Endangered Species for Sale - Page 2

"It's very private," Faylor noted as we toured the bluff-top home, surrounded by mature oaks and eucalyptuses on a fairly level 2.5 acres. It is also buffered by an old tennis court on an adjacent, otherwise buildable lot included in the listing.

Fiddling with the balky alarm setting as we arrived, Faylor quipped of the asking price, "Well, what do you want for $6 million?"

The house was listed December 15 and Faylor had an accepted offer nine days later, but it fell through.

"The guy backed out. I don't know what happened," Faylor said wistfully. "I guess he had second thoughts or something." This greatly surprised Faylor, in part because of recent property, termite, and roof inspections for which "the reports came back great."

Indeed, walking the oak and aggregate floors in this somewhat odd specimen of mid-century design, every one of a multitude of structural angles in the house appears to the eye as sound and plumb as Faylor promises. The motif includes hexagonal or half-hex wall and fixture angles in several rooms along with the hex planter boxes and tables on the wraparound back deck.

"That's probably going to need some work," he conceded of some sections of deck, "but for the most part, it's pretty awesome."

Indeed. Casting imagination back to 1963 and gazing at downtown San Jose in the distance, it is mind-blowing to picture a surging surf of suburbia enveloping the orchards as it approached over the last half century, seen through these ten-foot sliding doors and 14-foot walls of glass.

The signs of active family life are here too, though a bit faded, in the tennis court with side decks, swimming pool with spa, vintage swing set, and basketball hoop in a driveway that intriguingly stretches under a wing where Jean Raisch's former office connects two bedrooms to the main house.

"She had a lot of parties here," said Kathleen Filice, a personal trainer and family friend to Raisch, dropping by the house during our tour. Recalling the long dining table, she added, "It was beautiful. It would be all decked out with candlesticks and flowers. If it was summer, there would be people out on the deck."

"It's a cool property," enthuses Faylor. As much as he admires the house, he still ranked "the land, the views, and the proximity" to Silicon Valley as the listing's main strengths.

"There are people that are looking for mid-century and, sure enough, there are people in the Silicon Valley who would come in and tear it down," he admits with less enthusiasm. "It would be sad, but it's possible."

For more on the former Raisch home, click here.