Having hit the market priced at $12.4 million five months ago, the nearly 8-acre Woodside estate owned by Yahoo’s former Chief Marketing Officer has just been relisted anew for $10.5 million.
Dubbed “The Perch,” the compound at 835 La Honda Road includes over 7,000 square feet of finished space, with a four-bedroom main home, a pool house with a full kitchen, an adjacent guest house, an exercise studio, terraced lawns, a tennis court and a Gentlewoman’s vineyard of Pinot Noir vines.
The pattern seems to be flat or small declines in prices for “high end” newer SF condos and for high end homes throughout the region. The factors impacting SF condos (large supply coming online) don’t really apply to the luxury home market. One factor both subsets of housing may be encountering is that sellers are pricing things unrealistically. Beyond that, any ideas why a number of Silicon Valley “estates” are seeing significant price reductions?
A couple of theories:
– These ultra-wealthy folks get a lot of financial advice, and that advice is saying to wait a year or two.
– The heroes of Silicon Valley – Zuck, Page, Jobs – live(d) in extremely modest homes considering their wealth. Warren Buffett is another. Being showy or ostentatious with excess wealth is just not cool. It comes across as tacky, and that their work is about money and not “the mission.”
– Even if it was cool to own a massive estate, many of these homes come across as tired and dated. Stylistically, they don’t jive.
This home definitely looks lame and has an ever worse name. Silicon Valley typical.
Yes. These homes try to hard and in the (design) process lose any sense of intimacy or livability. Who would want to clunk around in a 7000 square foot home.
At 2.8 million, the Lieberman designed Mill Valley home (recently sold) is far more a home than most of these Silicon Valley estates. As I commented on the Mill Valley home:
A little over an acre of land – check.
Trees reaching to the sky – check.
Lush landscaping with plenty of shrubs – check.
On the side of a hill – check.
Views – check.
Earthy, warm home with lots of wood and brick – check.
All in the middle of a fairly large metro area – check.
That’s all one needs. Maybe up the acreage some, but otherwise I’d take the Mill Valley home any day over this Silicon Valley “gem”.
It just comes down to a sense of scale. A 7,000 square foot home for a couple and two kids is simply out of scale…that concept crosses fashion, architecture, art.
I looked up the Mill Valley home you reference and you’re exactly right: it has all the things you need, but doesn’t overdo any of them. It has one dining table: exactly what you need. One deck, one pool etc. All within a manageable configuration that flows naturally and fits a 2-6 person daily life, while being able to host bigger groups too.
I recently flipped through a glossy brochure on SV/Peninsula luxury estates. Over half were overblown gaudy displays of wealth. There must be a market for those equivalents of diamond encrusted Bentleys though none of the very wealthy people I know live in such peacock houses. They opt for large, well maintained, yet understated homes instead.
Here’s one example of such a “statement home“. Cool looking place but it seems to be more of a conversation piece than a place to live.
A lot of these Silicon Valley people are full of themselves. The seller paid 3.2 million for this property in 2013. Four years and new inferior desecration simply doesn’t justify a 9 million dollar increase.
Any ideas about the roof discoloration?
This house looks pretty cool. Not your everyday run of the mill colonial or craftsman. The views and landscaping alone are worth the price in Woodside.
I actually like this place. Wish I had the dough. Doh.
To me this is commercial in scale. With so much to maintain all I can think about is the staff it would take to maintain three main structures and a vineyard. A lot of constant decision making and constant paying of bills for maintainance. It feels emotionally like a resort business, not a home. Not relaxing at all, as beautifully situated as it is.
The views are pretty special and the grounds are so unique, I’d live there for sure. I love that this feels fresh, its nice to finally see something that has style south of the city.
“Fresh” is one of those real estate brokers’ words that grates us ordinary people. Along with gray paint in every room, and the illiterate phrase “completes this floor.”
Cool house.
UPDATE: Having hit the market priced at $12.4 million and then listed for $10.5 million five months ago, the list price for the nearly 8-acre Woodside estate at 835 La Honda Road is now down to $8,295,000.
UPDATE: The list price for the nearly 8-acre Woodside estate at 835 La Honda Road is now down to $7.785 million having just been reduced another $420K (5 percent).
UPDATE: Former Yahoo Exec’s Perch Fetches 54 Percent of Original Price