Silicon Valley Real Estate Blog - 1SiliconValley.com

Yesterday we looked at Cupertino home prices, how there were opportunities in the townhome and condo market, and how the premiums over the Santa Clara County average are at a 10-year low.

But for people looking for their own freestanding single-family home with a nice backyard and a safe neighborhood, the numbers say there's another opportunity to be had, in Cupertino's neighboring city, Sunnyvale.

From 2000 to 2006, Sunnyvale ranked in the top 25 overall safest cities (out of 315) in America according to the private research firm Morgan Quinto.  No other city in Silicon Valley can claim that distinction (though it's also interesting to note that San Jose consistently places in the top 10 safest cities with a population of 500,000 or more.)

The challenge with Sunnyvale is that it doesn't have the hipness factor of Mountain View or the education credentials of Cupertino (even though their school districts overlap in many places). 

What it does have, though, is a first in the last decade: a year-over-year price drop that brings Sunnyvale homes in line with the Santa Clara County average.  That means no price premium to live in a Silicon Valley city that's consistently rated as one of the safest in America.

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Apr.24.2007 [ Filed under: Sunnyvale, Market Updates ] Comment Here »

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 »

Bedford Square (see previous update and writeup) has announced their next sales release (Saturday, April 21 at 9am) and updated pricing.  10 units are available, with an approximate delivery in December this year or January 2008.

There are four floorplans.  Plan 1 units are listed at 1,223 square feet with 2 bedrooms and 2.5 baths.  This release sees four Plan 1 units at $673,900 to $678,900.  On their February 17 release — I keep track of these things — Plan 1 units ranged from $659,900 to $666,900.  Here's my amateur video of the entryway and downstairs, then the video upstairs:

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Apr.19.2007 [ Filed under: Sunnyvale, Mountain View ] Comment Here »

Bedford Square (link) is a townhome community located on the border of Mountain View and Sunnyvale, close to 237.  Pulte, the developer, is sending out messages about the grand opening of the model homes there this Saturday. 

Their phone number is 650-625-1850.  Before visiting, you can have a look at our previous write-up, find homes around Bedford Square, or contact me to run a current market analysis of the properties in and around that area.

Apr.13.2007 [ Filed under: Sunnyvale, Mountain View ] 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 »

As we stood under the cathedral ceiling looking over the stone-tiled patio, we could hear the owner and his son playing their XBox in one of the bedrooms.  It was penned off from the rest of the house so that Cujo wouldn't get loose. 

I thought the top-level townhome was in pristine condition considering they had a Cujo, until I peered into the room and saw a tiny 10-pound pug sitting attentively in front of the television!

There were network connections wired into every room, and this being Silicon Valley, we asked the owner if it was standard CAT-5 or CAT-5e.  The gentleman, in his decidedly French accent, said with a bit of sheepishness, "You know, I'm not sure."  (He was a little redfaced because we'd talked about his job at Cisco.) 

So I asked whether he had a wireless network and his face lit up.  He hopped over to the storage closet in the entryway and eagerly showed off the router, neatly and carefully wired into the connectivity panel.  He didn't check for CAT-5e because he didn't need it.

The network drops were a "nice-to-have" for my client who does a lot with multimedia.  They weren't a dealmaker (and as he discovered not a dealbreaker) but given that this was the first home he'd seen as a potential buyer, he was eager to get some experience looking at houses under his belt so that he could really experience firsthand what his requirements feel like.

In the back of people's minds, most people start off with a list of requirements that I rank order informally using the "MoSCoW" method:

• Must: What they know they want
• Should: What they think they want
• Could: What they don't have strong feelings about
• Won't: What they don't want

For any number of reasons, what people say they want doesn't always line up with what they really want in their minds and hearts. 

A lot of times that's because of the difference between theory and application: being able to actually drive the commute or experience how many flights of stairs there are gives people a clearer picture of "could" vs. "won't".

The tricky part is separating the borderline "must-haves" from the "shoulds."  And with my client in the early stages of his home search, we needed to setup a stable foundation so that we'd learn those differences from every property he would see on the rest of his search.

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Mar.22.2007 [ Filed under: Home Buyers, Cupertino, Sunnyvale, Palo Alto, Mountain View, San Mateo, Foster City, Real Estate Stories ] 1 Comment »

While folks are moving into the Bedford Square master-planned community in July, they've already sold out the first of their six phases.  Its location in Mountain View right along the border of neighboring Sunnyvale is close to many major employers in the Silicon Valley.

Even in the rain that day, it was a noticeably short walk to Verisign headquarters, Symantec (formerly Veritas headquarters), Vernier Networks, and KPMG.  Though driving there from Bedford Square would make even the least green people in California feel guilty, Bedford Square is tucked away so that it doesn't feel like an extension of the office.

The local VTA station and local bus stop pictured above are close as well, right outside the KPMG office, but far enough away where there is no noise impact.  And the Silicon Valley Public Transportation Wizard helps make using it practical.

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Mar.02.2007 [ Filed under: Neighborhoods, Sunnyvale, Mountain View ] Comment Here »

Revitalization of Sunnyvale's downtown area has been an on again, off again, on again, but mostly off again scenario, and the centerpiece of downtown Sunnyvale, the Town Center mall, has been closed for quite a while with the exception of the Macy's and Target anchor stores.

Sunnyvale has a suburban image, and while it's consistently one of the safest cities in America and has easy access to 101, 280, 85, and the San Jose Airport, a revitalization of its downtown area could do a lot to cement its place as a must-live destination in the Heart of Silicon Valley.  But they're going to have to blow up the Target to do it…

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Feb.07.2007 [ Filed under: Activities, Bay Area Info, Silicon Valley News, Sunnyvale ] 3 Comments »