Archive for the ‘Silicon Valley Real Estate’ Category

Top 10 Silicon Valley Real Estate Trends for 2009

By Dawn Thomas | December 16th, 2009 0 Comments

As 2009 draws to a close – you’ll soon be reading lots of  top 10 lists for the movers, shakers, and trends of the year and the decade!   In the spirit of being just a little ahead of the crowd, here’s our list of the top Silicon Valley Real Estate trends of 2009:

1. Low Interest Rates – with More Strings –  Interest rates have been low this year, with periodic dips into historic record  ”low” territory.   These great rates, though, come with seemingly ever-changing requirements and conditions.  Selecting a great financing source who can get you great rates AND help you navigate through the process has never been more important.

2. We’ve Got to Keep It Together For Longer – With the changing lending guidelines, it’s been taking longer for properties to close escrow and having a signed purchase contract did not automatically mean a closed escrow in 2009.   Having a black belt negotiator on your real estate team has been critical this year.

3. “Turn Key” is Hotter than Ever – A few years ago – buyers could purchase a property & count on some quick appreciation to pay for a remodel in just a little time.  Now – buyers can’t count on home appreciation to finance a remodel in the near term & are looking for great condition, move-in ready homes to buy  (as if location and condition ever go out of style in the world of real estate!).  On the other hand – for buyers seeking to purchase a property in a high-demand area like Palo Alto or Cupertino – it may pay to look for properties needing some work.  If you can see the potential in a fixer – you may have fewer competing bids from other potential buyers.

4. Buying a Silicon Valley Foreclosure is not as Easy As It Sounds - Some of the busiest agents in any real estate office are the ones listing “Real Estate Owned” or REO properties for the banks.    Buying one of these properties means navigating a maze of bank-specific requirements for making the offer, competing against multiple offers (some properties are getting 20, 30 or even 50 offers), and positioning your offer against “all cash” investors.  Finding a deal & making sure it stays a “good deal” through the process is not for the faint-of-heart!

5. No Shortage of Short Sales – over the course of 2009 – we continued to see properties listed for less than what is owed to the lender(s) – resulting in a short sale requiring lender(s) approval to go through.   We’re starting to see short sale listings where the lender has approved a short listing price – allowing the whole process to go smoother and quicker.

6. The Year of the First-Time Buyer – with more affordable home prices, the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit, and sweet interest rates – many of the homes sold in 2009 went to first time home buyers.   In the final months of the year – we are starting to see more and more “move up” buyers rousing the mid and higher-end price points.  Welcome!  Please bring friends!   This is a trend we want to see continue & grow in 2010!

7. Deal Hunting in Palo Alto – Where’s the deal on a single family home in Palo Alto for less than $300,000?  The media in 2009 did a fantastic job of painting the picture of real estate in free fall, and we went through a period in the spring where every day brought Internet inquiries looking for the extraordinary deal in Palo Alto.  According to the MLS – the least expensive Palo Alto single family home sold so far in 2009 went for $703,000 for a 67 year old, 703 square foot cottage with foundation issues.

8. Your Home May Have a Bigger Electronic Footprint than You Do - Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are 2009 Trendsetters above and beyond the world of buying and selling dirt.  In real estate, though,  the savvy home seller now ensures that their Real Estate agent is marketing  their property through multiple Internet channels.    Wouldn’t  you want 30 million visitors at your open house – especially the ones who can’t leave foot prints on your new carpet?

9. Welcome to California! – We are working with an increasing number of clients who are relocating to Silicon Valley for a new job.  It looks like both our job market and our real estate market are picking up!   Welcome!

10. Less to Pick From, More Competition – And finally, in many areas of Silicon Valley – we are seeing fewer homes on the market.    In fact, for Silicon Valley overall – more homes are “pending sale” than are actively for sale.  For buyers – this means that there are fewer homes to consider and more competition to get  your offer accepted. For sellers – it means that there are fewer competing properties.  This sets the stage for an even brighter 2010!

We wish you the best holiday season & look forward to serving you and your referrals in 2010!

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Monday Morning Mojo

By Intero Real Estate | June 15th, 2009 0 Comments

Every time you see this person you try and avoid them like the plague because they are so negative and draining.  To them everything is a crisis, everyone and everything is out to get them.  Nothing works and everything that is not going right in their world is someone else’s fault, never theirs. They never smile and they always seem to find the negative in everything and everybody, never the positive.  Anytime there is a small setback it’s like the world is coming to an end.  They treat life like it is a WIN/LOSE game and trust me there is no such thing.  Whenever someone wins and someone loses, both lose.  Does this type of person sound familiar, do you know people like this?  I sure do.

Then there are those people you love being around because for what ever reason they just have this positive energy about them which makes you feel good.  They are always fired up, have a smile on their face and having a good time. When there are small set backs, they seem to find the positive side or don’t even acknowledge it and they just keep moving forward as if it is an expected part of the process.  They are the ones who keep their emotions under control, they don’t yell, they don’t scream, they don’t attack, they don’t fight and they don’t blame.  Now don’t get me wrong – they are passionate and fired up they just don’t fight it and they seem to always find a way to use the flow to their advantage.  Instead of pushing their way through life, they seem to be getting pulled. They are WIN/WIN people who are always looking for ways to WIN with no one losing.

The interesting thing about these two different types of people is the positive ones almost always seem to win in all aspects of their life: Personally, Professionally, Business, Health – you name it.  They actually say people who smile and laugh a lot (the positive ones), live longer and are much healthier and happier.  The negative ones always seem to look unhealthy and anxious, and struggle in business and relationships – they physically look run down.

My question to you is which one are you?  Be honest. Is your energy good energy or bad energy?  Fired up energy or draining energy?  If you asked people around you to describe your energy, what would they say? Fired up and infectious or exhausting and draining.  Are you positive or negative?  Do you fight life or do you use those people and things around you to propel you to success.

It is a choice, another one of those small choices I write about every Monday morning, and the cumulative effect of all your small choices will get you what you want and where you want to go in life.

Make it a GREAT week!!!!


Monday Morning Mojo

By Intero Real Estate | June 15th, 2009 0 Comments

Every time you see them you try and avoid them like the plague because they are just so negative and draining.  To them everything is a crisis…everyone and everything is out to get them.  Nothing works and everything that is not going right in their world is someone else’s fault…never theirs.  They never smile and they always seem to find the negative in everything and everybody…never the positive.  Anytime there is a small setback, it is like the world is coming to an end.  They treat life like it is a WIN/LOSE game…and trust me, there is no such thing.  Whenever someone wins and someone loses, both lose.  Does this type of person sound familiar…do you know people like this?  I sure do.

Then there are those people you love being around because for what ever reason they just have this positive energy about them which makes you feel good.  They are always fired up, have a smile on their face and having a good time.  When there are small set backs, they seem to find the positive side or don’t even acknowledge it…they just keep moving forward as if it is an expected part of the process.  They are the ones who keep their emotions under control…they don’t yell, they don’t scream, they don’t attack, they don’t fight and they don’t blame.  Now don’t get me wrong, they are passionate and fired up.  They just don’t fight it…they seem to always find a way to use the flow to their advantage.  They aren’t pushing…they seem to be getting pulled through life.   They are WIN/WIN people…always looking for ways that they can WIN, but so can everyone else. 

The interesting thing about these two different types of people is that the positive ones almost always seem to win in all the equities of their life…Personally, Professionally, Business, Health…you name it.  They actually say people who smile and laugh a lot…the positive ones live longer and are much healthier and happier.  The negative ones always seem to look unhealthy and anxious…they seem to struggle in business and in their relationships…they look run down.

So, my question to you is which one are you?  Be honest. Is your energy good energy or bad energy?  Fired up energy or draining energy?  If you asked those around you to describe your energy, what would they say?  Fired up and infectious or exhausting and draining.  Are you positive or negative?  Do you fight life or do you use those people and things around you to propel you to success.

It is a choice…another one of those small choices I write about every Monday morning.  It is the cumulative affect of all those small choices that will get you are looking for in life.

Make it a GREAT week!!!!


Protect Your Investment & Pick your Home Inspector Carefully

By Theresa Wellman | June 4th, 2009 0 Comments

posted by Theresa Wellman of the Intero Saratoga office

Today with many of the homes available for sale being REOs and Short sales, there is even more to watch out for. Typical REOs and Short sale had owners who did not take care of their homes or worse yet, left damage. So a thorough property inspector is an essential piece of a home purchase.

Why Can’t You Do it Yourself?

I know, now that you are getting your own home, you want to care for it and desire to know the ins and outs. The inspection period when buying a home is not the time for this. Even the most experienced homeowner lacks the knowledge and expertise of a professional home inspector (Do you inspect 2-3 homes per day as your job?). An inspector is familiar with the elements of home construction, proper installation, maintenance, building codes and home safety. He or she knows how the home’s systems and components are intended to function together, as well as why they fail. Above all, most buyers find it difficult to remain completely objective and unemotional about the house they really want, and this may have an effect on their judgment. For accurate information, it is best to obtain an impartial, third-party opinion by a professional in the field of home inspection.

How do you choose a home inspector?

1. Work with your real estate agent’s recommendation.

a. Agents who have experience in the business can tell a thorough inspector from one who just breezes through a quick checklist. Agents do not get anything from recommending one inspector other than piece of mind that a professional is looking at the home. If a property inspector misses something, there could potentially be a lawsuit and no experienced agent wants to risk that.

2. Check your local ASHI (American Society of Home Inspectors) chapter for recommendations in your area. It is very important that your inspector be aware of the area and what is normal for local homes or what items to look out for. Be wise making one of the largest investments in your life and hire a qualified home inspector!

Any other recommendations on how to find a good inspector?

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Has The Silicon Valley Real Estate Market Hit Bottom?

By Dawn Thomas | May 22nd, 2009 0 Comments

posted by the Dawn Thomas Team of the Intero Los Altos office

The Silicon Valley Real Estate Market continues to pick up momentum.  The question is, have we hit bottom and are we heading out of this or is this just a short upswing before the bottom really falls out?  I wish I had the answers to that question.  My suggestion right now would be that if you are considering a real estate purchase, jump in now.  You simply cannot go wrong.  If you are selling or need to sell—list now and price your home to move fast.  If this is a short upswing then you don’t want to miss your chance to sell now during an upswing.

How long of a window might we have?  Who knows???  I would guess that we might see a better market for at least the next 60-90 days.  The longer term problem could be increased interest rates or the increase in inventory of short-sale and foreclosed homes.  Any of these could have a negative impact on our local market.  My suggestion is don’t watch national trends, but focus mostly on what you see taking place in our community and listen to your Real Estate professional for the best perspective on what’s really going on.  Your Realtor® has his/her ear to the ground every day and knows the pulse of the local market.

Have you noticed that mass media has stopped talking about Real Estate since the drama is no longer left in the story and there’s no more “tragedy?” Take notice of this, my readers!

Let’s Talk Trends
For Silicon Valley Real Estate as a whole, check out these trends. Bottom line—if the trends continue, we will see a shortage of inventory in the not-so-distant future. The last time this happened was in 2005.

In Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, and Mountain View, we are seeing some upward momentum in certain areas and fairly regular activity in others (stats from April 2009):

Los Altos—New listings increased (118% of April 2008); Inventory is 203% of April 2008; Closed sales are 45% of April 2008.

Los Altos (comparing April ’09 to March ’09)—17 more new listings entered the market in April, making the current inventory of active homes 132. Closed sales were down a bit—11, which was 78.5% of March’s closings.

Los Altos Hills—New listings increased – 1.5 times more in April 2009 than in April 2008; Inventory is 159% of April 2008; Closed sales were right on point with April 2008.

Los Altos Hills (comparing April ’09 to March ’09)—27 more listings came on in April, making the current inventory of active homes 70. Closed sales were 6, which is the total of combined sales for all of Dec. ‘08 – Mar. ’09). This is an excellent trend for the higher-end!

Mountain View—New listings increased (115% of April 2008); Inventory is 200% of April 2008; Closed sales are 133% of April 2008—another great upward momentum indicator for our market!

Mountain View (comparing April ’09 to March ’09)—45 more listings came onto the market in April, completing month-end active inventory at 108. April’s closed sales exactly doubled March’s at 20!

So, I will ask you—have we hit bottom? I would love hear your comments!

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Gino Talks to CNBC

By Intero Real Estate | August 20th, 2007 0 Comments

Jim Goldman of Tech Check talks about Silicon Valley real estate sales and the credit crunchGino’s on CNBC’s Tech Check with Jim Goldman today talking about Silicon Valley and the credit market crunch . . . or lack thereof. Mostly, Goldman has focused on the high–end market—homes well over $1 million—and how buyers in this price range aren’t affected by the credit crunch. He acknowledges, as do we all, that lower–priced neighborhoods are being affected.

Check it out.

Silicon Valley: Why There’s No Mortgage Crunch Here