One of my favorite New Yorker cartoons says, “I had my own blog for a while, but I decided to go back to just pointless, incessant barking.”

But in my case, I’ll be leaving this blog to spend more time working on the documentary film, “Under Our Skin: The Untold Story of Lyme Disease.” (You can view a trailer at this website.)

Redfin’s Palo Alto territory will now be covered by the very capable real estate maven, Susan Brady.

Good luck in your house hunt!

Kris

Photo credit: Oh Joy Photography

In the last week, it appears that many Palo Alto homeowners decided to put their homes on the market –- “For Sale” signs are popping up all over. In a normal year, the best strategy would be to wait until spring to list a house, but some people may be betting on a sinking economy and they’ve decided to take a shot at selling now.

During the last two weeks, the Market Action Index dropped from 44 to 31, and the Median List Price fell almost $50,000.

Source: Altos Research for the week ending 9-28-07

Mountain View prices and inventory have remained about the same during the last two weeks, and the market is still in the “Warm Seller’s” zone. Mountain View prices started dropping in the late summer, and now conditions are pretty stable.

Source: Altos Research for the week ending 9-28-07

Buyers rejoice: Menlo Park is officially a “Buyers Market.” During the last two weeks, the Market Action Index dropped from 37 to 21. (The “Market Action Index” represents a 60-day rolling average of supply and demand.) The inventory increased from 71 to 90 listings. The median price is holding steady, as this new reality sinks in for sellers.

Source: Altos Research for the week ending 9-28-07

No, this is not a maximum security prison. It’s Palo Alto’s newest parking structure, located near the intersection of University Avenue and Alma. And next door, architect Joseph Bellomo is putting the finishing touches on its companion structure, the new Blockbuster building. And that off-kilter screening hanging off the cinderblock façade is not scaffolding – it’s a “design element.”

While I appreciate contemporary architecture, I find it irritating when the look-and-feel of surrounding structures are ignored.

These two structures literally create a bridge between the entrance to Stanford University — a gorgeous example of Italianate architecture with its carved stone, tile roofs, and arches – and a row of a pedestrian-friendly retail shops. Yet the architect ignored these architectural cues. No other buildings in downtown Palo Alto use such an abundance of unfinished concrete, rusted steel, and bomb-blast protection screening, which according to the manufacturer is guaranteed to give your building “a fortified urban edge.”

And why would any landscape architect plant prickly pear cacti at toddler eye-level near the entrance of a Blockbuster video store?

I do like the Haiku placards mounted on the side of the parking structure. This placard, which is hard to read behind the bomb-blast screening reads, “This pain that I feel,” and it says it all.

Miguel Helft of the New York Times recently wrote a fun article, “Rental Building’s Good Karma Nurtures Success,” about the amazing number of successful Silicon Valley businesses that got their start in the unassuming rental building at 165 University Ave in Palo Alto.

Past tenants of this entrepreneurial hot spot include PayPal, Google, eBay, Logitech (a computer peripheral manufacturer), and Danger (the company that created the T-Mobile Sidekick smartphone).

But is this karma or some kind of chemical reaction that simply happens when you mix entrepreneurial engineers, Stanford brainpower, and venture capitalists looking for the next great business idea?

The New York Times talked about this phenomenon in their editorial “The Death of Geography?”: “Silicon Valley continues to act as a leading incubator for high-tech start-ups. Once you have a critical mass of software engineers and venture capitalists attending the same happy hours, a certain ferment takes place. News spreads fast in person, not just on MySpace. As a result, a city with a strong concentration of companies and a trained labor force — like New York in finance — can maintain its position within an industry.”

And this is why, despite the insanely high real estate prices, start-ups like Facebook keep popping up Palo Alto.

Photo credit: Noah Berger for The New York Times

I just found another new listing under the MLS radar at 1750 Bryant St, in a great Old Palo location on a quiet, dead-end street. It’s on a huge 200 ft. by 100 ft. lot, with 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, and a 525 sq. ft garage. According to the listing agent, Hanna Shacham (650) 752-0767, it has “resort-like grounds” with a pool and Jacuzzi.

The house is listed for $8,495,000, which seems a little high to me, but it is on a double lot, and it appears to have been remodeled to perfection. As a bonus, they’ll throw in the two giant Sequoias in the front yard for free.

Waverley Street is as iconic of Palo Alto as Rodeo Drive is of L.A. It winds through the heart of Old Palo Alto, under a canopy of venerable sycamores. The classic mansions that line this avenue typically sell quickly and the homeowner list reads like “who’s who” in Silicon Valley.

2150 Waverley is a very traditional colonial, 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, and 3,000 square feet, on an 11,000 foot corner lot. I haven’t been inside, so I can’t comment on the layout or finish details, but you can bet that at least $1M of the price is due to location, location, location. Your new neighbors would include the most famous Silicon Valley CEO and an ex-49ers quarterback.

The house is listed for $4,995,000 by Hanna Shacham (650) 752-0767.

Photo of Waverley Street by Andrea Paulin

360 Kellogg Ave is one of those “best of” Old Palo Alto homes (Connecticut Colonial style), located within walking distance of Stanford, Palo Alto High, and Peet’s Coffee. It’s on an enormous 20,038 square foot lot with Connecticut bluestone decks, a blue-bottom pool, a spa, a sports court, and a natural waterfall pond. It has 4,661 sq ft of living space, 4 bedrooms, and 3.5 bathrooms.
Price: $7,950,000

This house will have a neighbors-only, sneak-preview open house on Sunday October 7 from 1pm to 5pm.

The listing agent is Hanna Sacham at 650-752-0767.

For the fun of it, I looked up the price of a similar house in South Gladstonbury, CT. This one is listed for $1,100,000.

On Saturday, October 6 from 1 to 4pm, the new solar home at 588 Lincoln Avenue (at Webster) will be open for neighbors who want to see a real solar home in action.

This home is part of the ASES National Solar Tour, the largest tour of sustainable energy features for buildings in the U.S. Now in its 12th year, some 100,000 people across the nation can go to these open houses to see how neighbors are using clean sources of energy to save on energy bills and protect the environment. Through a series of open-houses and informative tours participants learn about renewable energy options, energy efficient design, real-world costs, current rebates available, and other valuable insights