Menlo Park & Atherton Broker Tour: Calm, Considered, and a World Away From San Francisco
Lisa M. Musich, Compass Palo Alto
Lisa M. Musich of Compass Palo Alto spent Tuesday’s May 12th tour doing what she loves, walking some of the most compelling real estate in the Bay Area, including a quick detour into Woodside’s sprawling estate country. More on that below. But first, a market musing worth sharing.
The SF reality check: TechCrunch published a piece last week titled “San Francisco’s Housing Market Has Lost Its Mind” and frankly, it earns the headline. A six-bedroom home in Cow Hollow listed at $7.95M just sold for $15M. A 4,100-square-foot home in Presidio Heights listed at $4.4M sold for $8.2M, nearly double asking, within a week. The driver? San Francisco is home to some of the most valuable private companies in the world, and their employees have been quietly accumulating, and increasingly cashing out, their fortunes. OpenAI and Anthropic have allowed employees to sell shares in secondary transactions, putting significant capital into the hands of people who already live in the city and want to upgrade. TechCrunchTechCrunch
Down here on the Peninsula, the Menlo Park, Palo Alto and Atherton real estate market feels like a different planet, measured, deliberate, and fundamentally grounded. Buyers here aren’t caught up in a frenzy, that is unless that one property that send buyer’s swooning and being multiple offers deep!
And then there’s Woodside. Every time I venture out to tour a large acreage property in the hills, I’m reminded why I love this part of the Bay Area. There’s something about land… real land, measured in acres not square feet that puts everything in perspective.
The Woodside Detour: Worth Every Minute
15 Hidden Valley Ln, Woodside — $38,800,000 | 4bd/3.5ba · 5,995 sqft · 279,457 sqft lot (6.4 acres) · Brent & Mary Gullixson, Compass
What a property. Walking in I wasn’t immediately sold until I was. The floor plan initially reads as choppy, but spend time moving through the rooms and you realize what’s actually happening: each space flows into the next while maintaining its own intimate scale. In a home this size, that’s a design achievement. The primary suite is spectacular, though it sits apart from the other bedrooms, a feature or a drawback depending entirely on your lifestyle. The Frank Lloyd Wright influence is unmistakable in the wood-framed glass windows and the careful detailing on the staircases.
But the grounds are what will stop you cold. A working vineyard, a pool and pool house, a tennis court, a treehouse wrapping around mature redwoods, outdoor showers, and a separate structure staged as a hangout space that honestly reads more as a guest cottage. At 6.4 flat acres in Woodside, this is the kind of compound that exists in a category of one. For buyers seeking ultra-luxury Woodside real estate with genuine land and compound living, this is as rare as it gets.
Menlo Park: The Interesting Middle
675 Evergreen St, Menlo Park — $4,488,000 | 4bd/2ba · 2,220 sqft · 10,010 sqft lot ·
DeLeon Team, Deleon Realty
Funky in the best way. The angles, the non-linear spaces, the walls of windows flooding the interior with light this has the fingerprints of a distinctive builder, and interestingly the neighboring property that sold late last year appears to be from the same hand. Move-in ready with lush grounds and a layout that rewards buyers who appreciate something with personality. The one note: the primary bathroom runs on the smaller side, leaving a future expansion project on the table for the right owner. For buyers seeking modernized Eichler-style homes in Central Menlo Park, this one delivers.
1345 Delfino Way, Menlo Park — $4,498,000 | 5bd/3.5ba · 2,471 sqft · 8,684 sqft lot ·
Keri Nicholas, Parc Agency
The great room in this home is genuinely Eichler-esque offering floor-to-ceiling corner windows, a fireplace pushed to one side, a wonderful beamed ceiling. There’s clearly been significant investment in updates, but some of those updates feel like a force fit. Rather than reconfiguring walls for better flow or bathroom proportions that meet today’s expectations, the work was layered onto the existing bones. The galley kitchen will divide opinion. And if I were advising a buyer here, I’d be talking seriously about removing the pool, it consumes too much of the lot, and creating a backyard that lives as large as the rest of the home promises. Strong fundamentals, some vision required.
Atherton: Confidence and Question Marks
393 Atherton Ave, Atherton — $10,500,000 | 5bd/8.5ba · 7,510 sqft · 43,561 sqft lot ·
Tom LeMieux, Compass
Grand in scale, stately in its grounds and pool, but this property feels like it’s asking a buyer to meet it where it is rather than where the market is. The home blends architectural styles in a way that doesn’t fully resolve, carries a very particular color palette, and reads as dated in its finishes. The amenities list is impressive, offering a gym, theater, wine cellar, but a buyer will need to come in with both a project mindset and a budget to match. For the right buyer targeting Atherton luxury real estate with a full acre and significant upside, the bones are there. The vision just needs to follow.
Also on Tour — Menlo Park & Atherton
1225 San Mateo Dr, Menlo Park — $7,200,000 | 3bd/2ba · 1,410 sqft · 20,000 sqft lot – This has been on tour a few times = they might need to consider a price reduction.
1800 Oakdell Dr, Menlo Park — $5,895,000 | 4bd/3.5ba · 2,878 sqft · 10,455 sqft lot —
707 Valparaiso Ave, Menlo Park — $1,490,000 | 3bd/2.5ba · 1,102 sqft · Townhome — The week’s most accessible Menlo Park entry point.
451 Oak Grove Ave #1, Menlo Park — $1,468,000 | 2bd/2ba · 1,296 sqft · Condo
85 Belbrook Way, Atherton — $13,988,000 | 5bd/6.5ba · 7,628 sqft · 47,045 sqft lot — Price reduced $1M from $14,988,000.
58 Deodora Dr, Atherton — $10,995,000 | 5bd/3.5ba · 4,766 sqft · 40,170 sqft lot — Price reduced $1M from $11,995,000.
Two significant price reductions in Atherton’s $10M+ tier in the same week is a trend Lisa M. Musich will be watching closely.
What I’m Watching
Two $1M price reductions in Atherton’s upper tier on the same tour sheet while San Francisco buyers are paying $8M over asking on Presidio Heights mediocrity (sorry to say, it’s great you have money to spend but is spending $8mil over ask a good investment?) tells you everything about the difference in market psychology between the city and the Peninsula. Down here, sellers are adjusting. Buyers maybe have some leverage they haven’t had in a while at the top end?
If you’re in the market for Atherton luxury real estate above $10M, now is the time to be in the conversation. Reach out directly lisa.musich@compass.com.