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PRICES FOR HOMES in Silicon Valley are notoriously steep, with tech money contributing to an inflated real estate market that continues to grow in value.
Zillow helped us pull data on the most expensive listings in 14 Silicon Valley towns: Palo Alto, Atherton, Cupertino, Menlo Park, Woodside, Saratoga, Portola Valley, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Hillsborough, Morgan Hill, Mountain View, and San Jose.
Atherton, which consistently ranks among the most expensive zip codes in the country, made the most appearances on the list, with five of the top 11 most expensive homes overall. Several tech billionaires, including Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, HP CEO Meg Whitman, and Google chairman Eric Schmidt, are known to own homes here.
From a Los Gatos mansion with its own helicopter pad to a historic 40-acre hill estate in Woodside, some of these Silicon Valley homes are pretty out-of-this-world.
This massive Los Gatos estate has six bedrooms, more than 20,000 square feet of space, two pool houses, a tennis court, and a helicopter landing pad. The garage has room for up to 15 cars.
This seven-bedroom home in ritzy Atherton has a sweeping driveway lined with palm trees. Inside, you’ll find high ceilings, dramatic chandeliers, and a gourmet kitchen. Additional amenities include a sauna, swimming pool, and tennis court.
Located about three minutes further south on the same Atherton street, this property includes a two-bedroom guesthouse in addition to the six-bedroom main house.
According to the listing, this Atherton home has more than 17,300 square feet of space. Amenities include a home theater, wine cellar, two-bedroom guesthouse, and an elevator to access all three floors.
Further up the Peninsula in Hillsborough, this 12-bedroom home sits on a three-acre lot. It has some pretty extravagant decor — including intricately molded ceilings — and a vineyard in the backyard.
With more than 12,000 square feet of space, this Atherton home would make for a lavish family retreat that is just minutes away from “tech giants,” according to the listing. There’s a large pool, putting green, and a wine cellar that can hold up to 5,000 bottles.
The “Rancho San Antonio” estate, located on a hilltop 5.6-acre lot, has six bedrooms and 11 bathrooms. There’s also a two-bedroom guesthouse, pool, spa, and tennis court.
In the southern part of Silicon Valley, this 13,000-square-foot Saratoga home has a dramatic entryway. Inside, you’ll find seven bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, a home theater, infinity pool, cabana, and an au pair suite.
This 9,000-square-foot home in Atherton belongs to a prominent Silicon Valley financier. The house sits on nearly three acres of land, complete with a guest house, pool, tennis court, and expansive gardens.
This 14,000-square-foot mansion is set on park-like grounds in Woodside. According to the listing, the home boasts four separate master suites, a 13,000-bottle wine cellar, and “award-winning gardens.”
Built in 1941, the Flood Estate sits on more than 40 acres of gorgeous rolling hills. The property includes plentiful gardens, a gatehouse, tennis court, swimming pool, and colonial-style main house with nine bedrooms. Previously listed for $85 million (€77.51 million) in 2012, the price was chopped to $69.8 million in 2013, and then to $39.98 million (€36.48 million) in May 2015.
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Is this research or just article’s to p**s us off
Unless I can see the interior of number 5 I’m not interested.
click on ” see the listing” and there are 40 photos . must say I am not gone on the kitchen
You’d swear I had bobs, skipped them all just to view number 1
Funny when you look at these homes and think that 10 years ago Walford on Shrewsbury was sold for nearly 60 million….
everyone seems to be selling up in atherton. the russians must be arriving.
antisocial behaviour has the place destroyed, streets are littered with empty bottles of cristal and broken stiletto heels
Horrible decor in all of them. Millions of dollars can’t buy good taste. Ruched and ruffled curtains and fakey mock Tudor…vomit.
Is it weird I don’t like any of them 3&6 are nice but way to big even if I had that money!
For 40 million I’d want a Rollacoaster and a mountain bike track out back
What’s the craic with that area?? What’s so special about it?
The mid San Francisco Peninsula has been in the top 10% of US property values since the 1950s, long before Silicon Valley was born.
Proximity to Stanford University, near perfect climate year round (45-75F), zero snow/ice or humidity and an abundance of interesting places to visit has put this area in high demand. Crime rates are very low, with very attentive and responsive police. Real punishment for law breakers – 3 strikes gives you 25 years .. Excellent public schools etc.
I have seen a very strong spike in values in the past 2 years, thanks to exploding values of Facebook, Google and Apple in particular. Homes can sell for 30-70% over asking, as regards a bubble – not likely to affect this area, even post 9/11 and the dotcom crash the only effect it had was to lengthen the sales process in most areas from 2 to 4 weeks. Some outlying areas (50+ miles) did drop say 20% but quickly recovered.
Added to all of this is the Real Property Tax, approx. 1.5 % of home value (as determined by the most recent sale) .. So a starter home for $2m has an annual tax if $28,000 approx. (If you are a minute late in payment a 10% penalty is applied – if not paid, this is added as a lien on the property, to be paid in full when house sells next.) Water bills are $100-$400 per month, no payment , no water. Trash $150 ..
Still wouldn’t want to live anywhere else ..
Roland Kelly
Menlo Park, CA (after Menlough Co. Galway)
Resident since 1995 . Ex Dublin
U know ur stuff!!
have your say