[quote=urbanrealtor]Per my Aunt (broker of Cassidy Real Estate in Los Altos):
“Pretty easily. Depends on location of course- does it back to highway 85?”
Apparently, backing on to 85 is bad for value.[/quote]
UR, I only saw one listing that was within a block and a half of the 85/Jct I-280. The rest were far enough away not to get the noise and traffic exiting on and off. But right in town (95070), I had a filter on for one-story ranchers, only. Obviously the 85 was always there, albeit probably a two-laner when these homes were built. Of course, the I-280 was not there and IT is the sole reason for all the traffic around there now.
I also saw online 2-3 gems on/off “Pierce Rd” leading to the Mountain Winery. IIRC, they all were situated on 1 AC+ lots and needed work but two of them needed quite a bit of work. I didn’t include them in the above description of listings because they were not one-story ranchers. They were a partial two story or had “walk-out basements.” All early ’70’s, IIRC and listing prices crept up to +/- $2M. The (long) decks that were replaced by Trex were in good shape, as I recall. They had awesome westerly tree-filled views over the foothills with a sliver of the (distant) ocean. Drinking your morning coffee on a deck like that with the fog rolled in almost every morning would be an incredible experience, methinks. This area is 20x better than the dry desert that is the Hollywood Hills (LA) and 10x better than darkly-forested Mill Valley facing Mt Tam and the ocean, IMO.
Saratoga is SUCH a fabulous area for retirement (if you already bought a place back in the day and still own it)! I guess all those old-timers that are deciding to list there now are now either now alone or just physically can’t take care of their property anymore … or both.
