Michael Roberts' Blog -San Jose Homes, Real Estate and Houses for Sale

These two Los Gatos homes for sale prove that a listing price is rarely a selling price in our Real Estate market.  We are at a crossroads.   It just isn’t what you might think;

131 Millrich Dr.  this Los Gatos house sold for nearly 1% less than the asking and 411 Clearview Dr., a townhome, sold for nearly 5% over the listing price !

A reminder that ’sweet spotting’ your asking price will always pay off.

The good news….neither property was a short sale.

2 Los Gatos Houses sold this week,

131 MILLRICH DR, Los Gatos 95030 (Los Gatos)Single Family Home 3 bed(s) Baths: 4|1 bath(s)   SqFt: 2,593  Lot: 9,100 sq ft

List Price: $1,449,000     Sold Price $1,332,000.00

______________________________________________________

411 CLEARVIEW DR, Los Gatos 95032 (Los Gatos)Townhouse  3 Beds, 2|1 Baths:  SqFt: 2,122 Lot: 2,220 sq ft

List Price: $749,000 Sale Price: $780,000

Assoc. Fee: $428

We see a crossroads ahead…one where the buyers in the Los Gatos Real Estate Market aren’t in the driver’s seat.    Could this mean the homes for sale are in a Seller’s market?

Remember…

Spring is coming and the end of the $8000 First time buyer’s credit is there waiting.   I wonder if will  lead to more vigorous sales?…bidding?

Prize: $100 Haitian Victim Relief Donation.

Create a Quip Contest!  Choose One of the Perils and Create a Quip Contest.

Pick a Peril from the list below, create a quip and post it as a comment below.  We will take a community vote at the end of the month.

The winner will have a $100.00 donation made, in their name, to their favorite charity helping the Haitian earthquake victims!

David Letterman announced where donations can be made directly.

You can text to 90999 and enter Haiti  to make a $10 donationtoo.

2 silly Contest Examples:

Why do transactions fail?

8. Applicant makes large purchase on credit before closing.

Quip: At least the store was still open.

9. Illness, injury, divorce or other financial setback during escrow.

Quip: You should know better! Mom warned you about escrowing!

Help others! Choose one of the 88 snags -below the video – and create a quip then post it in the comment section below.   It’s Easy and will help someone in need.  Do It Now!  Please.

Pick Your comment to create a quip… Read the rest of this entry »

Tait Ave Home Sold In Los Gatos

You can do a detailed search for homes available for  sale in the  the Los Gatos Real Estate market here.

The Obama administration’s $75 billion program to protect homeowners from foreclosure has been widely pronounced a disappointment, and some economists and real estate experts, myself included, now contend it has done more harm than good.

If you have been reading my Los Gatos Real Estate musings you already know that since the program was announced in February, it has lowered mortgage payments on a trial basis for hundreds of thousands of people, but has largely failed to provide lasting relief. Critics increasingly argue that the program, Making Home Affordable, has raised false hopes among people who simply cannot afford their homes.

As a result, desperate homeowners have sent payments to banks in often-futile efforts to keep their homes, which some see as wasting dollars they could have saved in preparation for moving to cheaper rental residences. Some borrowers have seen their credit tarnished while falsely assuming that loan modifications involved no negative reports to credit agencies.

This fact that credit scores are affected by modifications boils my brain!  The program was meant to help!   In fact, it is hurting too many people.   How are you going Read the rest of this entry »

California Price Shows Year-To-Year Gain for First Time in Two Years
By: Robert A. Kleinhenz , Ph.D., Deputy Chief Economist

The median price of a home in California experienced its first year-to-year gain in over two years during the month of November, as the California housing market continued recent trends in terms of prices, supply, and sales. The monthly median price crossed the $300,000 threshold in November with a median of $304,520, up 2.4 percent from the October median price of $297,500 and up 5.8 percent from $287,880 a year earlier. The situation has improved greatly from a year ago during the worst of the financial crisis, when the median price had registered 41.3 percent year-to-year decline.

This supports the conclusion

After a 59 percent peak-to-trough decline, the California median Read the rest of this entry »

This must be a symptom of low supply and the fear the bottom has passed.

The median price of a home sold in the county rose 9.9 percent compared to a year ago to $494,400 in November, according to MDA Dataquick, the second straight month of year-to-year increases.

The number of homes sold also rose 47.2 percent to 1,649 in Santa Clara County.

“The latest stats show just how much the Bay Area market has changed in a year,” said John Walsh, MDA DataQuick president.

The question I hear most is…”Has the market bottomed out?”

If this price trend continues for another quarter I will answer Read the rest of this entry »

Selling your home because it’s a non performing asset?

Zillow is here to help.

I often compare the short selling of homes to the selling of stocks that are not delivering a fair dividend.   How does that cause a rental market you ask?

This is what’s happening…

The surge of interest in rental properties is due to the decline in housing values.  This is causing so many homeowners to walk away or to attempt a short sale of their homes.   The Los Gatos  Rental market is a glaring example.  Have you tried to find a rental here?    Those upside down sellers need housing and are searching for rentals in large numbers

It is fair to say Zillow has found a new product to peddle.

We can only hope that the lease prices are more accurate than the terrible performance of their “Zestimate” which, arguably,  has not shown to be very accurate.

Their rental zite (yes zite as a play on their ‘z’ nomenclature) provides mapping too.  If you have any experience with the search engine or results I am interested in hearing your opinion.

The spanking Fannie Mae is suffering has become intolerable.

The rumor several banks have agreed to streamline short sales is true and will certainly make the spanking a light one.  How do I know?  When I inquired why my calls were not being returned, for a few days in October, contacts at BofA told me they were being trained for a new program to expedite… Read the rest of this entry »

The following homes in Los Gatos reported as closed (sold) this past week.  Congratulations to the new homeowners and the community they will certainly enjoy!

15400 VIA PALOMINO Single Family  4 bed(s) /3|1 bath(s)23,482 sq ft     Monte Sereno $2,395,000

16242 AZALEA WY Single Family  3 bed(s) /2|0 bath(s) 8,000 sq ft Los Gatos   $1,229,000

102 HOLLYCREST DR Single Family 3 bed(s) /2|0 bath(s) 7,070 sq ft  Los Gatos  $799,000

14225 LORA DR #102 Condominium 2 bed(s) /1|0 bath(s)     2,242 sq ft Los Gatos $345,000

These homes all sold for below their asking price from  High reduction of -9% for Lora Drive and low price reduction of 3% for Azelea Way.  Home sellers and agents in Los Gatos and surrounding areas should take heed of the substantial reductions made this week.    The days on market or CDOM are more relevant factors in pricing homes today than we have seen in the past few years.

This article  (here) is evidence our market is doing better than average.