San Jose becomes the first city in California to allow homeowners to sell ADUs

In order to solve for housing shortages, skyrocketing rents, and dizzying mortgages we have to think outside the box. San Jose just took a significant step to increase the housing supply and provide more low cost options.

San Jose already is one of the most accommodating cities when it comes to building an ADU (accessory dwelling unit) on your property. On a typical single-family lot, a homeowner can build a detached ADU up to 1,000 SQFT or an attached ADU up to 800 SQFT. Now, instead of just renting out the ADU, you can actually sell it as a condominium.

This will encourage more people to built them in their backyards and open up low-cost homeownership for more people, especially those early on in their careers. Some ADUs are quite nice, like the 500 SQFT one mentioned in the source link below.

San Jose is already receiving four times as many requests to build ADUs as San Francisco. In fact, even homebuilders like Robson Homes are including them as options for new housing projects in San Jose. 

Source: ABC7 News

Unique open house in South San Jose this Saturday - 6810 Canine Court

Everyone complains about affordability in San Jose, but there are still some really interesting opportunities if you know where to look. There is a very unique townhome-style condo for sale in South San Jose in a brand new neighborhood near the intersection of 101 and 85. 

It's a massive 2,506 SQFT home with 4 oversized bedrooms and 3 full bathrooms. That makes it larger than most single family homes in San Jose, yet the listing price is only $555 a square foot.

Costco is literally across the street and several great restaurants are minutes away (I highly recommend Blossom and Bourbon). It also has great parks within the community with bocce ball, basketball, multiple playgrounds for the kids, an outdoor gym, and gated dog park. The Santa Teresa Light Rail station is a 15min walk or 4min bike ride away.

My wife is the realtor and is hosting an open house this weekend from 1-4pm on Saturday with free bubbly and an assortment of appetizers highlighting a highly-rated local San Jose eatery. Last week was Pasteleria Adega and this week it will be something new but equally as awesome. Even if you're not looking for a new home, swing on by to check out the neighborhood and talk San Jose. The address is 6810 Canine Court in San Jose.

Be one of the first 8 groups to mention The San Jose Blog and take home a bottle of either Prosecco or Rosé.

Urban Catalyst proposes a residential mid-rise by Diridon

Urban Catalyst does not seem to be slowing down one bit when it comes to new development proposals. Their latest endeavor is Madera @ Downtown West, a 157-unit apartment complex near where Google plans to build their San Jose megacampus of up to 8 million SQFT.

Madera will have 49 studios, 14 one-bedroom, 14 two-bedroom, 26 three-bedroom, and 54 four-bedroom apartments. I'm happy to see a large number of studios and 3-4 bedroom units as theses are rare products in the San Jose apartment and condo markets. In fact, I'm quite shocked at there being 54 four-bedroom apartments as there are typically only a couple of these in each Downtown San Jose high-rise building and they are extremely expensive penthouses. This building might actually be family-friendly.

While it is only eight-stories, it is located in a medium density area that still has a large number of single family homes. This will certainly be an upgrade for the block, especially with ground-floor retail. The project is bound by 486-498 W. San Carlos St. and 332-338 Josefa St and it will replace a few small commercial buildings and a vacant house.

Construction could start as early as July 2021 and take two years to complete.

Source: SVBJ

ThinkBiggerSanJose: Downtown building sales

Our friends at ThinkBiggerSanJose.com have created a new map that shows recent office building and hotel transactions in Downtown San Jose. This data is relevant as it show interest and investment in San Jose's urban core. As the price per SQFT and the number of transactions increase, so will the likelihood of new projects being proposed, getting financed, or breaking ground.

To access the new map, click here.

Saturday Stats: Rents are higher near the Shark Tank

There is a sometimes controversial theory that sports venues increase property values around them. A recent RentCafe study adds some legs to the connection. Based on their analysis, rents are on average 27% higher within a 2-mile radius of NHL arenas. San Jose in particular has 18% higher rents within this radius than the rest of the city.

This is not always the case. For example, rents are a 31% less near the Oakland Coliseum based on a similar study for NFL teams (Levi's Stadium shows up as 9% higher rent). For more info, hit the source link.

Source: RentCafe

San Jose Now-And-Then Photos

RENTCafe has 10 "Now-and-Then" photos that compare specific San Jose areas in 2008 to what they look like now. All you do is move the slider on each photo to quickly compare the two time periods. The article also has some flattering quotes such as this one:

"The downtown area in particular is transforming into a bustling live-work-play neighborhood with new residential towers bringing density to the business district." 

Head over to the source link to read the article and go through all of the photos!

Source: RENTCafe

New San Jose-based real estate startup - Places.me

Places.me is a new Silicon Valley real estate site with a very slick user-interface. Their goal is to make it easier (and less expensive) to buy and sell homes.

The company founder, Manly Danh, was born and raised in San Jose. Both of his parents immigrated from Vietnam with $10 in their pockets, but eventually fulfilled the American dream with a home on 7th and Santa Clara. Founding Places.me wasn't something that Manly just wanted to do, it is something that he knew he was supposed to do.

The site has one of the coolest homepages I have seen and I love how San Jose locations are prominently displayed as a full-screen video (Santana Row, San Pedro Square, and Downtown high-rises are all in there). While I am not in the market for a new home, I have to admit that I spent the last hour searching for San Jose dream homes.

If you buy a home through the site, you will get 1% of the purchase price back. If selling a home, you pay a 3% commission instead of the standard 6%. In Silicon Valley, this translates to savings in the tens of thousands of dollars range--definitely something to think about.

Below is their inaugural blog post. Check out the site for yourself over here.


Hi there, neighbor!

So, about us — we’re a real estate startup based in San Jose creating an easier and faster way to connect home buyers and sellers. With over 90% of people using the internet as part of their research to buy or sell a home, we’ve built Places to bring buyers and sellers together in a platform that takes the hassle out of traditional real estate.

If you’ve ever bought or sold a home out in the wild, you’ve probably managed your transaction through an agent. And with the average sale to closing time starting at 4 weeks, the process can be pretty tedious and lengthy. The experience can make you feel like a number — it has for folks on our team who’ve been in the same boat. That’s not a great feeling when you’re talking about a transaction in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

A new take on real estate

We’re trying a different angle. We want you to love the homebuying experience, start to finish. So we’ve built a data-driven platform that makes it easy to thoroughly and quickly research homes, get to know neighborhoods, and make offers quickly — without a traditional realtor. With new listings being added every day, and an average closing time of 10 days, you’ll be able to get a move on easily without all the usual rigamarole of traditional real estate. And we’re here for you every step of the way, so you can feel connected and in control throughout the whole transaction. Plus, buyers even get 1% back on their purchase price at closing, while sellers can save 50% on commissions — not too shabby, eh?

Let’s stay in touch

We’re just getting started, and we’ll be using this blog to keep you posted on what we’re up to. Stay tuned for the latest improvements to our marketplace, featured homes, stories from our local community, and more. And we want your feedback and ideas — so please, don’t be shy. Click those comment and share buttons, and let’s keep the conversation going!

Visit us at www.places.me

Saturday Stats: Santa Clara County Property Values Hit $409B

A new property valuation record has been established for Santa Clara County. The official gross assessed value for all property in the county is $409 billion. After you take away tax exempt properties such as colleges and churches, the net number becomes $388 billion. This is a 8.67% increase over last year and the largest growth in 10 years.

While it is pretty clear property values are increasing across the board, there are two individual contributors that made a large impact this year. Levi's Stadium was valued at $1.4 billion and Apple's Spaceship Campus was valued at $820 million (even in its current under-construction state).

The increased valuation should mean more revenue for Santa Clara County to provide civic services. Several county projects to address homelessness were attributed to substantially decreasing the homeless population over the last two years. Increased revenue could lead to more funding for projects like those.

Source: SVBJ

Record Condo Sale in Downtown San Jose

The most expensive condo sales on a square foot basis in Downtown San Jose just happened last month. One of The 88's penthouses clocking in at 1,488 SQFT was sold for $2.2 million dollars. This comes out to be $1,478 per square foot, something you would expect to see for condos in New York or San Francisco.

The price may seem steep, but this unit does come with one of the most amazing balconies in Downtown San Jose, if not the entire Bay Area. You practically have a back yard in the sky. This unit was previously sold in November 2012 for $1.16 million.

Sources: Black & Gold, SSC

 

Saturday Stats: San Jose (Silicon Valley) Has the Fastest Moving Real Estate Market

We all know the real estate market in San Jose is hot, but it turns out that it is hotter than the rest of the US-- including the metro over to the north--in at least a couple metrics. This past June, a staggering 52% of new real estate listings were under contract within 2 weeks, higher than any other market evaluated.

San Jose also has the lowest level of supply in the report. Supply is the ratio of active listings at the end of the month to closed sales. More than six months of supply is a buyer's market and less than six months is a seller's market. With 1.1 months of supply, San Jose/Silicon Valley is a seller's dream. The downside is that kind of number will put upward pressure on prices and make it more difficult for new buyers to afford homes, and will likely have the side effect of pushing up rents as well.

Source: Redfin

Table 1: Speed by Market, June 2013

Speed Ranking	Market	Pending in 2 Weeks	Pending in 1 Week	Only on MLS-Powered Sites	# Flash Sales	Months of Supply
#1	San Jose, CA	52.0%	19.9%	45.7%	31	1.1
#2	San Francisco, CA	49.2%	17.9%	31.7%	70	1.2
#3	Ventura, CA	48.4%	31.2%	50.9%	16	1.6
#4	Denver, CO	44.4%	27.9%	32.5%	39	1.6
#5	Washington DC	44.1%	32.0%	60.1%	215	1.9
#6	Los Angeles, CA	44.0%	24.8%	48.3%	165	1.6
#7	Inland Empire, CA	43.9%	27.4%	40.7%	71	1.9
#8	San Diego, CA	43.6%	26.8%	37.5%	60	1.6
#9	Sacramento, CA	43.1%	23.7%	66.7%	22	1.7
#10	Seattle, WA	42.5%	29.9%	71.2%	31	1.9
#11	Austin, TX	42.2%	30.3%	63.7%	79	2.5
#12	Houston, TX	38.1%	24.7%	71.5%	104	2.4
#13	Portland, OR	36.4%	26.2%	20.1%	57	2.5
#14	Phoenix, AZ	32.7%	23.6%	30.2%	135	2.1
#15	Dallas, TX	29.5%	19.7%	72.0%	130	2.5
#16	Baltimore, MD	28.7%	19.1%	50.7%	60	3.2
#17	Miami, FL	24.2%	16.3%	29.1%	27	4.2
#18	Atlanta, GA	23.0%	12.7%	52.4%	39	5.7
#19	Chicago, IL	13.9%	8.7%	44.3%	176	4.3
#20	Raleigh, NC	11.4%	8.4%	17.4%	42	3.9
#21	Las Vegas, NV	11.0%	6.0%	24.7%	13	4.0
#22	Philadelphia, PA	9.1%	4.0%	25.2%	6	5.4
	National	30.5%	19.0%	48.2%	1,636	3.0

Saturday Stats: San Jose Set for Real Estate Rebound

Forbes recently put out an article on the 10 areas where real estate prices will recover faster than the rest of the country. San Jose ranked #1 on the list. Here are some quotes from the article:

"San Jose is a veritable oasis of prosperity."
"Employment in the capital of Silicon Valley is expected to expand 3.3% this year."
"New home construction in the area was up a whopping 97% in 2011's third quarter"

For the full article just click the source link below!

Source: Forbes / MSNBC , Hat-tip to Dan

San Jose Has Tightest Apartment Market in the US

This news isn't so surprising given the number of reports this past year about how hot our rental market is. San Jose has a ridiculously low apartment vacancy rate of 3.1%, along with an average asking rent of $1,506. In this situation the laws of supply and demand dictate that rental rates will be rising (I'm sorry renters). Average asking rents for 2012 are estimated to reach $1,615.

For more info, click here.

Urban Land Institute South Bay Night FREE EVENT 2011

from The Bay Area Real Estate Blog by Josh Burroughs

This is going to be a great event - we hope to see you there!
Please join us for the 2nd Annual South Bay MyULI Nite, a special evening designed to connect you with the District Council leadership of the South Bay for the Urban Land Institute. (www.ulisf.org)

• WHEN: Thursday, January 27, 2011; 5:30pm - 7:30pm
• WHERE: Moffett Towers Club, 1080 Enterprise Way, Sunnyvale, CA
• COST: FREE to all members and prospective members
• ** Cocktails & Appetizers Provided
• Register @ www.ULISF.org or call 800.321.5011

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:

• Matt Lituchy, Managing Director, Jay Paul Company
• Drew Hudacek, Senior Vice President, Sares-Regis Group
• Nevena Vidic, UBS Realty Investors

As a member-led organization, we encourage all members to take part in a way that best suits their specific interests and unique goals. Come hear first hand from a distinguished group of South Bay ULI leaders, sharing how ULI has made a difference in their professional lives. Following the presentation, participants will have the opportunity to learn more about our committees and how you can plug in to one of the fastest growing District Councils in the country.
Hosted & sponsored by Jay Paul Company and Barry Swenson Builder

360 Residences is Converting from Condos to Rentals

Interesting news today. It looks like the 360 Residences high-rise in SoFA is in the process of being converted to a rental building. I was wondering why people haven't started moving in yet!

I think this is actually a good idea, and the 200+ units could always be converted back to condos in the future. Instead of waiting a couple years for the building to fill up, the strong rental market in the South Bay will likely fill up the building really quickly. That means more foot-traffic to support downtown restaurants and retail, particularly in the SoFA district. You can already see the difference that The 88 and Axis have made downtown, so this building can't fill up soon enough!

Santa Teresa Neighborhood Information

Santa Teresa is a region of San Jose I admittedly neglect to cover. Fortunately, there is a realtor named Sophia Delacotte that focuses on that region and has put up a website with local tips and info (news, events, school info, shopping, demographics, etc.). To have a look, just click here.