For those who love a Craftsman style home, there is a BEAUTIFUL one for sale (again) at 1226 Minnesota Ave. in the Willow Glen area of San Jose. This house has 2700 sq ft., artist studio and a HUGE full height basement. It was for sale almost exactly 2 years ago for the same price at $1,425,000. The details of this home are true and original craftsman. From the dental crown molding untouched by the usual white paint (which is a crime!- please no paint!)…

to the built in cabinets in the dining room and my personal favorite a library with a sliding ladder (HOW COOL IS THAT!!)…

The stats for Willow Glen this week are 13 sales in the last 7 days and the count has gone up to 259 houses on market (up 3 from 256 last week).

What is your favorite listing right now?

Okay, financially speaking, the world is a bit scary right now. Banks are closing and being absorbed. I am reading about people pulling money out of their banks (and putting it under their mattresses essentially). Our whole economic system is morphing into something new.

That being said, people (lots of people) are still buying houses. There are amazing bargains to be found. But, how do you find a good lender? One that is less likely to be absorbed or leave you high and dry…

Here are my top 5 suggestions for finding a good lender:

1) Ask about the lenders volume. A good lender is dealing in $100Million a month or more range.

2) Ask about the length of time the lender has been in business.

3) Who do they partner with or who owns the lending company? Do those partners appear strong, do you know the names of those companies?

4) What kind of education does the individual lender have?

5) Has the lending institution ever done sub prime lending?

And, of course, your realtor should be able to guide you to a great lender!

As a realtor, I like to think I am up on the neighborhoods that I serve. Part of that is driving around a bit and checking out streets I may have not seen in awhile. Today, my meandering home took me down one of my favorite streets, Franquette. I like this street because of the huge lot sizes (I am just jealous) and how it always seems to have a house under construction. That street is really going through a metamorphosis. Anyway, today I drove by a stand out in front of someone’s home on that street that was selling tomatoes. About 7 large romas for $1.00. I have no need for tomatoes right now, but I HAD to get some! Can’t beat local and fresh for a buck!! Tacos, salads and pasta sauce for a week!

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.

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.

When a company agrees to move you or relocate you for a new career, essentially, there are two sets of buyers and two sets of sellers all working in concert to close escrow at the same time.

1) The sellers sell the house to the relocation company (seller and buyer).
2) The relocation company (now is the seller) sells it to the buyers found through the realtors marketing efforts.
3) The buyers have an agent and a transaction perspective as a buyer and often a sale of their house that effects # 1and 2 above (possible 3rd set of buyers and sellers).

It is essential to have an agent with sharp communication skills on the phone, email, fax and even texting. With that many transactions happening at the same time everyone needs to know what is happening and what needs to be done.

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10 new listings on tour in Willow Glen today and 5 of them were ranch style homes. These ranchers range (you know like, home on the range…) in price from $798,000 for a 3 bed 2 bath 1652 sq ft on Wawona to $1,099,000 for a 3 bed 2 bath 1880 sq ft. on Willow Oaks. The house on Willow Oaks has a SIX plus car garage (you could store a lot of ranch equipment there). Here is a picture:

SIX plus car garage! Look closely you will see another building behind these front ones.

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Pick of the week! CARMEL COTTAGE CHARMER IN WILLOW GLEN! 1580 Cherry Glen Way (off Hicks & Mercer) 3 bed 2 bath 1732 sq ft. $1,199,000. This house felt like Carmel charm and just gave you a hug when you walked through the white picket fence (sounds cheesy I know, but really you should check this house out.- Open house on Sun. 8/10/08). And, there is a happy little dog that is due any minute with puppies so you might be able to see puppies at the open house! Okay, back to the house, charming bathroom with a claw foot tub and chandelier, remodeled kitchen with what the agent called Metaphoric Granite (jade green marblelooking stone that is said to be harder than granite) and a full size master suite addition that works well for privacy and access to the backyard.

Delightful kitchen with Metaphoric granite (bamboo green)

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Pick of the week 2498 Westgate Ave. 5 bed 4+ bath all one level, 3937 sq ft. on 12,350 lot @ $2,975,000. There was a mixed reaction about the price. Mostly that it appeared to be high. Although the area and home are PRIME, $3M is still tough for Willow Glen.

Here are two cool videos about this house. Keep in mind that I am new to this video thing!

It appears the more highly desired streets are having more listings come on market. This week we looked at properties on Westgate, Husted, Mulberry, Fairglen and Koch. The buzz is that both in August and mostly September there are a lot of sellers planning to put their homes on the market. Typically, September is known as a slower month. From what I am hearing from local agents, this September is shaping up to be a September to remember!

• Number of houses on market for the week of 7/24/08 for Willow Glen was 235
• Number of houses on market for the week of 7/31 for Willow Glen was 227

Professionals in the Willow Glen area agree that 225 is a healthy threshold for the # of houses on the market.

Anyone who lives in Willow Glen should be a proponent of strong public schools. Whether you send your kids to a public school or not , strong schools are a direct reflection of both the almighty dollar (property value) and community strength (do you know your neighbors, can you go next door for sugar, if you are hurt can you knock on a strangers door?).

8/3/08, was the second community playdate for all families thinking of attending ANY Willow Glen public school in 2008, 2009, 2010. Although turn out was lower hoped, there was four families that came. As they say (whomever they are) something is better than nothing… Lets do all we can to build a better Willow Glen!

What do you think about Willow Glen public schools?