Are you tempted by the lifestyle and the seemingly endless job opportunities in and around Silicon Valley? How do you decide if a move to the Bay Area is right for you? Before you even start talking salary, benefits and move logistics, make sure you do your homework and do a little pre-relocation decision analysis. [...]

Today I had the unwelcome honor of watching a neighbor’s house burn down.  Thankfully a couple of brave souls working close by entered the burning house and woke the owner allowing him to escape without harm.  What if they hadn’t been there?  I couldn’t hear any smoke alarms screeching which, given the owners have lived [...]

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 [...]

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 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 [...]

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 [...]

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. [...]

Wednesday Wow Factor on Thursday (the beach is a bit flaky for wi-fi as it turns out). No “pause for a minute” moments on tour yesterday so instead I’m showing you our recently completed garage remodel. When we bought our million dollar tear down (Silicon Valley at its finest!) the garage was a haven for [...]

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 [...]