It’s Friday! That means here comes your weekend, so we’d like to present a great location for a Silicon Valley stay-cation!  Thanks very much to Burbed reader Swan for sending this one in before the A to Z challenge (THANK GAWD THAT’S OVER IT WAS HARSHING OUR CRAPBOXEN). Fortunately the property is still very much on the market.

18157 WAGNER Rd
Los Gatos, CA 95032
$7,499,000

5 Beds
8 Baths
8,517 Sq. Ft.
$880 / Sq. Ft.
Built: 1999
Lot Size: 25 Acres
On Redfin: 45 days
Property Type: Detached Single Family
Stories: Tri-Level
Community: Los Gatos/Monte Sereno
MLS#: 81308591
Style: Traditional
View: Mountains, Canyon, Valley, City Lights
County: Santa Clara

Spectacular transformation! Vastly improved property from two years ago. Complete remodel of existing home with added sq footage, brand new 3100sf toy barn/garage, new 800sf pool house cabana w 500+sf covered patio, over an acre of new cabernet vines, bocce ball court, lacrosse field/sport court, wine cellar, 3car garage, workout facility, 600sf storage rm, outdoor entertaining paradise w pool!!!!

Let’s check in with Swan on this swank setting:

I have many properties I’ve been planning to send you, but I came across the following this morning and it rose to the top of the list:

At first, I thought I’d submit this home because of the realtard’s line, "Vastly improved property from two years ago." What is that realtor speak for?  Then, in looking at the pictures, I realized I’d seen this somewhere before!  

Yes, a finished home is a vast improvement!  Landscaping helps too!  From the pictures, it seems someone has been living there. The listing history goes on… Be sure to check out photo number 24 of the storage room.  An 8500 square foot home and you need 600 square feet of storage?  The current occupants have sure put the storage room to good use!

Have at it…

Yes, this place looks familiar, doesn’t it?  Or maybe not, since they finished painting and put all those ladders in the 600 square foot storage room.  It sold in May, 2011, for $5.75 million, and these listing photos look a little different than what we covered here.

Although we miss the ladders.  Made the place look like part of an Edgar Martins exhibition.

Also, we found the before before pictures.  Don’t miss them (kitchen pictured at left).  They might have asked for $3.95M that round, but they got $1.8.  You really have to check out the property history, because before that it was foreclosed on, maybe even twice in two weeks, and before that it was listed for $7.8M.  Good luck figuring out if it sold for $5.6M, or $7M or both or neither!  This house and its grounds have been nothing but a big and very expensive game of Hot Potato going back all the way to 2000!

So, Burbed readers, why is this amazing estate still on the market after an eternity of 45 days? Do you think the flippers are waiting to collect even more overbids?  Now that would be an even happier ending.

Zoinks! Today’s the very last day of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, and it’s also the last of the Triple Threat of Cityless Letters! There are no cities or towns in the Bay Area that start with Z. There aren’t even any neighborhoods in our two largest cities willing to cooperate. What to do, what to do?

We could discuss the complete fail that is the Zero lot line home. (How can you water your own lawn when there’s a house in the way?)  We could really Zone you out by digging deep into tl;dr territory with some Zoning violations! Or how about our favorite series on this site, ever? Yes, Zillions of Zip Codes!

Fortunately, we’re not going there. Instead, let’s drop by one of our favorite real estate sites.

5866 Zileman Ct
San Jose, CA 95123
Pending: $650,000

Est. Mortgage: $2,274/mo
Bedrooms:4 beds
Bathrooms:2 baths
Single Family:1,846 sq ft
Lot:6,534 sq ft
Year Built:1968
Last Sold:Dec 2012 for $565,000
View virtual tour

Construction Quality 6.0
Garage Size 439
Last Remodel Year 1969
Lot Depth 113
Lot Width 58
MLS #81309066
Parcel #69215003
Roof TypeAsphalt
Room Count 8
# Stories 1.0
Structure Type Contemporary
Unit Count 1
View Mountain
Zillow Home ID 19828550

Description

Modern beautiful sparkling remodeled home,spacious and bright, freshly painted inter and exter. approx 1846 Sf of living space,6554 sq.ft.lot , warm and cozy 4 largebedrooms and 2 new baths, dual pane windows,recessed lighting,central air,indoor laundry, living room with fireplace, finished 2 car garage,updated kitchen w breakfast nook. Nice curbappeal

Zestimates

Value: $570,609
Range: $428K – $605K
30-day change: +$25,268
$/sqft: $309
Last updated: 04/28/2013

Rent Zestimate $2,591/mo
Range: $1.1K – $3.4K/mo
30-day change: -$8
$/sqft: $1.40
Last updated: 04/29/2013

Market Guide

Zillow predicts Santa Teresa home values will rise 5.8% next year, compared to a 5.9% rise for San Jose as a whole. Among Santa Teresa homes, this home is 21.1% more expensive than the mid-point(median) home, and is priced 9.3% more per square foot.

Zounds! That stormy sky is no Zephyr! More like dialing the HDR up to 11 when Zero would have been more appropriate. Yeah, photographer was too Zealous. And when we Zip inside, best bring your Geiger counter, because there’s particle decay in them thar bedspreads. Watch out for Zeta rays (there’s no such thing, but it sounds all science-y and danger Zone if you get Zapped by them).

Most of all, Z is for Zestimate, Zillow’s best known feature. This home’s Zestimate is $570K, when it was listed for $650K and went pending in 3 days. What do you predict this house will end up selling for?  Don’t forget the curbappeal.

Yes, we’re getting near the end of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. Aren’t You thrilled? Today we’re heading up to the whine, whoops wine country to see what prices are doing far from the SF/SV axis of insanity.

And, Yoiks! This doesn’t look much different!  A generous but not ginormous house, on a comfortable, but by no means estate-quality lot. Perhaps the owners thought they were in Saratoga or something?

6761 Jefferson St
Yountville, CA 94599
$3,100,000

3 Beds
2.5 Baths
2,600 Sq. Ft.
$1,192 / Sq. Ft.
Built: 2006
Lot Size: 0.27 Acres
On Redfin: 116 days
Status: Active
Property Type: Residential, Detached, Single Family
Stories: 2
County: Napa
Style: Craftsman
Community: Yountville
MLS#: 21300060

Extraordinary custom-built California craftsman style home. Two-story main house with 3BD/2.5BA; pool house with kitchen & full bath; pool/spa plus numerous special features. Top quality throughout. This is the finest residential property in Yountville.

There isn’t much for sale in Yountville right now, and we wondered which best exemplified the market.  There’s a snouty looking condo, two cottages crammed onto one lot, a brand new place with some really tired-looking pix, a tornado-watch of charming trailer mobile homes, and this Extraordinary custom-built California craftsman style home. 

Or should we say this Extraordinary custom-built California craftsman style home that’s been sitting on the market for 116 days.  Built right when the bottom was Yanked out of the exurban market in 2006, Yet.

Yikes, what to do? How about You let us know what You’d pick if you had to live in Yountville?

Welcome to the most difficult entry in the entire Blogging from A to Z Challenge. X is the letter that leads to cheats (like finding a house in FairfaX), tweet-style entries (X-treme anything), and words that are unrelated to the blog’s subject (wouldn’t you all like an entry on Xylophones? Hint: they’re supposed to be made of wood).

But no, we’re going to rise to this challenge properly, even if we have to go all the way back to 2010 to comply!  It was either that or another one of our tl;dr essays on the subject of how odd Xenophobia looks to residents of the Real Bay Area.  You can let us know whether we made the right choice with the property listings by speaking up in comments.

72 LORELEI Ln
Menlo Park, CA 94025
$780,000

3 Beds
2 Baths
1,120 Sq. Ft.
$696 / Sq. Ft.
Built: 1956
Lot Size: 5,130 Sq. Ft.
Sold On: Aug 24, 2010
Property Type: Detached Single Family
Stories: 1
Community: Flood Park Area
MLS#: 81033951

Charming remodeled 3 bedroom/ 2 full bathroom home, inspired by the California and Silicon Valley lifestyle, on a quiet cul-de-sac in a wonderful Menlo Park neighborhood. Notice the professionally designed xeriscape in the front yard that utilizes California native and drought resistant vegetation. Check out the no-mow front lawn (it is very cool). Hardwood floors, open beamed ceilings.

Yes, dear readers, our entry for today is Xeriscaping.  Xeriscaping is landscaping with drought-resistant or desert-native plants. The point of xeriscaping is to conserve water and reduce yard waste, and it’s also one of those trendy terms we find on this parody site (of late neglected). And we’ve covered many a house with those kind of front yards! So now that we went back to 2010 to find the only use of the word in any Bay Area home listing anywhere (and they had to turn it into a fracking noun while they were at it), let’s come up with a more recent offering more suitable to the needs of the current home buyer.

201 RIO CHICO Dr
San Jose, CA 95111
$440,000

6 Beds
3 Baths
1,769 Sq. Ft.
$249 / Sq. Ft.
Built: 1959
Lot Size: 5,100 Sq. Ft.
On Redfin: 63 days
Property Type: Detached Single Family
Stories: 1
Community: South San Jose
MLS#: 81305376

This is an excellent opportunity for an investor or a large family. This house needs a little TLC and is located near schools, shopping and freeways. Thank-you for showing.

Xeriscaping without all the fuss, and no pretentious neighbors anywhere near this location, location, location to say you’re doing it wrong!  Or to imply that it is not very cool. We apologize for the City-owned parking strip with greenery.  Thank you for showing.

We’re almost done With the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, and Wow is our Website Woozy.  What Will our readers Whine about When it’s gone? No Worries, some of you Wonder Why it Wore out its Welcome While others Winked at how Wonderful the Words Were.

Well… let’s move on to today’s featured home. It’s in one of Realest of the Real Bay Area areas, home to many famous Silicon Valley startup billionaires. Now it can be home to you as Well, and even at an Welcome asking price!

439 GLENWOOD Ave
Woodside, CA 94062
$888,000

1 Beds
1 Baths
480 Sq. Ft.
$1,850 / Sq. Ft.
Built: 1933
Lot Size: 0.34 Acres
On Redfin: 6 days
Property Type: Detached Single Family
Stories: 1
County: San Mateo
Style: Cottage/Bungalow
Community: Woodside Glens
MLS#: 81312849

A Rare and Most Unique Opportunity2Bld Your Dream HM or Acquire a Cottage HM Retreat in Coveted Woodside Glens!Revive 2 Fxr Upr Cottages, or Pave the Way for Your NU LUX RES!This Desirable Prop offers 15,000 SQ FT of Wooded Serenity w/ an End of the Road Culdesac Lctn!Approx. 4 miles from Canada Road, EZ Ingress/Egress. Minutes 2 Town Village & Top Rated Woodside Elementary Schl!Super EZ Cmt2H-280!

Upcoming Open Houses

Sunday, Apr 28: 2:00-4:00 pm
Sunday, May 5: 2:00-4:00 pm

This may be the first property in Woodside to have its listing copy composed entirely in tweets.

Wow, What’s this? Woodside is known for huge spreads on acres of land. Today’s house is only oversized When compared With this cabin in the Woods.

Wait, there’s more (bunus!): Court confirmation may be required. Whee!

Today’s featured Villa is brought to you by the letter V. Yes, the danged Blogging from A to Z Challenge has not been Vanquished yet.  Verily, we have a Vague suspicion that some are Vexed that we’re skipping over the Rodney Dangerfield of the Bay Area, Vallejo. We feel Vallejo’s been Vanquished and another Village needs the Vital exposure this site gives to Bay Area real estate.

Translation: Vacaville, on Burbed for the Very first time, show us your Virtues!  We could mention the Very name means, literally, “cow town.” At least Vallejo was named after a Victorious general.

200 Brown St
Vacaville, CA 95688
$114,900

2 Beds
1 Baths
904 Sq. Ft.
$127 / Sq. Ft.
Built: 1950
Lot Size: 6,098 Sq. Ft.
On Redfin: 33 days
Property Type: Residential, Detached, Single Family
Stories: 1
County: Solano

This fixer has a good size lot and tremendous potential close to public transportation schools great freeway access.

This listing copy has a good start and tremendous potential close to acceptable noun plural noun adjective concept whoops run on sentence.

We can smell the potential from here.

Ah, a saluting toilet! We’ve missed these.  Maybe more agents read Burbed than we thought, as open toilets are getting more difficult to find in listing photos.  And that’s a Good Thing.

Sunny yellow kitchen and space to dine.

Also this house was foreclosed on in February.  February, 2013. And that’s Vexing, as foreclosures and NODs and other housing fail are down substantially Virtually everywhere. 

As we move Unto the remainder of the alphabet, our regular readers may be Upset with our Undue Urgency in Upholding this Blogging from A to Z Challenge. Uh-Uh-Uh! Remember, we’re here to help, and that means finding anywhere in the Bay Area where prices are Up. 

Uh, right now that’s, Um, pretty much all of it.  Today we’re more Understanding of just how many places are Undulating Upwards, even the Underfunded, Underdeveloped, or Underhyped Urban Uniqueness that is… Union City.

Not even pending yet. Urrah!

3771 SMITH St
Union City, CA 94587
$449,950

3 Beds
1.5 Baths
1,216 Sq. Ft.
$370 / Sq. Ft.
Built: 1953
Lot Size: 7,740 Sq. Ft.
On Redfin: 1 day
Type: Detached
Stories: 1
County: Alameda
Style: Custom, Ranch
Community: Alvarado Dist
MLS#: 40611658

Welcome to this fine home with so much to offer, new carpet, frest paint inside, large lot with access to rear from front with drive through garage. This home is zoned residental and commercial buyes should check on what type of business can be placed should that be the use selected.

So many Uses, yet zoned residental.  Say “Ugh!”

Yeah, we’re still Taken with this Blogging from A To Z Challenge, and if you don’t like it, Too bad. Um, we mean ‘Twill be all over next week. So let’s find That Typical Burbed post, where we contrast Things that don’t go Together. 

Today we’re Twist Terrific Terroir with Tired, dare we say Tortured listing photos? Let’s Take a Trip to Tiburon!

24 Red Hill Cir
Tiburon, CA 94920
$950,000

HOA Dues: $423/mo.
2 Beds
2 Baths
1,574 Sq. Ft.
$604 / Sq. Ft.
Built: 1990
Lot Size: 701 Sq. Ft.
On Redfin: 38 days
HOA Dues: $423/month
Style: Contemporary
View: Bay, Forest/Woods, Greenbelt, Hills, Lights, Mountains, Panoramic, Water
County: Marin
Property Type: Residential, Attached, Condominium/Coop/Other
Stories: Split-Level
Community: Tiburon
MLS#: 21305218

Highly desired Red Hill Circle. One way, private street. All prior sales minimum $1,000,000+ without upgrades or any remodeling done. Views are spectacular of Richardson Bay to Sausalito with full silhouette of Mt. Tam. Lots of entertaining and happiness here.

If all The prior Transactions were in seven digits, Then what The heck is wrong with This place? It can’t be just The Terrible pix, because There’s proof That There’s little To Tamp Bay Area Bubble 4.0 This Time!  Remember, buy now or be priced out forever!

Bunus: can you find The DHO in photo #19 (the last one)? Without upgrades or any remodeling done!

It finally happened.  One of our long-time regular readers (and we’re not going to Say which one) finally couldn’t take the Sadistic water torture of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge anymore, and wrote in to Snap about it.  But think about what it is we do here on this Site. We do things that make people Surly. So Sure, we got Someone Snippy about one of our Subjects? (Admittedly, one of our Subjects Strung out over even more time than the @*$(*$)*#(@!~ zip code lists.)  So Sorry about that.

Seems we’d Surely Show Some Superb Stuff after Seeing our Supporters in a Snit!  Say… Thanks very much to Burbed reader Michael Boltonestater for Sending this Speck of Sod in.

88 Townsend St
Unit P-124
San Francisco, CA 94107
$80,000

0 Beds
— Baths
— Sq. Ft.
Built: —
Lot Size: —
On Redfin: 17 days
Property Type: Condominium
County: San Francisco
Community: South Beach
MLS#: 406606

The property for sale is an independant side-by-side parking space within the 88 Townsend building. It can be rented out to potentail tenants that don’t live in the 88 Townsend building.

Now we really have Seen everything.  Condo parking Spaces, Side by Side yet. Complete with the Superness of tenants from other buildings. Sign us up! 

Sh—! Pending!

Welcome to one of the Scrabble “bunus” rounds of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge! Yes, some of the letters are worth more points, because they’re Quite harder to play. And there aren’t any cities in the entire Bay Area that start with the letter Q, so we’re going to have to come up with another Quality. And we’ll have the same Quixotic Quest again when we deal with X and Z!

So, are there any other place names we can use? Neighborhoods, local landmarks, that sort of thing?  San Francisco has 118 distinct neighborhoods, and not one starts with the “Scrabble Challenge Trio.”  Ditto for the 33 hoods in San Jose.  (Which raises a Question: why does San Jose, with more geography and more people, have much fewer place names?)

Fortunately, we are about to be Quietly rescued by Redfin, who helpfully has their very own Quirky neighborhood names!

Update 10:16 AM: See added picture and graf toward the end. Quite Quintessential.

2705 NORBERT Ct
San Jose, CA 95148
$740,000

4 Beds
2 Baths
1,713 Sq. Ft.
$432 / Sq. Ft.
Built: 1978
Lot Size: 7,980 Sq. Ft.
On Redfin: 3 days
Property Type: Detached Single Family
View: Mountains, Neighborhood, Valley, City Lights
County: Santa Clara
Stories: 1
Community: Evergreen
MLS#: 81312097

AMAZING EVERGREEN HOME–ONE HOUSE AWAY FROM GROESBECK HILL PARK! BRIGHT VAULTED ENTRY, GOURMET KITCHEN WITH STAINLESS STEEL APPLIANCES, GRANTITE COUNTERTOP, SEPERATE DINING RM W/ GRANITE WET BAR, TILE IN KITCHEN AND HARDWOOD FLOOR IN HALLWAY, BAY WINDOW IN LIVING RM, CEILING FANS IN MOST ROOMS, FLAGSTONE PATIO WITH SPORTS COURT, FRUIT TREES, CUSTOM-BUILT VIEWING DECK IN BACKYARD! RENTS $3,100/MO

Upcoming Open Houses

Saturday, Apr 20: 2:00-4:00 pm

Now while this home isn’t the sine Qua non of Questionable real estate, it has certain Qualifications for the front page. Head off to the comments with your Questions and Quell any doubts that we would come up with some Quip.  Or Quirk.

Update 10:16 AM: Or in the case of this Quality structure on the left, we’re wondering how it will fare during the next Quake.

We could share even more pictures. Or we could always Quit.