Silicon Valley Real Estate Market Trend Report:

Santa Clara County (SCC): Home Prices Pop Again

Prices for single-family, re-sale homes rose by double-digits in September.

That’s the fourth month in a row the median price has been higher than the year before by double-digits. The average price was up by double-digits for the third month in a row.

The median price for homes gained 17.9% over last September. At $1,179,000, the median price is within shouting distance of the all-time high of $1,195,000 set in May.

This is also the 67th month in a row the median price has been higher than the year before.

The average price for homes rose 13.7% to $1,463,320, a new all-time high.

The median price for condos gained 9.6%. Notably, the median price for condos has been higher than the year before every month since July of 2011!

The average price for condos was up 7.9% over last September.

Multiple offers continue to be the norm. The sales price to list price ratio, or what buyers are paying over what sellers are asking remains at triple digits: 105.9% for homes and 106.7% for condos.

The ratio has been over 100% for homes since March 2012 and for condos since April 2012.

Homes and condos are flying off the shelf. It is taking only twenty days to sell a home, on average. Condos are taking seventeen days.

All of this is due to an incredible lack of inventory. Since January 2000, Santa Clara County has averaged 94 days of inventory. Last month it was twenty.

Condos have averaged 87 days since 2000. Last month it was twelve.

September 2017 Sales Statistics (SCC)

* Total inventory is active listings plus pending listings. Active listings do not include pending.

More information is available in our on-line report at http://avi.rereport.com/market_reports

Preparing to Sell Your Home? The 5 Best Projects to do Now (SCC & SMC)

By: Jennifer Nelson

Planning on selling your home soon? Take an objective look around your home from a buyer’s perspective. What would stop you from making an offer? What do you need to do to put your home’s best face forward?

Here are some projects to jump on now in order for your home to be in tip-top shape for a sale:

#1 Update Your Curb Appeal

• Make sure the bushes are all trimmed.
• Re-mulch or replace stone walkways and paths
• Remove any dead plants and trees, and aerate your lawn so it will be lush.
• Pressure wash the driveway, the front walk, and the exterior of your home.
• If need be, have the exterior of the house painted.
• At the very least, apply a fresh coat of paint on the front door.

#2 Get a Home Inspection

The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® says 77% of homebuyers have an inspection done before completing a home purchase. To avoid nasty surprises once you’re in the process of selling your home, have your own inspection done, and make any repairs before you list the home.

You should know that if the inspection does discover any flaws, even if you fix them, you will have to disclose them. But that’s still a much better strategy than letting the buyer find flaws, which gives them bargaining leverage.

#3 Replace Flooring and Paint Walls

Determine if your carpets need replacing or just a deep, professional cleaning. If they need to go, consider if hardwood or another flooring material might be more appealing to buyers.

You’ll also want to inspect interior rooms for dirty or scuffed walls that need a fresh coat of paint. Paint the whole wall, don’t just do touch-up repair work, because it never looks as good. Also, if you have eccentric or loud wall colors, now is the perfect time to update to a more neutral palette. Stagers recommend beiges, light grays, and off-whites.

#4 Tackle the Basement, Attic, and Garage

Often overlooked, these storage meccas can become a catch-all for junk. Get down and dirty in these hot spots and organize them from top to bottom. Install shelving, pegboards for tools, and hanging brackets for bicycles and other large sporting equipment. Your goal is to pitch the junk, sell what you no longer need, and categorize the rest.

“Donate or recycle clothes and bedding you don’t use anymore in order to free up storage space in your closets, basement, and garage,” says Amy Bly, a home stager at Great Impressions Home Staging in Montville, N.J. These areas should look roomy, well-organized, and clean.

#5 Consult a Stager

Buyers need to picture themselves living in the house, and they may have trouble doing that if all your personal effects are on display. In order to accomplish that, a professional stager can create a plan for you.

Bly spends about two hours walking through a property assessing curb appeal, interior flow, closets, bookcases, media cabinets, flooring, and more.

“I give homeowners a multi-page, room-by-room form they can use to take notes on my recommendations,” says Bly. She typically recommends things like neutralizing out-of-date decor, removing old furnishings and carpeting, and updating light fixtures. She also suggests the type of shower curtains, towels, bedding, and pillows to display for an upscale look.

Call or email me if you have any questions.

For further details and a city-by-city breakdown statistics, go to http://avi.rereport.com/market_reports.

Real estate related Articles

Helpful resource for home owners

Many new home owners or owners who consider remodeling or rebuilding their homes should take advantage of their county Tax Assessor web site. These web site and their respective city building departments web site typically have vest information regarding the process for applying for permits, the impact on their taxes and many other resources that home owners should be aware are available for them.

For the San Mateo County Tax Assessor office visit http://www.smcare.org/default.asp

For Santa Clara County Tax Assessor visit https://www.sccassessor.org/index.php

The Silicon Valley 150 Index Corner

The Silicon Valley’s Real estate market is a derivative of the local economy–it prospers and withers depending on how well the local innovation-based sector performs. The San Jose Mercury News tracks the performances of the largest 150 publicly traded companies headquartered in Silicon Valley through an index called the SV150, which may be found at www.mercurynews.com. Stocks are valued based on several criteria, but one of the more important criteria is a company’s future earnings. Therefore, I see the SV150 as a leading indicator for Silicon Valley’s real estate market.

Investors Corne

THE S&P CORELOGIC CASE-SHILLER NATIONAL HOME PRICE NSA INDEX CONTINUES TO RISE

NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 26, 2017 – S&P Dow Jones Indices today released the latest results for the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices. Data released today for July 2017 shows that home prices continued their rise across the country over the last 12 months. More than 27 years of history for these data series is available, and can be accessed in full by going to http://bit.ly/2fQhywM

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San Mateo County (SMC): Home Prices Pop Again

Prices for single-family, re-sale homes rose by double-digits in September.

That’s two of the past three months the median price has been higher than the year before by double-digits.

The median price for homes gained 11.9% over last September. At $1,436,250, the median price is within shouting distance of the all-time high of $1,485,000 set in July.

The average price for homes rose 8.8% to $1,754,060.

The median price for condos gained 6.4%. The average price for condos was up 18.6% over last September.

Multiple offers continue to be the norm. The sales price to list price ratio, or what buyers are paying over what sellers are asking remains at triple digits: 108.9% for homes and 105.3% for condos.

The ratio has been over 100% for homes since April 2012 and for condos since June 2012.

Homes and condos are flying off the shelf. It is taking only twenty-five days to sell a home, on average. Condos are taking twenty-two days.

All of this is due to an incredible lack of inventory. Since January 2003, San Mateo County has averaged 84 days of inventory. Last month it was thirty-five. The number of homes for sale as of the fifth of September were 421. The average is 1,287.

Condos have averaged 94 days since 2000. Last month it was twenty-three. The number of condos for sale as of the fifth of September were 87. The average is 350.

September 2017 Sales Statistics (SMC)

Call or email me if you have any questions.

For further details and a city-by-city breakdown statistics, go to http://avi.rereport.com/market_reports.