Roadmap with Irina - September 2025

The Santa Clara County housing market is showing some interesting trends this summer! The median sales price for single-family homes in Santa Clara County didn’t change since July remaining on $1.88 million mark in August 2025. This shows steady home values despite the changing market. We’re also seeing a bit less activity overall. Closed sales dipped to 728 homes (from 767 last year), and the average days on market increased to 26 days (up from just 18 days last August). This means buyers have a little more breathing room, while sellers need to make sure their homes stand out with good pricing and presentation. With 1.4 months of inventory on the market compared to 1.2 months last year, the county is still in a competitive low-inventory environment.

The condo market shows a downward trend, though. The median sale price went 7% down 7% compared to August of the last year and 4.5% compared to the last month. There are fewer condos and townhouses on the market compared to July of this year, but it takes longer (40 days vs 24 last month) to sell them, even if the number of new listings went 39% down since last month.

The total number of new listings decreased to 18.5% since July of this year, but is similar to last year’s stats (835 homes from 858 last year). Currently, as of September 17^th, there are 1,965 active listings on the market in Santa Clara County, including properties that are still in the process of getting ready for the market. Overall, homes are still selling, prices are holding strong, but buyers have a bit more time to decide.

The good news came today that the Federal Reserve just reduced rates by 0.25% with an indication of two more cuts ahead. This creates a fantastic opportunity for increased activity in the market, so if you are thinking of buying or selling, let's connect, discuss your options, and see if this is the right time for you. 

Call me, I am always here for you.

Do you remember your experience moving into a student dorm? I can vividly see it in my mind with lots of details.

I came to the city of Tomsk from a village that takes two days by train to get there. My mom came with me to help me settle down. Just to help you imagine (and I am sure many of you still remember those times), it was the beginning of the 1990s: the country had just fallen apart, finances for most of the population were below ground level, and the criminal situation was very dangerous. But I was the youngest of the freshmen and super excited to start my student life far away from my family.

I moved into a dorm room with three other girls. It was a decent-sized room with space for bunk beds, a dining table that also served as a desk, and a tiny kitchenette. The dorm was a nine-story building with boys’ and girls’ bathrooms on opposite sides of the long corridor, a non-functioning elevator, and showers down in the always-flooded basement without working light fixtures. Some windows didn’t have glass, so they were boarded up with plywood. I wish I had a photo of the building. My mom looked at all this and said, “Don’t tell me that there is a jail across the street,” and I didn’t say anything because there actually was a jail on the other side of the street. So, it wasn’t a joke at all.

My first year was very tough: I didn’t know how to cook and had to learn on the fly; I drowned in homework, learned to survive on a student scholarship that was always delayed, stayed warm through the winter in a building without heat (in Siberia!), and lost a lot of weight. The next year was better, and in a couple of years, the building was renovated, and we finally could enjoy living in the dorm. Despite all the obstacles, that was the best time of my life! We were young and able to adjust to the surroundings, had wonderful professors, found great friends, welcomed a few families at student weddings, threw mind-blowing parties, and learned lots of life skills. I will always have fond memories of my student life.

This week, my older daughter is moving into a college dorm. Based on photos, she will be living in a tiny room with two other girls and a shared all-gender bathroom. She keeps complaining about her dorm and the conditions, and I, comparing it with my dorm room from 35 years ago, find it hard to feel the same frustration. I know we were raised in different countries, environments, didn’t have the same resources, and I, like all other parents, want a better life for my kids, so I will do my best to support her through the hardships of the college years. Hopefully, in 35 years, my daughter will feel the same when dropping her own kids off at college. We’ll see.
All the best to our students! 

Always yours, 
Irina