I am suprised that this house is still for sale! So much charm, old world feel, history, beauty, LAND, details. Love this house!

Check out this link for more information about the historical aspect of the house! Historical 1252 Cherry Ave

People often ask how sales are and how Willow Glen is doing. In a nutshell, Willow Glen had 8 sales in the last week. The week before it was 6 sales. There were two sales over a million $. The first one was at 1115 Carolyn Ave. with a list price of $1,979,989 3,825 sq ft. The other was at 1821 Campbell Ave. listed at $1,689,000. So sales are still happening.

The count of how many houses are on market in WIllow Glen is a bit higher than most realtors would like at 259. Healthy number is 225 for WG.

The rose garden realtors tour is in its infancy right now with about 12 realtors touring all the new Rose Garden listings every first and third Wednesday morning. The week of Oct. 15, our first house was A STUNNING home at 915 Chapman St. 6077 sq. ft. house with Four bedrooms and 3.5 baths tennis court, pool and huge game room. Priced at $2,850,000 this house really has it all! I know I could live there and be happy!

Check out this amazing bonus room being used as an artists room. This picture does not do it justice!

From my lender sources, the real estate buyout started on October 1, 2008. The basic translation of bailout is you renegotiate your mortgage with your lender to reflect the current market value of the home. Seems similar to a short sale where your REALTOR negotiates with the bank for a lower SALES price. The difference is with a bailout, you do not have to sell the property.

I have had a few clients contact me about how to get started with a bail out. As with the recent changes in jumbo loan amounts, changes take about 6 months for the banks to get systems in place and get the training needed to provide the service to clients. From what I have heard, Countrywide seems to be the only bank right now, Oct, 11, 2008, that can do a bailout/buyout program for their clients. It is yet unclear to me how it will affect one’s credit.

Please let me know if you have more information about how it will affect one’s credit, if there are other banks that are offering this amazing opportunity to their clients.

Today was the first tour for the Rose Garden area of Willow Glen (especially close to my heart as I got married at the Rose Garden). Here we are at Zanato’s at Naglee and Bascom.

The tour consisted of 9 homes and was organized and led by Nora Sandoval with the well respected Sereno Group. For the first tour, I was impressed with the fact that close to 20 agents attended. We were all seasoned agents and were really looking to bring value to our clients through knowing the newest properties on market.

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 always there are some amazing properties available in San Jose. The total inventory for Santa Clara County is 6360 (4823 single family homes and 1537 for condos). Sales for the Willow Glen area of San Jose have dropped to 7 from 13 last week. The count of how many houses are on market for Willow Glen (area 10) is 256 (last week it was 249). A balanced healthy number is 225 for Willow Glen, so as suspected with this crazy economy, we are still out of balance and it is still very much a buyers market.

Two houses that peaked my interest on the Willow Glen (San Jose) tour Thursday. The first was 1302 Mildred Ave.

A beautiful colonial home- unusual for the Willow Glen area. This 2850 sq ft. home has a wine cellar, 6534 sq ft lot, beautiful details and finish work and a 1000+ ft basement (imagine the possibilities!!). Walk to town on a prime street! Listed at $1,699,000.

My other top pick is listed by one of my good friends at Coldwell Banker Anne McDonough at 1015 California Ave.

Most realtors thought of this house as a tear down as it needs a lot of work and has some serious foundation issues. It is a 2 bed 1 bath 1200 sf ft home on 8300 sq ft. lot. PRIME tree lined street, walk to town and parks. It is listed at $800,000. I will be keeping my eye on this one as $800,000 may be a bit steep for builders right now.

What is your favorite listing? How much do you think builders will pay for a tear down on a prime street in Willow Glen?