Prime street – Jewell house
My pick of the week is 1169 Norval Way in San Jose (Willow Glen).
Beautiful home on a PRIME street!
Listed at $835,000, this house is 1237 sq ft. with a 6240 lot, 2 bed 1.5 bath. The 1/2 bath is in the master and there are options to make it to make it into a full bathroom. The kitchen has been remodeled and the home has a nice easy flow in addition to tons of CHARM. The lot is nicely landscaped and has space for expansion. Open house Sun. 9/14/08 1:30-4:30. I will be bringing clients for sure!
BBQ, fireplace and custom iron gate.
WILLOW GLEN UPDATE
Sales in Willow Glen have dropped slightly this week to 13 from 14 and the count (of how many houses are on market in Willow Glen) is up to 249 from 241. It is typical for September to have more houses come on market. As people come back from vacations and realize the holidays are upon us (Christmas items can already be found in Costco!!) sellers tend to want to get their house on market asap.
Neighborhood WATCH!
With the economy down, gas prices and everything else going up it is no suprise that we are seeing more petty crime. Over the last week I have heard from several clients and friends telling me about crimes where someone broke into their car and took what they could. In one story they were loading up the car to go on a trip. Items were taken while they were in the house getting a few more things they wanted to take on the trip!
The local burglar who is known locally as the Cambrian Cat Burglar will go into a house with the people home and steal what cash he can from a purse or wallet left on the counter. According to the newspaper the tally is 27 homes he has hit (that have reported or noticed). He goes through an open window or garage door.
Fight back though locking windows and doors and organizing a neighborhood watch and call the police about anyone who looks suspicious.
3 quick tips when hiring a realtor
It is important to not only hire a local realtor who knows your neighborhood, but someone who works for a company you recognize. Here are the reasons why:
1) A local realtor will have access to local buyers and sellers!
2) Typically, a local realtor will attend local events and real estate tours. That knowledge will help buyers be more comfortable with your home as they can learn about local events, discuss the local listings and areas of interest easily from the knowledgeable realtor doing the open house.
3) A realtor who is with a company you recognize generally has more resources, more contacts and more training. I work for Coldwell Banker, one of the largest companies in the country. I am offered training 5 days a week, a weekly tour of new listings, access to thousands of agents that I can ask questions of and obtain resources such as the best plumber or someone who restores barrel ceilings.
I highly recommend, whether you are buying or selling, that you always interview at least two realtors to find the best fit for your needs.
Willow Glen Update 9/4/08
The market this week seems to be a smidge better than last week (yes, smidge is a technical term 
. The count (how many houses on market) last week was 262 and this week it has dropped to 245 for area 10 (Willow Glen). What I find interesting is that it looks like more sellers are accepting contingent offers- There are 7 contingent out of 14 sales for the last week.
Translation: HALF of the pending sales are contingent on that buyer selling their house first…
My pick of the week is 901 Pine Ave. It is a house that I remember when it was on market about 5 years ago. It is quite memorable!! Right across from River Glen Park no windows yet, AMAZING skylight, open plan with in-layed hardwood floors 3 bedrooms 3.5 baths for $900,000!!!
1830 sq ft. and 7100 sq ft. corner lot. Beautiful Asian inspired gardens! Roman showers in two of the master suites and a private hottub off one of the master bedrooms as well! Open house this Sat and Sun with Coldwell Banker’s Chris Conklin.
GMAC closes its doors!
Sept. 3, 2008 was a BBQ for GMAC to celebrate its affiliates (realtors, title companies, pest inspectors etc.) It was a tri-tip, chicken and root beer float party with over 200 people attending between 3-6p. THAT DAY, GMAC announced it was closing it’s doors! Crazy!
I am told that they will be reopening with a new name very soon we shall see.
Median sales prices have dropped
I know it is not news for many. However, here is a chart that I find comes in handy. Santa Clara had a change of -16.40% in ONE YEAR!
Source: DataQuick Information Systems, www.DQNews.com Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157 or John Karevoll (909) 867-9534
Copyright 2008 DataQuick Information Systems. All rights reserved.
|
|
Sales Volume |
Median Price |
||||
|
All homes |
Jul-07 |
Jul-08 |
%Chng |
Jul-07 |
Jul-08 |
%Chng |
|
Alameda |
1,577 |
1,428 |
-9.4% |
$605,000 |
$440,000 |
-27.30% |
|
Contra Costa |
1,328 |
1,730 |
30.3% |
$599,000 |
$350,000 |
-41.60% |
|
Marin |
306 |
277 |
-9.5% |
$887,500 |
$770,000 |
-13.20% |
|
Napa |
85 |
125 |
47.1% |
$614,500 |
$440,000 |
-28.40% |
|
Santa Clara |
1,910 |
1,660 |
-13.1% |
$700,000 |
$585,500 |
-16.40% |
|
San Francisco |
564 |
609 |
8.0% |
$799,000 |
$749,000 |
-6.3% |
|
San Mateo |
728 |
648 |
-11.0% |
$800,000 |
$670,000 |
-16.30% |
|
Solano |
408 |
592 |
45.1% |
$415,000 |
$275,000 |
-33.70% |
|
Sonoma |
517 |
517 |
0.0% |
$520,000 |
$362,500 |
-30.30% |
|
Bay Area |
7,423 |
7,586 |
2.2% |
$665,000 |
$470,000 |
-29.30% |
Pools when selling… should they stay or should they go?
Sorry about the title, I have been doing a bit of Wii Rockband singing lately. Anyway, one of the bigger questions in real estate is about pools. Do they add or subtract value? In my experience, for single family mid range homes in a family type/professional neighborhood a pool causes any of the following thought processes to occur with buyers:
1) Typically, younger families do NOT want a pool and will either discount their offer to so they can fill it in OR often not even look at your property. Please note as with everything, there are exceptions (I have a buyer right now with young children who want a pool!). The risk of child drowning is too great for many parents (and grandparents). Pool report.
2) It depends on the location of the pool- If the pool takes up the whole yard or if you walk out the back door and have some grass and some place to entertain/play and then see a pool off in the distance (that can be gated). Young families are a bit more likely to buy if the pool is positioned away from the house and even better if it is gated (note: covers and netting are not as valued by buyers and can translate into the offer price).
3) How are the fences around the yard? Many buyers are concerned about the liability of neighbor kids coming into their yard and getting hurt at their pool because of a faulty fence, they could be liable. Fences are often thousands of dollars to replace and can also play into the offer price.
I have had two clients buy homes with pools and fill them in over the last 2 years. The cost was between $7,000 and $10,000 with permits to remove the pool. Any landscaping is an additional cost. If you have a home with a pool, I recommend getting a quote for filling it in (your realtor can do this for you). This way you have that information handy if you get an offer and the buyer wants to negotiate about the pool.
A smaller pool has less concerns as it is less expensive to fill in, easier to maintain and gate.
Realtor=Customer Service
When I am paying someone for services, I tend to have HUGE expectations whether is is a party clown or tree trimmer, if I have hired someone for a job, I expect that person to provide good service (well, I actually expect excellent service and I will accept good service). To me, it is a no brainer, when someone is paying me to help them buy or sell a house, I do all that I can to not only cover the basics of:
1) Answering the phone (duh, right, but how many times do you call a professional and get voice mail EVERYTIME! or some automated system- ugh!)
2) Returning emails and text quickly
3) Doing what I say I am going to do
Again, those are the basics of what I expect from someone I hired. My true expectations run deeper because I see the bigger picture of your network. If you were to hire me, you know a ton of people, it is likely you will know someone looking to sell or buy. I want you to think of me when you talk with them- simple. That is the mindset I have when I hire someone, I expect that they will want to do all they can to win my networks’ business. So, in addition to the basics, I am looking for contractors that go a bit above and beyond. They are tricky to find, but once I find them, you can bet I send them a bunch of referrals!
What contractors have you found to be excellent?
Short sale in Willow Glen
This house at 2573 Malaga Dr. has a lot to offer with a 4th bedroom that was opened up in to an office or living room, A/C 1678 sq. ft. on 7660 sq.ft. lot with hardwood floors and dual pane windows on a great street with Booksin Elem. I was shocked to read that it was a short sale and listed at $799,000. That price just does not have the ’short sale’ ring to it.
It was interesting to see all of us agents adjust our thinking once we realized it was a short sale. Because of the stress a short sale puts on the transaction and the time involved, the value in our minds appeared to drop.
As I was walking through this house I was listening to the agents discuss the details and I noticed the built in entertainment area and how my husband would be removing the wall to get his tv to fit.
Nice house and I recommend taking a look if you are in the market!
holly@hollybarr.net 408 887-3225
Too many round walls make ‘living’ tricky!
I showed a beautiful house in Saratoga today! New house that in my opinion was built to sell not to live in. It has a lot of wonderful features, dark floors, cool lighting and chandeliers even an arched fireplace and spiral staircase.
Lots of curves
While my clients enjoyed the details, we commented on how one would lay out furniture as most of the walls are artistically curved. Guess you would need to buy all new furniture or buy the staging furniture (darn, who wants new furniture???-yes, read sarcasm in my tone
Three things builders and architects should to keep in mind when building a spec house:
1) Buyers want obvious places to put their furniture and ESPECIALLY their TV and family room furniture
2) Buyers like yard! They really do! Do what you can to make the yard look large and usable!
3) Master bedrooms in the back of the house- every time!
Curves are pretty, just keep it minimal and usable!
