Sunnyvale CA is one of the largest Cities in the Silicon Valley, next to San Jose, Cupertino, Santa Clara, Mountain View and Los Altos. About 140,000 people enjoy the stability, the clean air, clean environment, abundance of parks and recreation facilities, beautiful community center and senior citizen center, great schools and fantastic Police & Fire department who shows up in less than 5 minutes when called.

The elementary schools in Sunnyvale attend 3 school districts according to geographic boundaries. Sunnyvale has 4 elementary schools that belong to the Cupertino School District

You can click on the link and view the location. Montclaire, West valley, Stocklmeir and Nimitz

Cupertino Union School District elementary Attendance Boundaries

The kids from the Northern neighborhoods, North of Fremont Ave attend Sunnyvale School District

Some of the schools are as good almost as prestigious as Cupertino schools. Cherry Chase Elementary

and Cumberland Elementary

are very desirable. Columbia middle school is known for the high math achievers. A high percentage of kids who attend Columbia middle finish Algebra before they get to high school. The school received grant from Juniper, a high tech company nearby.

The kids on the East side neighborhoods of Sunnyvale, East of Wolfe Road attend Santa Clara School District in Sunnyvale. Laurelwood Elementary is one of the best elementary schools in that area. The day care before and after school hours enables working parents to leave their kids at school after hours or early in the morning , knowing that they are in good hands.

In a meeting with Larry Stone the Santa Clara County assessor he explained that home prices are determined by the designated school for that property. There could be a considerable price difference between homes in the same street or adjacent street, just because they belong to a different school. The Real estate market is affected directly by the schools. While most of the country is affected by the mortgage market and prices are going down, Sunnyvale is holding tight. The prices are solid. Until now you can still see multiple offers and high home prices.

We are back in full action. Inventory is growing as fast as expected in the spring. The “for Sale” signs are springing up like mushrooms after the rain. If you drive through the neighborhood during the afternoon time you’ll see ‘open house’ signs pointing in all directions. Homes are being sold fairly fast, especially in desirable areas with good schools.  Some homes in the most attractive areas in Sunnyvale, close to Helena and Wright Ave, were sold under or at the asking price. The agents told me that they were very surprised. Other homes, near Ortega Park in Sunnyvale, were sold with multiple offers way above (18%) asking price. All these homes in both areas needed a lot of work (what we call TLC “tender love and care”).

People always ask me “how much do you think this house will sell for?” or “how much this property is worth?” I run the comps (homes that were sold lately in that neighborhood) and even though I really know all these homes, it’s hard to predict. Who knows how desperate the other bidders are, how many homes they lost out on by trying to offer just enough to get the house and not too much. Who knows what other motivations the buyers have. Some are being vacated from their rentals and are sick of moving, some want to invest their savings in real estate instead of a rocky stock market.  Sometimes we have the chance to raise our bid and win the house but the buyers are not ready to pay so much more than the asking price. Buying a house is not just mathematics. Feelings and emotions play a crucial part in the decision to buy and pay the outrageous sum of money for a hut in the Silicon Valley.