Recently, one of my clients walked into one of my open houses in the Willow Glen area and asked me if I could find him a historical Victorian home close to Downtown Willow Glen in San Jose CA.
It is a well known fact among San Jose Realtors that, outside of Downtown San Jose, Willow Glen is THE area to find Victorian-style homes. Most Victorian homes were built right before or around the turn of the 20th Century and can be found around Minnesota Ave., Cherry Ave., Willow St. in particular.
Many Victorian houses are in fact today official San Jose City Landmarks. Many of them were also previously built as farm houses, close to the once famous Willow Glen orchards. Check out
this page for more information about Historical Victorian Homes in Willow Glen.
As I began my search, I realized a few things though about Victorian homes as follows:
Firstly, not many Victorian houses are available on the Willow Glen market today as most of them are passed on from one generation to another or serve as office space.
Secondly, Victorian-style properties available in San Jose are either priced on the high-end side of the Real Estate market (due to massive renovation work undertaken) or as fixer uppers for contractors (no renovation whatsoever) and very few homes are actually priced moderately.
Thirdly, I noticed that a good number of these Victorian homes had a basement, which is uncommon in any San Jose home but a pleasant surprise for a European like me, used to such features in a home.
At any rate, the quest is still on for now. I will be back soon with hopefully victorious Victorian news!