Another day, another Black Friday DEAL!  Tired of houses in places you’d be embarrassed to call home?  How about a zip code that’s on Forbes’ 500 Most Expensive list? Yes, here is a DEAL in the 199th most expensive zip code in the entire United States!

206 Thomas Dr, Los Gatos, CA 95032
$610,000

Beds: 2
Baths: 1.5
Sq. Ft.: 1,020
$/Sq. Ft.: $598
Lot Size: 6,675 Sq. Ft.
Property Type: Detached Single Family
Style: Traditional, Cottage/Bungalow
Stories: 1
View: Mountains
Year Built: 1964
Community: Los Gatos/Monte Sereno
County: Santa Clara
MLS#: 81027596
Source: MLSListings
Status: Active
On Redfin: 190 days

Great opportunity to live in Los Gatos. Charming Home w/ updated kitchen and bathroom w/ concrete and limestone counters, hardwood floors, newly painted interior, crown molding, ceiling fans in all rooms, sunny den as living room extension (not included in sq. footage), fireplace, quiet location next to park, backyard with huge deck and hot tub. 2 bedrooms, 1 full bathroom and a half bathroom

Concrete and limestone counters?  Is that the new kitchen trend that will replace granite, or did the contractor have a brother-in-law working for Caltrans? 

Somebody seems to have gotten a DEAL on the deck stepping, though.

So buy this house today!  It’s in a respectable location, and the lawn looks like it really needs watering.  Plus if one of you doesn’t buy this by close of business today, I bring back the zip code series.  No pressure.

Welcome to Part 5 of the least popular series ever on burbed, ever.  You’re welcome.  Forbes thanks you too, since we’re making fun of their mistakes when they wrote an article on the 500 most expensive zips, and hired Altos Research to do their data crunching.

Here are the first four parts for you masochists who can’t get enough numbers, maps, and boring fascinating statistics.

• The 25 Most Expensive Zip Codes in the US – Atherton is #2!
• The Next 25 Zips that didn’t quite make it  — Portola Valley at top of this one because it didn’t make the real list.
• The Bottom 50 of the 100 Most Expensive Zips  — Helloooooo Los Altos!
• Loservilles: Zips 101-150 on the Most Expensive List  — And not a single one near Facebook HQ.

Today we’re going to cover the zips ranked 151-200.  But to reduce the complaining just a tiny bit, we’ll leave out anywhere that isn’t within reasonable commuting distance to the Googleplex.  Actually if I left out everywhere more than 10 miles from Google we’d only have four cities today, which might not be such a bad thing.

#151 – 94306 Palo Alto

At least this time we’re going to start much closer to where the jobs are.  This is a very important zip code.  If you remember this article, 94306 is the only zip code that’s left in the Real Bay Area (RBA) anymore, if you define RBA as the place where prices don’t go down.  So despite being the #2 zip in Palo Alto (94301 came in at #73 on the list), it’s #1 in the RBA.  It’s also last in the RBA, because none of the other zips qualified at all.

The real reason 94306 went up while prices everywhere else collapsed is because it’s the cheap section of Palo Alto.  This area, formerly the city of Mayfield, featured small homes on small lots which people now tear down and put in oversized mini-mansions that loom over the remaining bungalows.  Unfortunately, real estate statistics are oblivious to such trends, such as someone paying money to remodel or replace a house.  Instead you see crazy price increases and think the neighborhood is red-hot rather than full of sawdust and paint fumes.  If the sale price stats subtracted out the money paid for construction, there’s a good chance 94306 would have dropped as much or even more than the other zips around it.

#160 – 94549 Lafayette

Median Home Price: $1,225,110

Median Price Change: -4%

Average Days On Market: 88

Inventory: 126 properties

Median Household Income: $101,555

Ignored Because: In the East Bay

#170 – 94941 Mill Valley

Median Home Price: $1,185,211

Median Price Change: NA

Average Days On Market: 106

Inventory: 197 properties

Median Household Income: $91,283

Ignored Because:  Model for Hill Valley in Back to the Future

#171 – 94563 Orinda

Median Home Price: $1,184,089

Median Price Change: -5%

Average Days On Market: 101

Inventory: 101 properties

Median Household Income: $119,832

Ignored Because: In East Bay, even closer to Oakland than Lafayette

#173 – 94303 Palo Alto

Median Home Price: $1,175,241

Median Price Change: -5%

Average Days On Market: 59

Inventory: 34 properties

Median Household Income: $64,256

It’s a pretty safe bet that the median home price hasn’t been contaminated by East Palo Alto (which shares this zip code), but take a look at that median household income.  It’s about $20,000 less than 94306, which has a fairly similar set of residents (in the Palo Alto part of the zip, anyway).

While the zip shares with the Oaklandesque East Palo Alto (hey, at least it brought you IKEA), it also has some nice areas in midtown as well as the West Marine on San Antonio Road.  (Remember, yachties spend like drunken sailors because they are drunken sailors.)

Since 94303 has just everything in the whole city that hugs US 101, that isn’t helping matters.  Some of the lower-cost Eichlers in South Palo Alto that get torn down and replaced by monster houses are in 94303, too.  Hope they put in triple-pane windows like they did at Gables End.

#175 – 94965 Sausalito

Median Home Price: $1,173,479

Median Price Change: -11%

Average Days On Market: 149

Inventory: 84 properties

Median Household Income: $76,808

Ignored Because: Has stupid song written about it

#179 – 94705 Berkeley

Median Home Price: $1,152,174

Median Price Change: -1%

Average Days On Market: 70

Inventory: 30 properties

Median Household Income: $68,112

Ignored Because: Shares zip code with Oakland, lousy state-funded college

#184 – 94025 Menlo Park

Median Home Price: $1,134,946

Median Price Change: -9%

Average Days On Market: 88

Inventory: 179 properties

Median Household Income: $89,572

When you realize that this zip stretches from the foothills near I-280 all the way to the slums of Belle Haven, that median home price is rather impressive.  Not every city the size of Menlo Park has to make due with a single zip code.  Palo Alto has four distinct zips, and Redwood City has five.

And while a ranking of 184th most expensive zip code in the country is clearly not good enough for the RBA, perhaps Menlo Park could petition the
postal service to split the city into East and West postal zones, in hope of the western half aspiring to the RBA.

Nah, prices down 9%.  Forget it.

#185 – 94062 Redwood City

Median Home Price: $1,133,462

Median Price Change: -5%

Average Days On Market: 97

Inventory: 111 properties

Median Household Income: $96,677

Ha ha!  What was I just talking about above?  Redwood City is nowhere as high on the snootiness index as Menlo Park, and yet by having several zip codes, they managed to get one of them to qualify for the Forbes list.  And this is the one zip that shares with Woodside, which is quite a bit higher in the rankings (#41). 

Oh, speaking of Woodside, you’ll never guess what Forbes says their median household income is.  That’s right. $96,677.  Nice going, Forbes.  That means the Woodside median should be higher and the Redwood city number lower, but you managed to miss yet another muck-up.

This part of Redwood City includes the Emerald Lake Hills area, which is a delightful mix of new construction and bizarre old places featuring old cars in the front yard.  You know how some places in Atherton look like Greenwich, Connecticut?  Well, Emerald Lake Hills looks like Appalachia where half the residents won the lottery.

#193 – 94515 Calistoga

Median Home Price: $1,102,625

Median Price Change: -17%

Average Days On Market: 140

Inventory: 67 properties

Median Household Income: $44,320

Why Ignored: Can’t take place named after bubble water seriously

#194 – 94610 Piedmont

Median Home Price: $1,094,846

Median Price Change: -51%

Average Days On Market: 64

Inventory: 7 properties

Median Household Income: $49,066

Why Ignored: Not only down 51%, but completely surrounded by Oakland.  Completely.  Rival zip 94611 is #74 on list.  I also call BS on Forbes for that median household income.  It’s probably mixed up with the part of OAKLAND this zip shares with.  Oakland, it’s full of Oakland.

#199 – 95032 Los Gatos

Median Home Price: $1,079,587

Median Price Change: -1%

Average Days On Market: 111

Inventory: 183 properties

Median Household Income: $93,118

It’s the home of Netflix!  Woo-hoo!

The second-best zip in Los Gatos (95030 came in at #38), this zip features delightful estates in the foothills and higher, as well as ho-hum tract houses in the flats near freeways.

Now, take a look at that median home price, above.  It’s barely over a million smackeroos, and we’ve almost hit the 200 mark.  That means the next installment (if there is one) will feature houses in “expensive zip codes” that are under a million dollars dollars for a median price.

Think about that for a moment.  Where we live is so Special that we think of houses under a million dollars as not particularly worth commenting on.  At least most of the zips we’ve shown so far are above the average price for a house in this area.  But as we work our way down that list of 500 zips, we’re going to start to see some very ordinary places that are still more expensive than 44,000 other zip codes in the entire country.

Coming Soon: burbed guest editor forcibly retired for not stopping worst series ever, assailed by mob with pitchforks and torches.  Plus, Part 716 of Bing Maps Galore!

Today’s listing was sent in by burbed reader nomadic.  Thanks very much!

14050 Shannon Rd, Los Gatos, CA 95032
$8,495,000

Beds: 6
Baths: 8
Sq. Ft.: 6,138
$/Sq. Ft.: $1,384
Lot Size: 31.53 Acres
Property Type: Detached Single Family
Style: French
Stories: 3
View: Green Belt, Mountains, Canyon, Valley, City Lights
Year Built: 1998
Community: Los Gatos/Monte Sereno
County: Santa Clara
MLS#: 80788192
Source: MLSListings
Status: Active
On Redfin: 941 days

Sellers found their next property-Bring your offers. .This stunning residence captures the timeless refinement set on approximately 31.5 acres of gently rolling, pristine landscape. Annexation is complete in the town of Los Gatos Check with the Town on lot min 2.5 acres. 6 bdrms, 7 baths & 2 1/2 baths. This makes this home a great land bank Opportunity.

Here’s what nomadic had to say about this stunning residence:

On the market for 932 days. is that a record?  It’s been listed on and off for NINE years without a sale.  The price has been cut $2.3M since 2008 – that’s more instant equity than 1.5 median houses in this zip code.  The
realtor is keeping his optimism in the first line of the listing, “Sellers found their next property-Bring your offers.”

Wow, 932 days.  That’s like 932 years in Silicon Valley time measurement.  Let’s take a look.   If burbed readers can figure out why yesterday’s house wasn’t selling, I’m sure they can do it again!

And it’s Style: French.  How do you say, “You have got to be fracken kidding me” in French?  Or “Don’t you think they over-Photoshopped the green in that exterior shot?”

I don’t know if I’d call this style French.  These overdone rooms with saturated colors that belong on evening gowns rather than wall decor remind me of somewhere… Ah yes!  Another house that isn’t selling!

Mais non, nomadic, your submission is not a burbed record, because that house has been on Redfin for (zut alors!) 1284 days.

Maybe there is something about houses with curved stairways landing on white tile with black inset, or fussy little rooms in a color that will drive you mad inside of a week.  Do these properties have that certain je ne sais quoi?  Problem is, all the buyers are certain to have that je n’ai rien.

The Annexation is complete in the town of Los Gatos!  Toute résistance est futile.

What is your favorite kind of problem property?  Do you like 100+ year old termite havens?  How about severe price reductions chasing the market down?  Or does an eye-popping you-have-got-to-be-insane wishing price make your day?

Here’s what burbed reader nomadic, who sent in today’s featured listing, had to say about this trifecta:

$2.5M for a tear-down on .47 acres in LG?  That backs up to townhouses?  How much is it worth to be a short walk to the middle school?  Whatever it is, it’s probably off-set by the headache of all of the traffic that will
accompany it.

You know what the agent would say: the value is in the land!

16922 Mitchell Ave, Los Gatos, CA 95032
$2,499,000

Beds: 2
Baths: 1
Sq. Ft.: 1,200
$/Sq. Ft.: $2,082
Lot Size: 0.47 Acres
Property Type: Detached Single Family
Stories: 1
View: Neighborhood
Year Built: 1900
Community: Los Gatos/Monte Sereno
County: Santa Clara
MLS#: 80823053
Source: MLSListings
Status: Active
On Redfin: 821 days

Investors/Contractors Delight with many possibilities! 3 Lot subdivision capability to build 3 new homes. Remodel existing home and build two new homes at site. Replace/remodel existing home on large lot. Property walkable to Los Gatos shopping and schools. Huge price reduction for this in-demand LG location.

Yes you read that right, 110 years old, 1200 square feet, with each one of them priced over two thousand dollars, and it’s been on the market for 821 days.  It’s like every single metric of horrible all rolled up in one.  All we need is a wrecked foundation and a clouded title.  (Um, wait… why is there an earthquake disclosure?)

So let’s see what nomadic meant about the neighborhood.

“Backs up to townhomes” wasn’t a figure of speech!  But speaking of Many Possibilities, how about checking out the other MLS listing for the same location?  Same price, same address, but they’re marketing the property as Residential Land and ignore the house.

Guess the Investing Contractors are in, demanding another Huge Price Reduction before delighting.

Any zip that isn’t in the Top 50 shouldn’t qualify for Real Bay Area (RBA) status, right?  Here are the Bay Area zips in Forbes Magazine’s Most Expensive Zip Codes #51 through 100.  Since these aren’t good enough to have made the cut, we can assume any city featured here is no longer fit to inhabit the RBA.  So enjoy reading about these loservilles, that are still more expensive than most anywhere else in the country.

In case you missed the previous entries in this series, the Top 25 appear here, and #26-50 can be found here.  I encourage you to check them out, as obviously they are better places to live than what you’ll find in this article.

#53 – 94920 Tiburon

Median Home Price: $2,046,939

Median Price Change: -22%

Average Days On Market: 126

Inventory: 116 properties

Median Household Income:$106,492

Yeesh, down 22%.  No RBA for you, Tiburon.  Wait, we already saw this zip.  It’s also #8.  So, um, they split Belvedere from Tiburon?

Well, well, well, there are 39 properties for sale in Belvedere (median home price, $3.28 million), and 116 here.  And yet both places have (what a surprise) the exact same median household income.

You blew it again, Forbes.  Am I going to have to rewrite that entire article for you?

#59 – 94588 Danville

Median Home Price: $1,922,523

Median Price Change: NA

Average Days On Market: 276

Inventory: 4 properties

Median Household Income: $92,644

Be sure to check out this East Bay interloper: the idiots at Forbes got the wrong map.  They can’t tell Danville from Dublin. And with only 4 properties on the market, they have no idea if it’s up or down.

Maybe those East Coast provincials ought to be told they’ve managed the equivalent of confusing Westhampton Beach with Levittown.

 

#62 – 94904 Kentfield

Median Home Price: $1,911,822

Median Price Change: 6%

Average Days On Market: 99

Inventory: 40 properties

Median Household Income: $82,528

This Marin County city is right next to Ross and may even manage to get more precipitation.  Why people would want to live here when they could buy a palace in San Jose is beyond me.  Plus San Jose only gets 11 inches of rain a year.

And San Jose is so much closer to Google!  Priorities, people!

 

#69 – 94970 Stinson Beach

Median Home Price: $1,790,196

Median Price Change: -7%

Average Days On Market: 232

Inventory: 27 properties

Median Household Income: $88,184

Stinson Beach can’t be in the RBA, it’s down 7%, and next to Bolinas, home of the high-priced water meter.

First one to make a joke about this zip code’s ranking and “Sex on the Beach” is going to be asked to leave the room.

No, I do not want to hear about what that peninsula with Seadrift Road looks like.  You all have filthy minds.  Yes, especially you.

#71 – 94024 Los Altos

Median Home Price: $1,746,928

Median Price Change: -6%

Average Days On Market: 91

Inventory: 67 properties

Median Household Income: NA

Down 6%, and another zip-splitter.

Seriously, is there anything funny to say about Los Altos?  Other than the featured listing that’s running tomorrow, that is?

Well, that and the dude with the cellular antenna farm.

And the fact that this same zip in Los Altos Hills is ranked so much higher at #18.  And that Forbes couldn’t tell the difference between the two and showed houses from Los Altos when featuring The Hills Hills.  And yet, 67 properties here, 15 properties there. Household income, not available here, not available there. Oh, oh. They match.

#73 – 94301 Palo Alto

Median Home Price: $1,730,889

Median Price Change: -6%

Average Days On Market: 128

Inventory: 58 properties

Median Household Income: $97,758

We already knew this zip code wasn’t in the RBA anymore.  Its low ranking merely proves it.  As does this listing which hasn’t sold in more than 2 years.

Didn’t we all agree not to talk about Palo Alto anymore?  Anyone?  Bueller?

Oh yeah, Steve Jobs lives here!

 

#74 – 94611 Piedmont

Median Home Price: $1,709,577

Median Price Change: -3%

Average Days On Market: 96

Inventory: 23 properties

Median Household Income: $68,853

Down 3%, and suspiciously Bradburylike.  Oakland, I tell you, it’s surrounded by Oakland!

And a freeway runs through it!  Just like Oakland!

And this place hasn’t sold yet. And neither has this one.  This city is FAIL: 100% of its listings on burbed unsold!

 

#83 – 95070 Saratoga

Median Home Price: $1,652,013

Median Price Change: -1%

Average Days On Market: 124

Inventory: 177 properties

Median Household Income: $138,206

Down 1%.  That’s borderline for remaining in the RBA, but coming in at #83 just cannot be allowed.

Can anyone remember why Saratoga used to be in the RBA?  What exactly did it do to get there in the first place?  Why should a city with seven different school districts thinks it’s real anything?

I say no, not until they manage to sell this house.

#84 – 95030 Monte Sereno

Median Home Price: $1,647,239

Median Price Change: -34%

Average Days On Market: 142

Inventory: 84 properties

Median Household Income: $117,564

Stop me if you’ve seen this zip code before.

Down 34%. Wait, it’s right next to Saratoga.  Plus borrowing Los Gatos’ zip code.  84 properties?  WTF?  In a town of 3,483?  And only 53 properties listed in Los Gatos (#38), population 28,592?  That’s a real knee-slapper!  Now can you tell me the one about the Santa Claran, the San Joseite, and the Saratoger?

 

#92 – 94123 San Francisco

Median Home Price: $1,609,753

Median Price Change: 9%

Average Days On Market: 58

Inventory: 63 properties

Median Household Income: $84,710

burbed, voted best real estate blog in San Francisco, would like to welcome 94123 to the list of Most Expensive Zip Codes!  This is the first zip in San Francisco to make the cut.  And that is really awful, because several New York City and Los Angeles zips have already shown up.  Congrats, you losers.

Up 9%.  This is the Marina District and includes some of Billionaire’s Row.  Yes, including the place selling for $45 million.

#93 – 94506 Blackhawk

Median Home Price: $1,604,976

Median Price Change: 19%

Average Days On Market: 143

Inventory: 51 properties

Median Household Income: $142,459

Up 19%.  Wait, this is the East Bay.  Prices don’t go up in the East Bay.  The proper expression is “Blackhawk down.”

Seriously, this is a developer-designed golf-course community that didn’t even exist before 1980.  Having this zip appear right after one full of history, architecture, design, and taste is just wrong.

 

#94 – 94022 Los Altos

Median Home Price: $1,600,139

Median Price Change: -28%

Average Days On Market: 87

Inventory: 53 properties

Median Household Income: NA

Wait, is today Groundhog Day?  Didn’t I just say something about Los Altos Hills, and that we already saw this zip, and that… someone must have hit me over the head, because I’m seeing double.  Los Altos Hills in this same zip is #15 on this list, with a median home price of $3.04 million.  And (what a coincidence), 58 properties.  Sloppy work, Forbes, very sloppy.

This place doesn’t even have the cell phone antenna farm!

And that’s it for the Also Rans of the Most Expensive Zip Codes in the Whole Fracking Country.  Except… the list goes to 500 zips.  If you don’t want to see anymore of these Bing Maps, commence whining.

Next installment in this thrilling series: The Most Expensive Zip Codes, Volume 714,

In a previous installment, we looked at the Bay Area zips on the 25 most expensive zip codes piece in Forbes magazine.  But how could we leave the other 475 of the top 500 alone?  (Other than all those TL;DR comments.)

Here’s what’s local that made the list, between 26-50.  Try to guess if any of your favorites made it.  Feel free to comment on any of these zips if you’re familiar with them, or even better if you aren’t.  Maps courtesy of Forbes.

#30 – 94957: Ross, CA

Median Home Price: $2,519,269

Median Price Change: 1%

Average Days On Market: 120

Inventory: 26 properties

Median Household Income: NA

I’ve heard of Ross!  I think the San Francisco Chronicle used to put it in the local weather stats because it got so much more rain than anywhere else in the entire Bay Area.

And no, this is not Fort Ross.  This is a zip in central Marin County (that’s for those of you who can’t read a map or never left your town).

.

#31 – 94028: Portola Valley, CA

Yay, back to the Real Bay Area!  And PV might be the only zip code, anywhere, to be shaped like the Roadrunner’s head.  If that doesn’t explain why their median income is so honking high, I don’t know what will.

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.

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#38 – 95030: Los Gatos, CA

Median Home Price: $2,293,268

Median Price Change: 39%

Average Days On Market: 105

Inventory: 53 properties

Median Household Income: $117,564

So far the Bay Area listings have either danced around the Stanford campus, or were located in Marin County.  Los Gatos is the first one within shouting distance of San Jose.

Los Gatos has two more zip codes.  Any suspicions when we’ll be seeing them?  (No peeking.)

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#41 – 94062: Woodside, CA

Median Home Price: $2,228,269

Median Price Change: -8%

Average Days On Market: 152

Inventory: 63 properties

Median Household Income: $96,677And back to San Mateo County we go!

Don’t let the Post Office fool you.  94062 includes a slice of Redwood City, some of it practically on El Camino Real.  And if you haven’t ever driven El Camino all the way to SF, you may not know that in Redwood City, ECR is really, really, really close to 101.

Really!

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#49 – 94528: Diablo, CA

Median Home Price: $2,111,588

Median Price Change: -20%

Average Days On Market: 133

Inventory: 16 properties

Median Household Income: NA

OK, who let the East Bay into the club?

I swear, you let a couple of them show up in burbed and next think you know they’re appearing on expensive zip code lists.  Fortunately, the market is reminding those upstarts why East is East, Best is Best, and never the twain shall meet.

Down 20 percent, yowza!

More good news.  The top 50 zip codes do not include a single flyover state.  Most are in California and New York, a couple in New Jersey, Greenwich, CT came in at #27, and somehow one in Miami Beach popped up. The only other West Coast zip not in California is Medina, Washington (#42).

Yes, we have 450 zip codes to go, but at after #50,we could stop providing these useless maps.  Or we could make them twice as big.  Anyway, please comment on these or any other expensive zip codes.  And if you hate, hate, hate this series, feel free to whine, whine, whine.

Next installment: The Also-Rans, part 37.

What puts a house in rather than out of the Real Bay Area (RBA)?  A damned good school district.  Now watch some meddlesome busybodies try and ruin everything!

Consolidate Santa Clara County school districts to save millions, grand jury recommends

 

By Sharon Noguchi

Posted: 07/04/2010 07:15:28 PM PDT
Updated: 07/04/2010 10:24:07 PM PDT

When budgets are tight, businesses often consolidate — so why not school districts?

After all, Santa Clara County school districts are a hodgepodge of large and tiny agencies, each with its own administration, and with century-old boundaries that randomly join disparate regions while dividing other communities. Some superintendents oversee 25,000 students, while others supervise only a few hundred.

So the Santa Clara County civil grand jury has recommended unifying and consolidating the county’s 31 school districts, which it projects could save $51 million annually.

District officials dispute the estimated savings, and question the benefits. In past decades, similar suggestion have been shunned as politically implausible. Why should this time be any different? For one, schools are facing unprecedented cuts to their budgets now.

The grand jury released two reports on June 24th: “Achieving School District Efficiency through Consolidation” and “Looking at Policies Our Schools Use to Find and Place Employees.”  These thrilling potboilers describe that “while the school districts in Santa Clara County are doing well in all areas, there are redundant administrative functions that can be made more cost effective through school district  consolidation.”  I tell you, I couldn’t put it down!

By merging elementary and high school districts that share attendance areas, the county’s 31 distinct school districts could be reduced to 16, unless the county actually has 34 districts (per 2008-09 Grand Jury report “Who Really Benefits from Education Dollars? (Hint: It’s Not the Students)“).  That’s the fun of an official report; you just never know what alternate facts could emerge!  Last year’s report had six findings and suggested actions, and it’s number 6 that must have led to this year’s threat to school administrators:

Finding 6

The operation of 34 K–12 school districts and four (4) community college districts
creates excessively high management and administrative costs. Five K-12 school
districts have excessively high Superintendent costs per student which is reflective of
the district’s having only one or two schools.

Recommendation 6

A consolidation of districts should be considered to reduce the numbers and costs of
Superintendents/Chancellors, Boards of Trustees, administrative staff and overhead.

One piece of good news for administrators and board members is the grand jury didn’t recommend all 31 school districts be rolled up into one countywide nightmare like Los Angeles Unified.  Instead, they selected feeder elementary districts that could be merged with high school districts, creating “Unified School Districts” that serve the same boundaries.  These are the four “lucky” high school districts and corresponding K-8 districts singled out:

• Campbell Union HSD with Burbank SD, Cambrian SD, Campbell USD, Moreland USD and Union ESD
• Fremont Union HSD with Cupertino USD and Sunnyvale SD
• Los Gatos-Saratoga HSD with Lakeside JSD, Loma Prieta JSD, Los Gatos USD and Saratoga USD
• Mountain View-Los Altos HSD with Los Altos SD and Mountain View-Whisman SD

The civil grand jury’s reasoning is that unified school districts save money and can operate more efficiently than smaller districts with just a few schools.  The grand jury holds up these unified districts in Santa Clara County to support the concept: Gilroy, Morgan Hill, Milpitas, Palo Alto, San Jose, and Santa Clara.  And their gold standard of the benefits of school district unification is last year’s formation of Twin Rivers Unified.  In Sacramento.  Puh-leeeeeze!

Are they seriously suggesting that RBA cities such as Saratoga, Cupertino and Los Altos should emulate mediocrities such as Milpitas and Morgan Hill?  Seriously?  The only RBA city on the Unified list is Palo Alto, and they’re so Special none of the regular rules apply anyway.

Can you see parents who paid the RBA premium to live in Los Gatos wanting to share a school district with the hillbillies of Lakeside?  Or the families who paid the big bucks to live south of Fremont Avenue now finding themselves sharing a school district with North Sunnyvalers?  Wouldn’t every Los Altan sooner pull their kids out of public school than consort with those troublemakers from Latham Street?

Obviously I’m not going to comment about the proposed Campbell Unified District, because they aren’t in the RBA so nobody much cares.  The Grand Jury also wants to merge four East San Jose school districts into two union districts, and even fewer burbed readers would ask. (Berryessa + Orchard, Alum Rock + Mt. Pleasant, if you insist.  You’re welcome.)  All 21 school districts suggested for consolidation have 90 days to respond to the civil grand jury, and expect the replies to be even more thrilling reading.

Now, some of these recommendations make sense.  There is only one school in Lakeside, Luther Burbank and Orchard School Districts.  One-school districts are clearly wasteful, and the Grand Jury has already noted criminal behavior in Burbank SD.  But some of the proposed unified districts will be much, much larger than others.  The proposed Mountain View-Los Altos Unified would have 21 schools, and the proposed Los Gatos-Saratoga Unified, 14.  But both proposed Campbell and Fremont Unifieds would have 41 schools each, which isn’t much smaller than San Jose Unified’s 43.  All the other current Unified Districts (which the Grand Jury report specifies as an ideal model) have between 14-24 schools.

41 schools?  Are they serious?  Does this fit the reasoning behind “Five K-12 school districts have excessively high Superintendent costs per student which is reflective of the district’s having only one or two schools”?  Cupertino USD, a K-8 district, already has 25 schools, which is more than all but one existing SC County unified district.  This is not a school district with excessively high costs, the complaint of the 2009 report.  This is a district that manages to produce perfect API test scores despite below-average funding.  But someone took the idea of merging feeder schools into high school districts and ran all the way to Twin Rivers Unified with it.

At a certain point, large school districts lose the ability to respond to parental concerns, and nobody could call a 41 school unified district anything but large.  Effective and responsive school districts are exactly what parents expect when they spend the big bucks to buy in the RBA.  So recognize this plan for what it is: a recipe to remove Cupertino from the RBA forever. 

It’s clearly a plot by Palo Alto real estate agents.

Any real estate site, including this one, can profile high-end properties.  They’re nice to look at, have plenty of goodies to ogle, and there’s so much to say about them.  But what makes burbed stand apart from other sites is that we’re not afraid to feature houses that could fall over if someone knocked on the front door.  Silicon Valley is amazing.  They may not be making any more land, but there will always be more crapboxes that will run you over half a million dollars.

14301 LORA Dr,  Los Gatos, CA 95032
$600,000

Beds: 3
Baths: 2
Sq. Ft.: 1,553
$/Sq. Ft.: $386
Lot Size: 7,254 Sq. Ft.
Property Type: Detached Single Family
Stories: 1
Year Built: 1961
Community: Los Gatos/Monte Sereno
County: Santa Clara
MLS#: 81030660
Source: MLSListings
Status: Active
On Redfin: 10 days

Contractor special! Great location by La Rinconada Golf Course. List price reflects condition of home. Home is in poor condition – sold "as is" only. Property has good potential – visionary Buyer can see a diamond in the rough.

Let’s have a good look at this diamond again.  Don’t be fooled by the high-priced Los Gatos address;  this gem has Campbell schools.  Guess that’s part of the “rough” the diamond is in.  Too bad the listing agent only provided one photo, so here’s what the Googlecam found on a very sunny day shooting for shady conditions.

The agent told the truth about one thing: the landscaping is also “in the rough.”  But take a closer look!  You get extra firewood all around the property line, and maybe if you ask really nicely you can buy the watercraft at in insider’s price.  I hope this isn’t what the listing meant by “RV/Boat parking.”

And you know if you ask a real estate professional what makes a house Special, they always answer “Location, Location, Location?”  Check it out!

Sure, it’s close to the golf course, but they left out the part about the condos next door.  And the apartment complex next to the condos.  And why would they omit the ever-popular “convenient to freeway”?  As a visionary Buyer, you’re expected to do all the seeing.

This must be a very patriotic neighborhood, because of the flag lots.  Make your offer before the Fourth of July!

Yesterday’s listing was an unsuitable property in a challenging location.  Today’s house is within reasonable commute distance so there shouldn’t be as many complaints.  Also, more eights in the price today so it’s LUCKY.

21631 Hicks Rd  Los Gatos, CA 95032
$1,999,988

BEDS: 3
BATHS: 2
SQ. FT.: 1,704
$/SQ. FT.: $1,174
LOT SIZE: 24.02 Acres
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STORIES: 2
VIEW: Mountains, Canyon, Lake, Valley, City Lights
YEAR BUILT: 1973
COMMUNITY: Los Gatos/Monte Sereno
COUNTY: Santa Clara
MLS#: 81025440
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Active
ON REDFIN: 24 days

INCREDIBLE OPPORTUNITY! GATED ESTATE PROPERTY ON NEARLY 25 ACRES WITH SWEEPING VIEWS AND LOS GATOS SCHOOLS! SEVERAL BUILDING PADS TO CHOOSE FROM AND EXISITNG HOUSE. .. NEEDS TLC BUT PERFECT FOR TEMPORARY RESIDENCE DURING CONSTRUCTION, OR TO USE FOR “REMODEL” PROJECT, OR TO OBTAIN SFR FINANCING. .. ALL WITH VIEWS! GREAT POTENTIAL FOR THE BUYER WITH VISION AND THAT WANTS PRIVACY. VALUE IS IN THE LAND.

Another description in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS.  Seems URGENT.  Let’s READ IT before REDFIN starts making sure the AGENTS know how to USE a COMPUTER KEYBOARD PROPERLY before POSTING A LISTING.

This seems straightforward enough.  There’s a rather ugly, boring, run-of-the-mill house that would go for about a hundred thousand in flyover country and about three hundred thousand in the non-RBA (Real Bay Area) part of San Jose.  But these out-of-state greedheads want two million dollars for it because it’s GATED.  And they think they’re going to get it because while they say they’re selling this (ugly, boring, overpriced) house, they’re really selling 24 acres of land with an ugly, boring, overpriced house that just happens to be on one of them.  This house can’t be too Special or we’d get to see a photo or two inside.  Maybe it’s all one giant open space when you walk through the front door?

In a way, they’re being honest about it. VALUE IS IN THE LAND = House is worthless, but you can’t finance this place if we tear it down.  They admitted it was still standing TO OBTAIN FINANCING.  And you could use this PERFECT FOR TEMPORARY RESIDENCE DURING CONSTRUCTION.

So, what happened between 1998, when the owners paid $275,000 for this place, and now? The wishing price is almost eight times higher!  Doesn’t RBA property only double in ten years?  Why have they tried to sell this place once a year, every year since 2004?

But there’s a bit of a mystery to this place.  Why are there SEVERAL BUILDING PADS TO CHOOSE FROM?  Did they hire several different contractors and fire each one of them before they built anything permanent? Or did they intend to invite NASA to move in when they lose Moffett Field,?  How many BUILDING PADS is SEVERAL, anyway?  The Redfin description doesn’t say, but this older listing says that not only has the house gotten 300 sf smaller, there used to be POTENTIAL FOR 8 BUILDING SITES.  And something about a BARN.  A BARN!  There’s nothing about a BARN in the current listing!  No wonder they reduced the price from last year’s $2,288,000!  If only they’d added some more eights.

And why did they take the TourFactory Video down?  Is there something on those BULDING PADS they don’t want us to see?  Maybe it’s the collapsed 300 sf part of the house.

Are you a BUYER WITH VISION?  Do you WANT PRIVACY?  Do you have a broom for some SWEEPING VIEWS?  There’s probably a fascinating backstory to all those abandoned BUILDING PADS, and it can be yours for just two million dollars.

And now for something completely different… a guest post from madhaus.

17259 DEER PARK Rd  Los Gatos, CA 95032
$1,989,000

BEDS: 4
BATHS: 3.5
SQ. FT.: 3,800
$/SQ. FT.: $523
LOT SIZE: 2.96 Acres
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STYLE: Mediterranean
STORIES: Bi/Split Level
VIEW: Mountains, Canyon
YEAR BUILT: 1978
COMMUNITY: Los Gatos/Monte Sereno
COUNTY: Santa Clara
MLS#: 80950749
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Active 
ON REDFIN: 207 days

Private setting, updated custom home, redone/last 8-9 yrs. Mstr. bedrm & ba redone 2007.Excellent flr pln. Lrge grt rm, F. R. & D. R. ,granite slab in eat-in kit, wd cab, gas stve. Lge utility rm. Big lot size of 2.96 ac w/ built-in pool/spa & fenced yrd. Gate entry w/ lg circular drvwy. Gd lndscping, R. V. boat area/slab w/ power. 2nd side of grge used as offce. Garage can be rtrnd to 3 car garage.

omg wtf?  Does Coldwell Banker now want all home descriptions to fit into one Tweet or SMS?  Are we going back to per-word classified rates? You’d think for almost two million that the agent would meet his well-heeled buyers halfway and not make them guess what some of those abbreviations stand for.

First things first: Prce Rducd.  Listed for $2.489M in October 2009, dropped $100K in January and $400K more in May.  Lge lot, lge drp!  Now why would a nice home in the hills have trouble selling?  Maybe it’s because during the open house, there’s a welcoming committee.  

Everyone loves dogs!  Everyone!  Just ask the agent!  Everyone loves dogs!  And if you don’t love dogs, then, who cares, because evry1 <3s dgs!  These dogs are loved so much, their owners wouldn’t dream of locking them up while a bunch of strangers tramp through their home.  And nothing says “This could be my house” like being greeted by wolf hybrids in the driveway.  Unleashed wolf hybrids.  If a couple of these don’t scare away the buyers, there’s always the vicious little yappers caged in the laundry room!  This is a whole new level on Special.  If you aren’t brave enough to get out of your car, you don’t deserve to own ths hse.

Do you like 3-car grges?  Do you want one?  You can have one on this property!  Simply gut the offce that’s using up most of it!  It’s all about choice!  I mean chce.