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Category Archives: Market Information

Lovely West San Jose Home For Sale! Gourmet Kitchen and more!

Written on July 21, 2011 by CJ Brasiel in Buyers' Tips, Market Information

Gourmet Kitchen Ready For You! Overview Maps Photos Virtual Tour Neighborhood Open House Market Stats IDX Search $708,750 Single Family Home Main Features 3 Bedrooms1 Bathroom1 Partial BathroomInterior: 1800 sqftLot: 6,368 sqft Location 1513 Stockbridge DriveSan Jose, CA 95130USA To get updates on open home dates and other property events, please click the “Like” button below: CJ Brasiel Broker Associate, SRES, GREEN Fireside Reatly(408) 406-6035CJ@CJBRealEstate.comhttp://www.CJBRealEstate.com Listed by: CJ Brasiel, Fireside Realty Our recent listings Gourmet Kitchen Ready For You!Reduced! Rose Garden Home For SaleLovely Las Animas Park Home! Subscribe to our listing feed Nearby properties for sale Tags: Buyers’ Tips, Market Information, for sale, gourmet kitchen, great schools, moreland school district, payne elementary, real estate, san jose real estate, updated home for sale

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A Housing Recovery Is Within

Written on May 30, 2011 by CJ Brasiel in Market Information

In a recent industry magazine I saw the word “resilence”. It immediately sent my mind down a winding path thinking about its definition and my world. Indeed, this one word summed up the last three years of my career in real estate. re·sil·ience noun /ri?zily?ns/ The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness. Truthfully, it summed up a majority of peoples’ lives over the last three years. The capacity to recover has been and is being tested in every possible way. In early 2008 we recognized the real estate world was changing. Sometimes changing so fast, it was difficult to sit down at a kitchen table with a seller and explain that their house value had not only decreased but was actively decreasing at a rate of 2% – 5% per month. In 2009, the reality of AS IS became clear as REOs and short sales hit the market and buyers looked at me puzzled by the definition of this new market’s affordability. Yes, you may now get a deal but you have a ton of work to do before you can move in. Furthermore, the return of FHA loans into the California market sent agents reeling into new requirements applied by appraisers and underwriters. But, as professionals do, we recovered and quickly became experts at anticipating issues and added to our daily calendars meetings at homes to provide the out of town appraiser with comps and data related to our local market. Moving into 2010, buyers saw the tax incentives as a way to hedge their bets against predicting the bottom of the housing market but were still very surprised when their offer was 1 of 8 on the REO they found. The “believe it or not” speech I gave over and over to first time buyers explained how…

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Downtown San Jose continues work on San Pedro Square Open Market

Written on May 13, 2011 by CJ Brasiel in Market Information

I for one am excited about the San Pedro Square Market Place in downtown San Jose. Built around the historic Peralta Adobe and Fallon House, the market will boast open market offerings from unique food (no franchise?), fresh foods, and entertainment. I love visiting the Ferry Building in San Francisco and believe this market will truly help San Jose downtown by providing a great, central space for all to gather. It is scheduled to open late this summer (2011) and will provide a blended space of history and new for San Jose residents. For more information about the market check out the web site. Tags: Market Information, downtown, open markets, peralta adobe, san jose, san pedro square

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Which neighborhoods in San Jose are the best?

Written on May 8, 2011 by CJ Brasiel in Market Information, Talk to CJ

There are a lot of great neighborhoods to consider, now it is finding out more about what you want in a neighborhood. Here are brief summaries of neighborhoods in the Greater San Jose area. – Los Gatos, Willow Glen, and Campbell have nice little downtowns with walk to coffee, dining, and some entertainment. From a resale standpoint all work well. Los Gatos has the higher ranked schools. Victorian and Bungalow architecture prevails in Lost Gatos. Willow Glen probably has the most variety of architecture and is most convenient to mass transit (Cal Train to the San Francisco) and the airport. Both have access to great parks with Little League Baseball and Soccer groups. Also the Los Gatos Creek trail connects Willow Glen, Campbell, Cambrian, and Los Gatos and is great for weekend bike trips or running. – Cambrian is close to Los Gatos, convenient to the highways (particularly 17 to Santa Cruz) and also have good resale and strong schools. Some pockets of larger lots and a couple of new developments but mostly ranch style homes. Cambrian Park and Camden are more spread out and do not have a centralized downtown area but have an incredible back drop with the Santa Cruz mountains in view. – Blossom Valley and Santa Teresa are most suburban with most developments being built in the 70s. If you are looking for larger homes with a an extra bedroom or more yard, this is a good starting point. There is a new shopping mall supposedly being built at the junction of Cottle and 85 that is suppose to be like Santana Row. However, recent economic changes have placed that on hold. Of course the foothills of Santa Teresa have a great deal of hiking /biking trails with the 1000s of acres in Santa Teresa Park….

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San Jose Housing Market Report

Written on May 7, 2011 by CJ Brasiel in Market Information

Trends At a Glance Apr 2011 Previous Month Year-over Year Median Price $396,250 $379,500 (+4.4%) $410,000 (-3.4%) Average Price $487,840 $426,794 (+14.3%) $439,217 (+11.1%) No. of Sales 62 44 (+40.9%) 41 (+51.2%) Pending Properties 115 140 (-17.9%) 148 (-22.3%) Active 125 115 (+8.7%) 187 (-33.2%) Sale vs. List Price 99.2% 98.4% (+0.8%) 101.3% (-2.1%) Days on Market 58 63 (-7.5%) 34 (+70.8%) Prices and Sales Days of Inventory Sales Year-to-Date Sale Price/List Price Ratio Home Prices and Sales Continued Rising Sales of single-family, re-sale homes continued to rise in April, gaining 3.4% from March, and up 11.2% year-over-year. This is the fourth month in a row home sales have been higher than the year before. Prior to this period, home sales been lower than the year before for seven months in a row. The median price for single-family, re-sale homes in Santa Clara County was up 3.1% from March, but down 7.5% year-over-year. This is the sixth month in a row the median price has been lower than the year before. The average price was up 3.6% from March and posted a 1.1% year-over-year gain. The rise in the average price reflects in creased activity in the luxury end of the market. Sales momentum stopped trending downward in January. Last month it gained one point to –5. Our momentum stats are calculated using a 12-month moving average to eliminate seasonality. By comparing this year’s 12-month moving average to last year’s, we get a percentage showing market momentum. Pending momentum a harbinger of future sales, while still positive, has also been trending downward. Last month the number was +5, a decline of six points. Pricing momentum while still positive, has been trending down for the past six months and now stands at +5, a decline of three points from the month before. More Statistics… Year-over-year, home inventory was down for the first time since last June: 5.6%. Pending inventory was down, year-over-year, for the…

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Did Case Shiller miss the double dip?

Written on May 3, 2011 by CJ Brasiel in Market Information

I know you are interested in the housing market and I wanted to pass this article on for your review. Lee Adler is a long time investor and wonderfully analytical in how he approaches his own real estate investments. In this post he discusses how S&P Case Shiller Home Price analytics are a little behind the times on reporting. Mr. Adler believes the true barometer the list price to sales price truly indicates current market activity and price strength/weakness. He still warns of inflation and bank held inventory but believes the double dip market has passed. The current list price to sales price ratio average for single family homes in San Jose is 98% (Based on Sales since January 2011 to now) Here is an excerpt from the article by Lee Adler: (or Complete article link) “There’s just one problem with that. Other price indicators that are not constructed with the Case Shiller’s large built in lag, passed the 2009-2010 low months ago. The FHFA (the Federal Agency that runs Fannie and Freddie) price index showed a low in March 2010 that was broken in June 2010 and never looked back. That index is now 5.6% below the March 2010 low. Zillow.com’s proprietary value model never even bounced. It shows a year over year decline of 8.2% as of February. Zillow’s listing price index shows a low of $200,000 in November 2009, followed by a flat period lasting 6 months. As of March 31, that index stood at $187,500, down 6.25% from the 2009-2010 low for data.” “Another weakness which the Case Shiller shares with all price measures is that they do not account for the false price reports resulting from the two home-buyers’ tax credit programs in 2009 and 2010. Aside from the fact that the credits distorted the…

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Where are the foreclosures in San Jose?

Written on April 28, 2011 by CJ Brasiel in Market Information

Simple answer. Everywhere. In San Jose, according to Foreclosure Radar, there are 600 foreclosed single family homes, condominiums, and town homes in the San Jose area. See the map below for the general distribution (partial display as there were too many to place on one map). Certainly there are pockets of hard hit areas, Alum Rock near Central Expressway and HWY 680 and the Mc Laughlin corridor. Other areas are slightly spared from large percentages of REOs and these include Willow Glen and Cambrian Park. Willow Glen has about 5% of active homes for sale listed as bank owned, Cambrian Park 9%, and Alum Rock 13%. Interesting to note that of the 600 reported bank owned homes in San Jose, only 200 homes, 1/3, are listed for sale on the MLS (Mulitple Listing Service). Obviously, there can be some time between repossession by the bank and introduction to market but it would certainly be nice to have 400 more homes for my buying clients to choose from in the market place. Reality prevails and we know that not all 400 will come to the public market. Some are being sold wholesale in bundles for 20 cents on the dollar. Others are purchased on the court house steps by “flippers” and re-sold as a private sale. These flippers are making money. The consumers paying for it are the clients who want “new” in a valley full of 1960 homes. They kindly pay the flipper for installing granite, new tile, and laminate flooring. In some ways, flippers are doing better now in this economy because there are more contractors hungry for work. But I am ahead of myself, because we haven’t counted the pending sales. There are actually 250 pending sales indicated as bank owned on the MLS. So now we are…

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Can I afford to buy a home? Santa Clara County Homeownership Programs Can Help!

Written on April 10, 2011 by CJ Brasiel in Buyers' Tips, Market Information

In spite of doom and gloom push by many, there are many people that do want to buy a home. For most, the biggest challenge to buying a home in the greater Silicon Valley is finding the funds for a down payment. Even with FHA availability requiring only 3.5% down may not be an option for very many come September 2011 when loan limits are potentially reduced back to $417,000. Today I had the opportunity to attend an all day continuing education course on the availability of programs that, in a variety of ways, can help home buyers get started on the purchase of their new home. First up, the Housing Trust of Silicon Valley. A non-profit which has been around 10 years and was formatted by leaders of the community. The objective was to assist families and individuals to purchase homes. In January 2011, the organization received $4 million dollars to assist over the next two years. There are several programs offered from this group. The Purchase Assistance Loan (PAL Program) related to Neighborhood Stabilization Program consensus neighborhoods. This program allows buyers to purchase foreclosed homes in San Jose. Maximum gross income of every individual in the household (over 18 years of age) begins at $86,950 for a single person up to a $163,950 for 8 individuals. Home buyer do not have to be a 1st time home buyer but must intend to occupy the home. Borrower must also complete 8 hours of HUD related education. If the home owner moves out and rents the property loan must be repaid. This is a deferred loan of 20% of the purchase price up to $50,000 at 0% interest rate. For more information about this program go to the web site or contact me. Other programs from this organization include the Closing…

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Unemployed? Worried about your mortgage? CalHFA program may help.

Written on April 6, 2011 by CJ Brasiel in Market Information, Sellers' Tips

In January the State of California was provided federal dollars to help unemployed home owners pay their mortgage. The program is called Keep Your Home California. The program was allocated $874,995,915.28 (Really, 28 cents?) and intended to help home owners avoid foreclosure while looking for new employment. Eligibility requirements include: Homeowner must qualify as a low-to-moderate income household, as follows: Low-to-moderate income of 120% or less of the HCD Area Median Income (as defined by the California State Department of Housing and Community Development), for a family of four, in the county where homeowner resides. (For Santa Clara County, for a family of four HCD is $124,000) A loan financed in whole or in part by bonds that are tax-exempt under IRC section 143, the homeowner is presumed to satisfy income limits. Homeowner must complete and sign a Hardship Affidavit / 3rd Party Authorization documenting the reason for the hardship. Homeowners who have recently encountered a financial hardship due to underemployment or unemployment, including those whose financial hardship is related to their military service. Homeowner must agree to provide all necessary documentation to satisfy program guidelines established by CalHFA MAC. Homeowner must be currently eligible to receive unemployment benefits. Mortgage loan is delinquent or at risk of imminent default as substantiated by homeowner’s hardship documentation. Loans in foreclosure are not eligible. Homeowner in an “active” Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy is eligible for the program subject to the homeowner’s counsel or bankruptcy trustee approval in accordance with local court rules and procedures. General program eligibility is determined by CalHFA MAC, the housing counselor or servicer based on information received from the homeowner. Program-specific eligibility is determined by CalHFA MAC on a first-come/first-approved basis until program funds and funding reserves have been exhausted. Loan servicer will implement the HHF program…

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Housing Market Outlook. Really? Looking for the Bright Side.

Written on March 26, 2011 by CJ Brasiel in Market Information

No one in this industry thinks our troubles are over. We all know shadow inventory lurks, we all understand underwriters seem to get tougher and tougher on buyers each day, we understand short sales are far from streamlined. But in my very humble opinion, most of us believe it is better than last year, and better than the year before that.

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“Who wants to build a house?” A panelist discussion on Bay Area home development.

Written on March 14, 2011 by CJ Brasiel in Market Information

What are residential builders saying about San Jose home market? A panelist discussion with Summerhill, Regis, and Blackrock regarding the housing market and challenges to meeting consumer demands for new housing.

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Behind on your mortgage? Free community workshop February 24 San Jose

Written on February 18, 2011 by CJ Brasiel in Market Information, Sellers' Tips

Need Help with your Mortgage? A great program brought to us by the Department of Treasury and Housing & Urban Development to help at-risk homeowners in our community.

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