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Office: 408-445-5102
Coldwell Banker
1096 Blossom Hill Rd. Unit 200
San Jose, CA
408-445-5102
The “Super Bowl Bump” in sale prices started a few months early in San Jose’s 95126 zip code, and my analysis of the area – which includes the popular Rose Garden and Shasta Hanchett Park neighborhoods – indicates that a downturn in inventory played a significant role in the surge. (more…)
As a “hyper-local” Realtor, I follow seven San Jose zip codes in five MLS areas far more closely than others; in my opinion, an agent can’t spread himself much thinner and still give quality service to his buyer-and-seller clients.
I even pay Mountain View-based Altos Research to help me break these zip codes down into four price-based quartiles and to update these statistics on a weekly basis so that my clients can stay two steps ahead of the competition. Based both on this research and on anecdotal evidence, I expect 2012 to bring both a market bottom and the beginning of a modest recovery to most of my neighborhoods. I”ll explain why in a later post; first, let’s look back on 2011 and see how these seven zips (I call them my “seven sisters”) performed price-wise, compared to each other and to San Jose as a whole.
In a nutshell: The 95126 zip – which comprises the Rose Garden, Shasta Hanchett Park and some fringe urban neighborhoods – easily outstripped its six real-estate siblings. (more…)
Yesterday I showed you the ugliest graph from the seven zip codes I follow the closest. Today, let’s look at the healthiest one – at least for 2011:
That’s right, it’s the median list price graph for 95126, which comprises both the Rose Garden and Shasta Hanchett Park neighborhoods. The area added $190,000 during its Super Bowl Bump, from late January through early May – the most impressive seasonal bounce of any of the seven zips I cover. Like the other zips that saw a healthy spring surge, that was followed by a swoon – from a 2011 high of $696k down to $600k in just one month.
The interplay between San Jose’s many real-estate micro markets can create opportunities for both buyers and sellers even during a down market.
The proof can easily be spotted in the above 3-year graph of average per-square-foot list prices in Almaden Valley (95120) and in 95126, which includes the desirable Rose Garden and Shasta Hanchett Park neighborhoods.
Early January would have been a great time to sell your home in Almaden Valley and move to the Rose Garden or Shasta Hanchett, with 95120 homes priced at $90 a square foot more than those in 95126; just 18 months earlier, however, the situation was reverse, with 95126 prices averaging $30 higher. (more…)
"Is this ... heaven?"
On those admittedly rare occasions when mounds of market data start to bore even me, I occasionally shift into a more unscientific mode.
One avenue for these anecdotal urges is Hidden Gems, my occasional look at relatively obscure (or not) local places and things that add to the overall livability of one of the neighborhoods I follow.
One such unassuming place is Tee Nee Thai, an eatery on The Alameda where both the food flavors and the wine-and-beer lists belie its diminutive name and space. How do I love thee, Tee Nee Thai? Let me count the ways:
1) I love your red curry dishes, the tastiest this side of the red-curry mussel stew at the Fog City Diner;
2) I love your sophisticated and impressive wine and beer lists, and your understanding of the fact that certain beers are best enjoyed from specific types of mugs and glasses;
3) I love your surprising ability to effectively pair wines with the proper entrees to bring out the best in both; (more…)
If you come here often, you know that I pay particularly close attention to seven San Jose area zip codes. That’s about all my brain can handle.
So as we rapidly approach the summer solstice (June 21) I thought I’d do a quick checkup on the Seven Sisters to see which of them might be in the bloom of good health and which might have caught cold at the most inopportune time – during what is normally the year’s hottest selling season for real estate.
The results are in. The Rose Garden is blushing with nearly a 14% gain in median list prices since Jan. 1, while Almaden Valley has the full-blown flu, with prices down 7.4% so far in 2011:
A thriving commercial scene along The Alameda helps anchor the Rose Garden.
For the first time in a long time, list prices in the Rose Garden are looking as healthy as the blooms in the real garden from which the neighborhood takes its name. Click on the “Max” view of the below interactive flash graph and you’ll see what I mean:
Slide your cursor along the graph and you’ll find that median prices in the 95126 zip code have rebounded from a new, long-term low of $507,475 on Jan. 21 to an impressive $697,000 this week: That’s a 37 percent increase in about three and a half months.
Given that we’re dealing with a median, part of the gain no doubt can be attributed to a change in the mix of homes that are going on the market – different sizes, ages and conditions. Indeed, when you switch the metric of the above chart over to price-per-square-foot, you come up with a gain during the same period of only about 10 percent – still quite healthy, nonetheless, but an indication that more is at play here than simply intrinsic home values:
Of course, this is the time of year when home prices tend to rise considerably even during a secular downtrend, but all you have to do is compare the Rose Garden’s green spike with the flatlines that represent all or parts of Almaden Valley, Blossom Valley and Cambrian to see that something more than a seasonal trend is going on here:
Buyers and sellers with a special interest in the Rose Garden can draw whatever conclusions they like from this picture. Indeed, one’s personal circumstances and goals may dictate whether any particular action is in order at all. I’m always available for consultation in that regard.
I will say this much for general consumption: A prospective buyer or seller will ignore a move of this magnitude at his own financial peril.
There’s a new buzzword in real estate circles: “Walkability.”
Simply put, more and more buyers are seeking out homes that allow them to walk to restaurants, coffee shops, bakeries, wine bars, bank branches … and maybe even their jobs.
I’m sure the green movement (and $3.50 gas) has played a role, as well as a desire to merge walking for exercise into life’s more mundane activities as we all try to get more done in what seems like less time every day.
But after a 50-year love affair with the automobile and the shopping mall, maybe many Americans just like the idea of living in a real neighborhood where they not only know their neighbors, but are even likely to run into them while waiting in line for a latte.
Listing agents have taken to touting well-placed-for-hoofing locations in marketing materials. And online real estate marketplace Zillow.com has taken to assigning each home a “Walk Score,” a trademarked term it has applied to its own process of measuring how easy it is to walk from a neighborhood home to a variety of community amenities.
San Jose has a reputation as a suburban kind of town, but it nonetheless sports a number of neighborhoods and neighboring towns that offer a fairly high walkability quotient.
One of the most underrated of those, I believe, is the Rose Garden, a neighborhood of charming older homes just west of downtown San Jose. While Los Gatos, Willow Glen and a few other such neighborhoods with their own “Main Street” have long been known as walkable enclaves, the Rose Garden has come into its own over the past few years as its main commercial artery — The Alameda — has sprouted dozens of trendy new restaurants and retail shops of all kinds. At the other end of the neighborhood, Bascom Avenue also offers a variety of amenities for walkers.
In addition, the Rose Garden sports its own unique added attraction for hockey fans: It’s a brisk 20-30 minute walk from most neighborhood homes to HP Pavilion, a.k.a. “The Shark Tank,” home of the NHL’s San Jose Sharks.
This means if you’ve been too busy to make it to the gym, you can come home from work, walk up to Tee Nee Thai or any number of other great eateries for dinner, continue on to the arena (where you’ll save $10-$15 on parking), catch an exciting hockey game, then walk back (perhaps stopping for a glass of your favorite pinot at Wine Affairs) and be home feeling fairly invigorated well before midnight (or not!)
Now that’s what I call “walkability.”
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