SAN MARTIN
– Property sales in the San Martin area are on the rise, 18
months after perchlorate contamination brought the housing market
to a standstill.
When the chemical was first discovered in the area’s water
supply in January 2003, market activity slowed significantly.
Residents interested in selling waited to assess the
situation.
SAN MARTIN – Property sales in the San Martin area are on the rise, 18 months after perchlorate contamination brought the housing market to a standstill.
When the chemical was first discovered in the area’s water supply in January 2003, market activity slowed significantly. Residents interested in selling waited to assess the situation.
“If people didn’t need to sell, they took their houses off the market,” real estate agent Patty Filice said. No single family home sold from Dec. 29, 2002 to Feb. 10, 2003 and the three houses listed between these dates did not sell until March 2003. Ten homes sold during the same time this year.
Even after the initial halt in market activity, housing prices were still a concern.
“They weren’t necessarily dropping, but they were not rising,” said Sylvia Hamilton, chair of the Perchlorate Community Advisory Group and president of the San Martin Neighborhood Alliance.
Although the market is leveling off now, housing sales in the Bay Area increased 20 percent from 2003 to 2004 broker Shanna Boigon said. The San Martin market reflects this trend.
“In general, if a property did not test positive for dangerous levels of perchlorate, it was able to sell,” Filice said. “But if you have a contaminant, it is an issue and it has an effect on the property values.”
Now that that San Martin residents understand the situation, they can take the necessary steps to protect their drinking water and property values.
“We just add perchlorate to a long list of other things we need to test for. The minute you inform everyone about the situation then all of a sudden, it’s not that the issue is gone, but we have it under control,” Boigon said.
Looking back on the situation Jim Eagle, managing broker of Coldwell Banker in Morgan Hill, believes people overestimated the negative effect of perchlorate contamination on the real estate market in the area.
“There have been some incidents where it has been a concern for buyers but overall it has affected value and sales in San Martin only slightly,” Eagle said. He believes that the extent of the impact was specific to those properties with private wells. More than 75 percent of property in San Martin relies on private wells, said Tracy Hemmeter of the Santa Clara Valley Water District.
Recently, home prices have shot up across the board and San Martin is no exception. From January to June 2004, 31 homes sold in San Martin ranging from $435,000 to $2,200,000. During this same time in 2003, 17 homes sold ranging from $370,000 to $2,350,000.
Hamilton agrees that the issue has worked itself out but makes it clear that San Martin residents need to address the issue if they consider selling their property.
Reverse osmosis water filtering systems were recently certified for perchlorate removal. The systems cost about $150 and offer a relatively inexpensive way to address the problem.
“We’re hoping everyone will have clean water in the not so distant future,” Hamilton said.
The state Regional Water Quality Control Board in San Luis Obispo ordered Olin Corp. to develop an uninterrupted water supply for residents with wells between 4 and 9.9 parts per billion of the chemical, meaning the company will deliver bottled water to those households.
The perchlorate comes from 40 years of manufacturing highway safety flares at an Olin Corp./Safety Fusee site on Tennant and Railroad avenues. The chemical was found to have leached through soil contaminated on the site. The plume recently reached north Gilroy, but to date, no city wells have been contaminated.
