July 25, 2009
Every couple of weeks I get a phone call or an email from someone who wants to get a “cheap” home in Los Gatos by finding a bank owned house or condo, or a short sale, here in town. Real estate prices in Silicon Valley have fallen substantially due to foreclosed homes, but the areas primarily impacted are the least expensive neighborhoods, not the most expensive ones.
So let’s have a look at the numbers. The chart below is data gleaned by me this morning from MLSListings.com, our mls provider.
| Currently for sale, available | Available | Avail Short Sales | Avail REOs | % Normal Sales |
| Santa Clara County SFH | 2871 | 584 | 214 | 72.20% |
| Santa Clara County Condos & TH | 915 | 252 | 71 | 64.70% |
| Los Gatos & Monte Sereno SFH | 201 | 14 | 5 | 90.55% |
| Los Gatos & MS Condos & TH | 51 | 4 | 0 | 92.16% |
| Sold & Closed within last 30 days | Sold | Sold Short Sales | Sold REOs | % Normal Sales |
| Santa Clara County SFH | 1707 | 229 | 522 | 56.00% |
| Santa Clara County Condos & TH | 362 | 47 | 123 | 53.04% |
| Los Gatos & Monte Sereno SFH | 33 | 2 | 0 | 93.94% |
| Los Gatos & MS Condos & TH | 9 | 1 | 0 | 88.89% |
The majority of homes selling & closing in Santa Clara County are “regular” or non-distressed sales and in Los Gatos (as in other high-end areas), the percentage of short sales and bank owned properties are very low.
Bottom line: while there are some very good deals to be found in Los Gatos & Monte Sereno (as well as in Almaden,and Saratoga, there are not a lot of foreclosures to buy and prices have not dropped so dramatically in these areas as in other parts of Silicon Valley.
