The Emerald Hills Blog

A few months back, I implored you to check out Sequoia High School’s production of Little Shop of Horrors. — especially those parents of high-school bound children who were still on the fence about which school they were going to send their student to. Here’s the original post on this play –> Little Shop of Horrors

If you weren’t able to catch Sequoia’s rendition of “Little Shop,” you missed a phenomenal show. The cast absolutely knocked this one out of the park. With live music, great staging, and a cast of over 100 students (and some prestigious staff members!) they played to a packed house on nearly every night of the run.

You now have another chance to catch the revitalized Drama Department in action. Coming in April, they will roll out their presentation of the Broadway-favorite “Grease.” I’m sure this will be a highly entertaining and exciting show, just as Little Shop of Horrors was. Here is the information on the schedule and contact info for tickets:

SEQUOIA HIGH SCHOOL presents:

“GREASE”

Directed by Lesley Hoelper
Choreographed by Sherine Aubert

Special Middle School/Elementary School Preview
April 9, 2008
Pizza, Tour of the School and Show
$10

Show Dates:
April 11,12, 18, 19: 7 pm
April 13, 20: 2 pm

Want Tickets?
Call Linda at 369-1411 x 6288, or email Gail at gdl@gene.com

Check it out, and support your local high school!

Do you know what efflorescence is? Could you find the cripple wall in a home that you’re thinking of buying? Does your home have a weep screed? (And what in the world is a weep screed?)

Of course you probably don’t know the answers to these questions. But should you? If you’re in the market to buy a home, you bet. But don’t worry — these are important things that a qualified home inspector knows all about and looks for when they inspect your prospective new home. Buying a home (especially on the Peninsula) is easily the single biggest investment that most people will ever make. A thorough and experienced home inspector will help make sure that this investment doesn’t become the biggest mistake you’ll ever make.

Typical “red flag” items that a home inspector will find in your home are:

• Signs of water intrusion (leaky roof, water in the foundation area)
• Foundation problems.
• Faulty electrical wiring (reverse polarity, or code violations.)
• Evidence of asbestos.
• Pest infestation (if they are also a qualified pest inspector.)
• Obvious building code violations.
• Faulty plumbing.
• etc…

Depending on the severity of these conditions, some may be easily corrected while others are flashing neon signs to run away from the purchase as fast as possible. A good inspector can easily distinguish between the two.

Here’s an interesting question. As you’re thumbing through the listing binder at an open house, you find that the listing agent has already included a recent property and/or pest inspection in the binder. Does this mean that you don’t need to conduct your own inspection? Absolutely not. First of all, all property inspectors are NOT created equal — getting a second pair of eyes to look at the same property can sometimes uncover new issues or conditions. Second, the approval of a property inspection report is a very common contingency when you make an offer to purchase a property. If your property inspector uncovers a significant new condition that wasn’t caught in the first report, it’s a perfectly legitimate reason for you to extract yourself from the transaction and recover your deposit.

For those reasons, a property inspection is probably the best insurance policy you can ever buy. Consequently, the best real estate agents in the business always align themselves with the best property inspectors.

Only one home sold in Emerald Hills this past week, but it was a doozy. I guess they call this street Emerald “Estates” Court for a reason, because at a list price of $3,295,000 it definitely qualifies as an estate. Emerald Estates is a newly developed cul-de-sac just off Wilmington Way in Emerald Hills that features large, custom homes on generous-sized lots.

140 Emerald Estates Ct is a massive 5BR/4+BA home checks in at 5,350 sq feet (seller data from the MLS.) To put this in perspective, this home itself is larger than entire lots in many communities. It is situated on over 22,000 square feet of land at the end of the court, so it is blessed with lots of privacy. This house is nicely finished, and boasts enough stairs inside to eliminate the need for a home gym — just walk around inside this house, and you’ll get into shape.

The home sold for $3,270,000, which is only $25,000 (or less than 1%) below the asking price of $3,295,000. It was only on the market for 24 days, which is pretty remarkable for a home in this price range. It was listed by Dennis Thomas of San Mateo Real Estate under MLS#771763.

For complete details and more photos, click here => 140 Emerald Estates Court

Just a friendly reminder to spring forward tonight, since Daylight Savings starts on Sunday.  Don’t be late for whatever you have on tap for Sunday!

For those of you familiar with the many splendors that Edgewood Park has to offer, you know that this is the time of year when Mother Nature puts on her display of colors.  Every year on the cusp of Spring, the hundreds of different wildflower species that reside in the park start to bloom, which creates an amazing and random display of colors that you could only find in nature.

If you’re looking to take advantage of the nice Spring weather we’re having, this is well worth it.  You’ll enjoy the exercise, and relish the scenery.  Here are a couple of great links that have information on docent-lead tours, maps to the park, and some good history:

San Mateo County Parks — Edgewood Park

Edgewood Park — c/o Bay Area Hiker 

Don’t miss it — Mother Nature doesn’t work on our schedule!

Are you looking at homes in Emerald Hills and wondering which elementary and/or middle school boundary that a particular home resides in? It’s pretty straightforward in Emerald Hills, since most homes feed into Roy Cloud School, which is an outstanding K-8 school (I’m a grad of Roy Cloud, but it was a K-6 waaaaaaaay back then. And yes, they did have electricity…)

Roy Cloud School has such a strong reputation that it becomes the primary home buying decision criteria for some home buyers — much like what happens in Cupertino and San Carlos, which also boast strong schools. Here’s a handy boundary map on the Redwood City School District website that shows the boundaries for Roy Cloud, as well as the rest of the schools in the District. Look for the tiny link near the top of the page that says “Interactive Boundary Map.”

Click here => Redwood City School Boundary Map

It’s important to remember that just because your home resides in a given boundary, it’s not a guarantee that your kids will automatically get into that school. Popular schools can become impacted, so it’s important to check with the school regarding their current enrollment situation, and how they handle waiting lists, etc…

Go Chiefs …er, I mean Thunderbolts!