Silicon Valley Weblog

Los Altos Real Estate Market Still Going Strong

joannefraser — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 20:55:39 +0000

Despite gloomy reports from all over the country, real estate in Los Altos and the surrounding cities of Palo Alto, Mountain View and Menlo Park is still holding it’s own. I held an open house on Maynard in Los Altos last weekend and today the listing agent is listening to multiple offers – the house is listed at $1,598,000. We currently have 68 houses on the market in Los Altos – the most expensive is $19,900,000 – it’s been on the market a whopping 288 days. The cheapest houses are those on Alvarado – four small houses on one large lot with tenant-in-common ownership. Thirty nine houses have closed escrow within the past month – most of them selling for around the listing price with one notable exception - a remodeled 4 bed 2.5 bath house on Berry Avenue which was listed for $1,798,000 and sold for $1,920,000.

Here are some statistics for single family home sales in May 2008 with May 2007 included for a comparison.

Statistics compiled using REIL
CDOM = continuous days on market

2008 Arts and Wine Festival in Downtown Los Altos

joannefraser — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:44:46 +0000

The always popular Los Altos Arts and Wine Festival takes place this year on the weekend of July 12th and 13th. The festival is in the midst of the downtown triangle, filling up State and Main Streets, the Central Plaza and 2nd and 3rd streets.

The first festival took place 29 years ago in one small parking plaza with just 150 artists and food booths. Since then it has grown into one of the premier summer Bay Area celebrations with over 100,000 people attending the two day event. This year there will be 360 fine art, jewelry and craft booths, a KidZone and two stages with day long music, as well as The Food Courts with food from around the globe. Wineries from Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties are represented as well as your favorite breweries. Best place to park is at the Los Altos High School – there is a free shuttle bus for those who don’t want to walk, and don’t forget – no pets allowed!!

There are still openings for volunteers to assist in the booths that sell glasses, wine, and beer (you must be over 21!). This is a fun thing to do – I have volunteered for years - there is always a party for the volunteers to taste the wines and beers several days prior to the festival, and a party when it’s all over. What a great way to help the community!

Volunteer sign-up sheets and more details are available online.

Friday Movie Nights in Downtown Los Altos

joannefraser — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:00:22 +0000

Here’s another FREE summertime event for the whole family! Friday Night Movies Nights are back in downtown Los Altos. Movies are shown on Main Street between 2nd and 3rd Streets. The street is closed from 6:00 pm, bring along your chair and claim your spot. Many families bring a picnic dinner or set up their chairs and blankets and head off to one of the local restaurants for dinner. The movies begin at dusk – typically around 8:30pm.

Movies being shown this summer are:

     June 27th - Bee Movie
     July 18th - The Last Mimzy
     July 25th - Grease
     August 1 - The Incredibles
     August 8th - The Game Plan
     August 15th - Emperor's New Groove
     August 22nd - Enchanted
     August 29th - Ratatouille

You can check out all the details at the LAVA website

Free Summer Concerts

joannefraser — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:10:09 +0000

Los Altos Hills is offering a series of free summer concerts at Hidden Villa. I was lucky enough to catch one of these last year and it is great fun. Families come with their lawn chairs and picnics to dance and have a wonderful time. Due to the overwhelming demand last year parking became a bit of a problem so this year all ticket will still be FREE of charge but advance ticket registration is required. You can do this at HIdden Villa’s website - the free concerts run from 5:30pm to 7:30pm.

The first concert is Sunday, July 13th - the Touch-N-Go Band are playing – they’re billed as an R&B and Top 40 dance group. On Sunday, July 20th you can enjoy the Salsa, Mambo and Cha-Cha rhythms of Tito Garcia Y Su Orquesra Internacional. Sunday, August 3rd, features The Groove Kings who will perform classic rock and soul tunes. The final concert is on Sunday, August 17th with The Waybacks who are celebrated as purveyors of “acoustic mayhem”.

Hidden Villa is located at 26870 Moody Road, Los Altos Hills – click here for directions.

It’s Flippin’ Wonderful!

joannefraser — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 17:15:37 +0000

Last week when I was at the National Assocation of Realtors convention in Washington DC I came across my latest techie toy. It’s The Flip Video – about the size of a small digital camera. I got the cool orange color with 60 minutes of recording time. The Flip gets it’s name from the USB connection which ‘flips’ out from the side – simply record your video and connect to your computer. The automatic software will give you lots of options to save, print or view the images, or convert to a compact size and format for emailing. It’s really video for dummies – you don’t even have to read the book…

My grandson was born two weeks ago, and we have been having so much fun with The Flip – check out my video.

They make fun gifts too – I gave one to my nephew for his graduation….shop around…I found mine cheap at Amazon. Enjoy!

Hello world!

joannefraser — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:48:22 +0000

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