Mary Pope-Handy's Silicon Valley Real Estate Commentary

Do you love movies? Los Gatos has provided the backdrop for about two dozen films over the years, particularly back in the days before the "talkies". Recently I spent some time researching this fascinating history, discovering who came to town (Charlie Chaplain among them), when they were here, and what caused one major film production to move on (hint: El Nino).

Want more information and a bunch of links on all of it? Please visit Live in Los Gatos, a blog with information on current events and historical ones, real estate, neighborhoods, local businesses, and the town's issues.

Amazingly, oil was once found in the Los Gatos area, and one of the wells was in Los Gatos!  The history of the oil wells and pumps in town is a bit sketchy, but recently my husband found an old map (online and part of the public domain) with more information on this history. Oddly for us, some of our now major roads were entirely absent at the time that this map was drawn. And added in to the map were lines demarkating the township boundaries (areas within the town of Los Gatos). So I've doctored the map a little to show the roads as we now know them.

If you like history and are curious to learn more about the oil industry in decades gone by, please visit Live in Los Gatos, a blog about real estate, history, lifestyle, and events in the town of Los Gatos.

When those hot summer days arrive, sometimes you just want to get a little relief. Many people in Los Gatos (and Silicon Valley or the San Jose area, generally) do not have air conditioning. So when the mercury climbs to 95 or 100 or higher, it's time to find a hideaway.

Where do you go? The mall? A movie theater? The beach at Santa Cruz?  A water fountain?

There's a hidden spot, off the beaten path just a little and not identified on any map as a place with the reilief you seek.

If you'd like to learn more about it, and where in Los Gatos to find it, please visit my Live in Los Gatos blog.

The Town of Los Gatos has very little open space left, particularly toward the center of town and close to busier roads. Right now we have the odd confluence of two large parcels, in close proximity to one another, whose fate is in the balance in terms of how they will be developed.

Odd that it's happening at the same time.

Both border Los Gatos Boulevard and are close to, or border, Lark Avenue. One has been an orchard forever - OK, not forever, but dating back to the orchard heyday of the valley, when this place was known as "The Valley of Hearts Delight" and people would pay to be taken on a tour of the orchard blossoms in spring. We're talking at least 50 years back in time with the orchards.

The other has been a restaurant and auto dealership so has not really been open space for a long time. Right now it's a big parking lot that seems to serve no purpose other than appreciating in value.

I elaborated on the situation with each in my Live in Los Gatos blog yesterday (parking lot) and today (orchard). Stop by to learn more!

As an apprentice in the Project Blogger competiton, I feel like I've been through a serious "immersion program" with blogging. Suddenly not only do I care about developing the blog outside of Active Rain, but I'm consistently writing one here. Turns out that 10% or so of my posts are "featured". And I thought that was pretty good, as I snooped around various bloggers point summaries to see how my score compared to theirs.

As real estate salespeople, we are often told: "know your numbers!" So ok, I know about 10% of my posts are "featured" and that doesn't sound so bad, does it? I know it's better than some.

But there is always someone better.

Laurie Manny has about 20% of her posts as featured - twice my ratio!  And Jeff Turner gets about 30% of his posts featured - a whopping 3 times my ratio!

So what are these people doing that works?  And why does it matter?

I'm hoping they'll speak for themselves here, but when I look at their blogs, I see good titles (Jeff, how many titles with the word SEX in it did you write?!?!), good content, and a fair amount of "emotional grab". They also write well - that is, it's enjoyable to read their writing.

Why does it matter? It matters for the same reason that you want to come up high on Google: exposure. If someone looks for a professional here on Active Rain, chances are good that he or she will never get past page one of his or her state. When you do more posts that end up as featured, your points and placement both climb. Personally, I have no desire to be #1 in my state, but I DO want to stay on page 1. And I definitely want to be found when folks search for Los Gatos real estate. I want them to connect that immediately with Mary Pope-Handy, Los Gatos expert.

In my short tenure on Active Rain, I've had one direct client find me from this site and one referral from an agent I "met" here. I suspect that if I were not so active in the rain, the referral would not have happened. That's not a direct result of the points, but the activity level is connected.

As we're winding down Project Blogger, I'm thinking about "what's next" and will post about that sometime soon. Meanwhile, my own "room for improvement" is clear as I can see that others, like Laurie and Jeff, are writing posts that are getting featured lots more than mine are.

And before I really knew the numbers, I thought my 10% ratio was pretty good!

Go ahead, raise the bar, guys.

It's good for all of us.

This eternally long contest (14 weeks) is now in its home stretch: there are just 4 more judgeable weeks left. It's been fun, it's been informative. And it's been exhausting.

This is the Boot Camp of Blogging, people.

Each contestant team has put forth a good effort. Some seemed to peter out ...or maybe give up...recently. Most, though, kept putting out better and better posts, with better and better formatting, as each week has gone by.

With four weeks left, it's close enough that no one would declare a winner - anything could still change. But winning aside, I feel like I've done my best and I'm happy with that. And more, I feel like I've learned a ton that I will take away with me, no matter who wins. And I have definitely bonded with a bunch of very cool people here.

So here are my five Me-Me Style Highlights on the "what I've learned" (and somewhat "what I believe") after 10 weeks of Project Blogger:

(1) Like in marriage and parenting, consistency counts. It matters a lot if you just show up...and post.

(2) Nobody else's blog is or should sound exactly like mine because first, their market is probably different, second, their interests are probably different and third, their personality - the filter through which all of it comes through - is absolutely going to be different.  It's like comparing one of your kids against the other; just don't do it. What could be more different than South Beach condos and a Dayton suburb? I can't think of anything. The blogs will be different. Don't try to be or sound like anyone besides who you are, where you are, and talking about the stuff you think is relevant to your target market.

(3) There's a lot of wisdom, and a lot of nonesense, on the web as it relates to blogging. There are no magic bullets that can suddenly make you #1 in Google. You have to just write a lot for that to happen, whether it's a blog or a regular website. And you have to write the right stuff for that to happen too. If you read a lot of blogs and read a lot about blogging, you will eventually be confused, That's OK. Take what works. Leave the rest. We're all making this up as we go along. If you hear 100 ideas and 40 or 4 ring true, take those and run with them - don't worry about the rest. Got a question? Ask. Someone out there DOES know the answer and will be happy to share it with you.

(4) Get a grip on the technical stuff. Coming into this, I had no clue about a lot of the technical stuff (and it's still my weakest link). Vocab words I've learned include: pinging, widget, blogroll, link love, Google juice, blogosphere, open source, my blog log.  Something I still don't quite get: trackbacks. Popular things I'm not sure about: podcasts and casual u-tube style video. (I have a professionally made video but not a u-tube style one on my sites.)

(5) Talk to people - read and comment on other's posts and get to know them - the blogosphere is first of all a community. I had never read a single real estate blog until Fran (Frances Flynn Thorsen, my mentor) asked me to be her apprentice. Honest. Boy was I missing out. So her first assignment to me was to go find some blogs I liked. I found out that engaging with others was the most fun (hey I'm a "high I" in the DISC assessment) and also the fastest way to learn. Don't be an island. Islands are boring. A blog is interactive. So go, learn to interact.

So community, now I'm ready to interact at Blogger's Connect. Who's planning the before and after party? Let's do it!

Credit where credit is due: this idea comes from Laurie Manny, the talented and successful blogger from Long Beach, CA. Recently I met Laurie and a lot of other Rainers at the Long Beach Active Rain Party. Laurie and I were discussing - what else - blogs when I mentioned that I wanted to add a blogroll but my blog (Live In Los Gatos) already had WAY too many links.

Laurie suggested that I do a post with my blogroll, and simply put a link to that post on my home page.

Brilliant!

I did a blogroll for my Project Blogger group today and am very pleased with the results. Soon I will add another blogroll of friends and associates I want to showcase as well.

Once again, it is clear to me that whether in person or online, we can all learn so much from each other.

Thank you, Laurie!!  You deserve public kudos for sharing a great idea with me!!

Warm regards from Silicon Valley,

Mary Pope-Handy

Los Gatos has the coolest stuff, particularly in the oldest part of town: great shops, cafes, restaurants, bars with live music, beautiful parks, free music series and on and on.

And, like a lot of older towns, it has a few residents that just didn't want to leave when they died. A few places are haunted.

I collect ghost stories and am looking to sleuth out a few more places in (and near) Los Gatos. Do you happen to know of any? I wrote about his on my blog, Live in Los Gatos, today. There you'll find a list of the places I already know about (and links to those posts) too.

Snuggled into the base of the Santa Cruz Mountains, Los Gatos is the gateway to the Santa Clara Valley from the coast - and much of Silicon Valley too (which is not really a valley per se, but more a region, with San Jose at its center).  It's an upscale town, with some modest homes, some middle class (but still expensive) houses and a lot of estates dotting the foothills, commanding great views. Los Gatos has a fantastic downtown, great schools and parks, low crime and is generally one of the most highly desired places in which to live in Silicon Valley.

It's a buyer's market here, with rising days on the market, rising inventories, and falling numbers of sales. Some homes are selling hundreds of thousands under list price. But others command multiple offers and sell significantly higher than list price.

What gives?

Right now, the market is the hottest for homes priced between $1 million and $2 million. Homes higher than $2.5 million are stalling out, and the median price is falling. In other words, it is an extreme buyer's market in the high-end market.

A typical home of 2000 square feet to 2500 square feet on a decent lot in a good neighborhood will command about $1 - $2 million. That's what is selling the best now, and if a home like this sells, chances are good that it will sell very quickly. And possibly with those dreaded multiple offers, if you're a buyer.

Small homes on small lots or in not so great areas and huge estates are not selling so fast or so well.

It appears that we are going into a deeper buyer's market.

If you'd like more detail on the current market for Los Gatos, CA real estate, particularly single family homes, please visit my Live in Los Gatos blog. Or contact me for specifics on your home and neighborhood.