Mary Pope-Handy and Clair Handy 408 204-7673 mary@popehandy.com

The most expensive places to live in Silicon Valley

by | Feb 14, 2015 | Almaden Valley, Cupertino, Los Gatos, Menlo Park, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Redwood City, Saratoga, Sunnyvale

High end communities collageIf you’re moving to pricey Silicon Valley, your goal may not be to find the very most expensive places to live.  However, if you are coming here and looking for great schools, it’s very likely that the list of places with fantastic public schools will overlap considerably with that of expensive real estate.

A couple of weeks ago, the Business Insider compiled a list of the 20 most expensive zip codes in the area, and also compared the median sale price in 2014 with that of the same zips in 2013 so you can see how much prices are rising.  These are the median sale price and does not reflect cost per square foot.  If you want a 2,000 SF house, you may not easily find it in the toniest areas!

Their 2014 Silicon Valley areas include zip codes within Atherton (94027 median sale price $3.9 million in 2014) , Los Altos Hills, Palo Alto, Portola Valley, Hillsborough, Saratoga, Cupertino, Los Gatos, Menlo Park, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Redwood City, Belmont, San Carlos, and the Almaden Valley area of San Jose (95120, median sale price $1.177 mil in 2014).  Since it’s by zip code, some towns or cities show up twice, for more and less costly parts of that community.

Surprising omissions are Woodside and Los Altos.

Not sure how Almaden could be more costly than those two areas, but this is the list they compiled.  Read the whole article with the specifics here:

The 20 Most Expensive Zip Codes In Silicon Valley

What does it cost to buy a house in Santa Clara County? And San Mateo County? Both are home to “Silicon Valley”!

by | Feb 4, 2014 | Buying Tips, Communities, FAQs, San Mateo County (The Peninsula), Santa Clara County (The South Bay)

Silicon Valley is a large area, with much of it in Santa Clara County (where San Jose is the largest city with almost one million residents) and most of the rest is in San Mateo County along the San Francisco Peninsula.   So what does it cost to buy a house in these areas? Today I spent some time on MLSListings.com, our local multiple listing service, and pulled the data, which I hope that newcomers will find very helpful.

Below is a chart of single family homes purchased between October 1 2013 and the end of January 2014 by price point.

Santa Clara County sales of single family homes:

Santa Clara County home prices Jan 2014

As you can see, only a tiny fraction of homes sell for less than $400,000.  Most people pay between quite a lot more, with many sales happening in the $600,000 to $1,000,000 range (and it’s more in the areas with best schools and short commutes, generally, so many are much higher, too).  The average Santa Clara County home sales price was $1,002,119 and the average price per square foot was $526.

How about San Mateo County prices?  As you may know, The Peninsula is pricier than it’s warmer neighbor to the south. But how much more will it cost you?

Santa Clara County sales of single family homes:

San Mateo County home prices Jan 2014

The average sales price was in San Mateo County for the last three months was $1,254,114 and average price per square foot was $625 (all sizes of houses and lots throughout SMC).  This is about 20% than Santa Clara County.

Can you buy a home with a contingent offer, subject to selling your current home, in Silicon Valley?

by | Mar 25, 2013 | Buying Tips

Contingent offersIn many parts of the United States, it is not uncommon to write a purchase offer on a property which is contingent upon, or subject to, selling the buyer’s current home.  Contingent offers are not very common in Silicon Valley, generally.  They are unlikely to be successful if the property has been on the market only a week or two, but if the offer is otherwise really strong, home sellers may consider it.  We see a few of them happen here and there, so it’s not impossible to be successful with this kind of real estate contract, but it does pose a few extra challenges.  Let’s see what might improve the odds of success with one of these.

What could make a contingent offer strong?

One thing, of course, is cash.  Right now in Silicon Valley, anywhere from 30-35% of all sales are without a mortgage or loan, they are all cash deals. So if the sale will mean that once the buyer’s house or condo sells and closes, the purchase can happen without a loan, that’s good – no loan means less risk that it won’t close. Even if the resulting sale isn’t 100% cash, if the sale will bring more than 20% loan to value into the next transaction, it will help.

Terms can really impact whether or not a contingent offer will go through.  Some offer terms can be appealing to San Jose area home sellers too, such as a flexible close of escrow date or the option to rent back (at cost or for free).

Many other issues must be factored in, of course.  How strong is the market for the property that needs to be sold?  This plays into the issue of risk.  If it’s an area in high demand, and the home is priced aggressively, or if it is already sale pending, this may lessen the concern that it won’t sell at all.  It’s important to share market conditions with the listing agents and sellers so that they have a good understanding of the situation.

Finally, it should be noted that Silicon Valley is composed of many, many niche or micro markets.  While some areas are “on fire” – Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Cupertino – others are simply good (Silver Creek, Los Gatos, Almaden) and certain areas and price points (think luxury market) are close to balanced.  Depending on where and what you hope to buy, a contingent offer may be more or less likely to be successful.