Mary Pope-Handy's Silicon Valley Real Estate Commentary

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The Cats of Los Gatos

The town of Los Gatos ("The Cats") got its name long before there was a town logo involving animals by that name.  Supposedly, they were originally created as distinct from the name of the town - not for the name of the town at all.

Officially endorsed, these two cats (Leo and Leona) date from less than a hundred years ago and the originals can be seen today, in their original location no less.

To learn more, please visit my blog, "Live in Los Gatos" and see this post on the cats of Los Gatos:

http://liveinlosgatos.realtownblogs.com/lifestyle/cat-logo/
2 comments • Mary Pope-Handy, ABR, CRS, ePRO, SRES • May 30 2007 12:07PM

"My termite company won't go into my crawl space"


Recently one of homes in our neighborhood got tented (fumigated) for drywood termites. The owners are people we know. My husband bumped into them at the neighborhood drug store last weekend and one of them said to him "my termite company won't go into my crawl space". He was wondering aloud if it mattered.

Let me assure you, it does matter.

If your home has a crawl space, it's not a fun place to visit, but it's a place where you can see if damage is occurring with your bathrooms (say a leaking shower pan), and you may discover if you have subterranean termites or drywood termites. From the crawlpace, you might see termites, dry rot, fungus, or boring beetles - or who knows what.

To simply skip the crawlspace is unconscienable.

About a month ago, I sold a home in which the same unnamed company had performed the pre-sale inspection. With my buyer in contract, I hired a good, local pest control company and also a good, local home inspection company to inspect the house. BOTH of them did do the crawl space.

Both found a lot of damage that was undetected by the company that doesn't go there. We're talking about $10,000 worth of damage.

I can't tell you why any termite or pest control company would not go into a crawl space. But I can tell you that this is not a place to cut corners.  In some parts of California, and maybe other states as well, termite inspectors charge extra for performing this unpleasant task. If you have a crawl space, I would say it is probably worth it to have it inspected, even if there's an extra charge.

And I would also tell you that it's unusual, in Silicon Valley, for any pest control operator to charge more to do this obviously important task. 
8 comments • Mary Pope-Handy, ABR, CRS, ePRO, SRES • May 29 2007 11:12PM

Enjoy Free Music in Los Gatos with 3 Summertime Concert Series

Summer is here - at least unofficially. In Los Gatos, that means that outdoors entertainment is on the horizon.  There will be theatrical performances (Shakespeare and others), movies on park lawns, and many festivals.

But there will also be music. Lots of free music of varying styles.

Saturdays will offer Vasona Vibrations.  Sundays feature Music in the Park.  And Wednesdays boast Jazz on The Plaz.

Three different series, three different locations, some varying times and dates.

To get the complete, composite listing of who's playing where and when, please visit my Los Gatos blog, "Live in Los Gatos".
1 comment • Mary Pope-Handy, ABR, CRS, ePRO, SRES • May 29 2007 09:44AM

Almond Grove District of Los Gatos: Filled With Charm & History, A Great Place to Stroll

Built appx 1890, lovely home in Almond Grove District in Los Gatos. Photo by Mary Pope-HandyThe Almond Grove District sits adjacent to downtown Los Gatos and enjoys wide, tree-lined streets and lovely older homes with interesting architecture.

The streets exude the flavor of yesteryear and are a great place to visit especially during the holiday season.

Recently I posted a blog entry on this neighborhood and included some recent photos to share.

Please stop by Live in Los Gatos (http://LiveInLosGatos.RealTownBlogs.com) and take a look!

http://liveinlosgatos.realtownblogs.com/los-gatos-neighborhoods/almond-grove-district/

4 comments • Mary Pope-Handy, ABR, CRS, ePRO, SRES • May 28 2007 12:24AM

Project Blogger Week 7 Summary

This was a challenging week as I was both out of town and sick for much of it (I am almost well...). But since I managed to pre-write daily posts before the Boston trip, at least my main blog, Live in Los Gatos (http://liveinlosgatos.realtownblogs.com/), got populated daily. That makes it a successful week all by itself in my book!

No offense, but forget the judges and what might be popular this week for scoring. (It strikes me as often unrelated to the original list of criteria we were told would be used, but that is another post.)  Fran and I want to stay focused on the point of my blog, which is real estate and life (history, events, fun stuff to do, beautiful places) in Los Gatos, California. The focus of the blog is to become a local area resource and to showcase my local area knowledge (both real estate related and area-related).

To that end, I was happy with my 7 posts at Live In Los Gatos this week. They conveyed a mixuture of topics (several posts covering overlapping areas) on real estate, neighborhood info., local history, and things to do.

For example, two posts were on neighborhoods. One discussed the reasons why the Almond Grove area is popular (http://liveinlosgatos.realtownblogs.com/los-gatos-neighborhoods/almond-grove-district)/, touched on history, neighborhood customs and issues. Another one gave a review on the popularity of the neighborhood called Surrey Farms (see http://liveinlosgatos.realtownblogs.com/los-gatos-neighborhoods/surrey-farms/) and things buyers should consider when buying a home there.  In addition to discussing these lovely areas both historically, in terms of the present real estate situation and what buyers need to be thinking about, I also took some photos so that the reader could have a sense of the "flavor" of each neighborhood. The entries aren't short, but I think they are what I want them to be: a helpful resource to my target market.

Fran also wanted me to do a post on the book I co-authored, Get The Best Deal When Selling Your Home In Silicon Valley. I find this very uncomfortable (don't want to be me-centric) but I found a way to work it in that I hope is client-centric: I did an entry on when is a good time to sell, then directed the reader to get more information by locating my book online, in stores, or through me. (That post may be seen at http://liveinlosgatos.realtownblogs.com/los-gatos-homes/home-sale-timing/)

Other posts for the week were simpler, shorter, and more light hearted (I try to mix it up with varying topics and lengths of posts): one on a walking tour of town (link to the chamber of commerce's tour), one using Real Estate Shows on some of the nice murals in town, another on a land controversy by two adjoining parks with different jurisdictions, and finally one on Memorial Day events.

I did spend about 40 minutes with Fran on the phone too, and have my marching orders for the next 10 days.

After the last review (of week 6), in which I learned that it's bad to have the banner graphic link outside the blog and I lost points for that (I didn't know...), I immediately changed it and my banner goes to the home page of the blog. Learning curve.

Traffic was down this week and so was the amount of time folks spent on my site. I'm guessing it's for the holiday so am not worried about it.

I did get to visit most or all of the apprentices and mentors blogs. I am always impressed with what I find there and am learning a lot from them.

That's it for week 7.

I would love to read how the week went for the other apprentices too.

1 comment • Mary Pope-Handy, ABR, CRS, ePRO, SRES • May 27 2007 08:12PM

Like Wine? Silicon Valley's Secret Wine Cache


Grape leaves, Handy house, Los Gatos, CABefore the prohibition, the area we now call Silicon Valley had many wineries ringing the hills especially. They were destroyed in the prohibition years, mostly, but not for good. Today the town of Los Gatos and the nearby hillsides enjoy many vineyards and wineries. If you like wine tasting, let's be clear: you do NOT have to go to Napa or Sonoma Counties to taste good wine!  Dozens of wineries and tasting rooms are a mere stone's throw from Los Gatos, San Jose, and Silicon Valley.

To see a map of the many wineries nearby and to learn more, please visit my blog, Live in Los Gatos.
0 comments • Mary Pope-Handy, ABR, CRS, ePRO, SRES • May 24 2007 11:26PM

Surrey Farms Neighborhood Spotlight (Los Gatos, CA)


Gate at Surrey Farms, Los Gatos, CAThere are a few neighborhoods so inviting that I always keep my eye on them, "just in case" some affordable home were to come on the market. One of them is Surrey Farms in Los Gatos, CA. It is a sprawling enclave (gated, but the gate never closes) of low-key but spacious homes on large, half-acre lots. It is a charming area because it is so unpretentious.

I wrote about Surrey Farms in my Live in Los Gatos blog just recently. I invite you to see some pictures and get to know this "close to town" area better by visiting my site.

0 comments • Mary Pope-Handy, ABR, CRS, ePRO, SRES • May 24 2007 11:08PM

The Art of Los Gatos (slideshow)


Theater, films, music, paintings all grace Los Gatos: it is a very artsy town. But it's also a down to earth town with lovely murals dotting the landscape. Come take a look at a slideshow I put together from my photos around town of the murals in Los Gatos.

To see the slideshow, please visit Live In Los Gatos.
1 comment • Mary Pope-Handy, ABR, CRS, ePRO, SRES • May 24 2007 10:44PM

How much are homes really appreciating in Silicon Valley?


Early in my career, a seasoned agent let me in on a secret: the best way to know how homes are really doing (in terms of appreciation) is to find a particular floorplan in a larger development and simply track where it sells from year to year.  (Just take each sale with that floorplan and average the value each year.)  By doing that, you have a pretty good sense of the market and your numbers aren't skewed by a lot of entry level homes, high end homes, etc.

We do have a lot of tract housing here, so it's not difficult to do this (tedious, but not difficult) and it does give a better sense of the market than if you only look at the median or average sales price.

Right now, in Silicon Valley, the median sales price is rising faster than home values are rising.  Some homes are losing value, others gaining.  The number of home sales are sharply down in much of the valley.

Sometimes the tracking method listed above won't quite work due to a shoratage of available sales data. There's another method you can use, too.   To get the rest of the story, please visit Live in Los Gatos.
3 comments • Mary Pope-Handy, ABR, CRS, ePRO, SRES • May 18 2007 08:51AM

Haunted Moss Beach Distillery - UPDATED - For Sale!

Moss Beach, CA May 13, 2007 9:45 am

For Mother's Day, I really wanted to be indulged.

I wanted to drive an hour to a restaurant along the coast and enjoy brunch with a view of the Pacific Ocean.  I didn't want to go to just any nice restaurant, I wanted to go to the Moss Beach Distillery.

Why there? It happens to be haunted. Nortiously haunted, actually.

An agent I know from my same company, Intero, confided in me a few weeks ago that she had been there and took a photo of the place. At the time, there were 2 men at the bar. But in the photo, two men and a blurry lady are all visible. I have that pic - she gave me a copy of it - but it's dark and I think the photo would not show up well here. But yes, the "lady" is visible.

Moss Beach Distillery Historic LandmarkI think it's wise to go into these situations with a good deal of suspicion, particularly if the restaurant seems happy to "cash in" on the popularity of the ghost. And, I will admit, that is the case here. A quick look at the restaurant's website will show you that the ghost is important enough to warrant a section of the site.

That alone should make you suspicious.

(A ghost as a marketing piece?
Yup, it happens. Actually what seems to occur is that haunted commercial real estate does better, but haunted residential real estate usually does worse.)

And when you visit there, photos with strange white blurs are framed as if that's a normal occurance.

Clearly, it's not.

OK, so capitalizing on ghosts is not exactly new.  I have seen entire towns do just exactly that (take Occoquan, Virginia, for example - they have a map of town with little ghosts over the "haunted" buildings).

The fact that they're capitalizing on it doesn't mean it's not there - it just means "keep your guard up".

And what about today?  What did I perceive?  My own experience was mixed.

My sense of the place was that the energy was different. I saw a few unusual things too - maybe they were real, maybe they were faked to excite a would-be ghosthunter - I don't know. But I had a couple of small experineces that could not be faked. And that is kind of how ghosts usually are -  little stuff a little out of whack.

My amateur conclusion: yes, muddled in with the desire to be known as a haunted spot, there really is a haunted spot.

But the current owners would do well to play it down so they looked more legit instead of looking more...well, Pixar. 

I would love to go back in a heartbeat, digital camera in hand.  And this time, I would go at night.

After all, if the Blue Lady is really there, that's when she's mostly likely to make herself known.

UPDATE: 
Monday May 14th
 
I just learned that the Moss Beach Distillery is actually for sale. It's listed at $6,500,000. Interestingly, the MLS does not mention the ghost!  I know that in California, for residential real estate, a disclosure of ghosts (if you have them) is required. Not sure about the requirements on commercial property.

Want to see more? Here's the public version of the mls on this property, with multiple photos:

http://www.mlslistings.com/common/properties/propertyDetail.asp?type=property&open=0&from=mlslookup&name=&mls_number=706380&OnlyOne=Y

And yes, I have added it to my site, www.HauntedRealEstate.com :)





6 comments • Mary Pope-Handy, ABR, CRS, ePRO, SRES • May 14 2007 12:11AM