FindMyHabitatSouth Bay · California
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Notes from the walks

I'm out previewing San Jose homes most days. When I've got something worth passing on — what's actually selling, a place that surprised me — I'll send a note. No schedule, no spam.

South Bay · California

Come in and look around.

A house is more than its square footage.
FindMyHabitat · text version

What to look for in a house

01 · Light

The one thing you can't renovate

Most showings happen between 10 and 2, which is when nearly every house looks its best. Ask to see it again at five. Ask which windows face west, and which rooms have none. A north-facing living room is a different room in January than the one you walked through in June.

02 · Sound

Stand still for a minute

Stand in an empty room with nothing playing. That's the actual sound of the house — the fridge, the fan, the road two blocks over, the flight path at nine. It's the first thing you notice on a second visit, and either the thing you stop hearing after a year or the thing you never stop hearing.

03 · Space

Bring a tape measure

Floor plans flatter furniture you don't own. Measure the sofa, the table, the wall you want the bed against, and bring those numbers to the showing. Half of what feels wrong in a house is a room that's the right size for someone else's things.

04 · Spike

Shiba Inu, six

He walks the same four blocks every morning, which is where about half of these notes come from. He stops to smell something, I stand there and look around.

05 · Where I work

San Jose and around it

Willow Glen, Rose Garden, Cambrian, Almaden, Blossom Valley, Santa Teresa, Evergreen, Berryessa, Alum Rock, North and West San Jose, Downtown and Japantown — plus Cupertino, Campbell, Santa Clara, Saratoga, Los Gatos and Sunnyvale next door.

06 · Get in touch

Tell me what you're looking for

Email jacquelyntang@kw.com with the area, your timeline, and the two or three things that would make a house work for you, and I'll be in touch.