This adorable Bowers Crest home sold recently. After being on the market for just over a week, it received multiple offers, but due to the condition of the home sold lower than asking. The home needed a heating system and had a cracked chimney as well as there were some areas were sloping floors were quite noticeable, typical for this area in homes that have been neglected and not just akin to this specific home.

Inspite of those defects the home had some nice clean finishes, new flooring in the kitchen and bathroom, new shower and tub enclosures in the bathrooms, and refinished hardwood floors.

Many people are not aware of this jewel of a neighborhood. The homes here are simple and small, but have very function floor plans, and feature 2 baths where comparable size homes may only feature one bath. Another aspect of these homes is that they have a sliding glass door to the back patio and yard and a full 2 car garage. Couple this with a quiet and isolated neighborhood and you have many features that buyer’s look for in a home.

One of the main drawbacks is the size of these Santa Clara homes. At around 1,078 sqft. most people are not too pleased with the size of the bedrooms and the master bathroom. Generally these homes for the price of other comparably priced homes in Santa Clara offer more and I feel they are a better value.

I have seen several remodels involving additions where the owners have opened up the kitchens and have created very functional spaces out of these homes.

2154 San Rafael Ave., Santa Clara
3 Bedroom 2 Baths
1,078 Sqft
5000 Sqft Lot
2 Car Garage

Sold for $514,000

First off, I’m a huge believer in staging and use it in all my listings. After experiencing the difference first hand, selling an expired listing that was on the market for 5 months in just 1 week, I knew that if you are selling a house you need to have it staged. With that said I incorporated it into my listings and provide the service free to my listing clients. I invested in a storage locker and took staging courses and trained to learn the art of staging. If you are considering selling you need to read this article about staging.

When a house goes on the market homeowners and realtors do everthing they can to ensure the property looks its best. But it takes more than a colorful throw and pillow to disguise a saggy old sofa, or any other flaws the home might have. That’s where a good stager comes in. Stagers are professionals who come into homes or apartments for sale and style them with furniture, artwork, and other decor items to maximize the property’s appeal to potential buyers. More than just redecorating, staging appeals to the psycohology of the buyers by helping them see the property as their home, as opposed to someone else’s.

While staging services used to be the sole domain of those with multi-million dollar mansions to sell it is now affordable for homeowners across the spectrum.

Staging is an investment that not only helps sellers get top dollar for their property, but can cut the time a house spends on the market in half. Currently the average number of days a house in Santa Clara County is on the market is 120 days, my staged homes are selling within a month.

There are four objectives of staging a home.

DEPERSONALIZE

It’s a misconception that ta wall full o ffamily portraits will create warmth. Its so important to deperonalize the home. When you walk into a model home, you don’t feel like you’re in someone else’s space. That’s an uncomfortable feeling, that you’re invading someones space and looking at their persoanl things – persons photos, personal collections, and kind of personal items in a bathroom, trash cans. Anything that says ’someone lives here’ with a big red flag, like toilet bowl brushes or bath mats on the floor, we put away prior to showing the house.

REVITALIZE

My goal when staging a house is to create a very warm, inviting and updated space and environment, so the home doesn’t feel like someone has lived there or for 30 years and feels old and dreary. I want it to feel bright, fresh, and clean, ready for someone to move into immeadiately.

VISUALIZE

A lot of homes have unusual floor plans so when I come in, it’s my challenge to make the home make sense to a buyer. Where does it make sense to sit and watch TV, where are the kids going to do their homewor? I consider these factors when I’m planning the staging and the furnishings.

FUNCTIONALIZE

For me it’s not just about putting furniture in the house and making it look beautiful, it’s really about making the space functional for the buyer, and makeing the best use of it for the way we live today not 30 years ago. The buyer may never live the way I staged the home, but it makes sense when they walk in and it appeals to them.

Santa Clara continues to have a high level of homes sales weekly and inventory has fallen this year from a 200 home high to a current level of 150 homes on the market, a 40% decrease over last year’s inventory levels for Santa Clara.

3020 MARK AVE., SANTA CLARA

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REMARKS:

Listed by Realty World.

I haven’t reviewed inventory levels in a some weeks and with the increased activity of the market I am curious to see how the Santa Clara market is performing.

Santa Clara is very active. Santa Clara had a busy month with 80 pending sales of single family homes. Compared to last years levels for 70 homes sold in March. Inventory has dropped from 190 homes to mid 170’s which is a positive sign that there are buyers out there looking.

For a better look at the Santa Clara real estate market down load my statistics report for 95051, 95050, and 95054 zip codes.

Santa Clara Home Statistics

Title to real property in Santa Clara County may be held by a single individual or entity, known as Sole Ownership, or by two or more individuals and/or entities known as Co-Ownership. Examples of common ways to hold title are listed below.

Sole Ownership

Where one individual or entity is sole owner of the realty.

1. A Single Individual:
   A single individual who has not been legally married or registered as a Domestic Partner.
2. An Unmarried Man or Unmarried Woman:
   A man or woman who was previously married and is now legally divorced.
3. A Married Man or Married Woman, or Registered Domestic Partner as his/her Sole and Separate Property:
   A married man or woman who is either married or a registered domestic partner who will hold title without a spouse or registered domestic partner (the title company insuring title may specifically require the excluded spouse to relinquish his or her right, title and interest to the realty by recorded quitclaim deed or other recorded instrument).

Co-Ownership

Where two or more individuals or entities are the owners of the realty.

1. Community Project:
   A form of Co-Ownership by a legally married husband and wife.
2. Community Property with Rights of Survivorship:
   A form of Co-Ownership by a legally married husband and wife which includes the benefits of community property and that of joint tenancy.
3. Joint Tenancy:
   A form of Co-Ownership by two or more individuals (none of which can be a corporation, partnership Limited Liability Company or trustees of a trust) in equal shares, by a title created by a single transfer, when expressly declared in the transfer to be a joint tenancy. The joint tenants must derive their title at the same time from a single transfer, share identical interests and have equal rights of possession. On the death of one Co-Tenant the survivor or survivors take no new title but hold the entire estate under the original transfer.
4. Tenancy in Common:
   A form of Co-Ownership with two or more individuals or entities. The interest of each individual or entity may or may not be stated and may not be equal. A Tenant in Common has the right to deal with its interest as it sees fit – sell, hypothecate, lease, gift, etc.

Other Forms of Ownership

Entities created under state law. Such entities are:

1. Corporation:
   An artificial entity created under the authority of the laws of a state usually regarded separate from its shareholders.
2. Partnership:
   An artificial entity created under the authority of the laws of a state as an assoication of two or more individuals or entities to carry on, as co-owners, a business for profit.
3. Limited Liability Companies (L.L.C.):
   An artificial entity created under the authority of the laws of a state and can be considered a hybrid of a corporation and partnership.
4. Trust:
   A confidence in one person to hold and administer for the benefit of another. The legal title to realty is held by the trustee who may be an individual, an entity or both who manages the realty for the benefit of others called the beneficiaries.

For more examples on how to hold title download the Common Ways of Holding Title.

Frequently new homeowners will ask why they are paying twice as much (or far more) in property taxes than their neighbor. The answer is Proposition 13. Passed by the voters in June, 1978, Proposition 13 is an amendment to the California Constitution that limits the assessment and taxation of property in California. It restricts both the tax rate and the rate of increase allowed in assessing real property as follows: 

• The property tax cannot exceed 1 % of a property’s taxable value, plus bonds approved by the voters, service fees, improvement bonds, and special assessments.

• A property’s original base value is its 1975-76 market value. A new base year value is established by reappraisal, whenever there is a change in ownership or new construction. Except for change in ownership or new construction, the increase in the assessed value of a property is limited to no more than 2% per year.

• Business Personal property, boats, airplanes and certain restricted properties are subject to annual reappraisal and assessment.

• In the case of real property, the adjusted (factored) base year value is the upper limit of value for property tax purposes.

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DECLINE IN VALUE – PROPERTY TAX RE-ASSESSMENT- SAVE ON YOUR PROPERTY TAX BILL!

There are not a lot of positives about buying a home and seeing that home’s property value decline.  There is one bright side however and that is a temporary re-assessment of your homes value buy the Santa Clara County Tax Assessor.  You can file a review every year before June 15th.  You should receive a manila colored post card in the mail that states the Assessor’s estimated value and that post card will have all the directions and contact information.  I will of course provide it all here for you as well.

I can try and attempt to explain the whole process, but our friends at the Santa Clara County tax assessors office have done a great job by creating an in depth power point presentation explaining every detail.  I will just highlight some important matters to consider.

You can apply for a re-assessment for the next Tax Roll once the cards are sent out by the County in May 2009. That will be the assessed value as of January 1, 2009. File as soon as you receive the post-card, as last years response was so overwhelming, the assessors office cut off the early filing date.

If you need help, I can provide you with comparable Sales for your property, just send me an email.  Comparable sales are what the Assessor uses to determine the market value of your property.  This can be used as supporting documentation for the declining value of your property.  Also keep in mind that this is a temporary adjustment and your prop. 13 value is still historically saved.  Once your property’s value recovers expect that 2% increase every year.

Here is some information about Prop. 8.

Here is the link to that nifty Prop. 8 Presentation

Good luck sticking it to the man!!!

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