What is Woodside Ca like as a place to live? (San Francisco: real estate, broker)

[Namasterising]

Hi,
I met with a real estate broker today who told me she felt woodside would be a better fit for me than the places I've been looking at around Santa Cruz, Monterey, Santa Rosa.

I'm wondering if anyone could give me some information on the area? Thx!

[ImRandy]

Overall it's a nice, affluent, safe, quiet place to live. Good access to open-space, lots of horse properties, short hop over the mountains to the beaches. Many large homes. The older ranch homes are rapidly disappearing in favor of large mansions for the tech rich. No real downtown. There are a few businesses but for the most part you'll be going out of town to do shopping and for entertainment. Stanford is a few minutes away. Lots of Silicon Valley money in the area. Steve Jobs was going to build his new house there. Larry Ellison built a monstrous home there though I believe he has sold it.

[mstnghu2]

If you have $$$$$$, it's the place to be. It's a very scenic, woodsy area that's sort of half way between the San Mateo county coastline and Silicon Valley. It's where the ultra rich Silicon Valley millionares/billionares buy land (destroy any homes/buildings that may be on that land) and build homes that are 8000 sq. ft.+. I was stuck in Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival traffic on my way home on Woodside Rd. last year and was drooling over every home along the way...Your real estate agent is very optimistic. To put it in perspective, my "poor" multi-millionare boss who lives on a multi-acre property in "poor" Portola Valley aspires to live in Woodside...

That pretty much sums it up. Good luck.

[18Montclair]

Let me guess, that Real Estate Broker just happens to have several properties in Woodside currently on the market? lol

Kidding aside, it all depends on what your looking for which you havent really told us yet.

[humboldtrat]

I wonder what hsw has to say

[BayAreaHillbilly]

If you've got a couple or three mil (or more) to spend on a property ...

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by humboldtrat

I wonder what hsw has to say

Something about Luddites.

[humboldtrat]

Originally Posted by bigdumbgod

Something about Luddites.

Or something about quants.

[AmyMacfreid]

This area, south of San Francisco, has a few distinctive towns:

- Atherton is flat, literally and kind of metaphorically too come to think of it. It is all residential, lots of gates.
- Hillsborough is also all residential, but in the hills. Still lots of gates.
- Portola Valley is uber rural. I believe the city has ordinances about planting only native grasses, that kind of thing. They do have shopping and services, not many, but some.

Woodside is in a way a hybrid of all these towns -- hilly, some gates, some services. It is indeed expensive. I think much of that is driven by the exceptional school in town. It's pre-k thru 8th with lots of parent involvement and a foundation that gives a tremendous amount of funding to the school each year. If you have children in school and can volunteer, you will have an instant social life, especially if you host/attend school auction events.

Other nice perks? The market (Roberts) has a nice with small town country staff who remember your name and ask after your kids. The small shopping area can take care of your day to day needs. If you need more things, or want to save money, Safeway and Target are about 10 minutes away. The Village Pub is the town's "special dinner" spot; the kids love Bucks for it's wacky atmosphere; the Bakery is good for pizza.

Hope that helps.

[ambient]

Originally Posted by Namasterising

Hi,
I met with a real estate broker today who told me she felt woodside would be a better fit for me than the places I've been looking at around Santa Cruz, Monterey, Santa Rosa.

I'm wondering if anyone could give me some information on the area? Thx!

You must be a billionaire. Congratulations!