Silicon Valley home sales drop, prices rise

The number of property sales in February dropped 1.9% in Santa Clara County.   A shortage of houses for sale contributed to the 15.8% increase in the media sales price in the county.

Read the full article here:  San Jose Mercury News Real Estate section

Academic performance scores for schools in Santa Clara County

The quality of the local school district and schools is often really important to to buyers looking for properties in Silicon Valley.  The system is changing, but the API scores from recent years are still a good way to objectively compare schools.  Here is a link to the California Department of Education webpage listing the scores for the schools in Santa Clara County:
http://api.cde.ca.gov/Acnt2013/2013GrthAPICo.aspx?cYear=2011-12&cSelect=43,SANTA,CLARA

My new listing in Sunnyvale - already pending

243 Peppermint Tree Terrace #5, Sunnyvale, CA 94086

Link to MLS listing:
http://matrix.mlslistings.com/Matrix/Public/Portal.aspx?ID=3021387555

This very nice and new condo got a lot of interest and by the end of the day we were accepting offers, the owners had already chosen one to accept.

In the Bay Area, million-dollar homes are torn down to start fresh

http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_25283556/bay-area-million-dollar-homes-are-torn-down

Imagine paying $1 million or more for a home -- and then destroying it. 

That's what's happening in some upscale Bay Area communities as homeowners and wealthy buyers have no interest in upgrading aging houses but instead want to start from scratch and build all-new custom homes stocked with the latest features.

Some great tips on how to get the best deal when buying a house from the Wall Street Journal's MarketWatch today:

 http://on.mktw.net/Pm4ArM

1. Sooner is better  

2. Hire an expert

3. Know the market 

4. Know your finances 

5. Be an attractive buyer 

6. Consider other neighborhoods

 

Welcome to Googletown aka Mountain View

http://www.theverge.com/2014/2/26/5444030/company-town-how-google-is-taking-over-mountain-view

  

Some days it feels like Google is taking over the world. For the residents of Mountain View, California, that feeling is personal. Two weeks ago, Google signed a deal for its very own airport just east of the Googleplex, complete with a blimp hangar large enough to house the Hindenburg. But building a better blimp probably isn't the reason that Google is leasing the historic Moffett Federal Airfield from the US government. At the same time the search giant is building robots and self-driving cars, Google is on a hometown real-estate binge — and Moffett Field could be the missing piece Google needs to reshape the city in its own image... http://bit.ly/1llZ7xY

Expect more Googlers in Mountain View and around the Bay Area.

The Housing Market With Nowhere to Go (but Up) - New York Times on San Francisco

March 2nd, 2014
http://nyti.ms/MKcvNo 

In the past few months, the housing market in desirable areas or school districts of Silicon Valley - Cupertino, Palo Alto, Saratoga, Los Gatos, West San Jose, Mountain View and Sunnyvale - have been nearly as competitive as San Francisco is described in this article. 

I have seen properties purchased in cash for 30% over the asking price or more. I wonder how long it will continue, but there are a lot more buyers and renters than space in Silicon Valley.