Home & Real Estate
Real Estate Matters A sea change in local buyers’ profiles by Wendy McPherson emember “irrational exuberance”? Silicon Valley real estate buyers do. Former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan’s turn-ofthe-century words that became a catch phrase of the tech boom (and bust) have had a lasting impact on local real estate buyers. Gone are the stories of flying over Atherton in a helicopter, picking a house to buy even though it was not on the market, and paying $40 million for it. Gone are the days of folks forking over a million dollars above the list price for homes, although we have seen a couple of overbids
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(continued from previous page) 159 Irene Court J. Xie to J. & K. Paone for $670,000 on 7/31/12; previous sale 1/05, $551,500 2111 Latham St. #321 J. Stein to Y. Pang for $440,000 on 8/3/12 148 Montelena Court T. Chang to S. Wang for $861,500 on 8/2/12; previous sale 6/00, $494,000 1909 Newman Place A. Fuks to Y. Liu for $745,000 on 7/31/12 211 O’keefe Way Shea Homes to A. Vakharia for $787,000 on 8/3/12 363 N. Rengstorff Ave. #8 HSBC Bank to H. Kim for $508,000 on 8/2/12; previous sale 10/05,
up to $700,000 lately. Those irrationally exuberant days coupled with the recession of 2008 have made buyers come to the realization that it is not every Californian’s inalienable right to see an investment return on their homes. Sobering fact number one. We in the real estate industry are just beginning to identify other factors that are creating a growing Sea Change, a clear trend that buyers now are more conservatively mod-
$575,000 674 Willowgate St. F. Hasten to P. Angelo for $1,100,000 on 7/31/12 928 Wright Ave. #1203 Shalinsky Trust to G. Yip for $635,000 on 7/30/12; previous sale 3/99, $350,000
Palo Alto 101 Alma St. #506 M. Manafy to E. Tober for $575,000 on 8/2/12; previous sale 1/06, $517,500 101 Alma St. #601 Robinson Trust to I. Cafiero for $711,000 on 8/1/12; previous sale 6/97, $370,000 440 Cesano Court #301 S.
est in both their natures and their spending habits on housing. These younger buyers are the products of “information on everything at their fingertips” age, and their fingertips are the very roots of the green movement, whose mantra is “less is more.” Forty-seven percent of the people who currently work at Facebook ride their bikes to work, arrive by public transportation or catch the company shuttle (companies such as Apple, Cisco, Genentech and Google also provide shuttles). In San Francisco, real estate agents were seeing certain pockets of houses run up in price — it turned out that those “pockets” are where company shuttles stop and buyers wanted to be able to walk to the shuttles. A couple of Palo Alto companies are giving “allowances” to employees who buy within a certain radius of the office, hoping to lessen their carbon footprint. Downtown Menlo Park has seen older houses on big-
Johnston to J. & M. Golemme for $749,000 on 7/31/12; previous sale 10/99, $410,000 1578 Channing Ave. S. Mao to H. Wang for $1,480,000 on 7/31/12 524 Chimalus Drive A. Sykes to J. & K. Green for $2,600,000 on 7/31/12 360 Everett Ave. #2b Ditmore Trust to K. North for $1,201,000 on 7/31/12 640 Forest Ave. #F F. & A. Lomangino to A. Porter for $992,000 on 8/3/12; previous sale 11/04, $625,000 940 Harriet St. Donati Trust to M. & K. Trindade for $1,300,000 on
DAY UN S Y& RDA 30PM U T SA - 4: EN 1:30 OP
Redwood City
AVAILABLE TO QUALIFIED STANFORD FACULTY/STAFF ONLY
Soaring Cathedral ceilings and walls of glass create a dramatic effect in this 5 bedroom, 3 bathroom custom designed home with private atrium entry. Extensively remodeled, using natural light and high quality materials throughout.
Offered at $1,855,000 www.922Lathrop.com
650.917.4267 cfeldstein@cbnorcal.com DRE# 00911615
8/1/12 1038 Loma Verde Ave. M. Choi to H. Sze for $1,455,000 on 8/1/12; previous sale 10/07, $1,378,000 1669 Mariposa Ave. Mario Trust to A. Robertson for $1,325,000 on 7/31/12 2579 Park Blvd. #X204 D. Miller to A. Karnik for $805,000 on 7/31/12; previous sale 6/00, $500,000 2021 Princeton St. J. McNicholas to Tigertree Limited for $1,900,000 on 7/31/12; previous sale 8/01, $995,000 2660 Ramona St. Strickland Trust to C. Ng for $1,710,000 on 8/2/12 4338 Silva Ave. Isobe Trust to K. Karupasamy for $1,251,000 on 7/31/12; previous sale 6/91, $80,000 2291 South Court D. Lesikar to Fox Trust for $2,723,000 on 7/31/12; previous sale 4/93, $730,000 648 2nd Ave. A. Garcia to J. Anguiano for $220,000 on 7/19/12 441 Cork Harbour Circle #A C. Reilly to T. & K. Evans for $385,000 on 7/19/12 505 Jetty Way E. Yafai to S. Braithwaite for $959,000 on 7/20/12; previous sale 11/05, $995,000 46 Murray Court E. & J. Tervol to A. & L. Hendardy for $699,000 on 7/20/12; previous sale 5/04, $659,000 56 Pelican Lane #62118 A. & L. Silverman to D. Pan for $480,000 on 7/23/12; previous sale 9/09, $465,000 548 Shorebird Circle #3204 Cohen Trust to J. Alamparambil for $655,000 on 7/24/12; previous sale 10/03, $580,000
922 Lathrop Place Stanford
Carole Feldstein
ger lots demolished to make way for two to four townhomes or condos. I am sure that some of those builders thought that retirees wanting to live close to town would be their target audience, but, lo and behold, young people are purchasing them. In downtown Menlo Park, in Palo Alto and in other Peninsula cities, walk-to-everything or biketo-everything locations are in great demand. Twelve years ago, there were no energy blackouts, no garbage swath the size of Texas in the oceans, no finite number of years until the oil runs out — all items in the news every day. Sobering fact number two. Many of these buyers have seen their parents buy at the wrong time, spend too much money on their houses, or have seen them lose their jobs at age 50 or 60 still owing money on their homes. In some of the worst cases, parents have used their homes as ATM machines. Money is ephemeral — ask Mr. McAfee,
Shari Ornstein 650.814.6682 sornstein@apr.com DRE# 01028693
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BUILDING PERMITS Menlo Park 120 E. Creek Drive 09A S. Giovannotto, kitchen remodel, $800 1350 Willow Road Willow Park Holding Co LLC, a commercial tenant improvement to suite #102, $105,000 148 Oak Court A. Akana, remove wall furnace and install new furnace, $7,500 2198 Sharon Road A. Latta, reroof, $30,422 701 Middle Ave. P. Ohtaki, residential alteration for electrical service upgrade, $3,800 173 Oak Court R. Fisher, re-roof, $7,000 1031 Oakland Ave. A. Freed, 384 sq.-ft. addition to a single-family residence, $121,500 1080 Hamilton Ave. AMB Property L P, commercial alteration to install hoods and gas, $6,000 275 Middlefield Road #100 Mid-
of McAfee Computer Anti Virus fame, who had $100 million at one time (YES — $100 million!!) and now has a net worth of $4 million. The ultimate easy come easy go. Sobering fact number three. Again, these are trends we are just beginning to identify, not to be confused with “everyone is doing it.” The fact is that right now there are many people who can afford a great deal more house than they are actually buying. We are also seeing less leveraging of homes — much lower loan-to-value ratios, more cash and less loan. In fact, all-cash deals are at an all-time high right now. Having said all this, are there any buyers out there for a $22 million house in Atherton that runs on geothermal heat? N Wendy McPherson manages about 145 agents for Coldwell Banker in two Menlo Park offices, plus Woodside and Portola Valley. She can be reached at WMcPherson@cbnorcal.com.
dlefield Park, commercial tenant improvement, $116,599 562 Oak Grove Ave. Derry Family Partnership L P, commercial tenant improvements, $125,000 1445 Santa Cruz Ave. S. Scherer, single-family residential remodel, $300,000 696 Sand Hill Circle M. Kavalaris, kitchen and bath remodel, $50,000 325 Cotton St. P. Marathe, pool demolition, $20,000 898 Santa Cruz Ave. Bacciocco Enterprises LLC, new sign, $1,800 525 El Camino Real MEC Menlo LLC, commercial tenant improvement, $30,000 1260 Bay Laurel D. Mullarkey, new two-story single-family residence with basement, $1,250,000 2484 Sand Hill Road Quadrus Sand Hill LLC, new commercial shell and underground parking garage, $2,283,000 725 Evergreen St. A. Heibein, gas line to be rerouted, $2,000 1221 Chrysler Drive City of Menlo Park, new concrete wall for water pipe, $60,000 2428 Sharon Oaks Drive M. Moynihan, remodel two bathrooms, replace six windows, $24,500 618 Santa Cruz Ave. Santa Cruz Plaza LTD, new sign, $500 731 Bay Road First St. LLC, demolish old structures, $10,000 135 E. Creek Drive R. Holmes, remove and replace water heater and add AC unit, $4,000 1320 Hillview Drive L. Wessler, reroof, $10,971 1019 Laurel St. #1 Dick Lee Corporation, remove two existing furnaces, $4,480 2199 Sharon Road K. Bailey, reroof section of the garage, $4,781 1241 Mills St. D. Beltramo, re-roof house, $7,205 211 O’Keefe St. F. Chamberlain, re-roof, $5,000 922 Oak Lane S. Khailtash, electrical service upgrade to 200 amp, $4,000 46 Willow Road S. Dallal, replace water heater, $2,532 34 Lorelei Lane K. Izuno, replace water heater, $2,357 520 St. Francis Place M. Slater, sewer lateral replacement, $10,300
Palo Alto 2550 Hanover St. Stanford Board of Trustees, office upgrades, $576,000 2334 Santa Ana St. T. Doran, bath remodel, $7,000 1251 Alma St. L. & D. Lauret, bath remodel and skylight, $5,000 721 Emerson St. Suninspirit, ductless split system, $n/a 430 Stanford Ave. A. Girgensohn, create door opening in garage, $2,000 317 Tennyson B. Ryan, remodel rear wall and deck, $20,000
627 Fulton St. Matew, bath remodel, $8,000 180 El Camino Real Simon Property Group, new retail interior, $100,000 250 Cambridge Ave. Cambridge Associates, structure damage repair, $10,000 3421 Hillview Ave. Stanford University, new roof and relocation of boilers, $1,000,000 1019 Harker E. Ratiner, kitchen and bath remodel, $24,000 1050 Arastradero Road Stanford University, new optic rack, $n/a; Laura Blackwood, interior lab renovation, $220,000 309 Hawthorne Ave. J. & B. Ladomirak, remodel kitchen, $7,000 950 Page Mill Road W. Hale, conversion of conference room, $50,000 3645 Ramona St. J. & L. Quill, replace kitchen and closet, $15,000 725 Wildwood Lane J. Zhen, add bedroom and bath, $99,932 3172 Porter Drive Stanford University Medical School, renovation of first-floor office area and new lighting, $1,500,000 435 Portage Ave. Portage Ave. Portfolio, interior non-structural demo, $n/a 489 Martinsen Court N. Behrews, convert patio door to window, $2,439 180 El Camino Real #155 Hugo Boss USA, INC., interior retail demolition, $n/a 151 University Ave. Palantir Technologies, interior non-structural demo, $n/a 885 Marshal Drive T. Slanger/D. Means, remove window, toilet, cabinet, pocket door, replace tub with shower enclosure, $20,000 3490 Rambow C. Hu, bathroom addition, $15,524 575 High St., 3rd floor 575 High St., LLC, improvement to 3rd floor existing non-compliance accessible bathrooms, $15,000 1293 Martin Ave. Boomerang Homes LLC, new two-story residence with attached one-car garage, $656,611 3443 Ashton Court G. Rankin, remodel family room with full bath, replace plugs, switches, lights, skylights, new toilet, sink, shower valve and retile shower/floor, $28,500 470 Hale St. W. Yu, 1st story remodel coat & bath, 2nd story remodel bedroom, add bath, $55,625 842 S. California Ave. D. Berger, remove brick fireplace/reframe fireplace, dedicated gasline, two outlets, $10,000 4183 Dake Ave. W. Ng & R. Jue, install tankless water heater, $20,000