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 | Jun 22, 2023 | New construction
Story poles are now up for 3 new homes at Harwood and Almond Blossom at the site of the former Harwood Hills Preschool and more recently, a Spanish language school. I was told by long time neighbors that this was a tennis court club long ago, but the county records that I can access don’t go far enough back to know if that’s the case or not. What is clear, though, is that the new use will be housing.
This area is not in the Belwood of Los Gatos subdivision and not part of the areas served by the Belwood Cabana.

What do we know so far about the 3 new homes at Harwood and Almond Blossom?
First, the current property address is 16220 Harwood Road, Los Gatos 95032. Initially the story poles appeared only in the back corner of the property, but as of yesterday we saw all three sets of story poles in place. The poles were the first that we knew of a project that was being proposed.

The three sets of story poles confirm that 3 tall, detached structures are being proposed. It appears to be 3 two story homes are in the works.
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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.
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by Mary Pope-Handy | May 16, 2023 | Belwood, Cabaña
The swim lessons at Belwood schedule for 2023 has been posted on the Belwood HOA website. Lessons begin in June with 4 sessions and 7 levels of proficiency .
Swim lessons at Belwood – learn more
Click here for the HOA’s newsletter article on all of the details. Look for the FORM to complete and email in to register.
Related Reading
Belwood Cabaña
by Mary Pope-Handy | May 12, 2023 | Market reports
What’s happening in the Belwood, Belgatos, Surmont, and nearby real estate market? Home sales in the neighborhood so far are varied with some fast, some slowly moving! (DOM in the image below stands for Days On Market). Right now there is just one active listing. Use the link to check them out!
Home sales in the neighborhood: summary and link
Please click this link to see the current listings, pending sales, and closed sales over the last 180 days. There are two pending sales right now. The summary is below from the MLS. If you click that image or the link above, you will see the details on the MLS feed. (These are not our listings, but we have seen many and bid with some buyers on one of them.)

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by Mary Pope-Handy | May 2, 2023 | Buy a Home, Real Estate
Want to buy a house in the Los Gatos neighborhoods of Belwood, Belgatos or Surmont? There are a few things you should know about properties may be flipped that look “turnkey”, especially as the market heats up or inventory more available.
What is a flipped home?
Some contractors buy homes with deferred maintenance, often “off market”, do some quick remodeling (often without permits) and then put it on the open market as soon as possible. This is what we usually think of with flipped homes.
Also, some sellers quickly improve houses for a fast profit, sometimes when a house has been inherited to maximize their net. Some regular property owners do this, too, moving out for a quick rehab rather than remodeling for enjoying the house for their own use, often cut corners. These two categories are a spinoff of the contractor-builder flip. We see all of them in our real estate market.
Whether it’s owners doing a quick makeover or investors remodeling or improving select items, beware! Some of these properties give the impression of being “perfect” but in fact may only have been cleaned up in the most visible areas.
Questions to ask, some things to look for in flipped or similar properties
Here are some questions for you to ask or investigate when looking at homes for sale in east Los Gatos, particularly near the foothills.
Please note, owners or sellers who prepare the home for the maximum return on investment will probably add fresh paint & carpet (or pull up the carpet to expose the hardwood floors), swap out light fixtures, door and drawer or cabinet hardware, and tidy the front landscaping. These are not in the category of flipping, but more like normal refreshing a home to sell.
When does it move from refreshing to flipping? If the kitchen and bathrooms were hastily remodeled in the recent past, you may be looking at a flip of some kind.
- Look for expensive but less seen areas such as
-
- the electrical system (some electric panels may be at risk of fire)
- furnace (heater)
- water heater
- roof, gutters & downspouts
- drainage system (often needed, seldom there in Los Gatos)
- back yard landscaping
- the foundation (always a potential issue in our east Los Gatos neighborhood if drainage hasn’t been properly addressed)
- insulation in the attic (often minimal)
- plumbing – has the home been re-piped, or are the old galvanized steel pipes still in the walls and under the house, ready to give up the ghost?
- condition of retaining walls, if any
- condition of concrete or hardscape
- large trees – have they been trimmed, or are they an expense which will fall on you?
- Is this an investment property (purchased by investors at a foreclosure auction or as a distress sale)? Or is it a trustee sale where the family or friends inheriting the property are fixing it up for sale (almost like a flipped house)?
- If it’s a house being sold by investors who’ve fixed it up, how experienced are they? Some clients of mine purchased an out-of-area house from first time investors. The kitchen remodel was made such that a full size fridge wouldn’t fit. Fail!(Some trustee sales are in a similar category as first time investors – this isn’t something they have experience with, most likely. They may make costly mistakes by either over-improving the home for sale or not fixing the right things. They may or may not be local and have a true sense of market value, too, so may set themselves up with unrealistic expectations.)
- Were there pre-sale inspections? If so, did the owners or investors do the Section 1 work from the termite report and the health & safety issues called out in the home inspection? The home inspection (not the termite or pest) should flag any major issues with the foundation, electrical, mechanical etc. systems in the home. If there’s no home inspection, prepare for surprises in these older homes.
- In Surmont, Belgatos, Belwood, and all of the east Los Gatos, Cambrian and Almaden hillside areas, water and drainage is an issue, as mentioned above regarding foundations. Left unchecked, water seeps into the crawl spaces under the houses and can create real havoc as our clay soil expands and pushes on the foundation. So look at the downspouts and see if they simply dump the water at the base of the house (which you will see most of the time – but it’s not a good idea, usually), or did the owner take the time and spend the money to handle drainage issues well? How’s the grading? Soil and landscaping should slope away from the house so that any water coming down will run away rather than seep into the crawlspace.
Browse neighborhood homes for sale online on this site. When you visit in person, bring a notepad and jot down concerns or questions. It is so easy to fall in love with remodeling that’s been done that it may be easy to miss the expensive items not easily seen that may have been ignored.
Finally, check the permits to see if improvements that needed permits and finals obtained them. Click here for the online Los Gatos permit search.
Need a good, local Realtor? Call or email me. I’ve been in real estate a long time (since early 1993), am very accomplished and recently was named “best real estate agent in Silicon Valley” by readers of the San Jose Mercury News. I’m also a Belwood resident and I know the area and its values well.