Nextdoor.com site for Belwood, Belgatos, Surmont, Harwood, Gemini, Alerche and more
Update on the Nextdoor.com private intranet for neighbors in the Surmont-Belgatos-Belwood and beyond areas. We’ve been growing since November 17th, and now, 2 months later, we’re up to 39 people (in 32 households).
What is neat is the sharing about issues and concerns that otherwise we wouldn’t know about. On the positive side, neighbors have been asking for and receiving suggestions for gardeners, house cleaners and others.
On the less positive side, we’ve heard about some neighborhood issues: a break in on one street on a weekend afternoon in one case, and some vandalism at another. Who knew? But now that we do, we know to keep our eyes out.
In other words, this is almost like a virtual “neighborhood watch”.
Sometimes we’re all so busy that we don’t necessarily talk to our neighbors about concerns but this is a great way to do it.
I do know that people worry about their information being public. The system requires members to be verified, either by mail (free) or by phone (which requires a one cent charge to a credit card). This is done to insure that everyone in this private site is actually a neighbor – for everyone’s protection. Also, you don’t have to share your email address or phone number, but of course you can if you choose.
The Town of Los Gatos is embracing Nextdoor as a great way to facilitate communication and there’s a meeting later this week with others, like me, who’ve started Nextdoor sites in other parts of the town. The Nextdoor neighborhood sites won’t line up exactly with the town’s groupings but it will be a great way to share information if we get more people onboard.
On the fence? Log in, have a look and see what you think. There’s a lot to like about it!
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Have you heard of Nextdoor.com? It’s a platform that provides neighborhood websites. If you visit the site, you’ll see that it’s described as “The private social network for your neighborhood“.
In mid-November I started a site for the Surmont, Belgatos, Belwood and adjacent areas to the east and south in this east Los Gatos area: Gemini Court, Sebastian Court, Almond Blossom Court, Harwood Road, Alerche Road, Crider Court, Harwood Lane (private road where Harwood Road forks), and Harwood Court. These areas are all contiguous and use the same exit routes out of the area. Many, but not all, are served by the Belwood Home Owner’s Association. You can sign in at http://belwood-belgatos.nextdoor.com. There are 555 homes in this neighborhood that I set up.
Initially I was concerned about this being redundant since there are multiple neighborhood venues (this blog, the BelwoodHomes.org site, the Facebook pages – but many of them really only include Belwood and not Belgatos, Surmont or the nearby areas.
So what is the point of this “private social network for the area”? First, it IS private: only residents can be involved in the site. They verify one of two ways – either mailing you a postcard, which you must return, or by verifying your address through a credit card (they charge exactly 1 cent to do it). Second, since it is private, it’s an easy and safer way to share relevant neighborhood information, whether it’s a block party, a theft in the area, organizing Christmas trees (as they do on Westhill Drive), the sighting of a mountain lion, traffic concerns, etc. – the whole gamut. It’s a great place to share names of good babysitters, gardeners, pet sitters, carpet cleaners and all kinds of services too.
Please check it out:
https://belwood-belgatos.nextdoor.com
Thefts from cars: keep valuables, garage door openers out of your vehicles
On the Nextdoor neighborhood sharing site for Belwood and nearby east Los Gatos areas, a resident let members know that her automobile, which had been parked in her driveway, had been broken into sometime last night or early this morning. That makes the 6th such incident in the immediate area in the last 6 months (the other five I found on CrimeReports.com). In each case, it seems the car or truck was parked either in the driveway or on the street in front of a house.
Most of the Surmont, Belgatos, Belwood, Harwood, Gemini Court, Alerche and nearby areas have houses with 2 car garages (sometimes 3) but often either more vehicles or not enough room in the garage to house everything, so it’s not unusual for cars and other vehicles to be parked outside overnight. Thieves may be looking for valuables but just as possibly could be searching for a way into your house via keys to the doors or garage door openers. Please pack these items in and out with you and don’t leave them in the car!
To check out crime near your house at no cost, please visit http://www.CrimeReports.com and enter an address in the space up top for it. The default time frame is very recent but if you go to the “dates” section, you can view issues going back as far as 6 months ago. Also, please note that while there are 4 spots in the area identified as TV or theft from vehicle, some icons are for multiple issues and at least one of those includes a theft from vehicle. You will find other thefts in the area too – please keep your home locked up and important items out of your front yard, driveway, etc. As always, call 911 with suspicious behavior – and be safe!
Sunrise at Belwood on a December Morning
Wanted to share a couple of pics I took of the morning sky from Bacigalupi Drive in Belwood on December 2nd, 2011 at 7am. We’d had a lot of wind but it was still and clear – and the clouds were beautiful.
And one more, looking more south east:
Alert from Mulberry School Regarding Dark Blue Van Near Belwood
My friend Kirstie Leary, who’s one of the owners of InsideLG.com, shared with me the notice from Mulberry School on Harwood Road today:
A white male in his 50s, driving a dark blue van, has been seen approaching young children in the Clovis Avenue-Harwood Road neighborhood, on the other side of Blossom Hill. Specifically, the man was seen driving down Clovis Avenue, and stopped near the corner at Amby Drive yesterday. He approached girls while playing in the leaves in front of their own house, indicating that he wanted to take their picture because they were so cute. When the man was approached by the parent, he took off in a hurry down the street.
There was reportedly a large teddy bear in the front passenger side of his van, which had the appearance of a work vehicle. The van was dark blue, about 10 years old, with an extension ladder on the roof.
The incident was reported to the police because it was suspicious and scary. Please call 911 if you see suspicious activity.
Please take a moment to share with your child what to do if approached by strangers. Working together to create a plan of how to handle such a situation can be most helpful for everyone.
Please keep your eyes open and call 911 if you see something suspicious!
School crossing guard on Blossom Hill Road may be cut
In case you’re not getting the Belwood Home Owner’s Association emails, here’s something that came across my email over the last couple of days:
This week, the SJPD is doing a pedestrian count for crossing Blossom Hill Rd and Harwood during school hours (7:30 AM and 1:00 PM). Please walk as much as you can across Blossom Hill Rd (to Noddin) and help save our crossing guard, Dorothy. If they don’t see many people walking and using the intersection, they’ll cut the funding for that post and many children will be forced to cross a very hectic intersection without any crossing guard assistance.
Belwood, Belgatos and Surmont Real Estate Market Trends & Statistics 1-1-2011 to 11-1-2011
What’s happening in the real estate market in the Belwood, Belgatos and Surmont areas of east Los Gatos? Today I did some research on the MLS for 2011 year to date in this part of 95032.
In the image below, after I completed my work I realized that one of the “actives” is actually on the San Jose side of Blossom Hill Road (the low price home at just under $500,000 – it is a short sale by the way). The numbers tell us that in general a 4 bed, 2 bath home in average condition (that is, partially updated but not “fully remodeled”) is worth just about $1,000,000.
I find the “sum” number to be unhelpful but the minimum, maximum and average sales prices (including the cost per square foot) to be extremely useful.
Let’s stop a moment and just look at what’s closed so far in 2011 – 10 homes – about 1 home per month on average (very, very low turnover).
| Status | Address | Price | DOM | Beds | Baths | SqFt | Lot Size |
| sold & closed | BELHAVEN DRIVE | $1,199,000 | 59 | 6 | 3 | 2,448 | 10,000 |
| sold & closed | BELHAVEN DRIVE | $1,175,000 | 123 | 4 | 2 | 2,500 | 10,625 |
| sold & closed | BELWOOD GATEWAY | $1,050,000 | 29 | 6 | 3 | 2,448 | 10,530 |
| sold & closed | BELCREST DRIVE | $999,000 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 2,131 | 10,000 |
| sold & closed | OLD ORCHARD DRIVE | $975,000 | 10 | 4 | 2.5 | 2,159 | 11,934 |
| sold & closed | BACIGALUPI DRIVE | $960,000 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 1,748 | 10,000 |
| sold & closed | WESTHILL DRIVE | $949,950 | 7 | 4 | 2.5 | 2,076 | 10,998 |
| sold & closed | BELBLOSSOM WAY | $900,000 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 2,259 | 10,000 |
| sold & closed | BELCREST DRIVE | $899,000 | 17 | 4 | 2 | 1,960 | 10,769 |
| sold & closed | BELBLOSSOM WAY | $875,000 | 25 | 4 | 2 | 1,748 | 9,877 |
| Average | $998,195 | 29.2 | 4.4 | 2.3 | 2147.7 | 10,473.3 |
Next – how long does it take to sell these Los Gatos homes?
As you can see, often there are far more homes available (or listed for sale on the MLS) than are selling. This is typical for all of Silicon Valley but of course to differing ratios. It’s a red hot seller’s market when homes are selling as fast as they’re listed. In most markets, though, some percentage of homes never does sell – it’s a bit like the “bell curve” applied to home selling. Some sell fast and for top dollar, some sell in a month or two, and some either sell only after a prolonged marketing time or not at all.
With extremely low inventory and low turnover, it’s almost a crap shoot as to how fast a home in these east Los Gatos areas will sell. If there’s no other competition and the property is (1) fully remodeled and (2) priced aggressively, it will sell fast. If not, it’s anyone’s guess – but definitely worse if more homes are for sale.
Want to sell your Surmont, Belgatos or Belwood home? Please contact me – I live here too and will do my best to get you the best price for your property!
Belgatos Path Gets New Wood Chips
When trees are pruned, fall or are removed at Belgatos Park in Los Gatos, what happens to them? Many, if not all, are recycled on the spot and become wood mulch for use back in the same park. The path between the side gate on Bacigalupi Drive and the parking lot at Belgatos Park is the occasional recipient of tanbark or mulch. This makes walking the area after a rain a whole lot safer (less slippery) and pleasant (since heavy mud doesn’t stick to feet – or paws).
Saw this the other day and chuckled to see part of a yellow plastic tape included with the mulch (probably used to advise people to keep away from an unstable tree). Also noticed that a small hole had been burrowed into one pile already – I imagine that for the time being, the mound makes an ideal home for a field mouse or two.
Los Gatos is a “Tree City USA” town. Isn’t it nice to know that even when a tree dies or has to be removed, it’s still useful and immediately recycled into the same park?
Belwood Annual Halloween Party: Details & Request for Volunteers
The annual Belwood Halloween Party is this Sunday, October 30, from 3 – 6pm at the Cabaña. (Huge kudos to Mark Morgan for organizing this fun community event.)
3:00pm: Games (and prizes) on the Cabana lawn
3:30pm: Magic Mirror opens
4:00pm: Pizza & drinks for sale
5:00pm: Haunted house tours begin
6:00pm: End of Party & Clean-up
Help is needed - volunteers are sought to help with the games, haunted house actors and others to help with the food & drinks. Teenagers can use this as an opportunity to accumulate Community Service hours.
If you’d like to sign up as a volunteer, please follow this link:
http://www.volunteerspot.com/login/entry/462345634809216010
For more info, please visit the HOA website’s page on this event:
http://www.belwoodhomes.org/Belwood/Halloween.html
Controlled burn near Morgan Hill creates smokey skies in Silicon Valley
Yesterday Jim and I attended the Los Gatos Creekside Sports Park kickoff celebration (will nearly touch Vasona Lake County Park and is just off of University Avenue) and as we often do, drove east on Blossom Hill Road to get home. Straight ahead of us, hanging over south San Jose and Santa Teresa and extending north, was a huge and darkened cloud. Smoke? Smog? Rainclouds?
We drove up Harwood Road and to the top of Harwood Court to get a better view of it. It did look like it started in south San Jose or further south than that. Some hikers were trekking up the challenging hill and we asked them if they knew if it were a fire. “Can’t smell it,” one replied “so it must be smog – just awful!” Smog, though, tends to dissipate from side to side and not hang together so tightly as what we saw.
View from Harwood Court in Los Gatos of the smokey skies created by the Cal Fire "controlled burn" in south county
We flipped on KLIV, the San Jose based AM radio station (channel 1590) that best covers local news & traffic, and learned right away that it was a controlled burn. This morning I googled the fire and learned that it’s a 2 day burn at part of Henry Coe State Park, overseen by Cal Fire, with more scheduled for today.
The Morgan Hill Times reports that “The prescribed burn is part of the ‘Western Zone Complex’ controlled fire in the remote area of the park. The fire will take place on the Middle Ridge Trail off Hobbs Road, about eight miles northeast of Morgan Hill, according to Calfire fire prevention specialist Chris Morgan. “
Halloween in Surmont, Belgatos and Belwood of Los Gatos
"Westhill Cemetery"
It’s mid-October and little ghosties, Jack-o-Lanterns, grave stones, witches, over sized spider webs and other trappings of Halloween have begun to appear in the Surmont, Belgatos and Belwood neighborhoods of east Los Gatos. There’s no shortage of the “Halloween Spirit” – so to speak – in this corner of town! It sure is fun to see.
What’s your favorite haunt in the hood?
If you’d like to share your photos of ultra cool Halloween decorating, I’d be very happy to post them here! Whether it’s effects that show up on October 1st or October 31st, we’d love to share them with the neighbors!
As the month goes on, I will add images of local streets, yards and homes where the decor is noteworthy.
Here’s one of my very favorites – a great little ghost western style town up the street from Jim & me.
Great halloween decor on Bacigalupi Drive
And another one with some serious spider webbing:
Belwood spider webs for Halloween
And yet another with quite a few ghosts – this one on Westhill Drive’s Belgatos area.
Westhill Drive ghosties, goblins and webs
Meanwhile, if your not-so-haunted house has children who’d like to participate in a pumpkin decorating contest, I’d like to invite you and them to dive into the project asap. My real estate brokerage, Sereno Group, is hosting its annual pumpkin decorating (not carving) contest and the DEADline is this Friday, October 21 at 5pm.
Read all about the contest on my Live in Los Gatos blog. Hope to see loads of the spooky, cute, funny, and outrageous creations next week!
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