Because of seasonally low inventory, home sales in Saratoga, CA are brisk in the under $2 million range if they are well priced.  One year ago inventory of single family homes was 167 – today it is only 106 homes available.  Pending sales increased from 17 last year to 41 at present, with frequent multiple offers for moderately sized family homes in the Saratoga school district.

There were 13 sales in the past week!:
21955 Via Regina – $3,250,000
19404 Sobey Rd. – $2,250,000
15142 Sobey Rd. – $2,195,000
18806 Harleigh Dr. – $1,850,000
14664 Bougainvillea Ct. – $1,849,000
16325 Sanborn Dr. – $1,610,250
19620 Scotland Dr. – $1,598,000
13132 Glen Brae Dr. – $1,595,000
19375 Portos Ct. – $1,498,000
13705 Howen Dr. – $1,398,000
12568 Northampton Ct. – $1,299,000
19935 Sea Gull Wy. – $1,200,000
18570 Aspesi Dr. – $899,000

Rick Bonetti | Alain Pinel Realtors | Saratoga, CA  |408-857-8800

ShareThis

If you would like to receive updates of my blog posts, please subscribe:

Rick Bonetti | Alain Pinel Realtors | Saratoga, CA | 408-857-8800

Saratoga, CA Vice Mayor, Jill Hunter and Brian Berg are two spark-plugs behind the Saratoga Village Development Council, which met Tuesday evening at the Rose International Market on Big Basin Way in Saratoga, CA 95070.

In addition to discussing planned events in March and April, the group saw plans for a $1.2 million Saratoga Village Pedestrian Enhancement project, scheduled to start construction in June and be complete by November 2010.  Old world stamped concrete will be added to pedestrian crossings at intersections of Big Basin Way (Highway 9) with 3rd and 4th streets; medians and even median trees will be added in a few places near 4th street. Eight parking spaces will be sacrificed as side walk planters are “bulged out”.  There will be a new entry sign, hanging flower baskets and a kiosk at Blaney Plaza. The project will improve pedestrian safety as well as providing attractive decorative embellishments.

A vibrant downtown village improves real estate and home values in Saratoga.  Support your local merchants.

For more information on Saratoga Village, check out the Saratoga-Live website or their blog.

To subscribe to this SaratogaVoice blog mailing list click on the subscribe to feed RSS button below.

Follow me on Twitter @SaratogaVoice.

I’m a Saratoga Native – let me help you buy or sell a home in Silicon Valley.

Related article:

• Location, Location, Location in Saratoga, CA

Rick Bonetti | Alain Pinel Realtors | Saratoga, CA | 408-857-8800 | DRE #01237009

When it comes to selling your home certain precautions need to be taken regarding animals.  Some cats are restricted to inside only, for their own protection;  it important that the listing agent place notes of caution on outside doors of  ”please don’t let the inside cat outside”, so Realtors showing the property will be extra careful.

Some dogs zealously want to welcome you by jumping up and licking – others bark at strangers to protect there territory and their masters.  The forth line of the MLS listing comments should be used to alert showing Realtors of what to expect regarding dogs.

If the homeowner is always at home, its easy to control their canine greeters by temporarily placing them in a safe, out-ot-the way location in the house, garage or fenced yard and clearly signing that there are pets behind the door.

If Realtors call ahead to make a showing appointment, as they are instructed to do in the MLS showing instructions, homeowners can arrange timing of showing when this will not become an issue.

The problem comes when owners are not at home and the showing Realtor and their prospective buyers are greeted at the door with chaos that causes fear or uncertainty as to whether it is safe to enter.  Today I came across some practical advice on managing your pet from dog trainer Carla Jackson, whose picture is shown above on this blog post.

Pet odors are one of the biggest turn-offs to potential buyers as they open the front door.  Often it is necessary to re-carpet the entire house to get rid of the smell if cats have urinated on the carpet.  Every homeowner wants to make the proper first impression when selling their home and be considerate of their pets as well.  We’re here to make the sale while respecting the rights of all.

Rick Bonetti | Alain Pinel Realtors | Saratoga, CA | 408-857-8800 | DRE # 01237009

Inventory of homes for sale in Saratoga, CA 95070 is climbing, but is still a low 86 detached and 11 attached homes.  Last week 21 detached homes were added to the inventory including 3 homes where unfortunately the transaction fell through (TFT).  Four attached homes were added to the market of available homes for sale in Saratoga.

There were 6 new pending detached sales in Saratoga (including one high priced home on Cuvilly that went into contract last year) and 1 attached home.

Only one detached home on Kosich Ct. closed escrow at $1,160,000.

Go to my website www.RickBonetti.com for detailed information.

Rick Bonetti | Alain Pinel Realtors | 408-857-8800 | DRE # 01237009

Search of homes for sale in Saratoga, CA, by families with school age children, almost always starts with schools.  Market valuation of homes is directly related to API school scores.  Frequently at open house I will open a detailed map that shows the district boundaries for schools in Saratoga.

Saratoga Union School District covers Argonaut, Foothill and Saratoga Elementary Schools as well as Redwood Middle School.  Cupertino Union School District serves the northerly portion above Cox Ave. with Blue Hills and Krista McAullife elementary schools.  Campbell Union covers K-12. 

At the high school level Saratoga High School is the most coveted, followed by Monte Vista and Lynbrook High, then Westmont and Prospect High.  Saratoga is served by three high school districts: Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District, Fremont Union High School District and Campbell Union High School District. 

Realtor.com has a map function that shows a variety of characteristics of neighborhoods.  The map above shows the boundary for the three school districts in Saratoga, CA 95070.  The website also has “heat maps” for average listing price, number of listings, average rental price, number of rentals and median household income.

Realtor.com’s points of interest map show homes for sale, schools and parks.  Showcase properties default to the top, most espensive 20 listings, so you have to toggle to see the price range that interests you.  I do like the feature that allows to zoom to Street View.  However, it does not seem to be up-to-date about status (it does not identify our listing at 20385 Wolcot  as pending). 

For most accurate homes for sale search results I suggest my Alain Pinel Realtors website (see link in the upper left corner of this blog).  If you send me an email I can also set up an automatic search engine to send you the most current updates… or just call me for help finding the best deal.

Rick Bonetti | Alain Pinel Realtors | 408-857-8800 | DRE #01237009

Did you know that there is a program that allows seniors (62 years and older) to purchase a new home without taking on a new monthly mortgage payment?  It will enable seniors to:

A reverse mortgage is a non-recourse loan that enables senior homeowners (age 62 and older) to convert a portion of their home’s equity into tax-free funds.A new twist on a reverse mortgage  is called a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) For Purchase and it is currently offered by Wells Fargo.

HECM is an FHA-insured reverse mortgage than enables senior homebuyers to purchase a new primary residence and obtain a reverse mortgage in simultaneous transactions with no monthly mortgage payments.  HECM allows buyers to combine reverse mortgage proceeds with a down payment from their current home sale or other assets, to purchase a new home.

Features of the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) For Purchase program are:

My job as an Alain Pinel Realtor and Seniors Real Estate Specialist (SRES) is to help you make the best move to a new home.  Please call Rick Bonetti at 408-857-8800 when you are thinking about selling your home; I have many resources available to assist you.

Yesterday I was at a Seniors Resource Faire in Campbell, CA where I met  Jeff Thompson, Wells Fargo Reverse Mortgage Consultant.  All he does is reverse mortgages and he seems to really know his business.  Call Jeff at 408-385-1244 for specific information about reverse mortgages.

Disclosure:  Borrowers must be age 62 or older. Consult a tax advisor. Reverse mortgage borrowers are required to obtain an eligibility certificate by receiving counseling sessions with a HUD-approved agency. Family members are also strongly encouraged to participate in these informative sessions.  Monthly reverse mortgage advances may affect borrower eligibility for other programs. Consult either a local FHA program office or an attorney to determine how, or if, monthly reverse mortgage payments might affect a specific situation.

The question if get asked most frequently is “How’s the real estate market?”  It used to be that everyone read the newspapers and got their somewhat distorted news from the headlines; now people get their news online and from multiple sources.

I hope I have earned the right for you to turn to SaratogaVoice.com when you want a balanced perspective on what’ss really happening in homes for sale in Silicon Valley, particularly in the west valley communities of Saratoga, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Campbell and surrounding San Jose.

I could tell you about the 100 shopper groups we had at a Saratoga open house in the Golden Triangle the weekend before last and the multiple offers we had.  I could also point to the positive news today about the consumer confidence or that Case-Schiller says that home prices are rising in 14 metropolitan areas.  But, I also need to tell you that because real estate is so localized and fragmented that one cannot truly speak accurately in generalities about what the market is doing – every neighborhood is different.

Let me start by writing about the economic environment we still find ourselves in (the good and the bad) and make some predictions for their impact on real estate in Silicon Valley in 2010:

•    The Economy – we are technically out of a recession with 2 quarters of positive GNP growth and into a mild and slow recovery, but as we all know, unemployment is still high, which will continue to be a problem throughout 2010.  The economy is still fragile.
•    The stock market, which had phenomenal recovery during 2009 will have a 10% adjustment in value early in 2010 before it rebounds to 11,000.
•    Corporate Profits are up due to downsizing.
•    Unemployment is actually worse than the numbers indicate, because many jobs lost will not be replaced, due to globalization. It will take longer for those unemployed to find work ant those that do find jobs will likely be at income levels 20% below what they were making before.
•   Mortgage rates are very low and expected to remain relatively stable in 2010 with a slight uptick of ½-1%.  There is a current window of opportunity now!
•   Retail Sales have recently been good at both ends of the spectrum (Walmart to Nordstrom).
•  Corporate capital outlays for equipment have been positive.
•    The Federal deficit will drag down recovery, with $500 billion/year interest on our debt.
•   The value of the dollar has declined precipitously in the last three years as the Fed has not supported it, but printed money instead.
•    Commodity values are up relative to the declining dollar.
•    Politics – 2010 will be a watershed year politically with an ugly battle between those in favor of unrestrained free market capitalism and those seeking more security of a “hybrid” government- controlled economy.  Uncertainty will limit risky business investments until corporations know the rules of the game.
•    Real Estate will be very different than the old model of the past.  It is now very fragmented – in terms of the players, market dynamics and geographic diversity.
•    Sellers now include more banks, distressed situations and investors as well as traditional sellers.
•    Buyers in some areas now include investment funds, foreign investors as well as traditional family buyers.
•    Real Estate Investors – will continue to be important part of the market in the low end because rental properties actually cash flow positive as well as have future appreciation potential.
•    Appraisals will continue to be a problem, even if there are multiple offers.  Buyers will have to come up with more cash if properties do not appraise due to 90 day past history, and some home sales will not stick.
•    Residential financing, although improving in 2010, will continue to be a big issue in getting deals closed.  A niche market opportunity will be for astute buyers to closely follow homes with pending sales, whose deal does not hold together through the initial contingency period.
•   Refinancing will be problematic for owners who have 5 year ARM’s coming due in neighborhoods where values have dropped.  This will cause a shift from owner-occupied to renter-occupied in some neighborhoods where owners have not choice but to default on their loan, but do not want to leave the neighborhood because of schools.
•   Banks – have dominion over many lower priced submarkets, now controlling both release of inventory they own and terms for buyers.
•   REO - purchases from banks will be influenced in 2010 by bulk sales to big investment funds from the east coast.
•    Commercial real estate – will be different too with vacancies going up and rents going down.  As much as 20% of apartments will go into default in 2010 too.  Funds, as buyers of groups of buildings will be a greater influence in 2010.
•   The low end of the home market will continue to see a firming up of prices as REO inventory is sold to multiple bidders.
. The middle residential market, up to $1.5 million in Silicon Valley, will be a sleeper market that comes alive in 2010, but buyers will still be looking for value, so sellers must be flexible to make a deal.
•    The higher-value residential market, from $2-5 million will still suffer as prices continue to erode 5-15%.  Inability of upper end buyers to get loans as well as sparse 2010 corporate bonuses will put many buyers on hold.
•    The ultra luxury residential market, above $5 million will have more sellers than buyers, who will not make such a discretionary purchase unless the property is rare or exactly what they want.
•    Home values – for luxury Silicon Valley homes purchased at the 2006 peak will soften to 2002-2003 levels and in some cases to their1997-98 level.

If you really want to know about what’s happening in real estate in the specific neighborhoods you are interested in, send me an email and I will let you know what I think.

Rick Bonetti | Alain Pinel Realtors | 408-857-8800 | DRE #01237009