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Posted Mon Apr 20 08:13AM

Hello everyone!

I hope this message reaches everyone doing well. A lot has changed in the Santana Row market, along with the market everywhere. More and more short sales and REO's are poping up. What I'm seeing a lot of is people upside down paying for a $600k mortgage when their place is worth $100-200k less than that...I don't get why anyone would do that unless they're in a buisness where it would effect them to the point of $100's of thousands of dollars if their credit was temporarilly effected. If it wouldn't, it seems the best option is to do a short sale, let the bank take that few hundred thousand dollar loss, rent for a few years and buy back in at a much lower price, have lower payments, build equity for your self rather than the bank over the course of the next 10 years, or however long it would take for your property value to come back up to what you paid for it. Don't people realize that the next $100-200k of equity they build is going straight to the bank, and they're paying a premium for that (a mortgage that's higher than the value of the property). This isn't going to be a quick fix in pricing, it'll take 10 or so years. I hate seeing these owners paying on a mortgage that's more than their property's worth to try and 'wait out this market' before they sell...it just doesn't make sense. Please respond and let me know your thoughts/questions on this?

As far as the pricing is going now, they've unfortunetly dropped a lot. The one bedroom studios on the bottom floor of the Margo are listed as low as $365k, and that's for facing Santana Row, they sell for less facing the mountains, but none are for sale currently. The 2-story lofts are selling in the low $400k's facing the mountains and around $500k facing Santana Row. It's hard to say what the 2 bedrooms are worth at this point since none have sold in over 6 months, but there's one on the market for $829k...the last one sold for $1,045,000, although it was a different floorplan. There hasn't been a 3 bedroom loft sale in a long time, sohard to say what they'd sell for, but the most recent Villa sale was a 3 bedroom for $1.3M.

Now some of you have requested pricing quotes on here, but understand that this does automated values to you and isn't going to be very accurate...please contact me, respond to this, email me, call me, to get a market analysis or accurate quote on the value of your home.

Bottom line is it's a great time to buy because there are great deals out there, and it's a great time to sell if you're upside down and the bank's are willing to take your loss off your plate.

Thanks and have a great day...looking forward to feedback, questions, comments!!!

Gerald

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Update 10/29/08

Posted Wed Oct 29 09:19AM

Hi Everyone!

An update is overdue and wanted to let everyone know what's going on in the market here in Santana Row.

Since the last update a request to see more REO listings was giving so I've added a tab of REO listings in the surrounding area...all 95128 area code. If you ask you shall receive...let me know what you'd like to hear about and I'll get you the info you request.

REO's and short sales have continued to pop up on all 1 bedroom floor plans, significantly reducing the comps which directly affects the sales prices...buyer's look at the comps and see these low sale prices and in the market we're in aren't willing to offer more than previous sales prices for active listings. Not only that, but if a offer does come in higher and goes into contract, the appraisal value is based off the copms and the lenders are so tight that it's hard to get an appraisal and an appraisal review from the lender all passed at that price...this is unfortunetly bad news for sellers and good news for buyers...there's a lot of great deals out there.

There's currently a 2 story 1 bedroom loft + den facing the row for sale for $569,000. It's technically pending, but it's a short sale and still accepting offers. There's one facing away from the row for sale for $497,950!!!...not an REO or short sale! There's several single story 1 bedroom studios for sale for as low as $449,000!!!!...also not an REO or short sale! Unfortunetly for seller's, this is what you're competing against. Fortunetly for buyer's, this is what you get to choose from...people are buying for investment again, and not neccessarily just REO's and short sales...owner's are motivated enough for people to buy from them for investment as well, and won't have to worry about dealing with 6 month contracts for short sales that might not get approved or dealing with REO's that are in, typically, aweful condition. There are 14 active 1 bedroom units on the market and 4 pending.

2+ bedrooms have started to feel the effects of the market as well. We haven't seen the comps show this because none have sold recently. There haven't been any REO or short sale on any 2+ bedrooms yet so the list prices haven't dropped...however because the list prices haven't dropped, nothing has sold. All listings are still what they were a year ago, but the market isn't the same as it was a year ago. People are very hesitant to pay the same for something now as it would've sold for a year ago. his makes it a great time to sell 2 and 3 bedroom units. Lower your price below the competition, you won't get what you would have a year ago, but you'll get higher as a percentage to what you would have got than any 1 bedroom in Santana Row would get, or any house would get in the area. It's a good time to sell 2+ bedrooms, but will be a good time to buy 2+ bedrooms soon as prices drops are starting to happen. Sellers are motivated to sell and they're properties unfortunetly sit on the market and they can either not sell them, or reduce the price. The ratio to what you can get for a house in Silvercreek or Los Gatos to the Santana Row condo can only be weighed so much in one direction...that's the biggest comment I get from potential buyers of 2+ bedroom units..."I saw a huge house for that much in Willow Glen or Silvercreek for that much that used to cost 30-40% more that this unit". There is 1 - 2 bedroom, 2 - 3 bedroom, and 1 - 4 bedroom currently on the market.

We're starting to see a lot of people pull their properties off the market and rent them out until the market takes a turn...unfortunetly we don't know when this will happen...a few months or a few years. I've been fortunite to set record prices in the majority of my sales at the time and seem to get the best deals for my buyers and sellers, so if you're interested in buying or selling and have any questions, give me a call anytime.

What do you want to hear about? Let me know and I'll touch on the topic.

Thanks, I look forward to hearing feedback, and I hope all is well!

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Welcome!

Posted Thu Jun 19 08:16AM

Welcome to my Santana Row Blog. Here's where you'll find updates on Santana Row sales, values, and the market. Feel free to message me if there's something you'd like to hear my opinion on or if you see an article that you think other's would be interested in reading.

Active, Pending, and Sold condos in the past month:

There are currently 13 condos on the market in Santana Row. A number that is historically on the high end, but not by much...typically there's been between 8-12 units on the market at a time. One is a 4 bedroom Villa for $3.5mil and is 3856 square feet. There are 2 - 2 bedroom condos with identical floorplans, one in the Margo and the other in the DeForest for $1,085,000 and $1,129,000 and each with 1,513 square feet. Then there are 10 1 bedroom condos for sale, 7 of which are the 2 story lofts and the other 3 are the single story 1 bedrooms from the 2nd floor of the Margo.

There are currently 4 pending condos in Santana Row...at least 3 of which are either short sales or REO properties and the other may be as well, but unsure as of right now.

The only unit that closed in the last month was a 3 bedroom Villa that I sold for $1,700,000.

Check back soon, there'll be updates often...and let me know what you want to hear about.

Thanks,

Gerald

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I'd really like to know more about any bank owned or other good deals out there. Wondering how much it's going to cost me to move into Santana Row.

Posted Thu Jun 19 10:50AM by John Vukovojac

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