What's happening at the high end?
Blu Skye Media's photos were featured in the Palo Alto Online
Local real estate moves slowly -- and very quietly
This home at 19 Prado Secoya in the Menlo Circus Club area of west Atherton, featuring six en-suite bedrooms, 10,000 square feet and an acre, is on the market for $15.5 million. Photo by Matthew Anello/Blu Skye Media.
by Susan Golovin
As of mid-September [2013], Multiple Listing Service (MLS) showed 25 Peninsula properties with asking prices at $10 million and above. The lion's share, 10, were in Atherton, with decreasing numbers in Woodside (5), Los Altos Hills (4), Palo Alto (3), Portola Valley (2) and Los Altos (1). But the fact is that few people know exactly how many of these properties are actually available because a large percentage of these high-end properties are not on the MLS.
"If you think these homes aren't moving it's because it is so private, and I honor that," said Keri Nicholas, a top producer at Coldwell Banker in Menlo Park, who sold four homes priced more than $10 million this year, only one of which was on the open market. Nicholas went on to say that it is often the case that deeds are blocked, trusts re-named and addresses changed before the close of escrow. It is not unusual to sign a confidentiality agreement before you even meet one of these clients. No agent worth his/her salt will tell you who is buying these homes.
