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Silicon Valley Homeowners Quickly Cash Out In Red-Hot Real Estate Market

MOUNTAIN VIEW (KPIX 5) – How hot is the Bay Area housing market? We follow a couple who put their home on the market in Mountain View, and cashed out big time, in less than a week.

Jan Blair Hardee and her husband bought their 3 bedroom, 3 bath, 1,800 square foot home in 2007 for $915,000.

"This is a great house, and somebody wonderful is going to enjoy it," Hardee, a KPIX 5 producer, said.

It's a sale that will happen in the blink of an eye.

"It happens very quickly," said Realtor Yvonne Heyl.

So quickly that she's already handing it over to the bug inspector, the roof inspector, the real estate agents and the stager.

As fast as Jan can move out, the stager moves in, with paintings that matches the pillows, that match the books that match the flowers.

"Came back and my house had been transformed into somebody else's house," Hardee said.

Now, it's time to talk strategy.

"Our target market here, Jan, is the Googlers," said Realtor Jeff Gonzalez.

The home is located in the epicenter of the tech explosion, just blocks from the tech-bus barn and the Mountain View Caltrain station.

Using two comparable home sales in the same neighborhood, the agents set a price.

"We chose $1.399 (million), and we're hoping we get much more than that," Gonzalez said.

How much more? That's the one thing realtors can't really predict, but the answer will come in a hurry.

The house listed on a Thursday, and potential buyers grab every available parking spot, an hour before the open house started the following Saturday. Some even used the fire lane.

After less than a week on the market, picking the best offer only takes a few minutes, which was 13 percent over the asking price, $1.58 million.

"For all intents and purposes, it sold in four days. Pretty much went exactly according to script," Hardee said.

According to Trulia, the median home price in Mountain View has shot up 10 percent in the past year.

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