South Bay Realtors at the top of their game in unprecedented market
“All things real estate” from active listings to wealth building seminars, the Von Kaenel Giambruno Real Estate Group strives to be the number one choice when it comes to buying, selling, relocating, investing, and navigating the thriving Silicon Valley market.
With a focus on customer service, Mark von Kaenel and David Giambruno diligently work as advisors, continually educating their clients and enabling them to make the best choices possible. Their systematic approach to real estate, says Giambruno, “is a proven method based on a record of success. Our world-class team of professionals supporting us means Mark and I can concentrate on giving our full attention to what we do best – negotiating the best contracts for our clients.”
“We believe and know this approach to real estate elevates the client experience,” setting them apart from others in the industry.
After working together for eight years, the Bay Area natives launched their Keller Williams Bay Area Estates partnership in Los Gatos.
“Every day brings new and exciting challenges,” says von Kaenel, father of two adult children, who lives in Los Gatos with his wife. “It’s awesome to create solutions and successes for people and their highest value asset – their home,” he adds.
“The human aspect of real estate” is what Giambruno says he enjoys the most. “We are invested in our clients’ lives and we are a part of their milestones. Many clients turn out to be life-long friends,” adds Giambruno, who lives in San Jose with his wife and their five children, ages 15 to 20.
The unprecedented ride in the Bay Area real estate market during the past 18 months certainly brought a new set of challenges and unique outcomes.
We saw a complete economic shutdown and 60 percent drop in listings from March to May of 2020, says von Kaenel, which is a drastic difference to the market now. With open houses attracting dozens of visitors and multiple offers exceeding the list price by hundreds of thousands of dollars, the “appetite for home buying and investing” continues to be voracious.
“There is a finite amount of land in Silicon Valley and only so much room for singlefamily homes, so the demand is high,” says Giambruno, who doesn’t anticipate the market slowing down too much in the immediate future, although he does predict a correction in 2023.
“COVID put fuel on the fire and continues to drive the upward trend in home prices due to limited inventory and low interest rates,” says von Kaenel. After another strong six to eight months, he anticipates a rise in inflation by the third quarter of next year to curtail the rising prices.
The “fluff value,” the amount that a buyer is willing to pay over asking just to get into a home in Silicon Valley, will go away as the inventory increases, interest rates rise, and layoffs start occurring, he predicts. Prices may drop 10 to 20 percent, but “real estate” is still golden, and that “fluff value” will be realized in a long-term Silicon Valley home purchase. Meanwhile, von Kaenel adds that limited inventory continues to be gobbled up by executives in industries not affected by COVID, those with IPO stock money, and a resurgence of foreign money.
In addition to market trends, real estate practices were also significantly impacted by the pandemic, requiring von Kaenel and Giambruno to pivot quickly and adapt their ways of doing business.
“Real estate is a very personal industry, historically requiring face-to-face interactions with buyers, sellers, vendors, investors, and more,” says Giambruno. “Having to handle everything remotely and managing client anxiety were the biggest challenges.”
Working remotely to conduct buyer consultations and listing appointments, Facetime meetings, and virtual home tours became necessary. Clients’ needs changed too. Buyers wanted more land and bigger homes with multiple work and learn-from-home spaces.
The changes, however, proved to be valuable lessons regarding efficiency.
“Leveraging technology to broaden our reach and expand our audience,” says Giambruno, “is now an essential part of our business strategy”.
The in-person Wealth Building seminars for 15 to 20 people, now in a webinar format, attract 40 to 50 people from all over the nation. They see this trend continuing upward as people become even more comfortable working with technology.
One pillar of their business, investing, has also gained recent momentum, says Giambruno. “The market for investors has become a national market. COVID, state taxes, rent control issues, and the Bay Area’s high cost of living are just a few of the many reasons investors are looking for a bigger bang for their real estate buck outside California”.
Investors are following the migration of high tech to destinations like Austin, Nashville, Boise, Salt Lake, and Raleigh, buoyed by the news of Apple investing $420 billion in new out-of-state headquarters and other tech giants, like Tesla, moving some of their operations outside of California.
A national reach with a local touch, real estate business is still “a hyper-local business, and we believe it’s our responsibility to be a part of the community,” says von Kaenel. They continue to be active in the chamber, support the local schools and Los Gatos Education Foundation, and overall are “engaged with every aspect of the community.”
“We care, we truly care about our clients and their experience,” says von Kaenel. Keller Williams Bay
Area Estates. Von Kaenel Giambruno Real Estate Group. Mark von Kaenel, DRE# 01189869. David Giambruno, DRE# 01365616. 408-568-6602, 408-202-4210. team@vkgre.com. www.vkgre.com.