Courtesy SILVAR
The Mountain View City Council voted to increase fees on new rental, office, high-tech, and industrial development, but made no change to fees on new ownership housing. In making its decision, the council discussed the serious lack of available ownership housing in Mountain View and the need to keep ownership an attractive option for developers. The City dedicates these fees to funding Mountain View’s affordable housing programs. Continue reading
Like an ocean view or a Park Avenue address, majestic old-growth trees have become invaluable commodities in luxury real estate. Inspired by their sculptural beauty,
Leafy Mature Trees add Premium Value to Real Estate
architects are designing or remodeling entire homes around them. High-end developers—once known for stripping tracts of land to the dirt and planting saplings after construction—are now calling off the bulldozers.
“You can’t go out and buy a 50- or 75-year-old oak tree,” said Jack Perkins, vice president of Elm Street Development, a residential developer in Washington, D.C. Elm Street bought an 8½-acre estate near Georgetown to build 1801 Foxhall, a community of 27 multimillion-dollar homes. Before breaking ground on the project, the developer dispatched an arborist to catalog and evaluate every mature spruce, sycamore and poplar tree.
CLICK HERE or http://bit.ly/leafyRE for the article by AMY GAMERMAN Wall Street Journal
Fleets of Corporate Buses that dot clogged highways have become the concrete symbol of the dramatic expansion in the Bay Area sending rents and homes prices skyrocketing. The gentrification of neighborhoods have dramatically changed Silicon Valley real estate and rents are up as much as 43 percent within a few blocks of company transit to stops in San Francisco, according to one measure.
Mountain View Google’s Fleet of Commute Buses
As Silicon Valley once spanned the short stretch from Palo Alto to San Jose, the boundaries have expanded marketing prime real estate as – “Walk to your private bus stop.”
“Transportation is the new status symbol” – the hulking luxury buses complete with Wi-Fi and electricity outlets “signal that you have a job and that you have one with a firm that is forward-thinking and enlightened.” “You live where you want to live, we’ll get you to work,” stated Kevin Mathy, Google’s transportation manager, describing the Internet search giant philosophy. That simple goal has become an economic force.
CLICK HERE for an excellent article by Michelle Quinn, San Jose Mercury News.
Courtesy Marlize van Romburgh
N.Y. investors snap up San Francisco’s sprawling Parkmerced complex 152-acres. Plans for redeveloping to 8,900 units.
A group of New York investors has purchased a majority stake in Parkmerced, the sprawling housing complex on San Francisco’s West Side that is slated for a multibillion-dollar revitalization, in a deal that values the property at more than $1.3 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Park Merced Completion
The property currently has 3,221 units. Plans call for redeveloping it into 8,900 units, with a groundbreaking slated for 2015 or 2016. Parkmerced is located in one of the city’s less-dense neighborhoods, an appealing fact for developers as rents and demand soar.
CLICK HERE for the full article.
Courtesy Emily Fancher
There are 200,000 housing units in the planning pipeline or under construction throughout the Bay Area and approximately 43 percent of those are rental units.
Housing units in Bay Area pipeline
The housing pipeline number, which was reported by a Bay Area real estate consultancy, includes market-rate and affordable projects in San Francisco, the East Bay, Peninsula and Silicon Valley down through San Jose.
CLICK HERE for the full San Francisco Business Times article.
Courtesy MLSListings – October 10, 2014
The Internet has made it easier for consumers looking to rent or buy a home to bypass using a REALTOR® and go directly to the source of property listings and negotiate with the owner or property manager. Unfortunately, this can pose significant risks with the widespread problem of real estate scams. This is particularly prevalent on sites like Craigslist where unsuspecting renters and home buyers go looking for great deals and ideal properties. What they can end up with is identity theft, theft of funds and even serious physical harm. Continue reading
LIVE IN & enjoy Silicon Valley! 855 Homes for Sale in San Jose today!
Homes for Sale in San Jose_Jeni Pfeiffer
Quick Search: bit.ly/sjhms BRE#01709666
Year-over-year we are seeing that both single family and condo/townhome markets are showing large swings in closed sales and median price. CLICK HERE for more data.
Silicon Valley Market Shows Sharp Year-Over-Year Median Price Increase
Single family home closed sales are down in Monterey and Santa Clara counties a small 2% and 3% respectively. While San Benito is up 6%, San Mateo is up 13% and Santa Cruz increased by 15%. Median prices for single family homes are up in all counties with the exception of San Benito with a small 1% drop. Monterey is up 6%, San Mateo is up with the highest jump of 18%, Santa Clara has a modest jump at 9% and Santa Cruz saw a 5% increase over Sept. 2013. Continue reading
Check out the latest edition of Enjoy Magazine featuring Ty Pennington! CLICK HERE for your free November 2014 Edition.
Enjoy Magazine Nov. 2014 Courtesy Jeni Pfeiffer
Courtesy Tony Guaraldi, VP of Mortgage Lending Guaranteed Rate Mortgage
As you can see from the graph below Mortgage bonds are at their best levels in the past 12 months! This means most lenders rate sheets will be at their best levels of the year right now. Good time to take advantage of a refi for anyone who never got around to getting it done in the last cycle, those now enable to do so due to rising home values, or people getting towards the end of their ARM loans.
CLICK HERE for the Oct. 10, 2014 Mortgage Rate Sheet. Continue reading