Roadmap with Irina - April 2025

This month, I’m a couple of weeks behind with the March market update, please forgive me. I will add a few thoughts about the current market at the end.

The single-family home market in Santa Clara County remained active in March. The median sale price didn’t change much, but there were 47% more homes sold compared to February of this year, and inventory increased by 43%.

The condo and townhouse market showed a similar trend: while the median sale price remained flat, the number of condos sold rose by 36%, and the number of new listings increased by 7%. Overall, the condo market is quite slow right now. Some condos have been sitting on the market for 3+ months, undergoing multiple price reductions before finally selling. Tighter lending regulations, rising insurance costs (which lead to higher HOA fees), and deferred maintenance in older communities can all affect financing options and extend selling timelines.

Recent tariffs and stock market volatility have also impacted the real estate market: some buyers who lost money in the market decided to pause their home search or withdraw offers. As a result, I anticipate fewer sales in April and more homes on the market. Currently, there are 1,325 single-family homes and 883 condos and townhouses available in Santa Clara County. Let’s see how things evolve in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

If you are thinking about buying or selling, let’s connect, talk about your options, run some numbers, and see if this is the right time for you. Call me, I am always here for you.

I have an older sister and a younger brother, and we all live in different countries and rarely see each other. My sister left the family to live with our grandparents when she was 15 and I was 10; I left for university when I was 16, and my brother was 12. We visited each other during summer breaks, but since then, we’ve never lived under the same roof or even close.  Many things have happened since our separation: our big country broke into smaller ones, we survived a few revolutions and economic chaos, marriages, divorces, kids, and more. Visiting each other became harder, and then I moved across the ocean, and for the past 20 years, I’ve seen my siblings only twice.

I’m not very close to my brother. No matter how old he gets, I’ve always felt that he could’ve done better with his life. He had so many talents, huge potential, and multiple opportunities, but he was too lazy or unambitious, and now he lives a modest life with his family in a small village in Siberia and seems very comfortable there. He’s a good person after all, and if he’s happy, I’m happy for him too.

My sister’s story is different. She was born in Donetsk, Ukraine, lived in Siberia for 10 years, and returned to her home city, where she is now. She has always been very responsible and caring; she took care of both our grandmothers and grandfather when they were sick and buried them when the time came. I think she had too much on her shoulders, and I feel bad for not being there when she needed help. She doesn’t have a higher education, but she’s the most compassionate person I’ve ever met. She has so much inner strength and a loving heart that has carried her through hard times.

I miss my sister a lot. We call each other often, can talk about nothing for hours, and it’s never enough. The last time we saw each other was in 2017 in Saint Petersburg. I came with my family and kids, and she came alone on a bus (and it took her almost two days to get there). We spent a great week in St. Petersburg, visiting all the major attractions during the day and talking all night long. I think we barely slept that week. After St. Petersburg, we went to Tomsk, our home city, and my brother came with his family. I’m so glad we had that opportunity to see each other, and I don’t know when we’ll have our next chance.

Once my sister said, “We’re so far away from each other, but when I think that somewhere on the other side of the world lives someone who loves me, I don’t feel lonely anymore.” I hope my kids grow up and hold onto these special relationships with each other. I also hope they live close, at least in the same country, so they can see each other often. After all, family ties are the most important ones.
 
I realized that all three of us hadn’t gotten together for the past 20 years, and I didn’t have a picture of us, so I made it from different photos. You can see different backgrounds and lights, but I didn’t want to change anything. At least in the picture we can be together.

Always yours,
Irina