The highly appreciated Los Gatos Historic Homes Tour will be returning on November 7 - 8, 2009, 10am to 4pm each day. Seven beautiful Los Gatos homes will be on display, with docents at each home to point out special aspects of the home.
Not only are the homes lovely to see, but it's a fabulous way to get a taste of the history of Los Gatos. I highly recommend this event, particularly to folks new to the town!
Tickets are $35 per person. Learn more at www.MuseumsOfLosGatos.org. Proceeds go to support the towns two museums (one a history museum, the other an art museum).
Would you like to volunteer to help put it on? You can do that and enjoy a free pass to the homes on tour.
It's early October - many years, we experience an influx of inventory in Los Gatos homes for sale at about this time (between Labor Day and Halloween). Not this year, though. It seems that the uptick in available homes for sale mostly happens in years where it's a seller's market. The Los Gatos & Monte Serenoreal estate market, especially in the 95030 zip code, where prices continue to fall, has not been a seller's market in most price ranges recently. It appears that many homeowners are holding onto their homes for now - probably until the market recovers. My buyers are noticing the lack of inventory too.
(On a side note: I do have buyers looking for a turnkey Los Gatos home with 4 bedrooms, 2 baths and a less than 10,000 sf lot for up to 1.5 million. Nothing currently on the market is a fit for them - if you have a home that might work, or know of one not currently on the market, please let me know. Either zip code or school area is OK.)
Today we'll have a look at the list prices and inventory for two zip codes, which combined generally make up the area included in the Town of Los Gatos and also the City of Monte Sereno: 95030 and 95032. 95030 is Los Gatos and also Monte Sereno. (There are some funky exceptions: one area with the 95032 zip code out by Pollard and Quito actually belongs to Campbell but has a Los Gatos address for postal reasons. Another area near National and Carlton along the Cambrian border has a San Jose, 95124 mailing address but is actually Los Gatos - same thing, for postal reasons the mailing address is off.)
Another caveat - and a big one - is that today's study does not include a breakdown by school district. This can be a leading indicator of how your particular neighborhood might be faring. Altos does not use this criteria so I can't factor it in with this study. On August 24th, I did a post on my Valley of Hearts Delight blog on the Los Gatos Real Estate Market that did include the school district information. This is great data but takes many hours to assemble, so it's not something I can provide often. But have a look there too - many of the trends are unchanged, even if the exact numbers are different:
The charts below were created by me with Altos Research, to which I have a subscription and the right to publish the charts. Altos uses LIST PRICES in its data fyi.
List prices with both zip codes combined, market separated out by quartile over the last 6 months:
Just 95030 - closer to downtown, usually, than most of 95032, and almost 100% "in the schools", this is a more expensive place to live than 95032:
Now just 95032:
Now inventory - the upper cluster of quartiles is 95032, the lower one is 95030:
Combining quartiles is a little easier (a quartile is 25% of the market so of course the four tiers will always be about the name in number as each other).
What's interesting is that although the 95030 zip code is usually more in demand (due to downtown Los Gatos proximity and the famed schools), those more expensive homes have not been getting scooped up by the market quite as fast as the homes in 95032. The latter are more affordable - and affordability is key in most price points. The days on market for Los Gatos homes for sale by zip code and quartile:
Altos provides a "median market action index" (greater than 30 is a sellers market) that is quite interesting - note the huge difference:
Next, by zip code and price quartile. 95030 is "all over the board, with some parts trending downward and others moving upward...
Now for Los Gatos 95032, which seems to be behaving more as a unified group than 95030:
In most of the 95032 price points, the market's been improving. It's still a buyer's market, but until August or September, it was improving steadily.
How's the market? Really needs to be, "how's your specific market?" The lowest price points in 95030 are selling well - which has been the case for months. The most expensive homes in 95030 are lagging the most - which has also been the trend. The less expensive homes in 95032 are faring better overall. If we were to break 95032 down by school district (as I did in the post referenced above), we'd find that the homes selling the best are the ones with Los Gatos Schools (not Moreland or Union).
For information on your particular corner of the Los Gatos real estate market or the Monte Sereno real estate market, please contact me. I'd be happy to chat with you - no obligation.
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 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.
Two weeks ago, I sold a home to a first time homebuyer in the Santa Teresa area. The property is close to the Santa Teresa Foothills and she asked me, "Do I have to worry about wildlife coming down from the hills?" I explained that she needed to be aware of it, but not worry about it per se. In Los Gatos, as in the Santa Teresa area, when you're by the hills there's an increased chance that you might encounter some of the wildlife. We discussed rattlesnakes, coyotes, mountain lions, bobcats, racoons, possum, and of course spiders.
A few days later, during the home inspection, we got to see a black widow spider up close. You can see the photo that my home inspector, Duane Serrano, took by visiting my Valley of Hearts Delight blog by clicking on the link above.
This morning, back in Belwood of Los Gatos, I saw a "first" for our home: a hawk landed on our back fence. We have seen deer, racoons and possum in the Belwood area, and a lot of birds of course, but never seen a hawk in my own backyard!
Jim & I once lived adjacent to Neary's Lagoon in Santa Cruz (a bird sanctuary), so we have the Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds. I had a look and it appears that this visitor is a Sharp-Shinned Hawk. They like to be in or near forested areas - in our case, that would mean Belgatos Park and the Sierra Azule range in Los Gatos. (Photo taken with my regular Canon camera, but through our living room window and at quite a distance, so the pic is not as clear as I'd have liked. But you get the idea.)
Living near the foothills in Silicon Valley, we do see wildlife come down to residential areas from time to time. Usually it's something like this, or finding a possum in your fruit tree: not scary in the least, just kind of amazing. Sometimes, though, it's a mountain lion or something more scary. In all cases, keep your eyes open - and your camera nearby.
Let's take a look at the real estate market for Los Gatos condos and townhomes from a very high vantage point: a two year overview. (Graphs created by me using Clarus Market Metrics, a subscription of my board and MLS.)
For the "really big picture", let's start with the "Supply & Demand by Month", going from August 2007 to August 2009. Green represents demand, and red represents supply.
As you can see, there's a big gap between available homes and how many are sought & purchased - so clearly this is a strong buyer's market.
Now let's turn to the absorption rate, or months supply of inventory. Below is the chart for all of "area 16", which is Los Gatos/Monte Sereno (with a few homes in San Jose or Campbell along the border included - but by and large, it's Los Gatos).
The condo and townhome market has improved tremendously since the doom and gloom of last Decemeber (then nearly 22 months, today less than 5).
As I've mentioned in other posts, the market can vary a lot depending on zip code, price point, and school district. This particular tool, the Clarus Market Metrics, does not use schools as a variable, unfortunately. But we can see what happens just with price point by breaking it down to home under and over $500,000.
Immediately below: absorption rate for Los Gatos homes priced UNDER $500,000 (condos & TH):
and next, months of inventory (absorption rate) of homes priced between $500,000 and $1,000,000:
Interestingly, the "sweet spot" of the Los Gatos condominium and townhome market is not in the least expensive condos and townhouses, but those between $500k and $1 mil. (I should add that there are some condominiums and townhouses priced over a million, but not a lot and the data gets squirrelly due to the low numbers so I am not using them in this post).
This is curious because the lowest priced homes are usually the "hottest", but not here. Why? I only have theories, but my thinking is this:
the lowest priced condos are mostly either senior condos (along Alberto Way, the Los Gatos Commons) or very small units
if seniors are hoping to downsize to move to a smaller place, they are probably electing to wait so that their home values "recover" some
some people will elect to purchase a single family home in San Jose for $500,000, but perhaps others are buying a more expensive condo or townhouse to enjoy the benefit of the schools - so this would not be super tiny (more than 1 bedroom) since they are purchases for the schools
I may do more digging in the future to see what's causing this trend, but this is my hunch. I welcome any comments from my readers on what they see happening with the condo market here in Los Gatos.
Most homes are neither fully original nor fully remodeled. Most homes are "somewhat updated" or "somewhat remodeled". To get them into shape to pass inspections (there's not really a pas-fail grade, it's more "items of concern", health and safety issues, or serious structural issues, and big cost items), most homes will require some work. And this is often a surprise to homeowners. Sellers don't usually know that they have termites, for instance. They often don't realize that the electrical system they've been living with isn't entirely safe. They won't know until and unless they get the home professionally inspected.
Silicon Valley real estate buyers strongly prefer a remodeled home that is not in need of any repairs. If a kitchen is 15 - 20 years of age or older, most home buyers will think it needs to be remodeled. Water heaters last about 10 years - so if yours is 9.5 years, they'll want (expect) it to be replaced, too.
Treating pests, correcting issues with electrical, roof, updating countertops, appliances etc. can often run 1 - 3% of the purchase price. This is really in the range of normal.
Then the only question is this: who will pay that 1 - 3% to get the home into ideal condition?
When the sellers do the repairs, updating (and staging), often they recoup far more than that amount because buyers feel confident knowing that there are no major issues or concerns. When the buyers pay for the improvements to the home after closing, often they get a better deal on the house. It's a risk - return ratio. Buyers will pay more when they feel sure that the home is in good shape (and it looks better too). They pay mcuh less when there's the unknown of "how much will it cost to fix it?" and when they have to live through doing the work.
Let's look at a couple of hypothetical examples using a million dollar property for the sake of easy numbers.
(1) A Los Gatos house has been updated and remodeled for the most part, but it needs about $20,000 worth of repairs (that were previously unknown to the seller), between a roof tuneup, pest work (Section 1 work on the termite & pest report), a couple of electrical issues, replacing some appliances that currently function but are really not at all close to new, etc. It could also use some fresh paint, carpet, and a little work on the landscaping to show at its best. Altogether, it's about $30,000 worth of repairs, updating, and "freshening up" to sell.
In this hypothetical case, one seller will do the repairs and updating and one won't.
The seller who doesn't do the work expects that the home can sell for $970,000 since it should be worth about 1 million if the work's done. The seller's thinking goes like this, "I've been living here and it's just fine. I might pick out a paint or carpet color that the buyer wouldn't like." Or "I'm not going to stage the home, or inspect it. What if it doesn't sell? I'm going to sell As Is, but only if I get my price." That home might eventually sell in the low 9's, if it sells. Maybe at $920,000 to $940,000.
The seller who does the work and prices it aggressively (a little on the low side, under a million and maybe as low as $975k) gets multiple offers, driving the price up over one million dollars. Depending on the number of offers, it might sell at $1,020,000. That would be a pretty good return for $30,000.
(2) Now let's consider the 100% original home vs the fully remodeled one.
If a fully fixed up home sells for $1,000,000 and the same floorplan in the same neighborhood is clean but original and it would take about $100,000 to bring it up to the level of the remodeled home (it needs a new kitchen, new baths, new furnace, water heater, pipes, etc.), a buyer will NOT pay $900,000 for it. No, the buyer will want an additional discount for the unknown, for having to arrange the work, for having to live with the construction etc. That home will probably sell for more like $850,000, perhaps $830,000. You may not think it's a "fixer upper", but the buyers will. It's what most of us would call a "cosmetic fixer". The home's not falling down, but it needs a lot of work.
If you're the seller, you may not have the time, energy and money to do the remodeling - but realize that you can't sell for what it is worth per se. You will have to discount it more because of the risk and hassle.
Buyers, sellers often don't think they should have to take as big of a discount as you want. Sellers won't part with that "could be a million dollars" home in the 700s. But the good news is this: if you do the work, you should, in most cases, have great instant equity. You won't have as much competition. (In both examples, of course, assuming that prices are flat or better, not declining.)
Also factor in the real estate market conditions:
When the market is flat such that prices are either not changing or appreciating, it is usually better for sellers, if they want to net more money, to do the repairs and staging. Homeowners, even if you have periodically updated your home and you think it's in perfect shape, please understand that there will probably be repairs and improvements to make in order to maximize your return on the home sale. Mentally budget up to 3% of your home's value, though most likely if you haven't deferred work, it should be closer to 1 - 1.5%.
Often sellers don't want to do the work, and in many cases they don't have either the energy or finances to do it. However, when they do have the work done, it is usually greatly to their benefit. I once had a Santa Clara listing and the seller agreed to do $7000 worth of minor staging and repairs and that brought a sales price of $20,000 more - about three times the "investment" returned just a couple of months later.
If the market is depreciating and prices are falling, it is often better to get the home on the market quickly since the time spent on improvements will often cause a loss that is greater than the value of making the imrovements would bring.
If you are interested in improving your net from a home sale or in paying less for a property, please contact me and we can discuss your plans and strategy. If you are thinking of becoming a Los Gatos, Saratoga or San Jose area home seller, please also see Get the Best Deal When Selling Your Home in Silicon Valley, my book. If we meet, I'll be happy to give you a copy of it with my compliments.
The Alta Vista neighborhood, which sits along the border of Los Gatos and the Cambrian Park district of San Jose, is very highly sought after and valued for many, many reasons. Real estate prices vary depending upon the precise location within the neighborhood as well as the size and condition of the home.
Why is this area so popular? Most of the streets close to Alta Vista School are beautifully tree-lined, and from virtually everywhere in the neighborhood, you are close to Blossom Hill (that’s the name of the hill, not just the name of the road!). Homes are well kept, streets are wide enough, and except when there’s a school function, there really aren’t too many cars on the street. It is very scenic, pleasant and uncrowded feeling. Although you’re in the city or town, you feel close to the country there.
To view map of Alta Vista boundaries, see slideshow, and read about neighborhood benefits and conditions, please continue reading at my Valley of Hearts Delight blog,
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)
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Most homes are neither fully original nor fully remodeled. Most homes are "somewhat updated" or "somewhat remodeled". To get them into shape to pass inspections (there's not really a pas-fail grade, it's more "items of concern", health and safety issues, or serious structural issues, and big cost items), most homes will require some work. And this is often a surprise to homeowners. Sellers don't usually know that they have termites, for instance. They often don't realize that the electrical system they've been living with isn't entirely safe. They won't know until and unless they get the home professionally inspected.
When the sellers do the repairs, updating (and staging), often they recoup far more than that amount because buyers feel confident knowing that there are no major issues or concerns. When the buyers pay for the improvements to the home after closing, often they get a better deal on the house. It's a risk - return ratio. Buyers will pay more when they feel sure that the home is in good shape (and it looks better too). They pay mcuh less when there's the unknown of "how much will it cost to fix it?" and when they have to live through doing the work.
If you are interested in improving your net from a home sale or in paying less for a property, please contact me and we can discuss your plans and strategy. If you are thinking of becoming a Los Gatos, Saratoga or San Jose area home seller, please also see .JPG)
The Alta Vista neighborhood, which sits along the border of Los Gatos and the Cambrian Park district of San Jose, is very highly sought after and valued for many, many reasons. Real estate prices vary depending upon the precise location within the neighborhood as well as the size and condition of the home.
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