The property is currently listed by Alain Pinel Realtors for $25,000,000.  John Howmiller and Rick Ardizzone are the listing agents.  Click>here for a virtual tour.

I would love you to stop by and visit me tomorrow, Thursday, April 23, 2009 from 4:00 to 6:00 PM where I will be hosting at 19200 Bountiful Acres in Saratoga (Highway 9 and Austin Way). Here you can pick up a revised map for the Estates tour with the following homes on the final list:

Saratoga:

1. 22461 Mt. Eden Road $6,258,000

2. 15500 Quickert Road $4,995,000

3. 18590 Avon Lane $4,895,000

4. 15435 Pepper Lane $4,250,000

5. 15001 Bohlman Road $3,895,000

6 . 14448 Donna Lane $3,499,000

7. 19759 Douglass Lane $3,495,000

8. 20500 Lomita Avenue $3,400,000

9 . 19200 Bountiful Acres Way $3,399,000

10 . 14452 Nutwood Lane $3,000,000

11. 14703 Aloha Avenue $3,000,000

Los Gatos/Monte Sereno:

12. 15350 Suview Drive $8,500,000

13. 15520 Quito Road $4,990,000

14. 117 Madera Court $3,995,000

15. 15215 Via Pinto $3,700,000

16. 15289 Top of the Hill Road $3,599,000

17. 15840 Lancaster Road $3,489,000

18. 16221 Short Road $3,200,000

19. 16330 Cypress Way $3,195,000

The following properties, which were on the initial list, will not be available for viewing : 16233 Cuvilly Way, 16150 Cuvilly Way, 18157 Wagner Road, 16359 Belmont Court, 18229 Saratoga/Los Gatos Road, and 118 Auzerais Court. The good news is that some of these homes are in escrow since the orignial invitations went out in the mail!!!

A new exhibit at the Saratoga History Museum opens February 6 and runs through March 1 highlighting the Korean and Vietnam Wars. The exhibit features memorabilia such as Korean War vintage flight and g-flight suits, Vietnam POW bracelets and more. Saratogans who fought in these wars are also honored.The Museum is open from 1-4 Friday through Sunday. The Museum is located at 20450 Saratoga-Los Gatos Road in Saratoga, CA. Any questions, please call: 408-867-4311.

In 1919, architect Julia Morgan designed a country house on 17 acres of hayfields off La Paloma Avenue in Saratoga, CA for Mr. and Mrs. Chauncey Goodrich.  Hayfield house, now accessed off Douglas Lane is a California interpretation of an English country house with front and rear porches, giving easy access to the extensive grounds.  The 12,458+/-sf home is located on a 3 acre secluded parcel in Saratoga, CA – one of Saratoga’s hidden treasures.

Olivia de Havilland, whose parents had a home nearby on La Paloma, reminisced about Hayfield House:  “The Goodrich family was a very old olive-growing family, and they had a beautiful estate called Hayfield House, 14 acres oddly enough, right near where my mother built her house. They were a fascinating family, and Mr. Goodrich, Chauncey Goodrich, was a lawyer in San Francisco. This was true of quite a few families. The fathers would commute to San Francisco, stock brokers, and other professions, as well as people who had come from other parts of the country to settle there in retirement. So you had a rather sophisticated, experienced, traveled, cultivated community, interested naturally in the arts.”

Don”t get excited when you see this Saratoga landmark, which was previously offered for $7.5 million is now “offered” for only $1 .  The owner wanted to relist with a range range or “decline to state”, but MLS rules would not allow that, so in an effort to generate offers, Judith Brooks, the Remax  listing agent reduced the list price dramatically (with the caveat that the seller will not accept an offer that’s patently frivolous or below market).  It will be interesting to see what that market “says”.

The circa 1911 neoclasical home, know as “Woodleigh” was built for Mr. and Mrs. George Wood just five years after the big San Francisco earthquake and it contains steel “I”beams in its thirteen inch thick foundation.  Mrs. Wood was one of the donors of the land for the Saratoga Foothill Club.  The home was once used as an antique store and is reportedly 7,000+/-sf on a highly visible 3/4 +/-ac site.

Last week the $6,250,000 sale of Austin Way, listed by Baniani & Bonetti, became the highest priced MLS listed home to close escrow in 2008 YTD in Saratoga market (area 17). For more information on this spectacular Monte Sereno home click >here.