Harv Balu's blog

The Milpitas housing market just posted its July 2026 numbers, and the short version is
this: it is still a seller's market, but buyers finally have a little more to choose from. Here is
where things stand for single family homes.

• Median sold price: $1,670,000, down 7.2% from June, while price per square foot rose 4.1% to $1,017. That is a change in which homes sold, not a drop in what a Milpitas square foot is worth.
• Days on market: a median of 13 days, one day slower than June.
• Sold to list: 101.6% of list price, still over asking, down from about 104%...

There is no standard real estate commission. There never legally was. That is the starting point of my new guide to what it really costs to sell a home in the Bay Area, and it only gets more useful from there.

The rules changed in August 2024, and most of what sellers think they know about who pays what is out of date. The full article walks through every line on a seller's net sheet in plain English:

• The 2024 practice changes, decoded. What the NAR settlement actually did, what it did not do, and why every piece of agent compensation is now negotiated in the open.
• Who pays the...

The Fremont housing market just posted its July 2026 numbers, and they need a second look. The median sold price fell 5.5 percent, yet inventory got tighter, homes still closed above asking, and the price buyers paid per square foot actually went up. Here is where things stand for single family homes.

• Median sold price: $1,625,000, down 5.5% from last month.
• Median price per square foot: $1,036, up 0.6%. That is the number that says July was a change in what sold, not a drop in what homes are worth.
• Days on market: a median of 13 days to go under contract.
• Sold to list:...