A NEW Feature on WGx … updates from local Realtor Holly Barr! Check out Willow Glen Extra for Holly’s weekly update on real estate trends and interesting homes available on the local market.

Every Thursday I attend a realtor tour of all the new listings in Willow Glen. It’s a great way for realtors like me to stay on top of the market, and a fantastic way for sellers to get their property seen by all the top local realtors. The tour is organized by Mike Gains of REMax, and usually includes 25-50 realtors. Every week I’ll report back on highlights from this tour – a summary of what’s going on in the Willow Glen market, exceptional new listings, stuff like that. If you ever have any questions about what I put here, or would like to see me take a different approach with this weekly summary of the tour, please let me know!

Holly Barr — Coldwell Banker
Phone: 408-887-3225 — Email: holly@hollybarr.net

Holly started strong last week. Here’s this week’s installment …

The theme of this week seemed to be 3 bedroom 1.5-2 bath in homes on busy streets.

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I have to say that the 1200 block of Malone Road — where a 3 bed 1.5 bath priced at $829,000 in original condition — is a great part of Malone. However, the name Malone rings busy for many buyers and the rest of the agents seem to think it was a bit over priced (we shall see if we were right).

Down on the busier part of Malone in the 1000 block near the corner of Lovoi the 3 bed 1.5 bath priced at $750,000 close to original condition the group of realtors seem to think it was priced well (again, we shall see!).

Here are some interesting numbers about this past week in Willow Glen’s real estate scene:

• 15 sales last week in area 10
• 225 active listings in Willow Glen this week 5/29/08
• 225 active listings in Willow Glen last week 5/22/08

210 active listings is the gold standard for a sign of a healthy market for this area. The fact that we are consistently in the 230-240 range (225 again this week!) indicates Willow Glen to be a stable market.

My pick of the week is 1798 Grace Avenue. I imagine it is sold with multiple offers by now. Quiet street, FOUR car garage, priced well at $1,297,975 with good layout and recent quality updating.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LISTING RIGHT NOW?

From WGx: Regular WGx readers will probably welcome Holly’s positive perspective on the homes for sale along the western half of Malone. She didn’t even mention the growing metropolis on the eastern end of Malone at Almaden Road.

A NEW Feature on WGx … updates from local Realtor Holly Barr! Check out Willow Glen Extra for Holly’s weekly update on real estate trends and interesting homes available on the local market. (more…)

For anyone who missed the WG Home Tour a few weeks ago, here’s another chance to peruse your neighbors’ mansions — or at least one of them. This news comes from the SVCN Saratoga News, which promoted the show in a print edition earlier this month: (more…)

The 26th Annual Willow Glen Life Styles Home Tour is scheduled for this upcoming weekend, with tours available on both Saturday and Sunday:

Willow Glen
Lifestyles Home Tour
Saturday and Sunday
May 3 & 4, 2008
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Proceeds from the tour of “owner-occupied” homes across the neighborhood benefits the non-profit San Jose Day Nursery, itself located in Downtown SJ. (more…)

The mini housing boom along Malone Road in WG appears to continue unabated … never mind the supposed real estate downturn.

The Almaden Walk condos are open for viewing and sales (Grand Opening on April 26), the aforementioned Glens are almost sold out, and now three new houses are proposed for the corner of Malone & Harmil, a few blocks east of Lincoln where an older home has been patiently waiting to be torn down.

(more…)

Today’s front page of the Mercury News highlights the challenges of the local housing market with a surprising twist: Homes not far from WG — originally intended for first-time, low-income buyers — sit vacant, waiting for those buyers to materialize:

The 17 brand new cottage-style condos near downtown San Jose were supposed to sell swiftly, especially since they were priced to be affordable to low- and moderate-income people, and the developer offers generous loan programs for first-time buyers.

But in the eight months since the for-sale signs went up on West Alma Avenue at Almaden Avenue, only one condominium has sold, even though the developer, non-profit Neighborhood Housing Services Silicon Valley, has cut prices twice.

With home buyers reluctant to buy in a declining market, even non-profit developers who aim to provide affordable housing to the valley’s lower-income residents are getting hammered by conditions in the real estate market.

If you take Almaden Expressway to Downtown SJ, you drive past these shiny new condos every time. Snuggled into the corner of Alma Street and Almaden Expressway, Villa Almendra is waiting for buyers who can afford it. For half-a-million? Seriously?

It may be in the shadow of the fancy Skyline at Tamien building — four blocks east and nine stories down — but that doesn’t seem like an affordable price for the neighborhood … especially not with Burbed reporting on a $600,000 house on the southern edge of WG. What’s $150,000 these days?

WGx enjoys poking fun at silly Real Estate names that don’t make any sense — the Glens are almost sold out — but Villa Almendra seems really out there. Almendra means Almond …. Villa …. hey, it’s practically called a “Nut House” …

The title of this blog has been painted over with white paint … just like the street curb address numbers in one part of Willow Glen. Seriously. Someone covered over all of them — or at least almost all of them.

In the latest twist in the exciting curb number painting industry, all – well, all but one – of the curb numbers on one stretch of Nevada Avenue (west of Bird Avenue) have been painted white. As announced by a mysterious flier offering to paint residents’ numbers, home owners were told they could opt-out of a coming painting opportunity by posting the flier in their window.

Since governments across California recommend home owners avoid outright scams and unlicensed painting businesses, most neighbors ignored the fliers. But by Tuesday morning, someone had carefully painted over most of the 40+ curb numbers with shiny white paint.

As of yesterday afternoon, the “opportunistic” businessperson had yet to return to charge for having the numbers repainted. At least one industrious neighbor wasn’t interested in being forced to purchase the service … she grabbed a bucket of paint and her own brush to replace a few of the numbers … even though she’s supposed to have a permit, too.

Oops, this might get a little awkward.

The WG Resident might be reporting in its April 4 edition – WGx found it buried in the SJ Mercury website on April 1 – that portions of currently unincorporated pockets of “San Jose” don’t want to be part of the ongoing annexation by the big city. They’d rather join their neighbors in Campbell:

Willow Glen residents petition for Campbell instead of San Jose addresses

About 50 homeowners living in the area bounded by Dry Creek Road and South Leigh, McBain and Hurst avenues are petitioning the Campbell City Council to incorporate their neighborhood into the city’s boundaries rather than be absorbed by San Jose early next year. …

Jerry Bleeg, who gathered the names on the petition, says it doesn’t make sense for the city to add his neighborhood to San Jose because it borders Campbell and is less than one mile from Campbell’s city hall.

Bleeg said if his neighborhood had to be annexed, he and others in the area feel much more connected with Campbell, which is a smaller, tight-knit community.

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The awkward part is that the City just filed its own permit application for pre-annexation in its own online permit system:

Planning Director Initiated Prezoning from unincorporated county to multiple zoning districts for residential, office, and commercial purposes on an approximately 147 gross acre area consisting of 455 parcels

But the really big philosophical question: Can parts of Campbell be in Willow Glen? Is the area just east of Leigh Avenue in Willow Glen? As usual, you can decide.

WGx usually shies away from specifically defining Willow Glen, but every definition ever found seems to at least agree on Willow Glen being a “neighborhood of San Jose.”

Sure … Campbell Avenue runs right through the middle of the pre-annexed neighborhood in question … but then again, WG also includes streets named Minnesota and Nevada … and nobody’s proposing we allow gambling (aside from bingo).

[sitethumb://www.RotaryCSJw.org]Sure … the Rotary Club of Campbell & San Jose West is a WGx Member, while the Rotary Club of Willow Glen isn’t. Although RotaryCSJw is considering a name change.

Sure … businesses from WG seem to be flocking to Campbell … but then again, Boogie on the Bayou (May 17-18) is a much bigger deal than Dancing on the Avenue (June 14). If WG is in Campbell, do we all get discounts on the wine at both events?

Another fire station might be coming to Willow Glen. SJFD Fire Station #37 — proposed to replace the parking lot along Lincoln Avenue next to the Willows Senior Center — will be the topic of a preliminary community meeting on Thursday, March 27.

The City of San Jose invites you to a Community Meeting regarding new Fire Station #37

Please join the City of San Jose Fire Department for an overview and community discussion regarding a new Fire Station proposed to be located adjacent to the Willows Senior Center.

Thursday, March 27, 2008 @ 6:30 p.m.
Willows Senior Center

But it’s only in the site selection stage, so don’t go counting your emergency response times just yet … although a closer fire station would have been helpful last summer. And the new fire hydrants along Curtner are just a coincidence of course.

At this community meeting, City and SJFD staff will present their plans for existing City lands. The proposed site fronts Lincoln and is a portion of the Willow’s Senior Center site currently used for parking. The Senior Center and adjoining park will remain intact. Staff will present a diagram of the proposed land use and describe the general project scope, timeline and operational benefits on Thursday.

But according to Pierluigi Oliverio’s office, the new station would occupy a portion of the Willows parking lot (facing Lincoln to the left), and would require voter approval since it would replace set-aside park land. The new station would augment or replace existing Station #6, and add an additional fire fighter (from 5 to 6) to the neighborhood service.

While any talk of a “capital project” is at least two-year’s premature, the City does list Station #37 on its Capital Project Management System.

There will undoubtedly be lots of questions:

Aside from the cost of the property, why wouldn’t the City consider acquiring the parcel on the corner of Curtner & Lincoln, and put the new fire station there? That corner has hosted a school, a grocery store, and most recently a gas station. Anything would be an improvement over the vacant lot and chain link fence.

Where will SJPD set-up their Senior Center speed trap, if the fire station occupies the parking lot?

So, we’ll wait for the meeting. … and then the political process? (more…)

It may be a stretch … even though today is Easter … And today’s headline isn’t one of the rhetorical questions looking for an obvious answer.

Last week, Burbed.com — the “SF Bay Area Home Price and Mortgage Insanity Blog” — highlighted a home for sale in Willow Glen. Or, perhaps on the outskirts of WG. Well, it’s almost right under Highway 87, so you decide.

Burbed gets all excited about the remodeled columns that add real character to the house. There are two columns on the front porch. And there are three in the entry way. There’s even one in the kitchen.

Happy Easter, everyone!