by Mary Pope-Handy | Aug 19, 2023 | Belgatos, Belwood, Cabaña, Events, Recreation, Surmont
The next “Belwood Bingo and Movie Night” is tonight, Aug 19th, for paying cabaña members and their guests. At 6 pm the music starts, at 6:30 pm it’s bingo, and the film, Captain Marvel, starts at 8:15 pm.
What to bring to the Belwood Bingo and Movie Night
This is an outdoor event, and things get cool to cold after the sun goes down. Dress in layers and bring something comfy to sit on – blankets, sleeping bags, lawn chairs etc.
Bring your picnic supper, or if you’ve already eaten, there will be popcorn, cotton candy, and other treats are available for purchase!
For more information, keep an eye on the Belwood HOA website page for this event (and hopefully another one in July or August).
The address is 100 Belwood Gateway, Los Gatos CA 95032
by Mary Pope-Handy | Jun 26, 2023 | Belgatos, Belwood, Cabaña, Events, Recreation, Surmont
The Belwood of Los Gatos community is hosting its annual Independence Day or 4th of July celebration and the details will soon be announced on the Belwood HOA website. Last year, neighborhood festivities ran from 1pm – 5pm at the cabaña. Read all about it on the Belwood HOA site!
Annual 4th of July Party
The party is open to Belwood members and their invited guests only. This will be the second July 4th community party out of lockdown (they were annual until 2019, but were put on hold from 2020-2021), and it’s a great opportunity for newer residents, especially, to get to know their neighbors.
Please note that our warm, dry, and windy summers make the risk of fire danger very high. Fireworks are illegal in most of Santa Clara County without a permit due to the safety hazard. A sign at Belgatos Park warns that fireworks are strictly prohibited. There are some spectacular professional firework displays and festivities around the Valley that you can enjoy, including the, which is less than 10 minutes by car and 20 minutes by bike from Belwood!
Got Facebook? If so, you might consider tagging photos shared of the event with the unofficial Belwood Cabaña page on Facebook. It’s another great way to keep in-touch and stay updated with the community.
by Mary Pope-Handy | May 23, 2023 | Surmont
The Surmont subdivision is a highly desirable, scenic, low turnover area situated close to the coastal foothills with large trees, gently winding roads, and tidy homes in Los Gatos, California, 95032.
What are homes and lots like in Surmont?
There are 72 houses in Surmont. I pulled the data shared below from Realist, a program offered to members of the MLS which provides information from the Santa Clara County tax records as well as MLS data.
Typical:
- 4 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms
- 2496 SF
- 1 story
- 2 car garage
- built in 1965
- 10,000 SF lot
- ranch style (or modified ranch)
- slight hillside grade
Most houses are single story, but a few are split level or two story houses. (Average is 1.33 floors.)
These are good sized single family homes with the average house providing about 2500 square feet with 4 bedrooms and 2.5 or 3 bathrooms. The smallest houses are a little more than 1650 SF and the three largest boast more than 4,000 SF.
This is generally an older area, with most houses first built in the early 1960s. The earliest properties were constructed in 1952 and 1955. Four houses were built after 1970, with the newest constructed in 1980. The average year built is 1965.
Most parcels enjoy between 9,000 SF and 11,000 SF of space, but a few are larger: 4 are about a half acre and 1 is 1.5 acres.
This region is gently hilly overall. A few homes on Surmont Drive, Surmont Court, and Westhill Drive have more of a slope than other parts of the neighborhood. Some of those properties have amazing views, too – though most houses in this community do not. Most of the two story houses are hillside homes.
(more…)
by Mary Pope-Handy | Oct 15, 2022 | Belgatos, Belwood, Cabaña, Events, Recreation, Surmont
It’s official – the Halloween party is back!
The September 2022 Bellringer, the community’s newsletter, has announced it. After a two-year hiatus, Belwood is ready to have this family-friendly monster bash yet again. This event is held at the cabana club for members. The party will start around 3pm with wrap-up at 7pm on Sunday, October 30, check the Belwood event page and newsletters for updates. Feel free to reach out to Belwood’s Events Coordinator, Mary Schepman, by email through hoa@belwoodhomes.org if you have ideas or would like to help! Volunteers needed!
Info below is from previous years
Halloween fun in the Belwood of Los Gatos Community!
Put on a costume and celebrate Halloween at the Belwood of Los Gatos cabana club, Sunday Oct 27th, 2019 from 3- 6pm. Enjoy games, prizes, pizza, snacks & the spirit of All Hallows Eve. The featured event will be either a spooky haunted house or a movie, beginning at 6pm. Costumes highly encouraged!
Belwood residents and invited guests only, please. Free admission, donations appreciated.
Learn more at the Belwood Homes Halloween Party event page.
Volunteers needed! Find sign-up information through the link above.
by Mary Pope-Handy | Apr 29, 2021 | Belwood, Belgatos, Heritage Grove, Surmont
City-Data shares demographic data by neighborhood. While the maps aren’t always precise, they provide some insights for smaller parts of the town of Los Gatos. Please take it with a big grain of salt – as you view the demographic data data, you’ll find some questionable results (such as the average household size being 16 people here!).
The “Belwood” area map includes all of Belwood of Los Gatos, Belgatos, Surmont, and Heritage Grove. Curious? Check it out at the City-Data Belwood page.
by Mary Pope-Handy | Nov 18, 2019 | Belgatos, Belgatos Park, Belwood, Cabaña, Photos & Videos, Surmont, Trails
Welcome to our site regarding a beautiful neighborhood in east Los Gatos, including Belwood of Los Gatos, Belgatos, Surmont, and adjacent tracts & subdivisions. Here I’ll provide ongoing real estate information, some events that are happening in the community, photos of Belgatos Park and other nearby areas, and items of concern to residents in this pretty corner of Los Gatos.
Please note that this is NOT the Belwood Homeowner’s Association website. For the HOA site, and phone numbers for the Cabaña or HOA, for lifeguard jobs, please visit BelwoodHomes.org
Enjoy this slideshow of photos of our scenic neighborhood.
[metaslider id=891]
Harwood Farms horse boarding
by Mary Pope-Handy | Jul 4, 2018 | Belgatos, Belwood, Homes for Sale, Market Info, Surmont
What’s going on with the real estate market in the Belwood, Belgatos, Surmont, and nearby areas of east Los Gatos? Here’s a quick update of the year to date listings and sales activities, taken from the MLS.
Right now, there are 6 properties for sale in the neighborhood. That’s more than what has been normal in recent years. The stats for these active listings are as follows:
Average list price $2,286,333
Average square footage 2,906
Average lot size 16,194
Average days on market 19
Average price per SF $800.92
Average age 49
There is only one pending sale, and no properties at all in the area which closed in June. We had steady rate of sales closed earlier in the year: three in February, two in March, five in April, two in May.
For those tracking the absorption rate, which is the rate at which homes would sell if no new properties come on the market, this is a bit of a surprise. Zero homes (sold / closed in the last 30 days) divided by 6 active listings = an infinite months supply of inventory. Of course, it is not truly that dire, since there were 2 closings in late May and there’s one pending sale (went into contract June 15), but it does suggest that home buyers may have put the brakes on.
We are seeing this drop in sales activity across the valley in many areas, so it’s not just this corner of 95032.
Is it just a big rise in inventory that is causing the market to stall out a little? In some areas, homes have continued selling at the same pace, but with fewer offers over the last 6 weeks or so. Those areas may not have had as large an inventory jump as we have seen on the east end of Los Gatos.
Here’s a look at the inventory for single family homes for sale in 95032 with Campbell Union High School District (so Leigh or Westmont High) from July 2012 to July 2018.
Inventory is up, but not to an unprecedented degree. There were more in June, and June’s inventory was not too different from most of the recent years (2014 and forward).
A holiday week is often slow, so I would encourage people thinking of selling to not get discouraged. Part of what we are seeing could simply be a seasonal trend – summer is normally a bit of a “slowdown” period in real estate, with things picking back up again in early to mid September. Last year we did not see seasonality at all, as the market was raging hot through December.
If you are interested in buying or selling a home in east Los Gatos or anywhere in Silicon Valley, please reach out to me and we’ll find a time to talk and see if we might be a fit for working together.
