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About the Valley of Heart’s Delight
“The Valley of Heart’s Delight” was the way in which Santa Clara County, home to San Jose and now Silicon Valley, was once described. For those of us who grew up climbing trees in the orchards, and who grow a few fruit trees in their own yards, it still is the Valley of Heart’s Delight. This valley was once famous for wheat, later for grapevines, citrus, nuts, cherry trees, and fruits of all kinds. Hints of the valley’s past are everywhere to be found.
On this website, we will focus on Los Gatos and nearby areas such as Saratoga, Campbell, Monte Sereno, Cupertino, the San Jose areas of Almaden, Cambrian, and Willow Glen, and adjacent communities throughout Santa Clara County.
Please also visit The Valley of Hearts Delight Blog for the latest market reports, area information, photos, tips, bits of history and more for Silicon Valley, San Jose, Los Gatos, Cambrian Park, Almaden Valley, Monte Sereno and Saratoga real estate and homes for sale!
Where is Silicon Valley?
It’s not a highly defined area and is not really a “valley” per se. It mostly resides in Santa Clara County, which is found at the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, and inland from Santa Cruz and the Pacific Ocean in California – separated by the Santa Cruz Mountains (referred to locally as “the hill”). Other areas include the San Francisco Peninsula (the bay side of San Mateo County), the east bay communities of Fremont, Hayward, and Union City, and also the Santa Cruz County city of Scotts Valley.
The coastal range keeps the fog mostly at bay, but our Silicon Valley climate is still primarily dominated by the Pacific. In addition to the Santa Clara Valley or County area, Silicon Valley creeps over the hill into Scotts Valley, up the San Francisco Peninsula to include Menlo Park, a bit up the East Bay into Fremont and Hayward, and generally pretty much anywhere within 45 minutes of San Jose.
The biggest city in Silicon Valley is San Jose. It is a sprawling city inching from the east foothills to the Santa Cruz Mountains and it includes many distinct districts, and it includes about 1 million residents. San Jose is the 10th largest city in the U.S.
On the north and east there are Berryessa, North Valley, Alum Rock, Silver Creek and Evergreen.
In the downtown area or “central San Jose” we find many more neighborhoods, including the historic and vibrant Japantown, the residential old Vendome neighborhood, Naglee Park, the Rosegarden and Willow Glen areas, to name just a few!
Along the south and west sides of San Jose, we find South San Jose, Blossom Valley (also sometimes called Blossom Hill), the Santa Teresa district (running along the Santa Teresa foothills, Cambrian Park (sometimes also called Cambrian Village), Almaden Valley, and West San Jose.
Additionally, the valley has smaller cities and towns too: Los Gatos, Monte Sereno (the smallest city in the county), Saratoga, Cupertino, Sunnyvale, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Mountian View, Palo Alto, Santa Clara, Milpitas, Campbell, Morgan Hill and Gilroy. Each one has its own history and personality. Almaden, for instance, was once the largest Mercury or Quicksilver mine in the world. Hence the San Jose paper is “Mercury News“.
While there’s plenty of information online about larger areas (districts of San Jose, or the cities and towns of Silicon Valley), these neighborhoods within the districts are not written about as much on the web. So please contact me by phone or email if you are looking for specific information on these areas.
This Silicon Valley Real Estate Website is provided to you by me, Mary Pope-Handy, a veteran Realtor, with Sereno Group in Los Gatos. No website, though, can give you precise advice or an expert opinion (not even this one!), so there are plenty of ways to contact me. I dislike pushy sales people as much as you do and always put my client’s best interests first.
The Valley of Heart’s Delight Blog – latest posts
- Soterion neighborhood in Cambrian - Looking for a younger Cambrian home with not too much yard work to do? The Soterion neighborhood may be just the ticket! This is one of my favorite little pockets in San Jose, 95124. The homes are light and bright inside, it’s close to shopping, commute routes, and great schools, and since the parcels are […]
- Santa Clara County Real Estate Market - Santa Clara County Real Estate Market update
- How Important are Parking Spaces and Garages in Silicon Valley? - Most homes in Silicon Valley come with some type of parking space for cars beyond street parking. Home buyers want to know that there will be a place for their vehicles (and often their “stuff” too). Garages and parking are sometimes under-appreciated aspects of evaluating real estate, and sometimes there are parking surprises after the close […]
- Los Gatos Real Estate Market Trends and Statistics - The Los Gatos real estate market is varied from one price point or school district to the next, but over all, this is a fairly stable period and properties continue to sell at an average of over 100% of the list price. Here are the current numbers, per my Los Gatos real estate report (click on the link for full information). The Los Gatos Mountains are a distinctly different market and as such are covered in a separate market update, updated less frequently than here, which shows live Altos charts for that area.
- The Evergreen area of San Jose - The Evergreen area is in the southeast foothills of San Jose and extends north toward Eastridge Mall. It includes a few zip codes - 95148, 95121, 95135, and a portion of 95138 (part is also "Santa Teresa" or "South San Jose"). There's a lot of diversity in this region - the areas in the flatlands near the Mall, Reid-Hillview Airport, and waterpark are more modest and affordable as compared to the areas further south where you're more likely to see luxury properties (Hillstone, Bel-Aire Estates, The Meadowlands, The Ranch on Silver Creek, Silver Creek Valley Country Club and nearby). Pricier areas feature larger lots and houses and valley or hillside views set near the golf courses (Silver Creek Valley Country Club, The Ranch Golf Club, and the Villages Golf & Country Club). In general, Evergreen is scenic and includes many newer homes and communities. Many people enjoy the relative newness of construction and whole neighborhoods which are young, compared to the rest of Santa Clara County and Silicon Valley as a whole.
- How to price a home in a correcting market - When real estate values are rising, homes that are well priced, well staged, well marketed, well photographed, and easy to sell tend to sell quickly and for top dollar. In that situation, it’s almost impossible to price a property too low, because buyers will rush in and bid it up. If it’s priced extremely aggressively, […]
- The “King Street” Neighborhood of Cambrian Park on the Los Gatos Border - An introduction to the "King Street" neighborhood in Cambrian Park along the Los Gatos border.
Mary Pope-Handy
Realtor, CRS, CIPS, ABR, SRES
CA DRE # 01153805
Sereno Group
Los Gatos Office
214 Los Gatos Saratoga Rd
Los Gatos, CA 95030
408 335-1400 office
408 204-7673 cell