As of Dec. 8, 2008 there are 85 single family homes for sale in Palo Alto. 19 homes are under contract for sale, and 3 homes sold in the last week, one of which sold above asking price.   There are 30 condos and town homes for sale, 4 are under contract for sale, and 2 sold in the last week, neither of which sold over asking price.   What does this mean? Sales are still pretty slow in Palo Alto, but the inventory is not excessive, so there is not a lot of homes from which to choose and prices are not plummeting.   If you have any questions about real estate in Palo Alto please feel free to contact me. I am here to help.   Marcy Moyer marcy@marcymoyer.com 650-619-9285 www.marcymoyer.com 12/08/2008

According to statistics, 80%+ people consider the quality of local school districts their number one concern when looking at residential home locations. And some of these people don't even have kids. When an area boasts an excellent school system, the benefits of that system really bump up housing values. Housing prices don't fall as badly during a downturn, and they skyrocket back up quickly during an upturn. Buyers considering investment homes use schools as the most reliable criteria for determining where to build or buy. In places like Cupertino, where there's plenty of land available, developers bring properties which in turn bring children. These kids flood the school systems, and developers are encouraged to "give back" to the schools so they have ample resources to accommodate t... 12/06/2008

Mantra is a relatively new restaurant in downtown Palo Alto right across the street from Beppo's. I stumbled across it on kind of a whim--my friend and I had something to celebrate, and decided to do so with some quality Indian food at a place we'd never tried. I love eating out in Palo Alto--there's a surplus of really high quality restaurants here. Usually, it's pretty hard to get me to stray from my favorites (Evia, Beppo's, Three Seasons, Amber), but Mantra came highly reccommended, and the online menu looked inspired and full of twists. Mantra is touted by reviewers and on a number of competitive, "best-of" lists, and its design certainly reflects that. The restaurant has a lounge feel, low slung chairs, warm lighting, and a long swanky bar with the bottles lit up by colored lights... 12/04/2008

Condo and Townhouse are architectural terms. Condos are like apartment buildings--they can have attached neighbors above, below, and at either side. Townhomes are like row houses. They ONLY have attached neighbors on the sides. Condos and PUD (planned unit development) are both ownership terms. With condos, you own %100 from the unpainted walls of your unit in. You own in common the walls of the building, the land, and any other improvements like pools, laundry rooms, parking areas, etc. If there are 100 units in the building then you own 1/100 of the entire common area of the complex.  A PUD is a development in which you own your home and the land it is on. You own in common with the other owners any common space, such as the roads, common landscaping, pools, and so forth that may be p... 11/30/2008

  Are you looking for town home or condo that will allow you to have dogs or cats? If so, I can help you! Animal rules and regulations are set by homeowner associations (HOA's) and vary from one complex to another.  If you are planning on purchasing in a complex, you should do some due diligence to make sure that both you and your pets will be welcome.  The first place to look is in the CC&R's (the covenants, conditions, and restrictions) that are recorded for all complexes.  Some of these documents will say that the board of directors shall be responsible for making rules governing the number and size of animals and some will specifiy directly in the CC&R's.  Even if there are specifications in the CC&R's, you should also look in the Rules documents, which often cover things like pets,... 11/30/2008

    Short Sale:    A short sale occurs when a seller wants to sell his/her home but owes more to the bank than the home is worth.  They will then negotiate a sale with a buyer and then ask the bank to agree to the terms of a sale which means a loss for the bank.   The Pros:     The hope is that the bank will be willing to take a loss before foreclosure rather than have to wait for the foreclosure process to occur, and then have to take a loss anyway.   Because it takes so long for an answer the buyer can make offers on multiple properties and could potentially keep offering until they get the best deal from the bank.   The buyer can drop out any time during the period while waiting for an answer from the bank.     The cons:    It can take the bank months to get back with an answer on th... 11/29/2008

New Construction: Is It For Me?  If you are out looking for a place to purchase, you have probably noticed that there are a number of new home communities looking for buyers.  For many seasoned realtors this is a phenomenon that was much more rare 10 years ago.  In my early days of selling real estate the only new construction in Mountain View was at the Old Mill site on Showers, or Silver Creek in South San Jose, and a little later Rivermark in Santa Clara.  Now, there are many communities in Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Mountain View, and even Palo Alto and Menlo Park as well as the numerous communities in San Jose.  Why?  In the last 10 years developers were able to buy large plots of land and rezone them to planned unit developments.  Earlier in the 21st century cities saw the need for m... 11/29/2008

It is possible to learn something in school. It's even more possible to learn about sustainable building if you happen to be a student at Stanford or walk through the campus. In another push toward collegiate sustainability Stanford University proudly unveiled the Y2E2 (or for those less technical the Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Environment and Energy Building). Yes, the same Jerry Yang of Yahoo! fame. The design engineers project the Y2E2 to use 56 percent less energy and 90 percent less potable water for fixtures than a comparable "dirty building." How will it do that? From foundation to rooftop, the building offers various energy recovery and on-site power generation, as well as passive and active systems. From top to bottom, Y2E2 has an array of sustainable features that fall und... 03/14/2008

Featured Palo Alto Dog Friendly Homes of the WeekMarch 1, 2008 · No Comments355 Channing is a beautiful, two story single family home in Channing Park.  It is less than four years old and looks like the owner has hardly lived in it.  The downstairs has lovely hardwood floors which makes cleaning so much easier when there are dirty paws.  The home is walking distance to downtown Palo Alto and the best part is that it has two small parks on either side where dogs are allowed on leash.  After a long day at the office, having a park a few steps away where you can take Fido is worth its weight in gold.  There is also a legal rental unit in back with its own parking space.A few steps away at 325 Channing is a townhome which backs up to a park where dogs are allowed on leash.  It has Walnut ha... 03/02/2008

Top 10 Tips for a Successful Flip in the Palo Alto Real Estate MarketMany people enjoy the show "Flip this House", but the realities of flipping in the Palo Alto Real Estate Market differ from what is demonstrated on the show. Finance and careful property selection play a larger role in the success of the flip, rather than just the visual design. Recently I spent time with four very successful Silicon Valley area flipper specialists, all of whom make part of their living by flipping homes. All were working in the relatively expensive communities of Mountain View, Palo Alto, Los Altos, Sunnyvale, and San Jose. Two of the four flippers were working in partnerships with one partner who had construction skills, and the other partner managing finance, real estate, material selections, and st... 02/05/2008

775 Cereza Drive in Palo Alto CA has many very desirable characteristics of the perfect investment or flipper home. The 1268 sq ft home on a 8,250 sq ft (per co. assessor) lot came onto the market on January 2nd 2008, for $1,275,000 in the HOT Barron Park neighborhood.  Palo Alto is in a strong sellers market, and there is almost no inventory, but many motivated and qualified buyers. This was clearly a very low or "agressive pricing strategy", about $200K under its true value. Clearly many people agreed with me that it was a terrific property because 8 days later it had 13 offers! 01/23/2008

I have reviewed the November MLS statistics for Condominiums & Townhomes in Palo Alto, California. Please listen to my podcast to learn about the key trends and indicators in this area. If you have any questions about the market, feel free to give me a call at 408-829-4141 or e-mail JohnPinto@jvpinto.com Thank you, John V. Pinto 12/14/2007

I have reviewed the November MLS statistics for Single Family Homes in Palo Alto, California. Please listen to my podcast to learn about the key trends and indicators in this area. If you have any questions about the market, feel free to give me a call at 408-829-4141 or e-mail JohnPinto@jvpinto.com Thank you, John V. Pinto 12/13/2007

I have reviewed the October MLS statistics for Condominiums & Townhomes in Palo Alto, California. Please listen to my podcast to learn about the key trends and indicators in this area. If you have any questions about the market, feel free to give me a call at 408-829-4141 or e-mail JohnPinto@jvpinto.com Thank you, John V. Pinto 11/12/2007

I have reviewed the October MLS statistics for Single Family Homes in Palo Alto, California. Please listen to my podcast to learn about the key trends and indicators in this area. If you have any questions about the market, feel free to give me a call at 408-829-4141 or e-mail JohnPinto@jvpinto.com Thank you, John V. Pinto 11/12/2007

I have reviewed the September MLS statistics for Single Family Homes in Palo Alto, California. Please listen to my podcast to learn about the key trends and indicators in this area. If you have any questions about the market, feel free to give me a call at 408-829-4141 or e-mail JohnPinto@jvpinto.com Thank you, John V. Pinto 10/09/2007

I have reviewed the September MLS statistics for Condominiums & Townhomes in Palo Alto, California. Please listen to my podcast to learn about the key trends and indicators in this area. If you have any questions about the market, feel free to give me a call at 408-829-4141 or e-mail JohnPinto@jvpinto.com Thank you, John V. Pinto 10/09/2007

I have reviewed the August MLS statistics for Single Family Homes in Palo Alto, California. Please listen to my podcast to learn about the key trends and indicators in this area. If you have any questions about the market, feel free to give me a call at 408-829-4141 or e-mail JohnPinto@jvpinto.com Thank you, John V. Pinto 09/12/2007

I have reviewed the August MLS statistics for Condominiums & Townhomes in Palo Alto, California. Please listen to my podcast to learn about the key trends and indicators in this area. If you have any questions about the market, feel free to give me a call at 408-829-4141 or e-mail JohnPinto@jvpinto.com Thank you, John V. Pinto 09/12/2007

Palo Alto Real Estate Market - Where is it headed?  We all want to know!  As the national real estate market continues to exhibit signs of a meltdown, we in the local SF Mid Peninsula Real Estate Market still survey a scene where the only pandemonium to be seen is the continued frenzy over some local real estate offerings.  To be sure, the number of active listings is up over the last couple of months, but come on.  This is the beginning of the fall selling season.   Palo Alto Inventories are still remarkably low.  They have been hovering in the 30s (for single family residences - SFR) and today there are 49 homes to sell.  We have not seen over 60 all year and it popped up to over 150 in 2003 when there was a little short lived stagnation in the market.  Condos & Townhouses have a simi... 09/07/2007