Restaurant Asa in Los Gatos
Last week a friend and I met to enjoy lunch at Restaurant Asa, which opened a few months ago. It was the first time there for both of us and we were anxious to give it a try since we’d only heard good things about it. The eatery’s location is super convenient and is a big plus: Asa sits just across from the Los Gatos Lodge, adjacent to the Best Western Inn of Los Gatos – at the corner of Alberto Way and Los Gatos-Saratoga Road. This is the same location where Grill 57 was until this summer. There’s no shortage of nearby parking, which cannot always be said of restaurants in town.
An attractive, inviting patio dining area sits behind the planters in the photo above.
Inside, a waiting area features two comfy couches. A well appointed wine case is to the right and a full bar to the left. The room is open, clean, quiet (while fairly full), and offers pleasant decor.
Los Gatos Tree Lighting Ceremony and Parade
Two of the best attended and most celebrated holiday events in town are the Los Gatos annual tree lighting and the parade, both of which usually happen the first weekend in December.
Annual Town Tree Lighting
This year, the Los Gatos Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony will take place Friday, December 6th, at the Town Plaza Park (located at Main & Santa Cruz).
The fun begins at 4:45pm with music provided by the Joyful Sounds Brass Quintet. At 5:15pm the Fischer Middle School Band will perform, followed by a performance by the Los Gatos Ballet at 5:35pm.
Youth awards will be given at 5:50pm.
At 6pm the historic tree is lit, and Santa arrives with a full entourage on a classic firetruck to visit with the children until 7pm.
There will also be snacks, crafts, and even a snow storm (the fun kind, of course)! Other refreshments will be available for purchase, going to the support of the Los Gatos Community Foundation.
For more information about this event, please visit the official Holiday Tree Lighting page on the Los Gatos Town website.
The 63rd Annual Los Gatos Children’s Christmas/Holidays Parade!
On the morning following the tree lighting, return to the downtown area to watch the annual Los Gatos Children’s Christmas/Holiday Parade travel down E Main Street and N Santa Cruz Avenue. It begins at 11am rain or shine December 7th. Parking and seats go quickly so plan to arrive early! Or skip the traffic and road closures and arrive by bike, with a free bicycle valet service provided from 7:30am – 2pm at Municipal Lot #1 behind Hults Restaurant.
Sponsors include LGS Recreation, Los Gatos Christmas Foundation, Los Gatos Lions club, and the LG Christmas Foundation.
Learn more at the LGS Recreation official parade page or on the Los Gatos Chamber’s website.
Los Gatos holiday parade
Blossom Hill Manor Real Estate Market
Map of the Blossom Hill Manor neighborhood of Los Gatos (east Los Gatos)
The Blossom Hill Manor (aka “the Manor” or “Blossom Manor”) is a highly sought after neighborhood with its close proximity to the well regarded Los Gatos schools, parks, shops, grocery stores and major transit routes. Homes there are nicely maintained, many streets are tree-lined and there’s a good amount of community spirit and involvement in this close-in, walkable area. Explore the area more using my Google Map of Blossom Manor, or take a video drive-through of the neighborhood at my other post, The Blossom Manor neighborhood of Los Gatos.
In this posting, we’ll discuss the Blossom Manor real estate market. The real estate market in Los Gatos has been on fire like the rest of the Bay Area over the last few years, but there’s a great deal of variation from one area, price point, school district, age and condition of home to the next. As you can imagine, the “fixer” market is very different from the luxury market.
So far in 2019, there have been 15 closed sales in The Manor. A few quick stats on those sales:
- Average list price $2,150,343
- Average sale price $2,207,518 (103% of list price)
- Median sale price $2,060,000
- Least expensive list price $1,589,000
- Lease expensive sale price $1,775,000
- Most expensive list price $2,749,000
- Most expensive sale price $2,790,000
- Average price per SF $1,114.61
- Average days on market 16
- Average living space 2046 SF
- Average lot size 9,431 SF
- Average age of the home 61 years
Of these 15 sales, 9 were over list price, 1 was exactly at list price (an off market sale – the only one not exposed publicly before selling), and the rest sold under list price. Continue reading
Thanksgiving Interfaith Service in Los Gatos
The annual Thanksgiving Interfaith Service in Los Gatos is this Tuesday, November 26th, from 7:00 to 8:00pm. All are welcome! Each year, the ecumenical service is held at a different house of worship. The organization under which this happens is the Los Gatos Interfaith Clergy Association.
This year it is held at Congregation Shir Hadash, located at 20 Cherry Blossom Lane Los Gatos, CA 95032. A big highlight of the event, which often draws about 350 attendees, is the joint choir. A reception is held afterwards.
Those attending the Thanksgiving Interfaith Service are encouraged to bring canned food to donate to West Valley Community Services and St. Luke’s Lunch Program.
Thanksgiving Interfaith Service sponsors include:
The Baha’i Faith of Los Gatos
https://www.shirhadash.org/event/interfaith-thanksgiving-service3.html
I wish each and every one of you a very Happy Thanksgiving!
Vasona Park’s Fantasy of Lights (Light Festival)
21st Annual Fantasy of Lights logo, from the SCCP event page.
The 21st annual Fantasy of Lights show at Vasona Lake County Park begins soon! Occasionally people call me to ask about it – please note that I do not run the event – I am only posting information about it. Full info can be found on the county’s park website – see link below.
When: The Fantasy of Lights runs from Tuesday December 10th to December 30th, 2019 from 6 – 10pm. Prior to that, Saturday December 7th and Sunday December 8th ONLY it is the Fantasy of Lights Walk-Thru event which runs 4pm to 9pm. The Fantasy of Lights is closed on Christmas Day.
Where: Vasona Lake County Park, 333 Blossom Hill Road (near University Avenue) Los Gatos, CA
How much: The cost varies. Tickets must be purchased in advance.
Walk-Through Tickets: (Dec 7 & 8 Only)
$10 – Adult (13 & up)
$5 – Child (ages 4 – 12)
FREE – 3 years or less
$20 – per Vehicle (up to 12 riders)
$50 – per Oversize Vehicle (capacity 13+)
More details:
Please visit the Santa Clara County Parks page for the Fantasy of Lights to get more information on bus rides, special events and more! And why not ride the Billy Jones train to see the lights (you’ll get many but not all of the lights) Departing from it’s station in Oak Meadow Park Thursday through Sunday nights in December.
(More questions? PLEASE do NOT call me about this event – I’m a Realtor in Los Gatos, I’m not in charge of this venue! Please contact the SCC Parks Dept and check out their website for the Fantasy of Lights! The Vasona phone number is (408) 355-2201.)
Please visit Live in Los Gatos for year round events, neighborhood information, photos around the town, interesting real estate market data, haunted places and even some historical tidbits.
Los Gatos is a wonderful place to visit during the holidays, but it’s also a great place to live year round! If you are interested in buying a home in Los Gatos (or selling one), please contact me, Mary Pope-Handy. I’m both a Realtor in town and a resident myself, working full time in helping nice folks to buy & sell homes here and throughout the west valley.
If you aren’t familiar with the area, here are a few things to know!
Buy a home in Los Gatos (info on neighborhoods, school districts, homes for sale to browse online, links to important local sites & info)
Relocating and buying a house in Los Gatos
Los Gatos real estate on Facebook
Los Gatos real estate market statistics & trends for houses
Los Gatos realty trends and stats for condos & townhouses
The Monte Sereno real estate market
Ranch style home on Elm Park in Monte Sereno, sold by Mary Pope-Handy
The City of Monte Sereno is quite small, with just about 4,000 residents, so the number of houses sold in any given month will always be extremely small.
For that reason, the data may appear to jump around wildly compared to Los Gatos or Saratoga, which each have about 30,000 people living there. Please take all the stats with a tablespoon of salt, and be sure to view the Los Gatos housing market data to get a more accurate picture of what’s happening with Monte Sereno homes (just add a little to the price tag as homes there tend to sell for a bit more than LG properties).
Also, there are only single family, detached houses in Monte Sereno: no apartments, multi unit housing (2 – 4 plex), no duet homes (attached single family homes). That will be changing soon, however, as the old La Hacienda property (formerly an estate, then a hotel and restaurant) at Hwy 9 and Austin Way will become incorporated into Monte Sereno and condos or townhomes built there.
First up for the market analysis is the Altos Research weekly profile for Monte Sereno (uses list prices, not sales):
This chart shows a slight seller’s advantage in the market, which is consistent with the rest of the area.
Trends at a Glance from the RE Report:
Just 6 sales in October, so not a statistically useful pool of data, but double that of last month and a year ago had only 1 sale in October! These kind of low numbers can throw off the whole chart, so take this data with a grain of salt. The sale to list price ratio grew a hair from last month, but is down significantly from a year ago. Days on market are short, usually indicative of a warmer market, and inventory is shrinking (likely in the seasonal trend). To dig a little deeper, I pulled up the 6 sales in October and saw that 1 of them sold for more than, 1 sold exactly at, and 4 sold under list price. One of the listings sold $50,000 over (and lasted only 1 day on market). For the 4 homes that sold under list price, one was an off market sale (0 days on market), and the average days on market for the remaining 3 was about 2 months and the average underbid around $96,000. One of them was on just 25 days and sold within $81,500 of list price, another was on for 112 days and sold at $124,700 below. The speed of the sale seems to correlate with the sale to list price ratio to some extent.
| Trends At a Glance | Oct 2019 | Previous Month | Year-over-Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Price | $2,732,750 (-34.1%) | $4,143,750 | $4,500,000 (-39.3%) |
| Average Price | $3,019,220 (-18.1%) | $3,684,580 | $4,500,000 (-32.9%) |
| No. of Sales | 6 (+100.0%) | 3 | 1 (+500.0%) |
| Pending | 4 (-33.3%) | 6 | 2 (+100.0%) |
| Active | 9 (-30.8%) | 13 | 6 (+50.0%) |
| Sale vs. List Price | 98.1% (+0.1%) | 97.9% | 102.4% (-4.2%) |
| Days on Market | 35 (-33.3%) | 52 | 12 (+188.9%) |
| Days of Inventory | 45 (-64.2%) | 126 | 180 (-75.0%) |
And from last month:
| Trends At a Glance | Sep 2019 | Previous Month | Year-over-Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Price | $4,143,750 (+38.1%) | $3,000,000 | $3,650,000 (+13.5%) |
| Average Price | $3,684,580 (+37.8%) | $2,673,000 | $3,655,000 (+0.8%) |
| No. of Sales | 3 (-40.0%) | 5 | 5 (-40.0%) |
| Pending | 6 (+20.0%) | 5 | 2 (+200.0%) |
| Active | 13 (+8.3%) | 12 | 6 (+116.7%) |
| Sale vs. List Price | 97.9% (-0.7%) | 98.6% | 101.3% (-3.4%) |
| Days on Market | 52 (+7.4%) | 48 | 20 (+165.3%) |
| Days of Inventory | 126 (+74.5%) | 72 | 35 (+261.1%) |
Los Gatos real estate statistics and market trends
The Los Gatos real estate market for single family homes has been slowly cooling down a little – as a whole. Part of it is the luxury tier, which moves slower than entry or mid level priced properties. When the luxury price strata swells, it can skew the numbers to look like everything is cooling down, when that may not be the case.
Months of inventory in Los Gatos: a quick look
Just now I went to the MLS and pulled the number of active single family homes in Los Gatos 95030 and 95032 (59) and the number of sold and closed in the last 30 days (22) to check on the overall absorption rate or months of inventory. If we divide the active listings by the closed listings in the last 30 days, we get the months of inventory – so 59 / 22 = 2.68 months of inventory for the whole of MLS area 16 in Los Gatos. For our area, a balanced market is about 4 months of inventory, so this number shows the market is slightly in the seller’s favor. In other parts of the US, balance is at around 6 months.
If we shift to viewing just houses and duet homes offered up to $2 million, it’s a very different view of the market. In this case, there are 19 active listings and 5 sold in the last 30 days, so 3.8 months of inventory, very close to balanced but slightly in the seller’s favor. This is the entry level price point for Los Gatos 95030 and 95032. It’s a little lower for the Los Gatos Mountains.
(I have a separate post on the Los Gatos months of inventory that I’ll update soon, breaking it down by price point and high school district to better pinpoint the individual markets within LG.)
What is selling best in LG right now?
Of the 22 closed sales in the last 30 days, 4 were under $2 million (about 23%), 10 were between $2 and $3 million, 5 between $3 and $4 mil, 2 between $4 and $5mil, and 1 at over $5 mil. The high end price point tends to be at around $3,000,000 and up for this part of Santa Clara County.
For the houses under $3 mil, the average days on market was 42, the average list price was $2,337,242 and the average sale price just a little less at $2,266,036. For those transactions, the average living space square footage was 2,697 SF and average lot size 16,980 SF.
Los Gatos Trends at a Glance for 95030 & 95032
Next, data from the RE Report for Los Gatos (“in town”), in the Los Gatos Mountains, and for Los Gatos condos (only in town, none in the mountain communities). Below that will be live Altos Research charts, updated automatically each week. Altos uses list prices, not sold prices, fyi.
The real estate numbers below reflect realty data gathered the first week of the month for the past month in Los Gatos 95030 & 95032 (all areas / school districts), or MLS “area 16”. See the full REReport here. Prices are up both year over year and month over month, although the sale to list price ratio has dropped. Meanwhile days on market have dropped, and active listings are down with sales going up. Turnaround is quick and it’s an active market, but it’s still only a mild seller’s market.
Trends at a Glance
| Trends At a Glance | Oct 2019 | Previous Month | Year-over-Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Price | $2,590,000 (+12.1%) | $2,310,000 | $2,450,000 (+5.7%) |
| Average Price | $2,718,330 (+3.1%) | $2,636,620 | $2,747,570 (-1.1%) |
| No. of Sales | 28 (+12.0%) | 25 | 25 (+12.0%) |
| Pending | 35 (-2.8%) | 36 | 37 (-5.4%) |
| Active | 66 (-5.7%) | 70 | 71 (-7.0%) |
| Sale vs. List Price | 97.5% (-2.5%) | 100.0% | 99.0% (-1.5%) |
| Days on Market | 36 (-26.4%) | 48 | 44 (-19.2%) |
| Days of Inventory | 71 (-12.9%) | 81 | 85 (-17.0%) |
And the month before:
| Trends At a Glance | Sep 2019 | Previous Month | Year-over-Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Price | $2,310,000 (+12.9%) | $2,045,500 | $2,000,000 (+15.5%) |
| Average Price | $2,636,620 (+9.3%) | $2,412,780 | $2,417,500 (+9.1%) |
| No. of Sales | 25 (-3.8%) | 26 | 25 (0.0%) |
| Pending | 36 (+12.5%) | 32 | 42 (-14.3%) |
| Active | 70 (-4.1%) | 73 | 62 (+12.9%) |
| Sale vs. List Price | 100.0% (+1.3%) | 98.7% | 101.0% (-1.0%) |
| Days on Market | 48 (+39.2%) | 35 | 25 (+96.1%) |
| Days of Inventory | 81 (-3.6%) | 84 | 72 (+12.9%) |
Trends at a Glance for the Los Gatos Mountains
The RE Report has some info on the Los Gatos Mountains, but I do not believe it covers all of what we would have as 95033 or MLS “area 23”. You can see the mountains info market here:
Just 9 closed sales in the mountains in October, so I would not trust the general numbers that much. Better results would come from checking sales in your particular part of the mountains, such as Upper Redwood Estates, Chemeketa Park, etc., to see what the market is doing.
| Trends At a Glance | Oct 2019 | Previous Month | Year-over-Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Price | $900,000 (+9.4%) | $822,500 | $1,074,000 (-16.2%) |
| Average Price | $1,108,750 (+40.9%) | $787,062 | $1,175,760 (-5.7%) |
| No. of Sales | 9 (+12.5%) | 8 | 14 (-35.7%) |
| Pending | 12 (0.0%) | 12 | 20 (-40.0%) |
| Active | 50 (+11.1%) | 45 | 47 (+6.4%) |
| Sale vs. List Price | 95.1% (+0.2%) | 94.9% | 101.9% (-6.7%) |
| Days on Market | 36 (-45.7%) | 67 | 48 (-24.0%) |
| Days of Inventory | 167 (+2.2%) | 163 | 101 (+65.5%) |
And the month before:
| Trends At a Glance | Sep 2019 | Previous Month | Year-over-Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Price | $822,500 (-34.2%) | $1,250,000 | $1,075,780 (-23.5%) |
| Average Price | $787,062 (-36.2%) | $1,233,210 | $1,547,820 (-49.2%) |
| No. of Sales | 8 (+14.3%) | 7 | 10 (-20.0%) |
| Pending | 12 (+9.1%) | 11 | 20 (-40.0%) |
| Active | 45 (+4.7%) | 43 | 57 (-21.1%) |
| Sale vs. List Price | 94.9% (-3.1%) | 97.9% | 99.2% (-4.4%) |
| Days on Market | 67 (+66.3%) | 40 | 44 (+52.1%) |
| Days of Inventory | 163 (-11.5%) | 184 | 165 (-1.3%) |
The Cornucopia Fruit Stand
Perched at a slight angle on Winchester Boulevard, the Cornucopia Fruit Stand is a celebrated remnant of the town’s agricultural heritage that you can still enjoy. Established in 1976, Cornucopia continues selling seasonal produce almost year-round. Spring and summer mean fresh fruit and veggies, and for the holidays it’s a great spot for top-grade Christmas trees.
This weekend my family and I stopped by the Cornucopia Fruit Stand in Los Gatos to stock up on some Halloween pumpkins. If you’re still looking for a squash for your porch, Cornucopia has a plethora – from Sugar Pie Pumpkins for carving to the fancy Cinderella pumpkins! And what would a pumpkin patch be without some festivity? Los Gatos’ Original Great Pumpkin Patch (as they proudly call it) is decorated with painted pumpkins (also for sale), instagrammable photo spots, friendly scare crows, and classic Halloween stand-in cutouts for the kids.
14288 Winchester Blvd, Los Gatos, CA 95032
Los Gatos real estate market trends by price point and high school district
There are many factors impacting the Los Gatos real estate market, including the price point and the elementary or high school district. This post is updated every month or two. Today we’ll look at the Los Gatos realty market by pricing tiers and high school district using the months of inventory as a data point. The months of inventory, or MOI, is the currently active (for sale, no contract or pending sale) homes for sale divided by the number of homes using the same criteria which have closed escrow in the last 30 days.
These numbers were run today using MLSListings.com and it’s possible that a few more homes will be recorded as closed sales or new homes added to the market after I ran these numbers. One other disclaimer: sometimes the number of closed sales is very low or is at 0. This can be for many reasons. In some cases, there are a few which are sale pending and simply haven’t closed recently. In other cases, the market might actually be empty in those tiers, indicating a possible lack of demand or inventory. That being said, what do the numbers say?
Los Gatos real estate months of inventory in 95030 and 95032 combined
The overall MOI for the town as a whole with 95030 and 95032 zip codes shows a mild seller’s market, with post-summer cooling likely in what is a typical seasonal pattern. It is a bit of a mixed market when looking at the town as a whole, but less so when viewed by high school district or price point. We’ll see when the month is over, but already in many parts of Santa Clara County, the real estate market is returning to seasonal patterns with some cool pockets and some which remain hotter.
And here’s the same chart with data from last February. You can see that in mid-winter the inventory was smaller and moving slightly slower.
Looking back farther, here’s the same info for last November – the overall absorption rate isn’t much different from right now, and inventory and sales are neck-and-neck. Almost exactly a year ago, the market doesn’t look too different.
And a reference from April, when the market was red hot:
The real estate market for homes with the Los Gatos – Saratoga Joint Union High School District only
Now let’s view just the homes which are in the Los Gatos – Saratoga Joint Union High School District (or homes “in the schools” as locals say).Houses for sale with Los Gatos schools tend to be more pricey than those in neighboring school districts. This isn’t just the schools, but is also a function of being closer to downtown Los Gatos. The lowest priced homes in this area are seldom listed for less than $1 million.
Once again, we’ll compare it against last February. While the overall market is moving faster today than in February, here we can see that for homes in the Los Gatos School District were moving more quickly in winter. While the number of sales hasn’t changed much, inventory has gone up in this sector.
From last November, again, not a ton different between then and now.
Sereno Group Annual Pumpkin Decorating Contest
It’s time to decorate some pumpkins! Sereno Group is hosting its 11th annual pumpkin decorating contest and invites kids to transform a small pumpkin into a work of art! This is not a carving contest and there should be no punctures of any kind as these works of art will need to last, and any cuts will cause rotting.
Every child who enters will get a small gift. Voting on the best work of art will take place during office meetings for each of the four age groups, with the winner of each getting a prize.
The age groups for this contest are:
- 2 to 3 years
- 4 to 6
- 7 to 11
- 12 to 14
Small pumpkins are being given away at the Sereno Group office locations in Los Gatos (2 locations), Saratoga, Willow Glen, Aptos, Santa Cruz, Los Altos and Palo Alto. Optionally, entrants may bring their own small pumpkin.
The deadline is Wednesday, October 30th, 2019 (voting in the offices will be the next day). Have fun – we cannot wait to see the decorated pumpkins!
Here are the Los Gatos locations, but feel free to use the others listed on the Pumpkin decorating contest poster:
Los Gatos (open M – F, 9 – 5)
214 Los Gatos-Saratoga Road, Los Gatos
Los Gatos Northpoint (open M – F, 9 – 5)
634 N. Santa Cruz Ave, Suite 100, Los Gatos
Please click on image to see poster in full size (link to my dropbox file)
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