LQQKING FOR AN EICHLER.

The San Mateo Highlands is a great Eichler community and has a very active Community Recreation Center with pool, tennis courts, and a home town Fourth of July parade and fireworks celebration. The down side, as you probably already noticed, is that with respect to the architecture many streets have homes that have been morphed willy nilly. At least on our street, we are starting to see a positive trend of buyers revamping their new homes with a modernist sensibility. IMHO maybe this trend will hopefully overshadow the McMansion someone built on the next street over or the remodel with the Roman columns down the street.

I forgot to mention that Eichler took advantage of the San Mateo topography so various lots in the Highlands have sweeping views either overlooking Crystal Springs Reservoir, the Bay, the mid-Peninsula. It's amazing to open the front door and see right through the house to the open canyon or the Bay. The X-100 is also in the neighborhood.

Well, I think I have to say that one of the best "bangs for the buck" has to be the Willow Glen Eichlers in San Jose--specifically, the fairglen development at Curtner and Meridian. No, it's not LA but I lived in a metropolitan area before moving here and was able to make the transition gracefully.

The housing prices have almost doubled in the 5 years I've been here--partly due to fad (mid 60's became fashionable), partly because of education (the uniqueness of the California architecture recognized), and partly because of the addition of Eichler-savvy real estate agents. I would highly recommend our own neighbor, Loni Nagwani (a real estate agent who advertises on this site), as someone who not only recognizes but *lives* in an Eichler. Refreshingly, she is not the "Eichler police" but will definitely tell you, when asked, what will and will not add value to your home (ie. what is and is not in keeping with the Eichler aesthetic). Her advice has paid out handsomely for many who have listed/bought through her.

Like most communities, we have community events--an annual block party, annual home tour, Christmas (or other) holiday events, and a neighborhood newsletter.

Come visit us. Give Loni a call (best bet) or even drop me a line.

Cheers.
Jake
eichfan at rawbw dot com

Thanks for the response regarding "good" Eichler neighborhoods. I was born and raised in Santa Clara, so I am very familiar with Willow Glenn. Love the area and pricing is reasonable. However, I work near SFO, so I am not sure if I want to make that commute. The Highlands would be perfect and I am sure the prices reflect the area. Once again, thanks for the info and I will continue my search. Roy

I live in Fairglen in Willow Glen and commute to SF. It takes about an hour ten minutes to drive and there are now six or so baby bullets from CalTrans that go from SJ to SF in an hour. The advantage of Fairglen is that 99% of the folks moving in are Eichler fans and the upgrading of the houses is happening at a much faster pace than anywhere else.

I looked at the Highlands and you just don't get as much for your dollar. And the weather is more extreme as well.

While Fairglen is a pretty well-preserved neighborhood (and getting even better) there are a couple of other visually decent Eichler neighborhoods: upper Terra Linda in Marin, the mid-sixties tract of 35 or so houses in Walnut Creek and the two mid-sixties tracts in Sunnyvale. Saratoga and Los Altos have some nice Eichlers as well, but they're very small tracts and I necessarily wouldn't count them as neighborhoods.

That said, all the Eichler neighborhoods have some nice houses in spite of the double-decker trailer additions, country-style paneled doors and corinthian columns sprinkled throughout.

Have you looked at 19th Avenue Park. I hope this is not one of the areas you thought was "awful". Although many of the houses are suffering from the common curse of unsympathetic owners and Home Depot "updates" there are many houses in the tract that hold promise. As far as location it is ideal for an SFO commute. As a matter of fact there are many SFO employees in the neighborhood. It is also convenient to both 101 and 280. There is a renovated park in the neighborhood that attracts famlies from other areas. The homes in 19th Ave Park were built before Bunker Hill. So they are pre-atrium models. The lots are smaller. But the weather is better and the location is much more convenient to the lively down town of San Mateo and shopping areas. We had made offers in Bunker Hill but were consistently out bid. We stumbled on 19 th Ave and have been very happy with the home. It would be great to have more people who are sensitive to these homes move in and help retain and improve the character of the tract
Good luck in your search!

When I stumbled upon my Eichler in May 2005, I didn't realize Concord had 1, but 2 neighboorhoods.

The first one is south of Clayton Road off of Babel Lane. Some of the street names are Gainsborough, Merridan, and a couple others. They have the Futura house plans among others. One house which took a long time to sell was listed for $699k, and it was a nice house with a large lot and a pool.

The second one where I live is the one everyone forgets about. It is segmented into 2 areas. The first part is again off of Clayton Road, North on West St. Bascially, the homes are located on West St., Salem, Santa Fe Ct.and Houston Ct. The second area is located on 3 streets, between West St. and Placer Ln.. on Wilson Lane, Sacramento Street and Phoenix St. The houses in this neighborhood aren't as nice, but they are Eichlers, and are considerably less expensive. They are selling in the high $500k- mid $600k range. I don't want to tell you how much I paid, because I got a really good deal ;)

There was one on Sacramento St. that was asking $589k. I don't know if it sold, or they decided to pull it off the market. This one was basically Home Depotized, but they do have a very nice backyard and the landscaping is nice.

Good luck on your Eichler search...you could stumble on a deal like I did.