Santa Clara single family home inventory dipped below 90 homes this week, the first time since April of 2007. Sales are 25% up from last year and the number of new listings have not been able to keep up with the rate of sales. This has resulted in lower inventory and multiple offer situations and some price appreciation. Total home sales this year so far are 561 homes compared with last year around this time of just 457 homes, which is approximately a 23% increase over last year. Here is a quick look at what has been happening in August sales compared to last year’s August numbers. Week Santa Clara Week Santa Clara Of Active Pending* Of Active Pending* 8/17/09 87 13 8/18/08 219 19 8/10/09 92 16 8/11/08 220 12 8/3/09 95 20 8/4/08 217 13 7/27/09 103 21 7/28/08 221 12 7/20/09 103 25 7/21/... 08/24/2009

There were 47 closed escrows in Santa Clara in the Month of May 2009. Here are a list of Santa Clara homes, their sale prices, and the time on market to sell. MLS Num List Price Street Address DOM Sale Price Close Date 1 80920106 $725,000 361 HAYES AVE 8 $710,000 5/21/2009 2 80919794 $785,000 2230 ESPERANCA AVE 8 $795,000 5/29/2009 3 80919492 $501,900 1739 LAINE AVE 17 $525,000 5/27/2009 4 80919047 $449,000 77 ALVISO ST 12 $425,000 5/27/2009 5 80916666 $558,888 736 BAIRD AVE 0 $555,000 5/15/2009 6 80916216 $788,800 2363 LASS DR 9 $788,800 5/7/2009 7 80916000 $545,000 3045 DIBBLE CT 11 $545,000 5/22/2009 8 80915954 $499,900 2374 FATJO PL 15 $498,500 6/1/2009 9 80915709 $279,900 1427 MAIN ST 11 $310,000 5/8/2009 10 80914948 $442,900 1263 KIELY BL 13 $439,900 5/8/2009 11 80914950 $649,000 ... 06/19/2009

First off, I'm a huge believer in staging and use it in all my listings. After experiencing the difference first hand, selling an expired listing that was on the market for 5 months in just 1 week, I knew that if you are selling a house you need to have it staged. With that said I incorporated it into my listings and provide the service free to my listing clients. I invested in a storage locker and took staging courses and trained to learn the art of staging. If you are considering selling you need to read this article about staging. When a house goes on the market homeowners and realtors do everthing they can to ensure the property looks its best. But it takes more than a colorful throw and pillow to disguise a saggy old sofa, or any other flaws the home might have. That's where a good... 06/07/2009

 An overview of Santa Clara's Single Family Real Estate market of April 2008 compared to April 2009 shows some interesting economic changes: 1.) The homes inventory rose to 143 this year from last year's 128.The sold homes are grow from 12 last April to 11 this year. 2.) The average price ofSanta Clara homes this year has lowered to $382,727 from last years' $602,897. The median price on Santa Clara homes has dropped from $661,500 to $360,000. 3.) It takes average 115 days to sell aSanta Clara home, but last April was 46 days. With all the numbers that show this month we have almost 10% more homes at theSanta Clara for sale and about 10% less homes actually sold. The average and median price for Santa Clara homes both dropped about 40% from last April to this April. The price dropped du... 06/05/2009

These graphs show the weekly absorption of home sales and new listings that have come on the market. This is a very interesting statistic to follow. I have been following this statistic closely because I feel it tells you the whole story behind inventory. Are listings selling or not selling and are they keeping up with the rate of new listings. Well we are going to answer those questions for the Western Santa Clara Valley cities of Palo Alto, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Saratoga, and Sunnyvale. There have been 9 to 10 new listings a week coming on to the Cupertino market and between 5 and 6 homes selling in the last few weeks. I appears that buyers have stepped up efforts in the last three weeks. Also the rate of new Cupertino home listings has recently slowed. Although inven... 05/03/2009

Median List Price $ 599,894 Average List Price $ 618,108 Total Inventory 208 Most Expensive Listing $ 1,195,000 Least Expensive Listing $ 249,950 Average Days on Market 167 Asking Price per Square Foot $ 420 Absorbed This Week* 23 Percent of Properties with Price Decrease 45 % Percent Relisted (reset DOM) 15 % Market Action Index 17 Median Number of Bedrooms 3.0 Median Number of Bathrooms 2.0 Median House Size (sq ft) 1,380 Median Lot Size 4500 - 6000 sq ft Median Age 53 Average days on market appear to still be advancing. We should take a closer look at this to see which segments of the Santa Clara real estate market are performing better than others. Also inventory appears to be plateauing for the spring, it will be interesting to see if the market slows down in the summer and if it f... 04/28/2009

The Pruneridge Villas are located in the old commercial lot adjacent to the Chevron gas station and the Oakridge apartments on Pruneridge Avenue near the Westwood Oaks neighborhood of Santa Clara. Rockwell homes has constructed 8 tri-level style townhomes in the location. The townhomes are 2 bedroom 2.5 bath units approximately 1400 squar feet with 2 car garages and back yard patios. I applaud the developers ability to construct some back yard space for these units, all to often this style of townhome features no private outside area. Schoolwise there are located in the Cupertino School District with enrollement area encompasing Eisenhower Elementary, Hyde Middle and Cupertino High. For brand new homes and good schools there appears to be some good value here for home buyers. The Floor... 04/23/2009

  The Rivermark community in Santa Clara has quickly become the hot spot for homebuyers who are looking for stylish, easy to maintain homes that are located in the South Bay: the heart of the Silicon Valley. Housing in Rivermark is divided into six development areas: The Arbors, The Park, The Promenade, The Greens, The Landings, and The Glen. There are plenty of home buying opportunities in the community, including some attractively priced R.E.O. properties. The 152-acre planned community of Rivermark in Santa Clara was developed in 2002 and was designed to be a city within a city.  The pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods encourage bicycling and walking throughout the community. Retail space, parks, a new elementary school and library, apartments, condominiums, townhouses, and houses wer... 04/10/2009

Preview Comments: [caption id="attachment_586" align="aligncenter" width="224" caption="3415 Notre Dame Drive, Santa Clara - 3 Bedroom 2 Bath in Killarney Farms - List Price: $735,000"][/caption] Positives:This Killarney Farms home showed nicely. The floor plan was very functional and some what open. The decor was a bit dated, but it was clean and well maintained. There was a large family room addition off the back that was open and well done. The back yard was decent size, room sizes were sufficient, and there was a large deck of the side of the house. Separate family and living areas too. Negatives:A bit dated decor, no master bathroom. Pool in back had been filled in. [caption id="attachment_582" align="aligncenter" width="224" caption="3161 James Court, Santa Clara - Darvon Park - ... 04/09/2009

Is the Santa Clara real estate market bouncing back? Well it may be too early to say but there are some good statistical data that seem to indicate that it may be the case. First off lets take a look at inventory levels to see how they are performing. Normally inventory levels should be holding rather steady in the spring market. Currently inventory levels have been holding pretty steady for 95050 and 95054, but still showing a rise in 95051. Lets take a look to see whats causing those inventory levels to come up. I admit this is a pretty busy chart but follow me here. We see that the rate of new listings for 95054 and 95050 have stayed pretty steady so far this year and the rate of absorption of those listings has stayed steady as well. 95051 however the rate of new listings have incre... 04/02/2009

Currently Santa Clara has 194 Notice of Defaults filled on properties. A notice of default gets filed on a property in Santa Clara County when the owner is behind on the mortgage by 2 or 3 months. This is the first stage of the foreclosure process referred to as pre-foreclosure. In order remove the notice the owner must make the home current and pay back the mortgage owed. Newer developments have seen a higher rate of defaults due to the recent sales within the last 5 years of these homes. Home owners are unable to refinance their properties since many owe more than the current market values. In Rivermark alone there are several short sales and 11 homes that have notices of defaults filed and 7 condo's in the Miraval Complex. Many of these Rivermark home owners have already engaged in t... 03/18/2009

Have you ever wondered why you gravitate back to certain restaurants? Well, that's just what happened last weekend when my wife and I were hungry for La Paloma in Santa Clara. Patrons for more than 25 years, we enjoy the good value, authenticity as well as the great taste.We usually start off with a simple side salad instead of appetizers as their chips and salsa are very good! Next -- what to have for dinner?Since we're eating lighter, we opted for fish. My wife chose the Grilled Salmon Filet off of their regular menu. At $13.50, it included a fresh salmon filet that was char-grilled and served with your choice of our tangy tomatillo avocado salsa, or topped with their fresh mango salsa. Carol chose the mango salsa which she said was excellent. The dinner also included grilled garden v... 01/20/2009

I've had a number of different blogs but I decided today that I need to make this blog a little more active.  As I am passionate about education I think that I am going to dedicate this blog to just that.  Educating the consumer about real estate. I personally have two more classes to do that then allow me to sit my real estate brokers license so this is the perfect choice of vision for my blog. 11/04/2008

Before                                                                     After I noticed one home was flipped in 3 months in Silicon Valley (Santa Clara county) California. This home is 1865 CABRILLO AV, Santa Clara 95050. It was a bank owned home on May 30, 2008 which is an extremely lowed price of $375,250. It was a clean flat-top roof home with 3 bedrooms and 1 bath the 1 car garage converted to another living quarter with living room and 1 bedroom plus1 bath. The lot size is 7140 sf. I showed it to my client. He did not like the add on. Little I know…It sold in 3 days with 38 offers for $382,000 and it closed on July 2 2008. Two months later the house is painted in and out with new window covering. It is back on the market again for $499K on September 4 2008. It is sold again and... 10/13/2008

Santa Clara is a higly desirable city within Santa Clara County, where the largest city is San Jose and the area is generally referred to as "Silicon Valley". The city of Santa Clara is home to high tech and to history. The north side of Santa Clara is full of biotech and high tech companies as well as the Great America Theme Park (and possibly will some day also be the home of the 49ers football team). The oldest areas of Santa Clara include the El Camino Real (which connects the missions), lovely Victorian homes, an old Carmelite Monastary, Mission Santa Clara and Santa Clara University. Why live in Santa Clara as opposed to any other nice city in Santa Clara Valley? People are drawn to living here, in "the mission city",  because of the short commute and low utilities, as Santa Clar... 10/10/2008

Santa Clara Art & Wine Festival Art and wine festival will be on thiw weekend Sept 13 and 14 from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM at the beautiful Santa Clara Centra; park. Don't miss the 28th annual Santa Clara Art & Wine Festiva. Start the morning in a peaceful setting and a delicious pancake breakfast at the Pavilion. You can pend your afternoon strolling through the park and browsing among a variety of 175 arts and crafts booths. Enjoy premium wines served by Bargetto, Emilio Guglielmo, J. Lohr, and Wente wineries or micro-brewed beer provided by Gordon Biersch Brewing Company. Satisfy your taste buds in "Food Alley," where two dozen community groups will cook up international food favorites. Each day offers a variety of continuous live entertainment on three stages and in the Kids Kingdom. Fr... 09/08/2008

Santa Clara County ~ Silicon Valley Homeowners ~ If you are looking to increase the value of your home without spending a fortune you will find plenty to see and do at the South Bay Home & Garden Show, taking place at the Santa Clara Convention Center.   Saturday ~ September 6, 2008 from 11:00am - 7:00pm Sunday ~ September 7, 2008 from 10:00am - 6:00pm Admission: $10.00 You will discover innovative remodeling, decorating and landscaping products and services. Building, design and exteriors experts will also share information to help solve home and garden questions and concerns.  The Santa Clara Convention Center is located at 5001 Great America Parkway, Santa Clara, California.Kathleen Daniels is a San Jose ~ Silicon Valley Real Estate Broker serving the needs of home buyers and home se... 09/06/2008

La Paloma Restaurante La Paloma Mexican Dining at 2280 El Camino Real Santa Clara, Ca 95050 You won't miss the bright yellow adobe 1st story building. It was there at least since I came to Silicon Valley. Due to 3 generatrions restauranturs operated it, it carrys a lot old trandition and new dishes also. The salsa and chips are  really good. They brought out really fast also. We have the chicken fajitas. It is delicious and large portion. It is a bit on the greasy side but it is delicious. It is enough for two of us to share it. The guitarist playing in the main dining room was great.  He had a spanish guitar strung with steel strings. He played our songs: Guantanamera and La Bamba . We are very glad to hear a great musican with very soft voice. He told us he play at La Paloma for last ... 09/02/2008

The Santa Clara County Gem Faire starts today ~ don't miss it!The Gem Faire is at the Santa Clara Convention Center.Location: 5001 Great America Pkwy., Santa Clara, CaliforniaFriday ~ July 25, 2008 from 12:00pm - 7:00pmSaturday ~ July 26, 2008 from 10:00am - 7:00pmSunday ~ July 27, 2008 from 10:00am - 5:00pmThere are over 70 exhibitors including classes & demonstration.Admission: $5 (children under 12 free)  07/25/2008

If you are concerned with the environment or your health you will want to join in on Bike to Work Day. Santa Clara is participating in this regional event on Thursday, May 15. There will even be refreshments served at the "energizer Station" from 6:30am-9am located on the NE corner of El Camino Real & Lincoln Street. Save your gas money and bike or walk to work on May 15. Santa Clara Real Estate  05/08/2008