Draught in California has been a hot topic.  The Santa Clara Valley Water District offers some programs to help relieve the water shortage problem, including providing monetary incentives for removing lawn for low water landscaping.

There are other things we can do, such as using gray water to irrigate plants or/and installing rainwater collection barrels.  In next blog, I would like to share with you some tips of converting lawn to low water landscaping and installing rainwater collectors.  If you have good experiences with some brands of rainwater collectors, please share with us.

To learn more on dealing with water shortage, please visit
www.valleywater.org

Happy Thanksgiving!

The housing market has reached a new height.  In Santa Clara County, the median price is $965,000, while San Francisco County and San Mateo County are $1,248,790 and $1,250,000 respectively.

What does this mean, when it boils down to our daily reality?

For buyers to qualify for a $965,000 house, their minimum qualifying income is $194,720!  Please see the chart below:

Median Home Price

Monthly Payment Including Taxes & Insurance

Minimum Qualifying Income

Region             Median Price  Monthly Payment Minimum Qualifying Income

San Francisco  $       1,248,790  $               6,300  $          251,980 San Mateo        $       1,250,000  $               6,310  $          252,230 Santa Clara      $          965,000  $               4,870  $          194,720

Happy July Fourth!

When we are celebrating the Independence of our great nation, we shall also remember that in 1776, a nation that captured a dream was born. One of the key elements envisioned by our forefathers was the right to own properties.

Amidst our celebration, we shall ensure that this dream endures for our future generations.

Silicon Valley Housing Market sees Sharp Year - Over - Year Median Price Increase

October 13, 2014

Good news for the active home buyers.  This is like a little breeze in the hot Silicon Valley Housing market.

The activities in local real estate market have slowed down a little; however, the median prices in most counties are up.  The inventory and closed sales are decreasing in Santa Clara County.  For details, please see the most recent market data from MLS:

Sharp YTY Mdedian Price Increase for Silicon Valley housing

Does lower interest rate make house more affordable?

September 8, 2014

After the interest rate dropped, the mortgage applications went up 0.2 % last week from the previous week. The details are in the following link:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101965360

I believe this will spur demand of housing; however, it would not help get more houses to the market for sale.  In Silicon Valley, the supply of homes for sale is historically low.  This helps increase the price of homes for sale.  Compounded with the cash buyers influx into the Valley, any home buyers have not had an easy time in the process of purchasing homes.  Some have been watching and waiting on the sideline, while the brave and young buyers jumped in and bought their first homes. The necessity of owning a home for the young first-time buyers are proving to be correct for this market.

This is just our observations, not solution to our tight real estate market... We welcome your opinions and input.

Thanks for reading.

From being in a rich neighborhood to burglary prevetion

August 2014

So,
Silicon Valley, we are in. San Jose is #2 and San Francisco #4 in the top 10
list of priciest cities for 2013 according to the TechScio website ranking.

http://www.techscio.com/the-richest-cities-in-the-us/

However, do people feel richer?  Or in the shadow of the rich new neighbors,
some felt poorer.  A burglary in our
neighborhood prompted me to rethink about the rich-poor mindset.  I would like to share an article from Los
Altos Town Crier on the prevention of burglary:

http://www.losaltosonline.com/news/sections/news/200-police-fire/48218-burglary-bump-in-lah-alarms-residents-and-sheriff-s-office

Hope you find the reading helpful.  If you
are interested in receiving my quarterly post cards, please send me an email to
HelloDean@gmail.com. So you will get some real estate update not just
virtually, but also physically.  After
all, we are handling REAL properties daily.

Thank you
for reading.

May 2014

On my Spring 2014 mailing, I talke about many water saving devices/practices to help ease the pain of draught: Low-flush toilets, Low-flow showerheads, Faucet aerators, Gray water system and Xeriscape landscapes.  They can increase the value of your property because of the lower maintenance cost.

National Geographic has an article on water conservation tips which gives readers more details:

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/water-conservation-tips/

Hope you enjoy the reading and learning.  If you are interested in receiving my quarterly post cards, please send me an email to HelloDean@gmail.com. So you will get some real estate update not just virtually, but also physically.  After all, we are handling REAL properties daily.

Thank you for reading.