Annual Halloween Part at the Belwood of Los Gatos Cabana Club

Sunday October 26th from 3:30 - 6pm (free admission but donations appreciated) - games, prizes, candy, costumes and "the magic mirror". Spooky haunted house tours begin at 5pm.

Pizza and Drinks served at 4pm (Pizza $2, Drinks $1).

Volunteers are needed to help with this incredibly fun event. Please contact Charleen Renati at 358-7905 or crenati@comcast.net.

Photo Slideshow of Belwood of Los Gatos

How Is The Real Estate Market in Belwood of Los Gatos, Belgatos, and Surmont (in east Los Gatos)?

The Los Gatos real estate market has fared better than many other parts of Silicon Valley in recent months, but prices are declining, days on the market area increasing and inventory is climing.

The median sales (sold) price of homes is down about 26% year over year in Los Gatos (95030 and 95032). List prices appear to be flat (see graph below, which is from Altos Research, a subscription I have) but in many price points, homes are being reduced multiple times prior to selling.

What's Happening in Belwood of Los Gatos?

Things have been hopping in east Los Gatos.

Over the weekend, the Belwood of Los Gatos community participated in the "Community Yard Sale" that was happening throughout the town of Los Gatos. The cabana was a busy place with folks selling their wares at what seemed like a good clip. Additionally, neighbors held yard sales in their own driveways and front yards too, as was the case all over this part of Silicon Valley.

The pool is open and swimmers are happy as the heat has been bearing down on us. To see about scheduling a party there (if you are a cabana member), see the Belwood Community's website.

The real estate market is busy in Belwood, Belgatos, and Surmont too. There are now seven active listings and two pending sales in these three areas. As with other parts of town, not all homes are selling - only the ones perceived as being "the best value" for the money are getting offers and going to closing.
(For more information on the housing market, please click on the Homes Info button above.)

Belwood Garage and Bake Sale

The Belwood Garage and Bake Sale will take place on Saturday, May 17th. For details, please see the online Belwood Belringer newsletter, page 4.

Four Belwood Homes for Sale

Not an April Fool's Day joke - two more homes came on the market this week, so now the total is up to four available in Belwood. (For the skinny on them, visit the Homes Info section of this site.) It makes three on Belridge in the last month!

The range in Belwood homes now is from $1,099,000 for a small (1744 sf) home to $1,729,000 for an extremely large one. And... Rumor is that a 1400 SF home will be offered on the market for $1,100,000 soon. (That does not appear to be in line with "market value" but we'll see what happens.)  There is slight upward pressure on pricing BUT it remains true that most homes are still not selling in Los Gatos.

Tortoise Found in Belwood of Los Gatos Near Belgatos Park

Today a tortoise was found on a sidewalk along Bacigalupi Drive, not too far from Belgatos Park, in Belwood of Los Gatos.

Do you know who the owner might be? If so, please let him or her know that the tortoise was lost but is found!

Hopefully we can help reunite the family soon.

How's the Market in Belwood, Belgatos and Surmont?

Homes in Belwood are selling at the same slow pace as most of the rest of Los Gatos.

Homes that are in top condition and priced well with no "issues" are selling decently. Others are sitting. At the moment (3/19) there is only one home available, two which are sales pending, and two more poised to come on the market in the next month or so.

Did you know that you can see the current list of available homes in the Surmont, Belgatos, and Belwood areas of Los Gatos on this website? Additionally, information on the expired listings and the sold and closed listings are here too. Just click on the "Homes Info" tab to stay current.

Graffitti in Belwood and Belgatos area? Unfortunately, yes. Report it!

Have you seen the newly arrived graffitti in the Belwood (and Belgatos, and Surmont) areas of Los Gatos?

It's easy to get it cleaned up: just phone or email it in!

About a week or so ago, Jim and I were out walking the dog when we saw some tagging on Harwood Road and I snapped some pics and emailed it in to the Los Gatos police. Within a couple of hours, volunteers had it all as good as new!

Thank you, graffitti patrol!

When I emailed the police, I copied Alastair Dallas of the Los Gatos Observer (a great online publication with Los Gatos news and commentary) and he did a piece about emailing the officials and how fast it got cleaned up.

What really surprised me, though, was that the next day, Daniel Garza of NBC 11 phoned me and asked to do a t.v. interview with me. It was broadcast on the 7pm news.

The next day, our letter carrier, Randy, told us that there was more tagging on Belvue - so I checked it out,  found one spot on a sign and another on a sidewalk,  and again emailed it in.

<h2>So what can you do if you find graffitti in Los Gatos?</h2>
Email: police@losgatosca.gov or Phone: (408) 354-8600
Give them the exact address so that they can ask the kindly volunteers to take care of it (and if you have a phone handy, snap a pic and send it along too - though that's not necessary).

Let's keep an eye out so that we can keep our neighborhood clean!

Thank you, firefighters and tow truck drivers!

Thanks to the Santa Clara County Fire Department's good folks in Los Gatos for assisting at Belgatos Park today. A woman found herself outside her locked car with two youngsters in carseats on the inside! Two towtruck drivers from Dick's Automotive were also on hand to assist.

All's well that ends well. The woman got her car unlocked, the kids were fine, ad everyone was happy for an easy and happy resolution. A good day in Los Gatos.

Is the real estate market improving in Belwood of Los Gatos?

For weeks, there have  been four homes for sale in the Belwood, Belgatos, and Surmont area of Los Gatos. Recently, one of the homes on Westhill went under contract or "sale pending". It is a contingent sale, subject to the sale of another home - so not ideal by any stretch, but it is a sale.

When a home is sold contingent on the buyer's selling a house or condo or other real estate, what does that mean?

Often, the listing agent will allow a set timeframe for the buyer to sell his or her property. Also, the Realtor working with the seller will usually include a "release clause" or "kickout clause" to that if a better (non-contingent) offer comes along, the sellers can effectively boot the first buyer out of contract - with some stipulations. Usually it's a matter of time, like 72 hours to remove the contingency or to sell the home.

Sometimes homes that are "status 2" or contingent sales do go to closing, and sometimes they don't. In a hot sellers market, homeowners will not ordinarily take a contingent offer. But in a market like the one we have today, sellers will consider any reasonable offer if their home's been for sale a long time with no other offer.

Essentially, then, there are still four homes that are available to purchase. Two are in Belwood of Los Gatos (one on Belvue, the other on Belhaven) and two into the Begatos/Surmont side, both on Westhill.

And two more homes will be on the market in the next 2-4 weeks. Both of these are larger houses and will have higher price tags. One is in Belwood, and one is very close to Belgatos Park.

If you're thinking of buying here in east Los Gatos, give me a call or drop me an email and we can talk about the market and the current opportunities afforded by it.

Mary Pope-Handy, Realtor,  CRS, ABR, e-PRO, SRES, ASP, RECS, CNHS, ACRE
Helping Nice Folks to Buy & Sell Homes Since 1993
Co-Author: "Get The Best Deal When Selling Your Home In Silicon Valley"
Keller Williams, Cupertino, CA  (Silicon Valley)
877 397-5391 (Direct/Toll-Free/Fax);   408 204-7673 (Cell)
www.PopeHandy.com   www.ValleyOfHeartsDelight.com  
emailto: Mary@PopeHandy.com
Blog: www.LiveInLosGatos.com

Cat's Hill Bicycle Race in Los Gatos

The 15th Annual Cat's Hill Bicycle Race in Los Gatos - May 3rd

To see this announcement in full, visit http://www.catshill.org/2008announce.html and for more info, visit also
http://www.catshill.org/2008info.html

How's the Real Estate Market in East Los Gatos?

Are homes in Belwood, Belgatos and Surmont selling as well as in other parts of Los Gatos?

For years, I have had a subscription to a numbers-crunching service and provide to my clients a newsletter with the monthly real estate data, trends and statistics for Santa Clara County (San Jose, Saratoga, Los Gatos - and all the towns/cities/districts in the Santa Clara Valley). This is the Real Estate Report and it's really invaluable.

But it doesn't break the numbers down by zip code. Recently I began another service, in addition to the Real Estate Report, and this one is through Altos Research. With this service, I can break down the data by zip code, by quartile (price point, 4 ranges), by all kinds of factors.

A couple of days ago, I picked apart the numbers in the Los Gatos real estate market by zip code and quartile by using these new tools. The information is nothing short of amazing. I published my findings in my "Live In Los Gatos" blog under a post titled, Understanding the Los Gatos Real Estate Market Trends.

Here in Belwood-Belgatos-Surmont, we have four homes that are "just sitting". Some have received price reductions, others not. What is going on?

It usually comes down to a few factors:

What About Letters from Agents for Buyers Wanting to Live in Belwood, Belgatos or Surmont?

A few weeks back, I received a mass mailing piece from a Realtor with a plea for buyers who would like to own a home in Belwood.

Sometimes real estate agents doorknock, saying that they "have a buyer".

Is it likely?

Usually, no. Most often agents who utilize this approach are really just wanting to get a listing.  I know, in those cases, it isn't right. It's a waste of your time. It's dishonest.

Sometimes, though, the agent may really have a buyer and is truly going the extra mile.

How can you tell?

Well, I'm a Realtor and I'll tell you what I do when I have a sincere, serious buyer with a particular need: I hand write the envelope and I hand write the letter. Additionally, I'm specific about why my client might want that particular house (not just any 4 bedroom home in Belwood). When I go to that much trouble, homeowners do take it seriously and I get an extremely high response rate.

But a letter sent to 500 homes? Forget it.

One more thing: if an agent does knock on your door and "has a buyer", do you really want to enter into a dual agency situation? Do you think that having the same agent represent both buyer and seller is going to be in your best interests?

To get the most money for your home, you need the most qualified exposure. Then you'll know that all interested or potentially interested parties had a chance.

So if you are thinking of selling your home, call me (or your favorite Realtor) and get the home on the market properly - full exposure. Forget the secret sales.

Appreciation in Belwood, Belgatos and Surmont

How is the real estate appreciation in our idyllic part of east Los Gatos, known locally as the Surmont, Belgatos area or Belwood of Los Gatos neighborhoods?

Since turnover is very low, inventory is always restricted and the demand tends to be strong. Recently I did a breakdown of the sales history of the last 5 years here (see the page under "homes info" on Belwood, Belgatos and Surmont sales history info on this site - link at the bottom of the homes info page or use the inserted link, above). Appreciation here is steady.

Here are a few highlights of the last 5 years of data:

(1) The price per square foot of the sold homes have risen a bit more than 71% since 2003. Here is the year by year breakdown:

2003 - $382/sf (6 houses sold)
2004 - $458/sf (18 houses sold)
2005 - $490/sf (25 houses sold)
2006 - $511/sf (9 houses sold)
2007 - $537/sf (10 houses sold)

(2) The average sales price of the closed sales rose approximately 63% since 2005. (It appears that this number is 68% for all of Los Gatos, which of course includes all types of houses, a different school district, homes with larger parcels, etc.)

(3) It appears that homes in this area near Belgatos Park have nearly doubled in value since 1999 (the year we bought our home). That ratio depends, of course, on some updating being done (so the home isn't effectively "older" than it was in 1999) and can vary depending on the house. But as a rule of thumb, most properties here have almost doubled since 1999. This is true of most of Los Gatos.

This is a great part of Los Gatos for many reasons, finacial ones included!

Are There Any Homes For Sale in Belwood of Los Gatos Right Now?

First, Describing the "Parts" of Belwood

The Belwood area of east Los Gatos is very popular as the homes tend to sit on good-sized lots, the streets are tree-lined and meandering, a huge park provides abundant outdoor activity and exercize space, and the neighborhood is friendly.

There are actually three neighborhoods within what is typically referred to as simply Belwood, though. This matters because it helps to explain the pricing differences from one part of Belwood to the next. So first, a quick into to this part of east Los Gatos. (See photo slideshow of Belwood/Begatos and our park.) 

Surmont is the oldest and is on the part closest to downtown Los Gatos along much of Westhill Drive, Old Orchard Drive, Old Orchard Court, Campos Verde, Surmont Drive, and Surmont Court. It cuts off just before Belblossom Drive. These homes are semi-custom and they enjoy tree-lined streets; some of them along Westhill and Surmont even have views. There were several builders who constructed homes here. Homes are mostly on 10,000 to 15,000 SF lots. These houses often sell for the highest prices because they are larger, custom or semi-custom homes on larger lots and sometimes have views.

The next area was not originally part of Belwood proper so is often referred to as "Belgatos area". It includes part of Westhill, part of Belblossom, and part of Belvue - leading up to Belgatos Road. Mostly 10,000 SF lots and semi-custom homes.

Belwood of Los Gatos originally encompassed (mostly) the streets between Belgatos Road and Harwood Road, with the cabana in the middle on Belwood Gateway. (The cabana used to be ONLY for this area and the annual dues are mandatory there. Now it is open to all three areas but the outlying sections do not, of course, have mandatory membership or dues - it's optional there.)  These are mostly "Bel" streets, except for Bacigalupi Drive and Jaime Court.  Of the three areas, Belwood tends to be the most affordable; it is almost exclusively tract housing (though very nice) and the streets are not quite as tree-lined for the most part.   Homes here range, generally, from 1700 SF to 2500 SF, with exceptions (Westhill in this stretch has some larger homes, some may be custom built), and usually sell between 1 and 1.4 million, again with some exceptions.

One notable exception: recently a tiny, 1400 SF house in Belwood with need of many repairs sold for a shockingly low price of $799,000.

The Belwood Sign - Why No Light?

Ever wonder why the brick and metal sign welcoming folks to Belwood on Belwood Gateway is not lit up?

The reason is that there's no electricity in that small island. It is maintained by the Los Gatos Parks Department.

Apparently solar panels would require too large (and expensive) of a battery for a light on the sign to be feasible. So, there are no plans to illuminate this sign.

What's the Cost of Preparing Your Los Gatos Home to Sell?

Today at my Valley of Hearts Delight Homes Blog, I wrote about the costs associated with getting a home ready to sell - that is, what is the outlay for pre sale repairs and staging?

For most typical homes in Silicon Valley, the cost can range from 1-2% of the property's value.

In Belwood, or in the Surmont or Belgatos areas of Los Gatos, it could be that you'll want to upgrade your kitchen a bit (granite and new appliances) IF your kitchen sports tile and older oven, stove, etc. In that case, the percentage will go up. But you are then making the leap to selling your home as more of a luxury home rather than an average, but probably large, home in an expensive part of the valley.

For more information on staging here in east Los Gatos, please contact me! I can be reached by cell at 408 204-7673.

Happy Holidays!

Mary Pope-Handy
Los Gatos

Belwood Sale Hurts Neighborhood Values

If you live in Belwood or the Belgatos or Surmont areas of east Los Gatos, you probably have at least a general idea of neighborhood values. Homes here generally sell between 1 and 2 million.

Apparently, not always.

On November 8th, the little fixer at 301 Belblossom Drive, Los Gatos 95032 closed escrow at $757,000. 

True, it needed lots of work and could only offer 1430 square feet.

But was it really all that bad?

I don't think so.

So what went wrong?

The timing was tough - the money supply was tightened up considerably in August and September and that set a difficult tone for the fall.

Right now, the homes that are selling usually are completely fixed up, priced aggressively, marketed well, and are in the best school districts. Eliminate one or more of these and you have problems selling.

This particular sale was a trustee situation, where family members were selling after the death of a parent or relative. In those cases, often the sellers really don't want to or cannot do improvements. So the homes are sold in less than ideal condition.   For buyers with imagination, it's a great opportunity!

Luckily, this is only one home in the neighborhood, the size is different enough that it will not impact most home sales in the area over the next six months. But for smaller homes in east Los Gatos that are within a mile or so of Beglatos Road and Belblossom, it will create a sting for the next half year. Knowing the circumstances will help any appraisal issues if there's a sale.

And in time, this too shall pass.

Halloween Party at Belwood of Los Gatos

<h2>Halloween fun in the Belwood of Los Gatos Community!</h2>

Halloween is being celebrated at the Belwood of Los Gatos cabana club, Sunday Oct 28th 3:30- 6pm. Enjoy games, prizes, candy & costumes. Spooky haunted house tours begin at 5pm.

Pizza and drinks served at 4pm. Pizza $2, Drinks $1

No homes for sale in Belwood area now!

It's mid-October and inventory is shrinking a bit. A week ago there was one home to buy and one to rent in Belwood - and none in the Surmont or Belgatos areas of the 'hood.  The available ones have been scooped up.

So right now, if someone wants to live in our pretty corner of east Los Gatos, they'll just have to wait.

Many sellers are hoping that spring will bring better sales prices. If it does, that's great for people either downsizing or leaving the area.

But for move-up buyers, now might be a better time to sell one home and buy a more expensive one.

Why? Prices are a bit soft now. The listing on Belblossom at $799,000 makes it clear that prices aren't what they used to be. Buying up, the soft prices make the jump from one home to the other easier - even if you sell the current home for less. The reason is because you save more on the move-up home than you lose on the sale of the current home. The net puts you ahead of waiting 'til it's a hot market all around.

Call me if you'd like to get a current sense of value for your home.

Intero does have a special "Holiday Marketing Program" that involves no sign, no open houses etc. during the slower days of December. You get far less traffic but it's all by appointment so only serious buyers come through. It's a great way to get the jump on the January market.  Please call me on my cell at 408 204-7673 to learn more about it.

Best regards,
Mary

for technorati

What is Going On With the Market?

The Belwood of Los Gatos house on Belblossom Drive was not overpriced in the 9's, but it hasn't sold and the price has just dropped like a rock to $799,000. I wish I could buy it myself at that price!

Is this a hint of what is to come?

It might be.

The east side of the Santa Clara Valley and the south county areas have been suffering with a very difficult real estate market these last few months.

Maybe it's spreading to the west valley communities now too. 

For a long time we had a "bifurcated market". The westside was still hot-hot-hot. Homes in Sunnyvale and Palo Alto were flying off the market. Multiple offers. As is sales. All of that - continuing despite the travails on the poorer side of the San Jose market.

But now it looks like we're seeing the market stalling out. By early next week we should have the real estate statistics for September, but from my cursory look at homes online and in the MLS in Los Gatos and Saratoga, I see a very noticeable slowdown in sales activity.

In the case of one of my buyer clients, I got an email that he and his wife are going to wait. "The interest rate is .75% higher than I was budgeting", he lamented.

In a buyer's market, buyers don't buy. They wait. They wait for interest rates to improve (by the way, that often happens in the dead  of winter) and/or for prices to improve.

When Tree Branches Go Over the Fence

What happens when a tree branch goes over the fence and into the neighbor's yard? This is a question investigated recently here in Los Gatos and I posted about it in my Live in Los Gatos blog. The answers may surprise you!

Photos of the Moon Over Belwood

Today the typically pleasant, normal September weather returned to Los Gatos after several gloomy and unseasonably cold days took hold of us. It was too nice to stay indoors so in the late afternoon, I grabbed the leash and asked our aging black lab, Bella, if she wanted to go for a walk.

She limps now, but moves fast at the sound of food or the promise of a walk. We were out the door quickly.

After a stroll down Bacigalupi Drive, greeting neighbors and other dog walkers and pedestrians, we returned home to a really beautiful site. The moon was just about full and it was almost exactly between two palm trees straight ahead of me.

Getting Bella inside, I grabbed my Canon Power Shot out of my car and brought it outside, only to find the rechargeable batteries had died.

Got new ones off the charger and snapped a few shots. They didn't look good in the tiny little window of the camera and I was afraid that the impact would be lost. I took about a half dozen shots and then the batteries died again. Grrr. But I got what I needed.

It wasn't until I uploaded the pics to my computer that I could see if this would work or not. I think it does come across - though still not as breathtaking as when I saw it "live" today.

Here I think the moon looks so much like a ping pong ball suspended between two palmy paddles.

Another beautiful evening here in Los Gatos.

(This post was also inputted into my Live in Los Gatos blog, which can be found online at www.LiveInLosGatos.com)

Signs in Belwood...and Los Gatos

Open Houses are a near weekly event in Belwood, Belgatos and Surmont - and all of Los Gatos, really!

The town of Los Gatos has a sign ordinance (rule) that the open house signs are supposed to be of the "generic" variety. They may have simple arrows on them, or the words "Open House", but they are not to be personalized. Open House directional signs should not include the agent's name, the brokerage's name, or anything else. Additionally, they are not to be the large placard type signs - but the more minimalistic sized ones you see around town.

Each city near Los Gatos has different signage rules, so it can be confusing to agents as to what is allowed where. In Cupertino, NO signs are allowed except on the property itself!

Once I had a listing I was holding open in Cupertino. I was very aware of the sign restrictions, but my listing was a corner lot, so I figured I could put signs on both sides.  I placed one directly on the main front lawn of the home (between the sidewalk and the house) and another on the side, between the sidewalk and the street.

To my utter amazement, a code enforcement officer drove up, while my clients looked on from the driveway, and took my sign to his truck and sped away. Apparently in Cupertino, what I did was wrong.  The next day I had to go and pay $5 to get it out of hock. I was not a happy agent, and my sellers were very unhappy with their city too. (Wouldn't he have been a good soul to have just told me to move it 3 feet?)

I wanted to relay this story because the Los Gatos rule about open house signs is really not all that strict. Signs can be green, black, maroon, blue - you name it. But the town doesn't want a junky look. So no big ads for the agent or the brokerage within the town boundaries.

If you happen to visit an open house where the agent does not know of our ordinance, it's not a bad thing to nicely let him or her know. It is confusing with each town having different rules, but Los Gatos is wise, I think, in wanting to de-commercialize the open house signage a bit. It makes a prettier town for all of us when the signs used here are the correct ones.

Grass Fires in Silicon Valley

Today is Labor Day - it's many things, but it's also the end of summer. But it's not the end of the dry season. In fact, the rains won't really arrive until November. So between now and then, the fire danger will continue to rise in our hilly, rural areas.

A few days ago, the coastal hills near Stevens Creek Resevoir and the Montebello Ridge over Cupertino (just a little north of Los Gatos) burned fiercely.  It took a couple of days and a lot of firefighters to extinguish it.

Now the hills by Mount Hamilton on the east side are ablaze too. We just took a quick drive to the top of Harwood Road to see the enormous plume of smoke rising over the hills by south San Jose.

What does this have to do with Belwood?  Earlier today, Bella and I took a walk down Bacigalupi Drive and into Belgatos Park, entering on the side, as we do most days. The grassy area there is parched. The path is covered in wood chips and tanbark. And to my horror, I saw two cigarette butts among the wood chips.

Small Fixer Upper in Belwood!

Great Opportunity!!!

We don't see a lot of true "fixer upper" homes in Belwood, but today on my way home to Belwood from showing homes off Shannon Road, I saw the open house signs for something new in our east Los Gatos neighborhood so I had to detour and have a look.

The home is one of the smallest you could find anywhere in Belwood or Belgatos at 1430 square feet. It needs updating and it needs work - the floors in one bedroom slope quite noticeably, which would be my major concern. (In our area, there are often issues with water under the house, and this is sometimes the cause of floors being out of level. Our clay soil expands when wet and the concrete foundation is no match for it. But if that is the cause of the sloping, it should be fixable. And perhaps it is another issue entirely or it is something that happened initially and hasn't moved in 30 years.) 

The listing agent, Patty Aguilar from Ventura Barnett, said that they've got all the inspections done. So if anyone's interested, he or she won't have to make an offer and then learn what the issues are.

The lot is big at over 9500 SF and the location is fabulous, being close to both the cabana and to beautiful Belgatos Park.

It strikes me as a very good value at $980,000.

You can read more on MLSListing.com:
http://www.mlslistings.com/Reports/Main.aspx?propertyId=773191

Or call me if you'd like having buyer's representation with this great opportunity!

Mary

Mary Pope-Handy, Realtor,  CRS, ABR, e-PRO, SRES, ASP, RECS, CNHS
Helping Nice Folks to Buy & Sell Homes Since 1993
Co-Author: "Get The Best Deal When Selling Your Home In Silicon Valley"
Intero Real Estate Services, Los Gatos, CA  (Silicon Valley)
408 357-5760 (Direct);   408 204-7673 (Cell);  408 715-0201 (eFax)
www.PopeHandy.com   www.ValleyOfHeartsDelight.com  
emailto: Mary@PopeHandy.com
Blog: www.LiveInLosGatos.com

What can you use the Belwood Cabaña for?

Did you know that the Belwood of Los Gatos cabaña can be rented by members for a variety of purposes?

Today (Saturday, August 25) the Leigh High School cheerleaders held a carwash fundraiser in the cabaña parking lot from 9am - 1pm.  My family and I have rented it in the past for parties; most notably we did an 8th grade reunion party there for our son's class from St. Mary's Elementary school a year after the kids all graduated. A lot of people rent it for birthday parties and use the large lawn area for the "bouncy" toy that is so popular with kids today.

Having a neighborhood cabaña is a nice plus. It can be a gathering point for folks to meet their neighbors in and around the pool.

In the Surmont, Belgatos, and Belwood neighborhoods, the cabaña is where we vote, it's where we enjoy the summer movie on the lawn and where the holiday botiques are held.

If you're a member and want to rent out the facility, your go-to person is Gina Wagner, who can be reached at 358-2229. The possibilities are endless!

Why Choose Belwood, Belgatos, or Surmont?

Blog: Why Live in the Belwood, Belgatos, or Surmont areas in Los Gatos?
by Mary Pope-Handy, posted 8/22/2007

Jim and I bought our first home in Cambrian Park in 1989, and scrimped and saved, and fixed our fixer 'til we could make a move into a nicer home in a better area in 1999. As a Realtor, there were a couple of neighborhoods I had my eye on, but the one I really hoped we could live in was Belwood.

Luckily for us, a home that fit the budget and the needs came up on Bacigalupi Drive in Belwood of Los Gatos just as our starter home a mile and a half away sold. It had all the "right things wrong" (if everything had been "done", we couldn't have afforded it!)  It had a great floorplan on a great street with all the rooms we needed (4 bedrooms plus an office, large family room, decent living room, open kitchen - and the dining room was small but has potential). It was not perfect, but no house is. I wished I could have had a larger dining room for our massive family parties (I have a scheme on how I can eventually expand it) and I wish our lot was one of the larger ones (it's not, the home is newer than most here but also on a smaller lot). Compromise is a big part of home buying. We did, however, get 95% of what we wanted.

And we got great neighbors - fantastic, really. They are all nice, they are quiet, they are wonderful folks.

Why choose Belwood? I had wanted it for the same reason my buyers now want it. It's close to the hills so is extraordinarily scenic, it has a huge, fabulous park, Belgatos Park. It enjoys a cabana. The streets meander (not straight grids). You see people out and about - walking, jogging, riding bikes, exercizing dogs, and sometimes you even see someone go by on horseback. It's a real community and it has a nice feel to it.

Folks here take care of their homes. You don't see a lot of dilapidated cars sitting around. Yards look nice. People are friendly.

In summer, neighbors gather to watch films at the cabana. Folks with little swimmers sign up to be a part of The Dolphins Swim Team.

There's just a lotthat's right here in this far corner of Los Gatos.

As for us, I think we'll be here another couple of decades. We love it here in Belwood.

Belgatos Park: Whom Do You Call?

by Mary Pope-Handy, posted 8/23/2007

Is there a problem at Belgatos Park? Wondering whom to phone? Sometimes the gates are locked when they should be opened. The person to call is the Park Ranger, tel 408  399-5759