I know it’s hard to believe, but my favorite house was also the most expensive.  It was 255 Lyell Street near downtown Los Altos.  Listed at $3,350,000 by Ivan Margaretich of Intero Real Estate, this home reminded me of an old English Estate, however slightly more compact and lacking a large yard.  The beautiful woodwork really stood out.

I also liked 846 Clinton Road.  This new construction home, built by Schiller Construction Inc., is Green Certified and sides up to McKenzie Park.  Listed at $2,995,000. by Scott Fleming of Pertria Real Estate Investment Group, the home flows well and the finishes look great.  I’m not sure the value is in the price.  We’ll just have to wait and see.

1557 Plateau Avenue, listed by Denise Welsh of Intero Real Estate, offers a lot of home for the money ($2,249,000).  This 4 bedroom, 4+ bathroom home packs in almost 3,600 square feet of comfortable living space on an almost 9,600 s.f. lot.  The only downside is a lack of yard space and some buyers think Plateau Avenue is an inconsistent street.

Two of the toured properties stunk, literally.  One smelled of a dog and the other of Chlorine – yes Chlorine!  It appears some brilliant builder thought it a good idea to build/enclose a house over a swimming pool.  Nothing better than the smell of fresh Chlorine greeting you when you wake up in the morning.  I love swimming, but I don’t understand the logic in it. 

Most of the other homes on tour were nice, but not super exciting.

If you have any questions about any of these (or other) properties, feel free to shoot me an e-mail or give me a call directly at 650 917-4250.

In addition to to recycling e-waste, paper shredding services will be available. Coldwell Banker will take up to two boxes of paper for shredding.  The shredding service will be available from 10:00 a.m.- 2:00 p.m.

Here is the location of my office: 161 S. San Antonio Road, Los Altos

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Satake Estates is one of Summerhill Homes newest developments.  Located in Mountain View on the old Satake Nursery site (at the end of Marilyn Drive), Satake Estates is a higher end development of 30 single family homes.Currently, prices range from $1,537,000 to over $2,013,000 plus options.  Home sizes range from approximately 2238 square feet up to approximately 3358 square feet (s.f.).  Lots range from approximately 6000 s.f. to slightly over 11,000 s.f., with the majority of the lots in the 6k+ s.f. range.  Click here for interactive community map.

When I previewed the homes last Friday, there were many things that I liked about the development; the quality of the construction, the high ceilings, the large bedrooms (so many times new home developements have teeny-weeny bedrooms) and many of the features (I’m sure the model homes included many optional upgrades).  I liked the emphasis on “green” construction, energy efficiency and that the homes were designed to be Greenpoint rated.  I liked the wide hallways, high countertops and general open feel to the floor-plans.  Lastly, I liked the two-story designs and large garage spaces.

There was only one negative; the bathroom sinks were good looking but not functional.  The small “bowl” sinks sat on top of the counters and all I can think about is water going all over the place and what a pain to clean.

The development is aggressivelly priced for the immediate neighborhood and even though the homes are located within the Los Altos School District (Springer Elementary, Blach Intermediate, Mountain View High), it might be hard to justify (financially) buying one of these homes and making it pencil out.

For example, one could buy a home in Los Altos, remodel and expand and be close to the asking price of the larger homes.  However, one would have a Los Altos address and Los Altos sized lots which command higher prices and still have ability for faster appreciation.

I try to advise my clients into rethink buying the highest priced home in any neighborhood.  Why?, one may ask!  Because the values of a lower priced neighborhood typically drive down the value of a higher priced home within that neighborhood.  This is the case with Satake Estates.  They are the highest priced homes in Mountain View and the surrounding neighborhood(s) are likely to have a downward pull on home values within the Satake Estate’s neighborhood.  The next closest neighborhood in price, schools etc. would be Gest Ranch and homes in this neighborhood have recently sold under $1,300,000.

All in all, I liked what I saw.  If one desires a “new” home with great schools, this may be the place for you.  As the Summerhill Homes marketing material states “We believe a great neighborhood starts with great schools and custom home features.”  This development certaining fits the bill.However, I think that the Satake Estates homes may be priced above what our current real estate market may bear.   Check them out for yourself, they are located at 1156 Marilyn Drive (enter via the Springer Road side of Marilyn).  OR

If you would like me to act as your buyer’s agent (not affiliated with the seller or builder) and/or arrange a personal tour for you, please contact me directly at 650 917-4250.

More and more homeowners are using salvage companies to remove usable building materials.  Generally this method is more economical and reduces landfill waste.  Whole House Building Supply & Salvage (Whole House) in East Palo Alto is one such company.   

Another neighbor recently used Whole House for it’s home’s deconstruction and received a tax right off which almost covered the cost of the home’s demolition.  How does it work?

Whole House works with the non-profit East Palo Alto Council of Tenants Education Fund (EPACT).  The homeowner consults an appraiser to determine the value of the construction materials of the home.  The construction materials are then donated to EPACT. 

A crew from Whole House dismantles the home by hand, seeking the maximum re-use and recycling of materials from the building.   The items are then sold to the public at their warehouse at 1955 Pulgas Road in East Palo Alto.  Sometimes the sale occurs at the property.

Demolition generally takes longer than using a large backhoe and Whole House doesn’t remove all items from the property. Concrete, asphalt, and hazardous waste are some of the items that aren’t taken (see Whole House’s web site for a complete list of salvageable items).

If you’re looking for usable doors, pedestal sinks, windows, flooring etc., Whole House’s warehouse is a great place to look.  You also can get on their e-mail list which will alert you to their next home demolition sale.

Promotional flyers are just that, 8 1/2 by 11 inch flyers that describe a property and it’s amenities.  They are targeted towards the real estate agent and are similar to the flyer that is handed out at open houses.

About 15 years ago, when the MLS consisted of a 1/2 inch thick book of homes for sale, I used to use a company to distribute promotional flyers about my listings to local real estate professionals.  This company would hand deliver my flyers to all the local real estate offices and they would be put in the individual agent’s mail box. The cost was relatively cheap (about $15.00 for 450 flyers) and, at the time, a relatively good method of keeping agents informed about my listings.

Today, this method of property promotion is about as effective as the using the Pony Express to deliver documents.  It’s extremely out-dated.  It is a huge waste of money, time and more importantly, resources.  Most active real estate agents have a network of e-mail contacts and/or personal contacts within the real estate community that makes paying for the distribution of information via a paper flyer useless. (picture courtesy of http://www.jankyvision.com/2008/01/this-day-in-history-pony-express-when.html)

Most agents who receive these flyers, either recycle them or throw them away without ever reading them.  They are the real estate equivalent of junk mail solicitations that we all receive at home.  No one wants them, they aren’t read and they’re thrown away very quickly.

In addition to not being an effective means of property promotion, they waste a lot of paper and other resources.  The minimum order quantity currently is about 400 flyers and the cost is about $35.00 per area.  If 10 agents mailed weekly (just to the Los Altos, Palo Alto and Menlo Park area), that’s over 16,000 sheets of paper ending up in the trash/recycle bin per month.  Multiply that by the 26 delivery areas and that’s a lot of dead trees.

If your real estate agent boasts about his or her marketing plan that involves the use of distributing real estate flyers to each agent, I would question whether the rest of the marketing plan was current and targeted for today’s buyers and their agents.

After breakfast Friday morning, we wondered over to look at this one camp site.  It turns out that we camped just a few yards away from one of the best triathletes in the world, Chris Lieto.  Chris offered us a cup of freshly brewed Major Dickasons coffee and we sat down for some conversation. 

Chris recently started the Green Athlete blog, where he provides resources and ideas that support athletes in their effort to live green.  As part of this effort, he drives around in this tricked out vehicle that is a cross between a monster truck and a R.V..  It runs on biodiesel, is solar powered, has a kitchen, plasma TV, stereo, and looks as if it can run through (or over) anything.  Unfortunately, I did not have my camera, but pictures are on Chris’ Blog. 

One of the companies that Chris is involved with caught my eye.  It is an eco start-up solar power company called Sungevity.  It made its initial launch on Earth-day and promises to make the purchase and installation of solar power easier and cheaper than ever before.  The web site is pretty straight forward and provides information about solar powered energy for the home.  Just click on the icons on the bottom of the page and get informatin on how solar power works, its cost savings, its environmental benefits and Sungevity’s benefits. 

According to Sungevity’s website, going solar is faster, easier and affordable!

“Enter your address on Sungevity’s website, and satellite-imaging software zooms in on your home, calculates the roof’s dimensions, selects appropriately sized solar arrays, and shows what they will look like installed — while computing your return on investment. Once the order is placed, an off-the-shelf prepackaged solar array is shipped to the customer’s door, and an installation crew is dispatched.”

So I thought I would get a free solar IQuote, using my home in Los Altos as the test case.  I entered my address and a satellite image came up asking me to center the circle on the roof of my home.  Within minutes of giving my contact information, I received the following e-mail from Sungevity:

Dear Homeowner,

Thank you for your interest in Sungevity!

We currently serve the greater San Francisco Bay Area, but we are rapidly expanding our service and hope to be in your area soon.

We will contact you once we are able to help you go solar.

Shine on!
The Sungevity Team

Quite a disappointment!  I think Los Altos is still considered part of the greater bay area, yet I didn’t get a quote.  I didn’t even get a time frame on when I would get a quote.  If I had been a real customer, I would be looking elsewhere for my solar power needs right about now.  It appears they may have jumped the gun and got the web site up without having the ability to service the customer.  I think it would have made sense if the web site had a map or something indicating Sungevity’s service areas and/or future planned service areas.  

I’m still not quite sure whether they can assist me with an estimate or whether they truly don’t service Los Altos yet.   Also, should I have received a quote, I’m sure I would have had further questions about the process like:  How big should my system be? Why they recommend one system over another?  Who are their installers?   But for now, I’ll just wait for my quote.   I’ll keep you posted.