The drought is over! (Or is it?)

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The bomb cyclone hasn’t put a permanent end to California’s water woes. But with restrictions rolled back, what are you looking forward to doing with a little extra water?

CHIC (Pearl)

I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for a long, luxurious, and languid trip to one of my favorite places: the shower! Two years ago, I cut back on bathing time to help reduce our water consumption, but speed showering often made me forget to clean a body part or two. And even though I promised Kevin I won’t stay in there all night, it will be nice to take my time.

GEEK (Kevin)

I mastered the art of the five-minute shower back in college, so I’m more excited about cleaning the house than scrubbing behind my ears. I’m planning to give our entire home a thorough once-over with a bucket, a mop, a sponge, and a good podcast on my wireless headphones. While I’m at it, I might even clean the shower — if Pearl ever decides to come out again!

What happened at SVB?

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The rapid collapse of Silicon Valley Bank has sent a chill through Silicon Valley, including the real estate industry. Buyers are more hesitant to take on the risk of a new loan, which means properties could be sitting on the market longer than expected. Want to know what happened and how we can avoid another big bank failure? CNN explains.

Bay Area tech layoffs hit 20K

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More than 20,000 workers in the tech sector have lost their jobs in the past 6-8 months, and you more than likely know someone who’s been affected. According to a Mercury News report, open listings are down as much as 53% from pre-pandemic times for software positions and 37% for IT roles. But while some tech giants are downsizing, they’re still bigger than they were before COVID.

Mapping San José’s Housing Future

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If you’re a regular reader of our blog, you’ve probably heard of “housing elements” – plans that every California city need to update every eight years to set goals for housing development based on projected growth.

If that sounds super geeky, well, that’s because it is. But it doesn’t make it any less important, especially if you’re considering the affordability of homeownership in Silicon Valley.

For example, here’s a Mercury News article with a map of where the City of San José would like to build 77,500 new homes in the next ten years.