Saturday night, Jim and I enjoyed a "date night" out in Los Gatos. He'd been given a very nice gift certificate to Forbes Mill Steakhouse for a talk he gave on semiconductors some months ago, and finally we were able to enjoy it. This had been on my list of "want to try" restaurants so I was very excited about it.

The building itself is nothing like its prior incarnations as a short lived pizza parlor or the longstanding, much beloved (and still missed) Good Earth Restaurant. Elegant, tasteful and not imposing, the Forbes Mill ambiance is relaxed and upscale but without being the slightest bit pretentious.

From the moment we arrived until the time we left, the service was exceptional. Our waitress was friendly and helpful, she stopped by often enough without hovering. The bus boy, too, checked in on us just often enough. Water was refilled frequently, which we appreciated.

How about the menu?  How was the food?

With no apologies, this is a steakhouse - and the menu is, of course, very heavy on red meat dishes.  (I would tell a vegetarian not to bother - unless dropping by for dessert.) Before the main course, we had a little wine, some tasty salads and warm rolls. As I recall, they had three chardonnays by the glass - not a huge selection, but I was happy with the one I got. (I asked if they had Cinnabar Chardonnay, which is my favorite, but unfortunately it is not offered that way.)  I ordered rack of lamb and Jim a kobe beef steak. Both were fantastic. 

I'd never tasted kobe beef before but swaped forkfuls with my better half and could not believe how tender and flavorful his meat was. It wasn't just delicious, it was an experience!  The vegetables and savory bread pudding were good too - but I'll remember the evening mostly for the meat. 

Since we were lingering over a nice meal, we stayed on a bit longer to enjoy a dessert sampler and coffee too. That was a treat. I wish more restaurants would offer dessert samplers - they are fun and no matter what, you'll have to like some of the dishes, if not all of them!  I particularly loved the cheesecake with the mango topping. Yum!

All in all, it was a very enjoyable evening with great food, service and ambiance. Would I go back? Well, I'd like to. But it's the kind of place where it's very easy to drop $100 per person (if not more) by the time the evening's over, and with our two kids almost in college, that kind of spending is not something we'll do often at this point in our lives. But it was sure good, from start to finish, and truthfully, I do not think it was too expensive for what you get.

The Verdict: Two thumbs up!

A word on the portions is in order. The serving sizes were generous, and I'd misread the menu and ordered side dishes of two more veggies, so we had a lot of extra food when it was over. I did ask for a "doggie bag".  Our bus boy kindly took my plate away and returned with the food in a single box. Unfortunately, that meant that my creamed spinach, asparagus, green beans, carrots, bread pudding and 2 lamb chops were all mushed in together as a soggy mess. If I could suggest something to the good folks at Forbes Mill Steakhouse, it would be to not throw all the leftovers together in one big box, but perhaps to use the styrofoam containers which have sections in them instead.

And finally...do you know why the place is named Forbes Mill?  It was around this first mill in town that the current town of Los Gatos grew up!

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NB: This is not a paid post, nor did the proprietors ask me to do a review.

Forbes Mill Steakhouse
206 N. Santa Cruz Avenue
Los Gatos, CA 95030
Tel 408 395-6434
http://www.ForbesMillSteakhouse.com

Lately, in my practice as a Silicon Valley Realtor, I've been showing a lot of short sale houses and a few bank owned properties (known as REOs or "real estate owned" by the lender). They have been in entry level, single family homes close to $500,000 in Blossom Valley, Santa Teresa and south San Jose. In fact, the majority of homes that I've been showing there consists of distressed sales. Since that is the case, it is pulling prices down in those areas very dramatically. Homes bought two years ago for about $640,000 are now selling for about 80% of that recent sales price.

That's not happening in Los Gatos.

Yes, our prices are soft and inching down a bit, but not by 20%. If you own a home in any part of town, that should make you happy. If you are trying to buy a home in Los Gatos, that may not seem like good news at first, but actually it is - for the long haul. It's good that our values are more insulated than that.

There are a few pre-foreclosures here, a few going to auction, and a few that are bank owned. (Those are the three main stages.)  Can a real estate agent, preferably a Realtor, help you to buy one of them?

It depends. If you are an investment buyer, and don't intend to live at the property you are purchasing, and the home is owner occupied, and a notice of default has been filed, the answer is no. This is a consumer protection situation, intended to keep a distressed homeowner from suffering at the hands of unscrupulous, wealthy buyers.

If you are planning to buy and live at the residence (a 1-4 place such as a duplex, triplex, fourplex, condo, townhome, patio home, or house), then an agent can assist you with either a pre-foreclosure purchase OR a bank owned sale. There is really no role for a Realtor in helping you buy at auction.

Let's talk about the three main stages:

(1) Pre-foreclosure: the homeowner is unable to continue making payments to the bank or lending institution. This may be due to illness, job loss, divorce, or other problems. The owner may or may not have had a "Notice of Default" filed. If the NOD has been filed, the clock is ticking and a "trustee" at the bank has begun foreclosure proceedings. If not, you only have to worry about the loss mitigation department. The two divisions may or may not be talking to each other, so it gets trickier after the NOD has been filed, (If there is a NOD, it is recorded and may show up on a preliminary title report or property profile.)

If a seller wants to sell during this time, a real estate agent can help by listing the home at a realistic price and procuring a buyer. Hopefully, the home can sell, the debt can be paid in full, and the owner's credit is not harmed.

Often sellers will contact an agent to sell the home, but sometimes they don't. For whatever reason, most owners in trouble never call the lender at all (big mistake, the lender could potentially wait for a few payments, called forbearance, or modify the loan, but without placing that call, it will surely go from bad to worse). But a large portion of sellers in trouble do list their homes and they can be found on the regular multiple listing service, or MLS.

Sometimes, sellers need to unload a property but the market will not bear enough to pay the bank off. That's what I've been running into in parts of San Jose. In those cases, the home goes on the market as a "short sale" and the agent tries to assist the owner in obtaining permission from the bank to sell and tranfer home without the bank being paid off in full. This is a short sale (and it does damage the seller's credit, but not as much as a foreclosure).

The vast majority of short sales do not go to closing, but proceed to foreclosure. The reasons are enough to fill a book, but sometimes because the homes are overpriced and sometimes because the bank does not respond fast enough. Some lending institutions are better than others. In one case I heard about recently, a listing agent obtained an offer just 1% below list price, but the lender took 3 months to respond. By that time, prices had dropped between 5 and 10% in that neighborhood, so the buyers no longer wished to pay the amount they originally offered. The list price was then dropped by about 8% and the agent had to obtain offers all over again. Who lost? The bank lost more than anyone else: a straight 10% cost for dawdling. (In fairness, they are massively understaffed and overworked. They are kicking themselves by not hiring more qualified people to stem the losses).

So a Realtor could help a buyer in this short sale scenario - to a degree. A buyers agent cannot make the bank hurry up and respond. The buyers agent cannot even talk to the bank. The listing agent may do so only after the seller has signed an authorization form. So there's some frustration and a sense of being out of control that goes with the territory.

Many listing agents don't know how to do short sales. I cut my teeth on a few in the early 90s and they weren't a lot of fun. But now there are huge numbers of them so it's a different game. In response to this crisis, a new business has emerged: short sale intermediaries. These folks have created a niche market of doing the go-between from the agent to the bank. They are the ones who stay on hold half the day, who specialize in knowing what the lenders need and require before someone actually verbalizes it. Because they specialize in this, their closing ratios are far higher (but still not guaranteed). (Call or email me if you would like more information on this.)

(2) Auction: if a home doesn't sell in pre-foreclosure or as a short sale, then the foreclosure process moves forward and the home will be offered for sale at auction. An agent can't help you here. If you wish to purchase a home at auction, realize that it will be offered at a price to cover all leins or debts, and it is often placed at a price the regular market will not bear. The auction situation presents special difficulties too. First, you cannot inspect it - you may look from the outside, but that is it. Second, unlike with the first or third scenarios (pre-foreclosure or bank owned), there is no contingency period in which you can change your mind and back out of the deal. Third, you need cash!  And fourth, if you buy it and it is still occupied by the former owner or tenants, you will be responsible for the eviction process. For all these reasons, homes rarely sell at auction. They usually move on to REO, and are back on the market, placed on the multiple listing.

(3) Bank owned properties offer the opportunity to inspect but do not provide most disclosures since the bank is not a seller who's lived at the property. When a property is REO, an agent will handle it very much like a regular listing and it will be available to view. Banks are highly motivated to unload these properties but like any seller, will not go for an offer half the value of the property. Homes are virtually always sold "As Is".

If you are wanting to buy a home in Los Gatos, and you want the help of a real estate professional, that is possible with the short sale or preforeclosure situations, and it is possible with REOs too. There are not a lot of these distressed properties on the market here right now, but there are a few and some of them are quite nice and are listed on the MLS. There are pros and cons to buying at each stage, risks and benefits. If you attempt to purchase a short sale, realize that you may or may not be able to close - through no fault of your own. If you buy a bank owned home, you may not learn everything you'd have liked to know (for instance, if there was a death on the property, problems with neighbors etc.). And understand that a Realtor cannot help you at auction, or if you are an investment buyer trying to purchase an owner occupied home in which a notice of default has been filed.

Would you like to talk more about buying or selling your home? Please call or email me. I'm here to help.

Mary Pope-Handy, Realtor,  CRS, ABR, e-PRO, SRES, ASP, RECS, CNHS, ACRE
Helping Nice Folks to Buy & Sell Homes Since 1993 - 15 Years Experience
Co-Author: "Get The Best Deal When Selling Your Home In Siicon Valley"
Keller Williams, Cupertino, CA  (Silicon Valley)
877 397-5391 (Direct/Toll-Free/Fax);   408 204-7673 (Cell)
www.PopeHandy.com    www.ValleyOfHeartsDelight.com   
Mary@PopeHandy.com