Buyers

Homeowner Net Worth Has Skyrocketed

If you’re weighing your options to decide whether it makes more sense to rent or buy a home today, here’s one key data point that could help you feel more confident in making your decision. Every three years, the Federal Reserve Board releases the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF). That report covers the difference in net worth for both homeowners and [...]

Is It Enough To Offer Asking Price in Today’s Housing Market?

If you’re considering buying a home this year, you’re probably wondering about what you’ll need to do to get your offer accepted in today’s competitive market. Previously, it wasn’t uncommon for buyers to try and determine how much less than the asking price they could offer to still get the home. Buyer and seller would [...]

Renters Missed Out on $51,500 This Past Year

Rents have increased significantly this year. The latest National Rent Report from Apartmentlist.com shows rents are rising at a rate much higher than the three years leading up to the pandemic: “Since January of this year, the national median rent has increased by a staggering 16.4 percent. To put that in context, rent growth from January to September averaged just 3.4 [...]

U.S. home prices rise in October by most in 6 years

The end of the summer buying season shows a traditional slowdown in the market but doesn’t detract from the fact that U.S. home prices have risen in October by the most in 6 years. Record low mortgage rates, rising rents and renewed confidence boosted demand in the once battered housing market.  At the same time, the [...]

How’s the housing market? Is your company hiring?

Real estate agents are often asked where we think the housing market is headed by people we meet.  By way of response I often reply with a question “How’s your company doing?   Are you hiring? Here in Silicon Valley we definitely see a direct correlation between the hiring patterns of local companies and the [...]

Los Gatos schools score top marks in the API results

Los Gatos schools have come out ahead again, with most schools and districts gaining ground from 2010’s already stellar performance. Scores are based on testing administered to students in grades K-12 in the previous academic year. The excellent API results add yet another reason to the lengthy list that makes Los Gatos such a desirable [...]

It’s Deja Vu all over again

I feel like I should be watching reruns of Lost – Season 1 and listening to Boulevard of Broken Dreams on my playlist (except I didn’t have a playlist back then). It’s like 2005 all over again, with buyers bidding 10 and even 20 percent over asking, zero contingencies and multi-million dollar cash offers all [...]

Locking in Peace of Mind

With historically low loan rates starting to inch up borrowers should consider rate lock agreements in their home purchase and refinance activities. Locking in an interest rate freezes the terms of the loan while it’s being processed; particularly important if an increase in rates would impact your ability to qualify and/or pay for the loan. [...]

Monday Market News – Bay Area Rebounds depend on Location

I set out this morning to see how my home town of Los Gatos was faring in the property market compared to the rest of the Bay Area.  I started, as I often do, by running some basic calculations on median list price and median price per square foot to see where we are compared [...]

Need a mortgage approval? 5 things lenders look for

Real Estate prices are down, interest rates are at record lows, you’ve found your perfect Silicon Valley Dream Home but you still have 1 hurdle to cross;  Financing Don’t sit on the sidelines assuming you can’t buy because you can’t get a loan.   Here are 5 things the lenders are looking for in order [...]