Although a lot of my work is in Los Gatos, Cambrian Park, Saratoga, and Almaden Valley, I do have buyer and seller clients all over San Jose and Silicon Valley. One of my buyers is interested in neighborhoods close to downtown San Jose such as Japantown, the Vendome area, and Naglee Park.

This week we saw a classic, historic Spanish style home that offered a lot of "old San Jose" charm.  It was partially updated and remodeled but there were a few red flags and odd things about the home.

One of the oddities involved the roof, downspouts and gutters.  Here's a view of the back end of that home.  Please note the downspout in the center of the photo (it meanders around the window with a large catch-basin at the top). 

Do you see anything amiss?  If not, have a look again with my annotated version:

The home was re-roofed a number of years ago, with permits and finals - but without gutters.

Do gutters and downspouts matter all that much? You bet they do. For more information on that topic, please read "Cracked Foundations, Adobe Clay Soils and Water in Silicon Valley" on my ValleyOfHeartsDelight.com blog.