Hillside and estates
Hillside and estate properties.
Homes from $3M, most of them above Kennedy Rd, in Monte Sereno or up toward Saratoga. A different market with different rules, starting with who gets to know the house is for sale.
Discretion
About half of the $3M-plus homes we sold this year never had a sign, a public listing or an open house. The buyers heard from us.
Sellers at this price often have good reasons not to broadcast a sale: a business, a divorce, a family that does not want neighbors walking through on a Sunday. We keep a list of qualified buyers and their agents who are actively looking above $3M. A quiet sale goes to them first, with a film and a floor plan instead of a lockbox, and showings by appointment with Priya or Ben in the house.
If the quiet round does not produce the number, the house can still go to market with the full launch. Nothing about the quiet round shows up in the public days on market count.
Staging and presentation
What it costs to show a $5M house properly.
At this price a buyer is comparing your house to three or four others they could also afford, and every one of them will be staged, filmed and photographed at dawn. Here is the budget we see on a typical hillside or estate listing. Vendors are paid directly. We show you three quotes for each.
| Item | What it buys | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Full staging | Two to three months, main rooms, primary suite, outdoor living | $12,000 to $35,000 |
| Landscape refresh | Lighting, pruning, gravel and planting at the entry and pool | $6,000 to $20,000 |
| Paint and repairs | Interior paint, punch list from the pre-inspection | $10,000 to $40,000 |
| Film, stills, drone, plan | Owen, two mornings | Included |
| Private tour events | Catered agent preview, two buyer evenings | $2,500 to $6,000 |
What we look at first
The lot, the road, then the house.
- The access road
- Private roads above Kennedy and off Shannon come with maintenance agreements and sometimes none. We read them before you fall for the view.
- Fire zone and insurance
- Most of the hillside is in a high fire severity zone. Insurance is possible but costs more and takes longer. We get quotes during your contingency period, not after.
- Slope and soils
- A geotechnical report is worth $3,500 on any house with a hill behind it. We have one done on hillside listings before launch so buyers can move quickly.
- Septic and wells
- Still common above the town line. Inspections and a flow test are standard in our offers.
- Views that will stay
- We check neighboring lots for approved plans and tree heights. A valley view with a two story build permitted next door is a different asset.
Related pages and a next step.
Selling a house in town to move up the hill? Here is how we sequence a sale. Buying from out of state? Relocation covers remote tours. Thinking of the estate as an investment with a rental ADU? Investment covers the numbers. The buying page walks through the offer process.