Halloween is fast approaching, but there are still a few more events in and near Los Gatos to get you into the spirit!

At Oak Meadow Park, once again the Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce is putting on the Haunted Halloween Forest and Goblyn's Glen (to benefit the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad and more). For tickets and more information, please call 408-395-7433 or visit Website.  Next two events are Friday and Saturday of this week, from 7 - 10pm.

There are many, many more Halloween events the rest of this week posted on Craigslist. If you click on the link below, it will take you to an extensive collection of Halloween events in Siicon Valley.  Scroll down to

October 26 - 31
 

South Bay:

and there you'll find 22 items listed in San Jose, Saratoga, Sunnyvale, Los Altos and all over the south bay.

Happy Halloween!



 

What can you expect, weatherwise, for Los Gatos in the fall?  It varies but generally is dry and fairly warm during the days.  Mornings can be chilly but it heats up fairly quickly.  This last week was perhaps a bit unusual, but I'll share with you a bit about the weather here over the last seven days.

This last week, though, we caught the tail end of an Asian hurricane and we got drenched and pelted with strong winds.  After three drought years, no one is complaining: we needed the rain.

The storm caused damage to trees all over and created power outages for many.  Our block in Belwood was mixed - half the homes were out of power for about 48 hours. We were lucky and had power. As usual, though, after a very heavy rain, we had Comcast problems.  Our internet flickered off and on for a couple of days (a challenge for Jim and me since we both work from home and rely heavily on the web).

The temps rose in the days following the storm.  It's not completely abnormal to have an 80 degree day in October, but it is unusual to have a summer like temp with east-coast like humidity. The ground was saturated and as it evaporated, we had several muggy days. 

We got back to the daily walk with Bella through the neighborhood and to Belgatos Park and that's when we learned that so many neighbors were without electricity.  We saw a few trees that were getting extra supports (or should have, as they were now listing badly) but others which seemed just fine.

Many of the smaller plants and bushes fared much better than the larger trees had. To see the blooms along Westhill Drive, you'd never know that a massive storm had passed just 48 hours earlier.

Mike's prickley pear looked just great.

Everyone's got power again and aside from a few downed limbs, the neighborhood is looking back to normal. As usual for fall, Los Gatos is full of people who are jogging, riding bikes, pushing strollers, walking dogs, or just getting out.  Today was into the 70s - a very normal fall temp - and except for a few clouds that have been coming and going, it's again looking like autumn as usual.

Westhill Drive was cordoned off for a block party, too.

This is not surprising: our mild weather makes doing things outdoors be the norm throughout most of the fall.   We enjoy an average of 300 sunny days per year in Silicon Valley, with mild weather being the hallmark.  Rain normally comes from about December until March or April, but even then it's not usually so bad unless we have a once-in-a-decade El Nino year.   Word has it that we might be in for that this year, which would certain end, officially, the drought.  It's supposed to rain again tomorrow.  No one likes water rationing, so we will view it as a gift!

As readers of this blog know, Los Gatos is full of micro-markets, and that can make generalizations about how the "Los Gatos real estate market" is doing a bit skewed.  So whatever you read online, or hear about in your neighborhood or from friends, do take with a grain of salt since your home may or not be similar to whatever other home you're hearing about in terms of how it might sell (or if you're a buyer, the home you may want to purchase may be different....).

Disclaimer aside, I did a few minutes of data-collecting on MLSListings just now for single family homes (houses or attached/duet homes, but not condos or townhomes) in the town of Los Gatos (not Monte Sereno, but LG with zip codes 95032 and 95030).  It appears that the general trend continues: the most affordable Los Gatos homes, generally, are selling fairly well. 

What I did was run the numbers (agents: using the "preview" button on REIL), then simply added two other criteria: high school district (Saratoga-Los Gatos High School District and Campbell Union High School District) and then list price of up to $1.5 million. Then I figured out the absorption rate, or the months of inventory (MOI).  The solds are homes which have closed in the last month.

Where the MOI is greater than 6, it is a buyer's market, and where it's under 6 it is a seller's market - six months is considered a "balanced" market.

So, looking at the first set, for Los Gatos overall the absorption rate is 5.6 months - or very close to a balanced market.  But we know that some areas and price points are selling much slower than others.  Surprisingly, when all of Los Gatos with "the schools" are considered, the MOI is 7.7.  Given that it feels like entry level homes in that part of town feel like they're flying off the market, this doesn't sound right. So look at the second group of numbers, where the price range is limited to those under 1.5 million.  We can see that there are only 39 such homes for sale now (vs 101 for all price points) and the MOI is a brisk 3.55. That makes sense.  So what's slower are the more expensive homes, generally.  Entry level homes in the schools are selling at a healthy pace.

Interestingly, homes in the Campbell Union High School District are faring even better - and the data is inverted, slightly, as to where the sweeter spot of the market lies.  For these homes, those under 1.5 mil are going at a quick 2.4 months of inventory.  The market as a whole for Los Gatos houses for sale in this area is lower still, though - 2.23. That demonstrates that the market is even faster in the higher priced homes.  My belief is that this is the case because those homes - high end homes in the CUHSD - have taken a bigger hit on pricing and buyers are responding.  Cannot prove it in this brief blog post entry, though, but that's my (hopefully educated) hunch. 

What about your neighborhood, or where you'd like to buy?  Get hyper local when you think about how "the market" is.  Feel free to visit my Los Gatos Real Estate Report and see local sales in your neighborhood. Make it more precise by indating the beds/baths you want to consider, and how far out (in a radius) you'd like to see the comps, or how far back in time. Best part: you don't have to register, you don't have to leave a footprint.    (Your search is not saved on my site, so I will not be showing up on your front porch!)  Or call or email me for a confidential, no obligation, no-pressure consultation.

The St. Mary's Country Fair in downtown Los Gatos is back through Sunday the 11th at 5pm. 

This year the fair is a little more kid-centric and there are more inflated play structures.  Things are not all where they were in the past, but the best of the best is all still there: great food, live entertainment, games, rides, and goods to purchase. (Jim and I just got back in from enjoying supper and a 2.5 hour stint overseeing the Obstacle Course - part playhouse, part inflated balloon attraction). 

Everyone's welcome. The fair's proceeds are split between the school and the parish, and helps to support outreach work in the community too. Please stop on by!  The fair can be accessed off of West Main Street and Lyndon Avenue or off of Bean Avenue near Tait.   There's no entry fee!

Once a month or so, the highly talented band,  Full Spectrum Jazz, performs at the Los Gatos Lodge. Over the summer they played at Jazz on the Plazz in Los Gatos, so you may be familiar with them already.  This is a local group, and a few members are even residents of the town of Los Gatos. Their next performance there will be in the evening of October 15th (please check the schedules online at the band's website and the Lodge's website).

Full Spectrum Jazz plays a variety of jazz styles, and at times also employ a vocalist. When we were there in mid-September, Duane Lawrence joined them for part of each set. Duane has a beautiful voice & is an enthusiastic singer - the two complimented each other very well.

Below are some photos I took in mid-September. Unfortunately the lighting was such that members to the far left and far right were not too well illuminated, so my apologies that a number of band members and Duane Lawrence are not in these pics (they just didn't turn out).  Come check them out for yourself two weeks from now!  (There's no cover charge and drinks & munchies are reasonably priced.)

The Los Gatos Lodge is located at 50 Los Gatos - Saratoga Road, Los Gatos, California.  (Los Gatos-Saratoga Road is also known as Highway 9)  It is just east of Highway 17, between the freeway and Los Gatos Boulevard.  There's plenty of parking too.

The Los Gatos Town Council has decided to spend some of the proceeds from the Vasona land sale last year to acquire 2.7 acres of land along University Avenue, where a youth sports complex will be built, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

The Merc says that the council plans to hold hearings to get town input on how to use the land.  Soccer fields (non regulation sized) are planned.  No doubt the skatepark issue will resurface.

Mary's personal note: It always surprises me when a large purchase like this (or the decision to build a new library) comes without consultation of the Los Gatos residents/voters. Of course, our elected officials are supposed to make decisions on many things for us.  I am not sure that I'm too comfortable with a multi-million dollar decision being made without input, though, or when input is only sought after the fact for how to use something purchased - not whether to make the purchase.  Many will certainly be happy about the land, and it's agreed that we need more soccer fields.