February Statistics for Los Gatos and Monte Sereno Real Estate

How's the Los Gatos & Monte Sereno real estate market? Things appear to be improving.  In another few days, my official sources for stats will produce reports telling us how February really was.  But I went ahead and crunched them myself to give you, my readers, a little jump.

Los Gatos is full of micro-markets but this is a broad overview of "area 16", which includes all of Monte Sereno and Los Gatos (and a couple of slivers of San Jose 95124 and Campbell 95008).  Rather than just look at the year-over-year view, I thought it would be interesting to see a bigger range of time.  So have a look at the month of Febrary dating back to 1998.  Often, it's a "hot month" once we get past the Super Bowl.  You may recall that 2000 was a crazy, extreme seller's market. Note how low the inventory was then - just 66 single family homes on the market!  Current inventory is about half of a year ago (and that was high) and is on the low side, but not extreme. 

Days on market are still too long for sellers, which implies that a lot of homes are being picked over but staying on the market. Closed sales are still down from a healthier, more balanced number but again, not extreme. - fairly close to the last couple of years.

Encouragingly, the average and median sales prices are coming up, and so's the list price to sales price ratio.

Altos Research (to which I have a subscription) breaks down the data a little differently, using cities and zip codes rather than MLS numbers. Here have a look at what's happening with inventory levels in Los Gatos (95030 and 95032) and Monte Sereno (95030):

Altos also uses median list prices. Here's their graph for pricing in these three parts of "area 16" - as you can see, prices are fairly flat:

Next, we'll break it down by median list price quartile within each of those three zones. Below, find list prices in Monte Sereno over the last year, by price quartile. Interestingly, the 1st and 3rd quartile appears to have been changing downward the most while the highest priced homes seem to be faring the best (remember, though, these are list prices not sold prices).

Now Los Gatos, 95030, where again the highest median list price seems to be holding better than other price points:
 

:

And finally Los Gatos, 95032:

In this last group, it looks more clear that the higher the price point, the less the list price appears to be experiencing downward pressure.

Finally, Days on Market in these three areas by quartile.

Monte Sereno, 95030, is mixed. 

Los Gatos, 95030 - where it's really not getting easier to sell a home, overall:

Los Gatos, 95032, things are not so dire as elsewhere - perhaps because prices are lower here than in the other two areas.  This seems to be born out by the fact that the highest priced homes are experiencing the longest DOM.

What about the role of school districts in all of this?

Much of 95032 is in the Campbell Union High School District.  So I did a little more crunching on my own, looking at school district rather than zip code.

For active listings right now in "area 16" again, here's what I found for DOM (days on market)

(1) All of "area 16" with Los Gatos Saratoga High Schol District - DOM = 185
Same but a maximum list price of $1.5 million - DOM = 133

(2) All of "area 16" with Campbell Union High School District - DOM = 71
Same but a max list price of $1.5 million - DOM = 66

(3) For all of "area 16" without regard to school district, the DOM = 152
Same but with max list price of $1.5 million - DOM = 106

(Monte Sereno is 99.5% Los Gatos Schools with only the tiniest sliver falling into Campbell Schools.)

So this is a little surprising - we tend to believe that homes with Los Gatos Schools always sell better than those with Union or Moreland. But is that the case?

Let's drill it down once more to a more specific price range and see, among the active listings, what's happening.

Price range: $1,000,000 to $1,400,000. I added the average square footage of the home since the results surprised me and I thought this might be an important factor.

(1) LGSHSD - DOM = 100 (av SF = 1904)
(2) CUHSD - DOM = 42 (av SF 2826)
(3) All schools - DOM = 82 (av SF = 2185)

Within this band of pricing, it appears that the homes may be moving faster in the less expensive part of Los Gatos.  Why is this?  Perhaps because it's taken a bigger correction and is now viewed favorably.  There could be lots of factors.  We could continue breaking it down by neighborhood, by age of construction, and many other factors, including whether or not something was a short sale or bank owned property (which is a separate topic).  It might also look different if we picked apart the pendings or solds this way, so this is not comprehensive, but is a general indicator that homes not in the most expensive part of town are selling easlier than those "closer in".

For help with understanding the home you want to buy or sell, please contact me!

Local "Los Gatos" Gift

Ever want to give your out-of-area visitors something special to welcome them to Los Gatos, or to send home with them as a parting gift and a happy memory of days here?  Something wonderful, small, and deliciously local are the chocolate cats, shaped like Leo & Leona, which can be purchased at the Chocolate Dream Box at King's Court Shopping Center.

These chocolaty goodies are easily packable - they're not much bigger than an adult finger.  They come in milk and dark chocolate so are sure to please everyone.  (I wouldn't mind seeing them come in white chocolate too :-)  For some reason, they are not listed on the store's website along with most everything else that's mentioned on the Flavors page.

The Chocolate Dream Box is located at 710 Blossom Hill Road, Los Gatos, CA 95032.  The phone number is 408 356-2626 and they can be found online at www.ChocolateDreamBox.com.

(This is not a paid post - as with all my posts mentioning local businesses which I like and patronize, it was my idea to write this up and I receive no compensation or perks for doing so.)

The Lions of Blossom Hill Road Are Back and Once Again Celebrating the Seasons

There are certain things around Los Gatos which we just recognize as being part of the character of the town.  Things like the murals all around Los Gatos, things like the tree lighting at Lyndon Plaza the first Friday in December, things like the many free music concerts and Shakespeare in the Park in summer all kind of punctuate living in Los Gatos.  They're all part of the character of the town.

Sometimes these things disappear - like the termite ridden wooden statue in front of Mountain Mike's Pizza that was removed a few years ago. Bigger things disappear too, like Villa Felice restaurant, which overlooked Lake Vasona (and where many of us enjoyed fine dining for special events like proms or birthdays). Other places have faded from view too - more recently The Cats restaurant (which has been closed a couple of years but maybe, just maybe, is going to reopen) or the La Hacienda restaurant, which appears to be closed forever, sadly.

A few weeks back, a local icon along Blossom Hill Road suddenly seemed to be a victim or remodeling and I was really afraid it was gone forever.  What was it?  A pair of lion statues atop two pillars flanking a driveway to a home.  They weren't just any lions. These lions wear pilgrim hats at Thanksgiving, Santa Hats at Halloween...well, you get the idea. 

But good news: the pillar remodel is over and - they're back.  And best of all, they are once again getting decked out for the season!   On Valentine's Day, here's what we saw:

Lions, it's nice to have you back!

Spring Boutique and Craft Fair at the History Club of Los Gatos

If you have unique gift items to sell or simply love to shop, you will want to know about the Spring Boutique and Craft Fair at the History Club of Los Gatos March 6th and 7th.  You can peruse some of the vendors who are scheduled and watch for updates here:  www.springboutique.info.

Interested in being a vendor for this event?  Please read about it here: www.creativesharing.info or phone Monica for more info at 408-835-5743

Los Gatos Real Estate Market Update for January 2010

What's the market doing?  As always, it depends on which part of the market.  For an overview of the Los Gatos Real Estate Market, my Silicon Valley Real Estate Report will update you by home type (house or condo/townhouse).  In January, how things seemed depended a lot on what you were comparing it to. Clearly it's a lot better than a year ago - but we have far to go.

Los Gatos Houses for Sale, Pending Sale, and Sold in January 2010:


Single family homes (houses and duet homes) in Los Gatos - prices are slipping (thought this isn't the case in all parts of the Los Gatos real estate market), sales were up as compared to a year ago, inventory is still low, DOM is shrinking and the list price to sales price ratio is rising slowly.  So another month of mixed signals but clearly some "green shoots" of hope.
 

Los Gatos Condos for Sale, Pending Sale, and Sold in January 2010:

Condominiums and townhouses in Los Gatos - prices are rising (condos had taken the biggest hit during the corrections earlier, so this is overdue), days on market are still terribly long and everthing else is close to status quo.
 

 To get the whole scoop on the market for Los Gatos (or Monte Sereno, Saratoga, Cambrian Park, Almaden Valley) or anywhere in San Jose or Santa Clara County, please click on the links above!

What Part of the Los Gatos Park System Don't We Need or Use?

What part of the Los Gatos parks don't we need or use? 

Unfortunately, Los Gatos is not immune from the massive economic crisis we're now enduring.  And that's also true for the Los Gatos Parks Department.

Budget cuts are coming to the Los Gatos Parks Department.  So what can be cut? 

It's always easy to say "no one uses" this or that park if you're not there to see or use it.  One item on the potential chopping block is the upper meadow at Belgatos Park (shown above is the lower area, not far from the playground, the photo below is of the upper meadow).  The argument being made is that the water is expensive and no one uses that part of the park, so perhaps we should plant some trees and forget about maintaining a lawn.  Is that true?  Not when I've walked up the trail toward the resevoir.  The upper meadow is a great place for picnics, throwing a frisbee or enjoying some peace and quiet away from the playground, restroom, and the hill where kids slide down on cardboard  - we jokingly call that lower meadow and hill "cardboard hill" (seen above). 

Belgatos Park is at the far eastern edge of the town boundaries, so perhaps it seems extraneous.  But it is also connected to the Heinz Open Space Preserve and lots of connected trails.  Altogether is is a magnificent place for locals to enjoy the outdoors.

If you were going t cut services to one of Los Gatos's many parks, which one would you cut, where and why?  At one time, the playground at Belgatos Park was also eyed as a place to be cut to save some money, but local residents voiced their objection and the playground was refurbished.

Hopefully there will be a hearing before any needed cuts are made.  Meantime, ponder the question - what should be cut? 

Belwood of Los Gatos, Belgatos and Surmont Area Sales in Last Three Years

I just updated my Belwood of Los Gatos website with what has closed in the last three years in that part of town (including the Surmont and Belgatos areas).  At the top of the page is a live mls-searching map which shows what's available in that area.  Right now there's just a duplex for sale there, no houses whatsoever!  Scroll down to see first sales in 2009, then 2008, and finally 2007.

Home sales information for Belwood, Belgatos and Surmont

Some of the numbers are disturbingly low (disturbing if you are a homeowner).  Some of the lowest prices have been homes which were distressed sales (short sale or foreclosure) or which were not well staged and easily accessible.  Hard to see, cluttered, unstaged homes simply sell for a lot less than homes which are well presented and easily viewed.  In 2009 we saw a rise in foreclosure activity in and near Belwood.  This may keep up for a couple more years until the current mortgage crisis is cleaned out.