I asked him what happened to downtown redevelopment?

He said: “there is a deadline for the development to finish the downtown project. If they cannot get it done in time, they may lose it all.

Then I asked him:”  Is it possible that city has been developed too fast?”

and he said: “The city Sunnyvale  has a 20 year development in place.” . He has looked into possible to to slow down the development.

The last question I asked him also about our water bill hike.

He said our water supply has increased the cost so city cannot do anything about it.

Overall, it is interesting to meet him. I will support his re-election. I Wish him good luck to be re-elected!

1). Front Yard femces: Most people dont know any fence in the front yard requires location and design review by the city of Sunnyvale planning Division and may also need a permit. The city has the design guidelines for front yeard fencing that encourage residential style and strongly discourage industrial plain cement blocks.      

2). Good Neighbor fences: The fence that separate properties along the side and rear.  A very popular and attractive good neighbor fence design is a six foot solid fence with a foot of attice along the top for total of seven feet. Any fence more than 6 feet high requires planning division review, a building permit and agreements signed by all affected neighbors. A cpy of the agreement os available at the planning division.

3). A few other tips: Fences taller than 7 feet will require consideration at a public hearing. If you live on a corner lot, there will be special fence setback provisions for your property. Aslo, fence codes change over time, and it cannot be assumed that any fence that has been in place for year, don’t need the permit. If you need more information, you may email to planning@ci.sunnyvale.ca.us

July 08 - The Vintage Band (r&b, funk, pop & jazz)
July 15 - Silicon Valley House Rockers (rhythm & blues)
July 22 - Sage (70’s old school) presented by Sunnyvale
Chamber of Commerce
July 29 - Too Smooth (pop, dance, soul)
Aug. 05- MamaLuke! (classic rock)
Aug. 12- T.Y.T (rhythm & blues/funk/latin)
Aug. 19- Pacific Standard Time (70’s funk/r&b)
Aug. 26- Flashback (classic rock, surf)

I’ve gone the Wednesday Sunnyvale Summer Music Series in the past. It’s pretty fun. Small - just the one strip of Murphy Ave. in Downtown Sunnyvale. Music is cool…cover bands hitman. It all starts at 5:30 pm and the music starts @ 6 PM to 8 PM on every Wednesday evenings. A couple of food booths and a lot of the restaurants have outdoor seating. I seated at Firehouse outdoor seating before. You have pretty good view of everything. The beer average is about $4 a cup or you can bring your own chairs and eat outdoors. I usually go to a couple of them each year. See you all tonight there!

I found this Sunnyvale Bank owned home in CA is interesting.

555 BALSAM AV, Sunnyvale CA94085.It is a 3 bedrooms and 2 baths home with pretty good size (1425 sf) was listed for the price $429,900 and it is listed today by Susanne D. Gomez of Coldwell Banker. Last time is was sold on October 16, 2006 it was sold for $696K. It short 3 years the home value has dropped $267K for about 35% of the original value. I found out the homes under $455K about 90% of them are either short sale or REO home (bank owned home).

A lot of Silicon Valley buyers are timing the market to buy into the real estate. I think the time is now. Last month I have one client bought a San Jose single family home for $250,000. He is very happy to buy a home at the low point of the market. I noticed the real estate market is very active for lower end as $500,000. Those homes sold quickly with mutiple offers. My another buyer puts an offer to a San Jose home asking for $355K. In a week the seller received 13 offers and the best offer has forwarded to the bank.

You can use the this link to research the homes price and market etc. http://activerain.com/blogsview/1061060/Real-Time-Market-Data-What-Do-You-Offer-Your-Readers

As I research the real estate market. I found other realtors report for other market.

Nowadays I’m being more mindful of the water I use in my home, because I recently learned that we are in a drought. I no longer let the water run when brushing my teeth, and fill my vases and cups a little less these days. The Board of Santa Clara Valley Water District voted unanimously to implement a mandatory 15% in water use for its customers as the state enters spring in the midst of a drought. California is facing water shortage due to 2 successive dry years. The city of Sunnyvale has asked its residents to reduce their intake by 10% and have discussed ways to make sure that residents stay with this required rationing. There could be letters of warning sent to people who water their lawns and gardens between 8am and 5pm during the daylight savings time. Also people could get tickets for washing their cars without a shut off nozzle on the hose, and people who hose down their sidewalks instead of sweeping. This is the time where using extra water and being wasteful will not pay!

To help residents learn how to conserve water in the home, yard and inspect their homes for leaks and potential leaks, they can get a surveyor to come into their home and perform a free audit by contacting San Jose Water Co. 408-279-7900. They also will teach residents how to be more efficient with watering their gardens and yards like switching to a more efficient irrigation system and using a special hose attachment. You don’t have to be a homeowner to learn about all these water saving methods. You may learn more tips from the following link http://www.valleywater.org/Water/Water_conservation/Water_conservation_tips.shtm

Let us look at the Sunnnyvale Real Estate market from July 2008 to January 2009. The inventory dropped from 187 to 150. A month of July 2008 was sold 62 homes and January this year sold only 28 homes. The average Sunnyvale homes dropped from $851,510 to $676,263  The mediam price dropped from $875K to 579K. Those numbers told us the market is slowing down. It takes longer to sell a home.

Grace Keng, Silicon Valley real estate agent,  member of the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors (SILVAR) and memberships in the National Association of Realtors, (NAR),
the California Association of Realtors, (CAR) and PhD of Realtor - Certified Residential Specialist (CRS).

This Sunnyvale Bank own home just cute as a button.

It has two bedrooms and one bath plus an office in the fornt part of the house. It will be perfectly for the home office. I like the large opened living room with fireplace and remodeled kitchen with granite countertops and oak cabinets, nicely landscaped in front yard. You will fall in love with granite. Move in ready.

Another Incredible bank owned

Today I received a call from a home owner, he said “ I want to sell my north Sunnyvale home and move to the south Sunnyvale. This year my home price tanked! The price has dropped at least 17% from 2007. How can I move up?”

I told him:” The homes from more desirable areas go up faster in good times and go down slower in bad times. On the other end. The areas are not so desirable,they go up slower in good times and go down faster in bad times. No matter what tomorrow holds the gap in prices will

Today I received a call from a home owner, he said “ I want to sell my north Sunnyvale home and move to the south part of Sunnyvale. This year my home price tanked! The price has dropped at least 17% from 2007. How can I move up?”

I told him:”The homes from more desirable areas go up faster in good times and go down slower in bad times. On the other end. The areas are not so desirable,they go up slower in good times and go down faster in bad times. No matter what tomorrow holds the gap in prices will

always continue to grow. Since you still own your home. You may use that value to buy in the best neighborhood that you can afford. If you have a reasonable down payment, you can still buy in a good neighborhood, but maybe not the one you really want. I think that you could move into Cumberland Elementary or Cherry Chase elementary areas. Those neighborhoods offer the best of the Sunnyvale elementary school district and Homestead high school.

The Plaza del Sol is a typical city downtown park gives you a green place to breeze some fresh air. After year around Saturday morning farmer market at

you can just walk a block to Plaza Del Sol to relax. You may sit on the bench enjoying the beautiful

Every Summer in downtown Sunnyvale the Chamber of Commerce of Sunnyvale support a series of the Music and Market Every Wednesday, 5-8:30pm. Free.

Sunnyvale Farmers Market, South Murphy Avenue between Washington and Evelyn, Sunnyvale. 510.745.7100.

August 20 th Manicato

(Latin, reggae,rock)

August 27 The Groove Kings

(Classic rock & Soul)

There is not only concert in the downtown. You can walk around to enjoy many food vendors like pop corn, crepe, BBQ… and fresh organic fruits.

I enjoy those concerts . We bring our own chairs and sit at the Murphy Street. Looking at the blue sky, eating good food, drinking, talking with friends, listening the music and watching others dancing in street. It is so relaxing you just forget the hot summer any more.