Silicon Valley Real Estate Blog - 1SiliconValley.com

Buy low, sell high.  A lot of people ignore this truism and they believe they have good reason for doing so.  Sometimes several good reasons.  After all, it's not the same as the stock market: most people don't love their money.  Sure, they want the best for it, but mostly because of the things more of it buys.  What does it buy?  It depends on the person.  Maybe freedom, or time, or an easier life, or the future, often in a college education of their children.

No, stocks don't come with locations, or school districts, or uses, except for those jokes about dot-com stocks and toilet paper back at the turn of the century.  But whether my clients are investing in real estate for love or money, I consider providing a solid understanding of the strategies behind choosing a school district an essential part of their property search.

When buying a home in Silicon Valley, you're secondarily investing in the school district where you buy your real estate.  Plus, you can tell a lot about the property you're looking at by how easy the listing agent makes it to find the schools for that location.  But how you choose a school district — or said more generally, how you choose the right location for your home search — depends on your answer.  Are you buying a home for love or money? 

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May.22.2007 [ Filed under: Schools ] 2 Comments »

The California Department of Education (CDE) just released the recipients of its California Distinguished Schools award, which honors the "exemplary and inspiring" schools across the state. 

Typically only 5% of schools are awarded with the California Distinguished School title, which schools are allowed to use for four years — and in 2007, there were 21 Silicon Valley schools (11 from San Mateo County and 10 from Santa Clara County) that received the honor. 

Elementary and secondary schools are evaluated in alternating years and, this year, it was time for the middle and high schools to go under the microscope.

As frequent readers here know, I'm a big advocate of not only looking at real estate in established educational powerhouses, but also finding up-and-coming schools.  After all, schools power real estate demand — even if you don't have kids — and people looking for the "next big thing" in terms of appreciation need to look beyond what's already been priced into the market.

There were some big winners this year in Silicon Valley and this article kicks off a week of market analysis homing in on key cities in these school districts.  Here's a whirlwind tour.

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Apr.22.2007 [ Filed under: Schools, Cupertino, Sunnyvale, San Mateo ] Comment Here »

On cue, our feathered friend hopped up onto the wine barrel and struck a pose.  He was the photogenic one.  A friend of his was laying in the shade preening himself and another went roaming the grounds for bugs, but that wasn't him.

No, he'd been following some of the other visitors around the winery but he put on his full strut when he saw the gleam of my camera lens.  

Here he was: the side of Cupertino not many people get to see.  Hidden off the rugged Santa Cruz Mountains with Montebello Road carving its winding path, Cupertino is Silicon Valley wine country.  

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Apr.06.2007 [ Filed under: Activities, Cupertino ] Comment Here »

[The AMC Cupertino Square 16 movie theater is now open.]

Going up?  Cupertino Square pulled the wraps off the construction they’re doing on the AMC theater set to open in April. 

Stairway to heaven?  Normally an escalator wouldn’t be that interesting, but in this case it’s the visual centerpiece of the Vallco revitalization.

The entire area had previously been cloistered away behind thick plastic wraps to keep the construction hidden and the corridor free from dust. 

While the Strike bowling alley is still several months away, the automated ticketing kiosks and the ticket booths are already up and new tiles leading to the theater are being installed.

People who usually find themselves going to other theaters near Cupertino like the Century San Jose 25 at Westgate Mall, AMC Saratoga 14, or the Century San Jose triplets will find these newer facilities more convenient.

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Apr.05.2007 [ Filed under: Activities, Cupertino Square ] Comment Here »

The California Department of Education (CDE) has released the updated 2006 Academic Performance Index (API) scores for California schools, including data for San Mateo County and Santa Clara County.  The API is a statewide benchmark based on standardized achievement tests which is primarily used to rank schools relative to one another and relative to schools with similar demographics.  Here's an example of what the statistics look like.

We'll take a look at how school rankings and Silicon Valley real estate prices are related, but first let's look at how to read the information. 

Number of Students.  In the first column, you'll find the number of students whose results were included from that school.  It's pretty close to the total number of students, less any excluded students.  The rules for excluding students are listed in the API Base Documentation Information Guide found on the CDE API page.  Surprisingly, the number of students has little to do with how well the school did in its API scores (almost, see epilogue).

Base API, Statewide Rank, Similar Schools Rank.  The Base API score is like an SAT score except it's from 200 to 1000.  Higher is better.  To make comparing schools easier, the CDE provides a statewide rank from 1 to 10 (ten is best) and a similar schools rank that rates schools (again from 1 to 10, ten being best) that have similar demographics and characteristics.  Apples-to-apples in a way.

Growth Target, API Target.  The growth target is the number of points California wants the school to improve in the next year.  That added with the current base API score equals the API target.  The CDE doesn't set a target for schools above the current statewide performance target of 800.

Silicon Valley School District Scores

I've assembled information from the CDE site and the Palo Alto Daily News to provide a table of school district API averages for Silicon Valley and Bay Area elementary and middle schools.

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Mar.31.2007 [ Filed under: Schools, Home Buyers, Cupertino, Sunnyvale, Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Mountain View, San Mateo, Foster City, Market Updates ] 3 Comments »

There was nothing I could do at that point.  The rain was coming in over the horizon and the only choice I had left was to be hypnotized by the sight. 

And as the impending sheet of water draped itself over the sky, the reflection from the setting sun faded through the last details of the ocean below, to the point where only the glow of a golden shadow remained.  Welcome to Northern California.

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Mar.29.2007 [ Filed under: Activities ] 4 Comments »

I'd completely forgotten and now I was regretting it.  I pulled in past the gate to Shoreline Park, which hasn't been manned in years — or at least I hadn't seen anyone there — and into the parking lot where they fly all those beautiful kites on Saturday afternoons.  

You can see the giggling children and the families gathered around a wound-up piece of string as it's whipped through the air by the acrobatics of its airborne companion. 

At least the people who could find parking could.  Me?  I'd forgotten that there's only one way in or out of this parking lot and, since I'd pulled all the way through, I was about to take the hardest driving test I'd had to face since parallel parking as a 15 year-old: reversing 50 yards past families with toddlers hypnotized by the mylar tails of kites gone by.  It turned out to be worth it. 

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Mar.23.2007 [ Filed under: Activities, Mountain View ] Comment Here »

One great way to spend weekend mornings is to check out the freshest produce, delivered right into your town by the local Northern California farmers.  Not only do you get to pick from the best fruits and vegetables the area has to offer, but you also help your dollars go back into the local community.

The Pacific Coast Farmers Market Association publishes a detailed calendar to where you can find the local farmers markets (and what vendors will be there) in your area and the SFGate publishes a more comprehensive list of cities, but no vendor information. 

Here's a sampling of the farmers markets in the cities across Silicon Valley and the rest of the Bay Area; many are open year-round and some of them are open during the weekdays too.

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Mar.17.2007 [ Filed under: Activities, Bay Area Info, Silicon Valley News, Neighborhoods ] 2 Comments »

Who says startup companies are the only reason Silicon Valley is glamorous?  Who says you need to head up to San Francisco for the urban scene?

Santana Row is a uniquely Northern Californian fusion of design, culture and accessibility, recreating the atmosphere of Paris’ Champs Elysees using a distinctly Silicon Valley neo-Mediterranean architecture.

A bustling farmers market lines the streets on Sunday mornings in quaint contrast to the exotic car meets on Saturdays.

But for all the testosterone from the horsepower and club life of the weekends, Santana Row is an amazingly eccelctic place where strollers share the spotlight with Ferraris and people of all walks of life can enjoy the live music.

This walking tour starts from the garage on Olin Avenue, which is most easily accessible from Winchester Blvd.

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Mar.16.2007 [ Filed under: Activities, Bay Area Info, Neighborhoods, Santana Row ] 4 Comments »

Tired of hearing that friendly "Howdy, Neighbor!" from the folks who live down the block?  How about the encroaching silence of a winter breeze followed by hollow footsteps falling beside you, matching your cadence as you peer over the breath on your shoulder to… nothing?

Did you ever think the odd chill you feel when you walk into a house may not be the air conditioning?  No?  Well, let's rest our left hemispheres for the moment and let our imaginations run for a little while.

As fortunes come, go, and IPO here in the only land that's had a gold rush in three different centuries, the Bay Area and its Valley of the Heart's Delight (now modern-day Silicon Valley) isn't without its own stories of mystery.

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Mar.10.2007 [ Filed under: Activities, Bay Area Info ] 4 Comments »