Price increase Feb. to March is insignificant due to seasonality - March 07 to March 08 is significant.
Also prices reported on foreclosure sites reflect outstanding debt, not house market price. To infer these are mobile homes shows a stunning lack of basic research and common sense.
Finally a well-balanced review of why Los Gatos is attractive would not overlook the risks associated with owning property on slanted terrain.. or in remote areas (check crime per capita)

If you have been following my blog, you will note that Los Gatos has posted steady, solid upwards growth in home prices. I believe the statistics will uphold this view. The average home price in Los Gatos for even a condo is well above $500K, so I also stick by my view that the foreclosures are mobile homes, what else could they be?

And only someone who has not visited this area recently would make the claim that all property is on slanted terrain, have you walked through the downtown area lately? Did you have to slant your walking gait? HELLO???? This town is mostly located in the flat area right before the terrain gets hilly- however, there are many pricey homes located on the hills or above and I acknowledge this. But the premium homes near downtown are on flat and solid ground.

And I also don’t agree that March 07 to March 08 data would be invalid due to seasonality. What do you mean by this? Seasonality, in the business school sense, means skewed data due to heightened business trends during peak times. March 07 to March 08 implies an entire year. ?????

OK I see what you are saying about seasonality - if it is only one month. Feb to March data may mean prices are rising because of the Spring, but prices are still falling in other areas, warmer weather has no effect.

I was taking the Yahoo data to mean the resale price, not outstanding loan balance, for foreclosures. If this is the case, then it is possible that someone with a home they have made payments on for many years could find themselves in default. But if this is indeed resale value data, it has to be mobile homes.

Crime in Los Gatos is low - if you look at the city proper.

Thanks for acknowledging and responding to my comments. My original posting did not claim _all_ property is on slanted terrain, certainly not downtown properties. Rather, many Los Gatos entry-level ~1M properties are located on the hills and many are on dramatically slanted terrain. No need for sarcasm, I was in downtown Los Gatos two Saturdays ago and was actually disappointed that Fleur de Cocoa was already closed at 4pm. Reference to crime was tongue-in-cheek due to the two recent murder cases and the frequency at which human bones, child pornography or marijuana plants are found in backyards. True this is typically not within city proper, but it is still in Los Gatos.
Seasonality was referring to the annual, predictable surge of sales come Spring, clement weather or not. We can also rejoice come Thanksgiving because suddenly retail sales are up, but we typically do so based on results for the previous Thanksgiving rather than the previous month.

Regarding the comment on Los Gatos backyards:
http://www.topix.com/forum/city/santa-clara-ca/TM5KQR1IK4PUGGTAN
http://www.community-newspapers.com/archives/lgwt/10.18.00/marijuana-0042.html
http://www.nbc11.com/news/15597273/detail.html
And finally regarding foreclosure amounts reported on Yahoo!:
http://ph.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080331220519AAI6GWZ
“The amount stated is the amount owed on it. This is just a starting point for negotiations.”

Expanding from my first post, you should do some research (as in a single Google search) before making assumptions and publishing numbers just because they happen to agree with your message when taken out of context. This is the kind of approach to article writing that gives real estate agents a bad name.

Regarding the comment on Los Gatos backyards:
www.topix.com/forum/city/santa-clara-ca/TM5KQR1IK4PUGGTAN
www.community-newspapers.com/archives/lgwt/10.18.00/marijuana-0042.html
www.nbc11.com/news/15597273/detail.html
And finally regarding foreclosure amounts reported on Yahoo!:
ph.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080331220519AAI6GWZ
“The amount stated is the amount owed on it. This is just a starting point for negotiations.”

Expanding from my first post, you should do some research (as in a single Google search) before making assumptions and publishing numbers just because they happen to agree with your message when taken out of context. This is the kind of approach to article writing that gives real estate agents a bad name.

These articles are individual crimes only, and the bones found were in the Los Gatos mountains, not the town of Los Gatos which the article was about.

If you want to see RATE of crime, check out the Los Gatos profile link: http://www.idcide.com/citydata/ca/los-gatos.htm

It shows that Los Gatos is considerably below the state average in all forms of crime. This is what I consider a RATE, not individual instances which can be found in almost every city.

I do LOTS of research - I did misunderstand the reporting on Yahoo and you have me there.

Agreed on the crime rate versus high-profile individual coverage, hence the ‘tongue-in-cheek’. That said, if you highlight micro-markets (as you should do and are doing by highlighting the city of Los Gatos) then you should compare crime rate to neighboring cities, not to a state rate. You’ll then notice that Los Gatos’s recent violent crime rate is considerably higher than Saratoga (124 out of 100k people vs 87), Monte Sereno (57) or Los Altos (15). But in my opinion these rates are still too low to be significant when considering in which city to buy.
Also I did not realize (obviously) that the article excluded the mountains area. The title of the blog entry does not state so, and MLS searches on Los Gatos include the mountains area - did you exclude these properties in your reported 182 Los Gatos properties for sale?
The attached map says ‘Town’ but… I hadn’t noticed.

I naturally consider these as two different areas. The mountain areas have dramatically different prices as many of the homes there have very poor freeway access. Plus, many are not to code or have unpermitted additions.

The prestigious area of Los Gatos, to me, is located in the city limits.

Brenda is right, Los Gatos Mountains is a different market from Los Gatos. If you go to mlslistings.com, and click on View All next to “Cities”. One is listed as LGM, and the other as LG. Prices in LGM is generaly lower than LG. The location, demographics, and crime statistics are all different.