Foothill Produce is swarming of shoppers, it’s becoming a habit to stop by Felipe’s place and buy all the fruit and vegetable and even milk and ethnic goodies before going to Trader Joe’s. The products are fresh and abundant, nicely displayed and the prices are so competitive. If you like the Milk Pail in San Antonio shopping center and Oakmont Market in Cupertino on Homestead & Blaney, you’ll love this place. Felipe, the manager and buyer for the produce in the Milk Pail for the past 15 years has just turned 45. A couple of years ago he helped his little brother Frederico open his very successful Oakmont market. Frederico is doing so well that he is opening another store in Campbell next month.

Felipe’s wife and his beautiful daughter Saira are helping him run the place. They are so happy to see him all day and work with him. Saira, a very smart and intelligent lady, a student in UCLA, has taken time off from school to help Felipe run his new grocery store. It’s a family operation. They all help and support each other. Felipe and Frederico go to the market every morning at dawn to buy the best products and get the best deals so they can pass it on to the most fastidious buyers. If you are looking for a product, a certain cheese, a rare fruit, a Mediterranean delicatessen, Greek yogurt or Russian dish, they’ll get it for you.

Felipe is always busy cutting and cleaning the fruit and vegetables

Felipe’s wife is so happy to spend the day with him and help him. Before he would be away for most of the day working for others.

You can see variety of milks and milk products for reasonable prices. Plenty of spices and products from Israel, like coffee, pickled cucumbers and olives, dried goods and sweets, and you can ask him if you want him to bring you a certain product from Israel, or Russia, or Greece.

Fremont union high school district refers only to high schools. Cupertino school District applies only to Kindergarten through 8th grade.

There are 5 high schools in the district: Cupertino high, Monta Vista high, Homestead high, Lynbrook high, Fremont high.

These location of each of these schools determine the Real Estate prices in Cupertino and Sunnyvale. Monta Vista is leading being the most desired school. The students are very competitive and atmosphere is tight. Many students and parents who do not want to get into the competitive environment prefer to move to the most popular school - Homestead high. Some families choose to sell their homes in the prestigious Monta Vista Neighborhood and move to Sunnyvale to a slightly less pressuring curriculum. Lynbrook High is located in West San Jose. The attendees are mostly orientals and very competitive. The students strive to get the best grades so that they can get accepted to a good UC school. Now that the private schools are becoming more expensive every year and many High Tech employees cannot afford to send their kids to a prestigious private university, they all compete for the best UC’s, namely UC Berkeley, UCLA, or others like UC Davies, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, etc. If you want your kids to get into the UC system, and your kid is not the A+ over achiever student, your best bet is to send him/her to Fremont high. This beautiful old Mission building was remodeled as part of the entire school. The teachers are graduates from top universities and they care about the students. Getting and A will be easier than in Monta Vista, yet the high GPA will get you into the best universities. There are two other options for high schoolers. Taking classes at de Anza as part of the Middle college program. The students belong to their home school yet all the courses are taken at de Anza Community college. Most classes are considered as AP classes and are credired by universities. the second program is College advantage. This program is geared toward advanced students who want to take more college classes and progress faster.  Both programs demands entry exames, written essays and an interview. The students who get accepted enjoy a wonderful selection of elective classes and can choose to stay a year more and transfer to the UC system for the last 2 years, thus saving time and money.

This weekend started by being cold and rainy but then it cleared on Sunday and many buyers came out of their cozy homes and checked the open homes quite actively.

Los Altos homes in the ‘low price’ range, under $2M  were visited by many prospective buyers. The educated buyer understands that the gloomy prediction of a downturn market is not happening in the desired areas. Most buyers are looking for good schools and quiet streets. Positive news about new, lower mortgage rates push more buyers to get out and look for that affordable, dream home.

Sunnyvale buyers (in the Cupertino schools areas 94087 zip code) who are sitting on the fence and anticipating some adjustment prices will soon realize that the prices are still going strong and multiple offers still rule. The rest of the areas are more quiet and take longer to sell.

This week, we are expecting 2 newly listed homes in Sunnyvale, (both are in the Cupertino school district and listed under $900k) to be sold higher than asking price.

The New Year started with hope and momentum. Inventory started to grow and so did sales. Please see the charts above or attached.

When people ask me, “how is the market doing?” It’s hard for me to answer in one sentence. Every neighborhood is “a market”. The market conditions change from area to area according to school districts and even geography. Homes in the hills with a view sell for a lot more then in the valley. Homes that belong to a good elementary school or a certain high school sell much faster and for a higher price. Just a few days ago, a small house in Sunnyvale (about 1500 s.f.), in the Sunnyvale school district but in the Homestead High school area was sold for about $120k more than asking price. It needs a new kitchen and a bathroom, and the floors need refinishing. I think the buyers will have to invest at least another $50k to make it nice. By then the price will reach about a million dollars. Less than one mile north of that house, homes are selling in short sales and foreclosures. Another example in Mountain View – the Google town: Some areas near Los Altos are selling fast at Los Altos prices, while less than a mile north in a neighborhood of Eichler style homes you can find homes that are priced lower than the amount of their loan. When you go inside you see 4 families, mostly single moms with babies sharing the same kitchen, and even in the freezing garage there are a mom and a baby using it as their home. The poor owners bought that home thinking that they would be able to afford it and now they rent the rooms so that they can pay the mortgage. The banks are willing to absorb 15% of the loan amount and cut their losses short. The banks are not in the business of selling homes. They only want to lend money.

San Francisco ’s market is not behaving differently. Homes in the most expensive neighborhoods like Nob Hill, Noe Valley and Pacific Heights sell quickly and strongly. These buyers can easily get good loans or pay cash, whereas other neighborhoods like Portola, Ingleside, Ocean View, Mission Terrace, the Outer Mission, Bayview and Excelsior have been hit by the real estate downturn.

The spring is coming and many new listings will revive the market and add more selection of homes for selective buyers...

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