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Just Bought A $26M Atherton Mansion? Here’s How to Keep Zillow From Finding Out

An interesting question came in yesterday through my Meebo chat box…is there any way to keep the public (and Zillow, for that matter) from finding out price for which a home sold? What about keeping the name of the new owner confidential?

I chatted with some of my friends in the escrow business and here’s what they told me…

Keeping the price confidential: Fill out a certain form with the escrow company specifying that you want the price to remain confidential. When they record the document at the county, they’ll arrange for the transfer duty stamp to be stamped on the back instead of the front of the relevant page. When that document subsequently gets scanned for the public record, only the front — not the back — is processed. Voila! The price doesn’t appear on the county’s web site records, and thus (presumably, at least) the prying eyes of Zillow and the general public won’t see it.

Apparently it may still be possible for a determined individual to find out, however, by going to the county and insisting on seeing the original document.

Keeping the new owner confidential: Arrange to consummate the purchase in the name of an LLC, Trust, or other entity, and put the address of said entity as a post office box.

So there you have it! The future owner of this little Atherton delight (listed by perennial Atherton mega-lister Mary Gullixson) can rest easy at night…snooping neighbors won’t know exactly what deal he got!

Disclaimer: I am neither an escrow expert, nor an attorney. The methods described above may or may not in fact be correct, and if they are correct in any one particular county, they are not necessarily correct in your county. Before embarking on your anonymous home-buying adventure, please consult with an escrow expert and an attorney.

‘Nuff said.

Photo from mlslistings.com

Tags: * Type of Content, Atherton, Consumer, Industry, Mary Gullixson, Real estate

Typewriters and Water Towers — Amazing What You See on Palo Alto Broker Tour

One of the fun traditions in this biz is the “Broker Tour” — explained here by Pat Kitano — in which recently listed properties are made available to the local Realtor community to preview on behalf their clients as well as simply to stay abreast of the market.  It’s also a great opportunity to kibbitz with your fellow Realtors, find out how many offers there were at 123 Main Street, and sample some delicious home-cooked soup made by the more culinary-skilled Realtors.

During a typical tour, most agents will see around a dozen properties; the more ambitious and well-organized ones might see as many as 25 to 30.  I had to cut my tour short today because of a meeting but nonetheless managed to see some interesting things.

First on my list was 1068 University Ave, Palo Alto, listed by Mary Gullixson of Alain Pinel, Menlo Park.  At a tidy $3.5M, this property is nonetheless at the lower end of Mary’s current inventory, which includes some 8-figure listings; it’s not hard to see why she was the #2 agent nationwide with over $200M in transactions.  But back to the house itself, which was as elegant as it was grandly appointed…

The home was built in the 1920’s, and I’m sure there’s a magnificent story behind the original owners.  It’s got that old classic hardwood floor feel to it, with updated touches like a modern kitchen.  Though right on tony University Ave, it boasts a 17000 sq ft lot, with the two-story Mediterranean-style home squarely in the middle.  You don’t get many back yards this size in Palo Alto!

Next on my list was 957 Channing, also in Palo Alto, but the similarities ended there.  I’m not one to throw around the word “cute” lightly, but this one definitely deserved the title.  An ideal starter home for a single person or a couple with no kids, this property’s lot size was only slightly bigger than the home on University!  Weighing in at 810 square feet with one bedroom and one bathroom, co-listing agent Greg Stange informed me that he already had an offer in hand, and with the market going as it is now, that doesn’t surprise me.

On the driveway leading up to Channing, there’s an old water tower:

Later in the tour I visited Kirsten McLeod’s listing at 200 Lowell Ave, still in Palo Alto, another old, elegant home on a large lot.  Thankfully for the architecture and history of this area, neither this home nor the one on University are likely to be chopped up and subdivided, thanks to an abundance of both wealth and strict zoning laws.

The typewriter?  Oh yes — that was in the office cottage in the back yard.  I have a fond memory of those things.  This particular model is electric, but one of the reasons I and my siblings can type a zillion words a minute is that mom taught us to type when we turned 14…with a manual typewriter.  Here it is (the one in the cottage at Lowell, not the one I used growing up!)

Tags: Mary Gullixson, Palo Alto, Property reviews, Real estate

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