All about Life & Real Estate in Silicon Valley – Broker Michael Koo's Blog.

California POPS Orchestra, The biggest hits of the Big Band Era & beyond! With special Guests, the Black Tie Jazz Orchestra, The Big Band Hits of Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, The Dorsey Brothers, Count Basie, Louis Prima, Harry James, Duke Ellington plus more

www.californiapops.org (650) 856-8432 April 3, 2011 Sun 3pm at Calvary Church 16330 Los Gatos Blvd., Los Gatos CA 95030

Winner of six Tony Awards, five prestigious Drama Desk and two Laurence Olivier Awards. Chicago comes to the Montgomery Theater. Directed & Choreographed by Kevin R. Hauge  April 15-23, 2011

www.cmtsj.org  (408) 792-4111

Cirque du Soleil’s “Quidam” first swung into the big top back in 1996. And since its debut, the blockbuster has been seen by almost 10 million people worldwide. Cirque du Soleil has reinvented ” Quidam” once performed under a big top, to work in arena settings like HP Pavilion and the Cow Palace. In the new story line, with costumes designed by Dominique Lemieux, the heroine at the center of “Quidam” is no longer envisioned as a little girl, but as a young woman.

For more info, visit www.cirquedusoleil.com or call 1-866-448-7849

Winter Fest kicks off with singer Denise Donatelli, with her silky voice, rhythmically supple phrasing and emotionally incisive interpretation of familiar lyrics, Denise would stand out on any city’s jazz scene. Acoustic Africa, brings together three leading African guitarists, closes out the Winter Fest on March 20 at the Fairmont Hotel’s Club Regent. The festival which used to run over a number of weeks – has now been consolidated into two weekends and will be staged largely at the Fairmont Hotel in downtown San Jose.

For more info, visit www.sanjosejazz.org or call (408) 288-7557 ext. 2335

Over 13 days in March 2011, the Cinequest  Film Festival will screen more than 170 films – including 75 that are either world or North American premieres. Cinequest, the Silicon Valley film festival known as a proving ground for new technologies, turns 21 this year, and some might wonder what the staff has been imbibing. After pioneering digital distribution of films, the festival is launching Cinequest Mavericks Studio, a production house that aims to find, fund and bring to market new feature films, documentaries and television shows.

For details, go to www.cinequest.org Cinequest has VIP soirees, after film parties and other events.

It is the World’s leading institution exploring the history of computing and its ongoing impact on society. It is home to the largest international collection of computing artifacts in the world, encompassing computer hardware, software, documentation, ephemera, photographs and moving images. The museum brings computer history to life through an acclaimed speaker series, dynamic website, on-site tours and physical exhibitions.

Museum Hours Wed to Sun (10am to 5pm ) www.computerhistory.org

A remodeled one level house with 3 bedrooms & 2 baths around 1,392 ft, new interior paint, all double pane windows, hardwood floors throughout, bright kitchen with granite counter, remodeled bathrooms, new water heater, new washer & dryer, spacious back yard, two car garage, close to park, library, freeway and shopping centers, central heating with air-conditioning , top Cupertino schools including Eaton elementary, Lawson middle & Cupertino high.

Gardening service included
No-pets & Non-smoking
Min 1year lease
$2,750 per month and deposit is $2,750
Available immediately

Contact Michael for showing (408) 593-0304 and email is brokerkoo@gmail.com

From ( Jan – June ) 2011, Grease, Fiddler on the Roof, Stomp and Mamma Mia coming to San Jose. www.broadwaysanjose.com  Call (408) 792-4111 for tickets

Grease – Time Magazine #1 pick of the Musical in 2007. It’s the one that you want.

Fiddler on the Roof – Tony Award’s Winning Musical for all ages and is a timeless classic. 

Stomp
Back with new surprises. It is explosive, provocative, sophisticated, sexy, utterly unique appeals to all ages.

Mamma Mia
It is feel good show and audiences come back again and again to relieve the thrill.

This 14-acre outdoor museum – with paved streets, running trolleys, and 27 original and replica homes, business and landmarks – is the largest and most evocative landscape of times-gone-by.

Pick up a map of the grounds at the museum store in the Pacific Hotel; tours are also available. There is a replica of lively barn Dashaway Stables, with carriages and buggies. A trolley barn holds antique vehicles, a horse-drawn streetcar and trolley cars.

In downtown San Jose, Peralta Adobe ( 175 W St. John Street, 408-287-2291) is San Jose’s oldest address. Visitors can view two rooms furnished with period pieces. An adjacent structure is the exquisite Fallon House, a Victorian mansion built in 1855, showcasing 15 rooms typical of the Victorian period. To schedule tours, call (408) 918-1047.

San Jose History Park , South End of Kelly Park www.historysanjose.org

Tom Bloom

Brace yourself for another rough year in housing: The number of foreclosures is expected by many to increase in 2011 as more troubled mortgages work their way through the pipeline. Next year could very well be a peak year for foreclosures, says Rick Sharga, a senior vice president at RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure properties. The market is expected to tally about 1.2 million bank repossessions in 2010, up from 900,000 in 2009, he says. “We expect we will top both of those numbers in 2011.”That’s partially due to issues the industry has faced with foreclosure processing that began in the fall and delayed a portion of foreclosures from being completed this year, he says. In the so-called robosigning controversy, some lenders halted foreclosures after learning procedures for signing off on foreclosure documents might not be in accordance with the law.Continued high unemployment also is expected to exacerbate the foreclosure problem in the year ahead, as will upcoming interest-rate resets on adjustable-rate mortgages that will increase monthly payments for some homeowners, Mr. Sharga says. In the meantime, data on the volume of loan modifications from the Treasury Department indicate that fewer borrowers were being approved for permanent modifications in recent months, says Greg Hebner, chief executive of MOS Group, a loss-mitigation service provider to mortgage lenders and servicers.What’s more, there’s a growing feeling that modifying mortgages doesn’t get to the heart of the housing crisis: “There is the perception that the answer to this involves trying to get job growth,” which will help homeowners pay their loans and enable others to buy homes, said Jay Brinkmann, chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association, during a recent conference call with reporters.For the longer term, however, the outlook for the foreclosure market is better since fewer homeowners are becoming delinquent on their mortgage payments. Thirty-day delinquencies are down 11% since the height of the recession in the first part of 2009, according to Mr. Brinkmann. And loans 60 or more days past due are expected to fall nearly 20% by the end of 2011, to about 5% of all mortgages from an expected 6.2% at the end of 2010, according to a forecast released Tuesday from credit-reporting company TransUnion. Delinquency numbers are expected to continue to improve as unemployment slowly declines. (For its numbers, TransUnion uses a random sample of 27 million records from its database.) “It’s good progress, but we are by no means out of the woods yet,” says Steve Chaouki, group vice president in TransUnion’s financial-services business unit. In a more normal market, 60-day delinquencies would be in the 1.5% to 2% range, he says. So how does all this bode for housing prices? High housing inventory, along with high unemployment, will likely add up to continued depressed home prices in the year ahead in many markets, says Nichole Jordan, banking and securities industry practice leader for Grant Thornton, an accounting and business advisory firm. “It’s going to take several years to work through the excess inventory,” she says. Ms. Jordan and others are looking to 2012 for anything resembling a recovery in housing. Even then, it’s going to be a long journey to stabilization; it historically takes five to seven years for prices to stabilize after a deep correction, Ms. Jordan says. “Realistically, you’re not going to see home prices appreciate next year,” says Jason Kopcak, head of whole loans at financial-services firm Cantor Fitzgerald. In fact, many in the industry are expecting prices to fall another 10% next year on a national basis, he says. RealtyTrac’s Mr. Sharga says the national decline could be around 5%. Other economists are expecting prices to remain flat. Next year “is going to be a wash, in terms of any meaningful recovery, and we’re looking toward 2012,” said Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance, during a conference call with reporters. And that’s assuming there are no other major problems or delays to contend with, he says.

Write to Amy Hoak at amy.hoak@dowjones.com —Read more at marketwatch.com.