Santa Clara Valley Living

I have been analyzing inventory lately to gauge the health of the real estate market in various cities in the Santa Clara Valley.  While analyzing inventory is important its also important to see the effects of inventory increase on the amount of time that listings are siting on the market.  These graphs compare this the [...]

Tax Credit for Homebuyers
First-time homebuyers who purchase homes from the start of the year until the end of November 2009 may be eligible for the lower of an $8,000 or 10% of the value of the home tax credit. Remember a tax credit is very different than a tax deduction – a tax credit is equivalent [...]

This is the latest in a multi-part post dedicated to recording my experiences working with a buyer to purchase a REO or bank owned home Santa Clara.  After submitting 4 offers where we were out bid each time we finally got  a contract accepted.  The property is 716 Kiely Blvd., in Santa Clara. It is in [...]

Spotting trends in the market is certainly the way to find the market bottom of the Santa Clara Valley real estate market.  In this post I am looking specifically at Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Los Altos, Saratoga, Los Gatos, and Los Altos markets.  Looking at Sales and Inventory information to get an idea of how [...]

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
SHORT SALES: THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT
1. What is a short sale?
A short sale* is a sales transaction in which the seller’s lender agrees to accept a payoff of less than the balance due on the loan. In addition to absorbing any loss on the loan, the lender in most [...]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan said Thursday it’s critically important that banks and lending institutions "step up to the plate" to help make certain the Obama administration’s new home foreclosure initiative succeeds.
"This started as a mortgage crisis but it’s become a jobs crisis," said Donovan, speaking a day after President Barack Obama announced [...]

Title to real property in Santa Clara County may be held by a single individual or entity, known as Sole Ownership, or by two or more individuals and/or entities known as Co-Ownership. Examples of common ways to hold title are listed below.

Sole Ownership

Where one individual or entity is sole

With so many bank owned properties you would think it should be easy to snag one of these properties for yourself.  The problem is that you are not the only one thinking that way.  Here in Santa Clara County we experience about 40 REO properties a day.  Most pertain to areas like

Frequently new homeowners will ask why they are paying twice as much (or far more) in property taxes than their neighbor. The answer is Proposition 13. Passed by the voters in June, 1978, Proposition 13 is an amendment to the California Constitution that limits the assessment and taxation of property in California. It restricts both [...]

The Santa Clara home market sales continues to perform better than last years numbers.   So far this year 61 homes have sold versus last year’s 38 during the same time period.  Inventory numbers are about the same across the boad, and will start picking up.  More likely to see some further price decreases, but [...]