Five Reasons to Be Excited About Sunnyvale Real Estate

The heart of the high-tech industry in Silicon Valley, the home of tech giants like Yahoo!, Juniper Networks, and AMD, and the keeper of a clean, suburban setting boasting outstanding schools and prize-winning parks—this is Sunnyvale, home to over 140,000…

Facebook’s Effect on the Appreciation of Menlo Park Housing

The Menlo Park housing market has been fairly consistently experiencing double-digit annual appreciation rates since 2011, as well as an astounding 69 percent overall appreciation since 2011. This should come as no surprise as the marked increase in housing…

Why People Set Up Revocable or “Family” Trusts

A quick perusal of county records reveals a large number of homes are owned in trusts. Typically these trusts are creatively named something like the “John and Jane Doe Family Trust.” Almost everyone who is even the slightest bit affluent, including…

What Exactly Is DeLeon? A Man? A Team? A Brokerage?

There is a bit of a controversy in the real estate community. Many wonder whether it is fair to compare the DeLeon Team to the individual agents or small teams of two or three agents and a couple of assistants. Simply put, the DeLeon Team is unique unto…

Fence Disputes and Good Neighbor Fences

We have all heard the expression, “Good fences make good neighbors.” Nevertheless, there are countless bitter disputes between neighbors over the location, construction, and maintenance of fences. Fortunately, the original California Civil Code §841,…

A New Option for Real Estate Commissions that Further Aligns Incentives

Real estate commissions have traditionally been based on a transaction-based model as opposed to a performance-based model. When the time comes to resell, regardless of whether the home doubles in value or declines by half, the real estate agent who helped…

2015: The Year in Review

2015 was a tale of two years. The year started off tremendously well with a surge of prices and activity very early in the spring. Not surprisingly, given its recent performance, the Palo Alto market was particularly strong. From March 2014 to March 2015,…

How to Choose Paint Colors for Your Home

When redecorating your home, one of the most important decisions is choosing paint colors. Painting is a quick and reasonable way to give old rooms a fresh, new look. However, you must be careful to match colors with your home’s style and decorations,…

How the Real Estate Industry Works

As the real estate market heats up and commission checks continue to grow, people often wonder how the real estate industry works. This curiosity may stem from interest in a career move or surprise over the size of the commission checks in Silicon Valley—either…

Real Property Tax Breaks Under the Mills Act

Many homeowners and homebuyers are attracted to historic homes due to their charm, majesty, and/ or history. Some areas, such as Professorville in Palo Alto, are known for their high concentrations of historic homes. Although the buyers and owners of…