of his economic market analysis and forecast for California and Silicon Valley: The Recession – We are 16 months into this recession. Although this recession is…
Trevese Restaurant in Los Gatos
 Today was Lynne’s and my 27th wedding anniversary so we celebrated with a wonderful dinner at Trevese Restaurant in Los Gatos. We enjoyed it thoroughly and highly recommend it for a special occasion. The place was packed – so much for the recession in Silicon Valley! Travese has been…
Saratoga Sold Statistics
The summary table below gives an accurate value estimate of the last 30 just sold and/or on market listings in Saratoga: Sale Prices List Prices Minimum: $755,000.00 Minimum: $779,000.00 Average: $1,467,635.00 Average: $1,871,403.00 Median: $1,402,500.00 Median: $1,487,500.00 Maximum:Â $3,100,000.00 Maximum: $6,998,550.00 Those sold were on the market an average of…
Finance Update
Lots of thing are happening on the loan front regarding program changes, expansions and even some life in the Jumbo sector. Here is a recap of some of them from our in-house lenders with Wells Fargo Morgage: Rates have been stable despite the government trying to push them down (the…
Silicon Valley Real Estate Market Hot Spots
 Good news has been slow coming to the Silicon Valley real estate market since fall of last year. However there are “hot spots” emerging in the market, particularly in the more affordable lower end, but also up peninsula in the upper price ranges; this later observation is significant to…
Almaden Sales Up, Inventory Down
 The Almaden resale home sale market saw a sharp rise in pending sales in April, 2009 and a corresponding drop in available inventory from it’s March 2009 high. There are currently 121 listings in Almaden, ranging in price from $889,000 to $4.675 million and only 4 of them are…
Affordable Housing in Santa Clara County
In my opinion, now is a great time for first-time homebuyers to make the move to purchase a home in Santa Clara County. Prices are lower than they have been in years because of the downward pressure from short sales and foreclosures and mortgage interest rates are still very low.…
Hot Jazz on the Plazz
June 24th marks the start of this year’s Jazz on the Plazz series, which will run through August 26th. All performances will take place from 6:30 to 8:30p.m. at the Los Gatos Town Plaza, located at the intersection of West Main Street and Santa Cruz Avenue in downtown Los Gatos.…
