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It’s a sign of the times. A one-acre lot in Atherton recently sold for $10.5 million to builders who say they plan to replace the 1950s ranch-style home on the property with a “spec” house and list it for $27 million.

Realtor Matt Skrabo, who grew up in Portola Valley and is the third generation in his family to go into real estate, said he represented buyers Bob and Shawn Owen of Owen Signature Homes in the sale. The sale was “off-market,” meaning the property had not been listed for sale. Mr. Skrabo lives in Palo Alto and works for Keller Williams Realty in Palo Alto and Menlo Park.

The new home, Mr. Skrabo said, will have seven bedrooms with eight full bathrooms and two half-bathrooms on three levels totaling 13,000 square feet. There will be a full basement with bar, wine cellar, exercise room, movie theater and game room. A private master suite with a lounge, chef’s kitchen, a bocce ball court, guest house, swimming pool, full outdoor kitchen and fire pit are also planned.

He said the Owens are willing to sell the home before it’s built and customize some of the finishes to please the new buyer.

“When we were looking at this deal, we strictly focused on the land value for the acquisition and a projected resale price that we felt is achievable,” Mr. Skrabo said. Looking at the multiple listing service data on trends and past sales, and at active listings with adjustments based on the street and location, helped make the decision, he said.

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16 Comments

  1. I think Mr. Skrabo analyzed this deal before many people lost 15% of their worth over the last 5-6 months.

    You can’t look at data from prior valuations which were predicated on escalating and unsustainable stock market conditions combined with record low real estate inventory.

    I hope he does okay in the final analysis, but I don’t see how that’s going to happen for just 1 acre in Atherton … regardless of the particular appeal of the street.

  4. Seriously, awful rendering of a sad design. Cramming 7 bedrooms into that half-styled box, on 1 acre, for 27 mill?

    I’m sure it will have all the latest features and toys. It’s just missing something called “charm.”

    Ugh.

  6. I was harsh about the style. I am forgetting that the kind of design and the price range isn’t to attract me as much as it is to attract foreign buyers.

    Time will tell.

  7. I’m very pleased to see the Modern design and a more sophisticated looking home. We have enough of the cookie cutter homes being built here. Bravo for being bold and different. Kudos

  9. My husband and I are huge fans of Modern. Nice to see developers in the Bay Area building sexy homes like you’d see in likes of LA and Orange County.

  10. style?:

    Contemporary or modern is the new “thing”. We’re building more and more of them. Don’t let the “simplicity” fool you, they’re very difficult to build right. All straight, parallel and perpendicular lines. Everything has to line up and there is nowhere to hide a mistake. A small mistake in the foundation can result in a problem at finish as it carries all the way through. Cost of construction is higher on these designs because of it.

  13. Serious question: Will it have a regular kitchen in addition to the outdoor kitchen and private chef’s kitchen en suite? Otherwise it’ll be awkward for nanny to microwave tofu corn dogs, fish fingers and day old Mac n cheese for the lil ones.

  15. Thank you, Barbara, for the clarification. Glad to know that that nanny won’t have to microwave leftovers in the outdoor kitchen during inclement weather 😉

  16. Antherton used to be a really nice neighborhood before so many started building monuments to themselves. In the last 10 years, there hasn’t been one home built with the charm of the home it replaced. This isn’t surprising when you consider those moving-in. Too bad.

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