Silicon Valley Housing Market 2018 Inventory The number of active listings and the number of new listings have converged.  In previous years, the number of active listings have been a 4-5 times higher than the number of new listings.  Starting in 2013, however, we have been seeing a steady convergence of active and new listings, and just last year, these two numbers have converged.    What does this all mean?  This means that homes have been selling faster than ever before even though inventory has stayed fairly consistent.   Everyone thinks that the market is really competitive right now because of a low inventory but really it is not due to a lack of supply but rather due to a high demand. It used to be that homes would sit on the market for a very long time before they were sold.  In the recent years from 2013-2018, homes on market have been selling faster than ever. Days on Market The data on number of days on market confirms the speed sell of homes.  In 2008 the average single family homes in the Santa Clara County spent 39 days on the market.  Today Single Family Homes in Santa Clara County spend only 9 days on the market. Since 2012 the median number of days on the market has dropped by more than half.  

Silicon Valley Housing Sentiment Survey Happy February! As you may remember, during the holiday season the Property Nerds created the first Silicon Valley Housing Sentiment Survey. In it, we asked consumers what they thought about the trajectory of the economy, interest rates, and housing prices, specific to the Bay Area. The results were mixed – opinions were all over the map when asked about the strength of the local economy but one thing that all respondents agreed on is that mortgage rates had nowhere to go but up. What we also found was that Bay Area residents are “bullish” about our housing prices. Why? The answers become clear in the data below. For question 1, During the next 12 months what do you think will happen to housing prices? It seems that most people think the Bay Area will continue its upward trend. 60.42% believe that housing prices will go up, 27.08% believe that housing prices will stay the same, and only 12.50% believe that housing prices will go down. We’d like to believe that we will have some more balance in the housing market in 2018 but Silicon Valley’s job growth and lack of housing is insulating us from the cyclical downturn that may start to happen in other areas in the country. For question 2, What do you think will happen to interest rates in the next 12 months? We found that 74.47% believe that interest rates will go up, 21.28% believe that they will stay the same, and 4.26% believe that they will go down. Though we have seen a February adjustment in the stock market, we have already seen a steady uptick in interest rates in 2018. As long as the economy is growing, the fed will have no choice but to gradually increase the cost of borrowing money. For question 3, What do you think will happen to the economy in the next 12 months? This is where we received interesting results. Although most people think that housing prices and interest rates will rise, it seems that they are uncertain about how the economy as a whole will behave. 36.17% believe the economy will go up, 36.17% believe the economy will stay the same, and 27.66% believe the economy will go down. This reflects the uncertainty in our country right now. From the new tax policies to foreign policy to who will be in the White House at the end of 2018, this year looks to be a year of volatility and change. So what is the word on the street on the “front lines” of real estate? We have heard complaints and concerns from our current and potential clients about how the new tax policies affect them, but we haven’t seen a concurrent ebb in the market, except in the luxury properties above $5 million. Will any of these factors help with our supply dilemma and encourage more people to sell their homes? And how will the new tax law affect the supply and demand of housing in the bay area in the long term? We look forward to our future blog posts that will go into depth about these questions from the Property Nerds!

  When we were kids growing up in the Silicon Valley in the 1970s, cherry and apricot orchards dotted Santa Clara County back then it was known by many as the the Valley of Heart’s Delight. There was no 85 freeway, Santana Row or Great America Parkway; and it was filled with your classic, middle-class neighborhoods. Everyone drove station wagons with the fake wood paneling and ran into their neighbors while shopping at the Milk Pail Market, or having dinner at Chef Chu’s. We’d never heard of sushi or yoga. Our Mom’s didn’t get “blowouts,” but got their hair washed and set by someone named Gladys at the downtown beauty shop. For fun, we drove up to Redwood City to see Shamu the whale in the pond in front of what is today Oracle. Ohhh…the old days when Shoreline was a drive-in movie theater AND the city dump, and we rode the bus to the Old Mill and watched Star Wars six times in a row. We have such fond memories of the Menu tree (where we got to choose from Chinese, Greek, Italian, Mexican cuisine and more under one roof), Pizza & Pipes (yes, they had organs playing at a pizza parlor), Bob’s Big Boy, The Peppermill, and birthday fun like the world famous Farrell’s Zoo. Sure, there were a few companies in the Valley that would change the world, like Apple and Intel. But at the time we were running around in the hills of Los Altos, Silicon Valley was mostly known for fruit and lots of it. And no one who lived here really saw it coming – kind of like the Trump presidency. Who could ever think that Mrs. Lee’s’ avocado green house — three bedroom, two bath, flat-roofed Eichler down the block from Mom’s — would one day sell for $2.63 million because someone started calling them “mid-mod’s” and doing spreads on them in Dwell magazine? Or that a 1968 apartment building that looks like a concrete bunker would sell a 2 BR condo with multiple offers for over $1.2 million. These days, Silicon Valley is still our home, and we have grown right along with it. We’ve adapted to the high-speed start-up culture with its Iphones, twitter feeds and car-charging stations. We work with original homeowners cashing out and retiring to Tahoe, move-up buyers whose quaint little bungalows have outgrown their appeal (and closet space), and our favorite, wide-eyed first-time buyers who have no idea what they are doing though they are about to undertake the largest financial decision of their lives. These people all have something in common. The common denominator is that they know we care and we can engineer their happiness. We wake up in the morning and instead of thinking, “how can we make money,” we think, how can we help our clients on their journey? In general, we look at real estate like solving a Rubik’s Cube. In any transaction, there are a ton of moving parts, and getting them to line up correctly is the key. We are that nerdy kid in our Algebra Class who knew the patterns and solved the cube right away. We can take the guess work out of real estate, make you feel confident and give great attention to detail. For us, real estate is more than a livelihood. It’s a responsibility. We know our neighborhoods and if you are a Birkenstock-wearing family of community gardeners, we’d never put you in the Country Club where all the neighbors drive Audi Q7s with a Labradoodle slobbering out the window. We also respect your budget. Though your lender may be saying you can spend $2 Million, we don’t want you wake up in your new home in a pool of cold sweat over your mortgage payment. In practice, we’re property nerds of the first degree. We’re not satisfied until we know everything about everything. We’re nosy, demanding and never settle for less than the best interest of our clients. So if you need to know about a neighborhood, school, new development, commute route, walk score or even a specific property, chances are we’ve seen it, bought it, toured it, sold it or are thinking of investing in it (or want to help you do the same). We do our homework so let us collaborate with you to help you unlock homeownership.