Michael Walters' Blog | Realty World - Innovative Realty Service » San Jose

Nation’s Happiest Employees: Right Here

Michael Walters — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 00:35:22 +0000

Not only is San Jose, CA the highest home-value-appreciation area in the US (see 2/10/11 post below), it is also the city with the happiest employees in the country. This Forbes article puts San Jose on top and San Francisco right behind it.

And, since the majority of those who live in Hollister, Gilroy, and Morgan Hill drive to the San Jose area for work we can safely assume that we are also the happiest employees in the US. Right?

After all, we have 2 of our own In-N-Out restaurants, the Gilroy Premium Outlets and 3 lakes.

Now if we could just get Hwy. 101 widened from Hwy. 152 in Gilroy to Hwy. 85 in San Jose we would all be a lot happier.

INCREASING Home Values! Here!

Michael Walters — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 23:31:04 +0000

And the winner of the highest appreciation of home values in the United States is: San Jose, CA!

Of course, Morgan Hill, Gilroy and Hollister home values followed in the same direction, as they always do.

The GOOD NEWS in this article is believable when you see the actual single family home value appreciation from 2009 to 2010:

San Jose’s average single family home value ROSE 11.5%.

Morgan Hill’s average value INCREASED 4.5%.

Gilroy homes saw the values RISE 6.8%.

Homes in Hollister enjoyed a healthy JUMP of 11.3% in values!

So, those of you who have been waiting to buy a home may want to take advantage of the incrediblely low interest rates and go buy a home. Their values have come off the bottom of value slide and are beginning to increase.

You homeowners who have been waiting for values to come back so you can refinance should e-mail or call me. I will research your home’s current value for you.

2011 is going to be an exciting year – IN OUR AWESOME AREA! What do you think?

(data source: MLSListings)

Smoke Alarms – Time to Update

Michael Walters — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 01:36:32 +0000

I listened to home inspector today as he inspected a house I sold in San Jose. He was talking about the importance of smoke alarms and how most homes only have an “ionization” or a “photoelectric” type detector but not both. Up to that comment I had smugly checked off that my home had a smoke alarm and we were set. I realized, however, that I didn’t even know which type I had. Then the inspector referred to some studies that suggest people can sleep right through the constant pitch of a smoke alarms going off – almost like getting used to “white noise” or constant background sounds.

Enter “alarm and voice” devises and variable pitch alarms. The newest alarms even talk to you: “Warning, Warning, Fire, Fire“. Then they put out a variable pitch alarm. When the inspector mentioned “the other type of alarm: “the CO2 detector” I knew I needed to get updated. “You know that Carbon Monoxide is called the ‘Silent Killer’, right?. Well there is an alarm for that too”, he offered. While I vaguely remember thinking about that in the past I did not install a CO detector in my home.

I found “National Fire Protection Association” website to be very helpful. I quickly realized that my home was not adequately equipped with the most up-to-date smoke detectors nor do I have enough detectors in my two story home. I’m headed to Lowe’s for all three types of alarms.

How about your home? I recommend that you go to NFPA’s website