Winter is a great time for dirt, leaves, and other debris to pile up in your rain gutters. Leave it long enough and there will be buildup. Leave it a really long time and those bits of dust, plantlife and other things will mush together and decompose, eventually becoming plant-worthy soil. Add a few seeds and some rain, and before you know it, green sprouts are popping up on your roof.
Today I passed a home in Los Gatos in which this seems to have happened. Grass and weeds were sprouting out of the rain gutters and had crept onto the roof quite a few inches.
Why is this a problem? Because the more you grow things on the roof, the more moisture you have getting trapped up there and the faster the roof decomposes. You don't want things like fungus and dry rot to munch away at your home, but having plants grow on your roof is going to lead to exactly that.
Keep your gutters clean so problems like this do not have a chance to start. It is infinely easier to prevent this than to cure it.
(Not a great photo - taken with my treo's camera and enlarged to show the roof but trying to keep the house itself anonymous.)
On the offchance that you haven't heard of the latest real estate scam related to declining property values, be on notice that residents throughout Santa Clara County are receiving invoices from an agency that appears to help homeowners get their property taxes lowered - for an outrageous fee.
The scam notices come from "Property Tax Reassessment" in Los Angeles and it claims that your property values have delined to far lower than your assessed value. We have lived in our Belwood of Los Gatos home for about 9.5 years, so our assessed value is far lower than market value (even today), but this document claimed that our property should be reassessed at about 20% lower still. My response to Jim, my husband, was "Thank goodness their proposed value is wrong". In fact, it's off in our case by about half.
Please, if you get this nonsense in your mail, just shred it.
You can check comps for your home online very easily and at NO cost at Zillow.com, Cyberhomes.com or on my Real Estate Report under the Property Analysis tab.
We've had an unusually high amount of crime relative to normal in Los Gatos in recent months. On Tuesday of this week, the Bank of America in downtown Los Gatos (on North Santa Cruz) was robbed. Happily, a suspect has been apprehended by police and she is now in custody.
The morning the skies were perfectly clear and void of clouds over Silicon Valley with one notable exception: just over the town of Los Gatos, a patch of low fog was clinging to the hills, nestled into the smaller valleys and cascading like a waterfall through the pass.
My husband, Jim Handy, snagged this photo from Communications Hill in San Jose at about 7:45am today. This was a great pic but the sky was very white, so I added some pale blue to the sky (using Picasa and the graduated tint function). Although the pic below is doctored, it gives a better "feel" for what we saw in Santa Clara County today.
There's plenty to do in Los Gatos, Saratoga, Campbell, San Jose and nearby areas within Silicon Valley. But if you've got the "winter blahs", maybe you could use a few suggestions.
The Museums of Los Gatos (2 locations) showcases art (Tait location) and history (Forbes Mill location)
The Art Museum of Los Gatos Current art show is Painterly Painting: The Next Level
4 Tait Avenue, Los Gatos CA
Now through February 28th 2009
Also, art classes are offered through the museum too. One offering is a Life Drawing Class, which happens on Tuesdays from 2:30 - 5pm, ongoing, drop in basis. $14 per session (uninstructed, no registration required). Call 408 395-7375 for more information.
The History Museum of Los Gatoshas rotating and travelling exhibits. Right now the featured exhibits are the car dealerships of Los Gatos).
75 Church St off E. Main St.
Los Gatos, CA 95030
408.395.7375
Open Wednesday – Sunday, Noon – 4pm
The museum also offers a self guided walking history tour of Los Gatos too. It's about a 45 minute walk and worthwhile!
San Jose Repertory Theater ("The Rep") is a great downtown SJ venue. Check out the current performances on the Rep's website. Featured now: A Picasso. (See a bit of it online at their site.)
Want to expose your kids to the stage? Try the Children's Musical Theater of San Jose. They run summer camp programs too (my kids did that about 10 years ago). Starting on February 26th is the production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
San Jose State isn't just for college kids. The arena holds a variety of events, including a diverse array of sports as well as other entertainment offerings. Check out the current events here.
Lest we forget... Stanford University isn't too far away and likewise shares many wonderful events with the community, which you can check out online.
If the weather's good, go explore a park. The Santa Clara County Parks Department has 28 parks, many of them quite large and great for hiking. Check them out!
Have fun. Feel free to share your favorite local event here in the comments section!
The Youth Science Institute, which has facilities in Los Gatos at Vasona Lake County Park, in Saratoga at Sanborn Park, and in San Jose at Alum Rock Park, has met its campaign goal of $300,000 and will keep its doors open!
If you read the San Jose Mercury, you've seen a rash of articles on the local, Santa Clara County real estate market. You probably know that although there are a lot of foreclosures in some parts of Silicon Valley, they are being bought up (or "absorbed") at a fairly decent rate. These homes are more affordable, and buyers are responding. Countywide, about one home in four is selling.
It's not that easy in the high end marketplaces such as Los Gatos, Almaden Valley, Monte Sereno and Saratoga. In these four areas, only about8 - 15% of all homes are selling. (Monte Sereno is a very small area and the actual numbers for January were worse as no homes closed escrow, so technically in January that would be 0%. However, it has improved there in February already.)
My January Real Estate Report is now out and I invite you to view it and input the area and home type you seek to get the most current numbers.
Here's an image from that report regarding the Los Gatos real estate market which will help to make the current situation more clear:
It is important for homesellers to understand that inventory is rising and sales are falling and that the odds of selling are not in their favor. Only then can they be realistically prepared to do what it takes to sell.
How is it that some of these high end homes are selling now, despite the odds?
all of them have been priced aggressively, aiming to be "the best value" for the buyer
many of them have been professionally staged
most of them are very easy to see (lockbox, call first and then go rather than appointment with seller or appointment with listing agent)
It is very likely that the homes that have sold have been well marketed too, but that is not so easily trackable as there are so many components to consider in that arena.
Today's post has focused on the Los Gatos real estate market. For more information on the Saratoga real estate market, and a focus on selling luxury homes in particular, please read a blog post I did yesterday on my Valley of Heart's Delight blog: http://sanjoserealestatelosgatoshomes.com/how-is-the-saratoga-real-estate-market/
If you would like to discuss selling your home in Los Gatos or nearby areas, please contact me for a personal consulatation.
A blog about Los Gatos real estate, homes, houses, condos, townhomes, housing market, neightborhoods, history, events, businesses, parks, schools, photos, issues, and lifestyle.
Mary Pope-Handy
Realtor, CRS, ABR, SRES, E-PRO
Luxor Real Estate Group
Mailing Address for Mary: PO Box 440 Los Gatos, CA 95031-0440
877 397-5391 (office/toll-free)
Winter is a great time for dirt, leaves, and other debris to pile up in your rain gutters. Leave it long enough and there will be buildup. Leave it a really long time and those bits of dust, plantlife and other things will mush together and decompose, eventually becoming plant-worthy soil. Add a few seeds and some rain, and before you know it, green sprouts are popping up on your roof. 
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