Category — Healdsburg

It’s easy to forget how blessed we are in Sonoma County. I was previewing a Healdsburg listing for some snow-bound clients who wanted to know what was blooming right now. The property owners obviously loved camellias and had planted some wonderful specimens to go with the quince and daffodils that bracket the floral show below. These photos are all from the middle of February.
Renowned horiculturist Luther Burbank considered Sonoma County “the chosen spot of all earth as far as nature is concerned.”

Fitch Mountain dominates Healdsburg’s east side. The mountain fills the skyline and forces the Russian River to make a wide swing around the town. The blue circled area in the photo holds several hundred homes along S Fitch Mountain Road, N Fitch MountainRoad, Redwood Drive, and a network of other small roads that are in Sonoma County’s jurisdiction rather than the city of Healdsburg. These homes, for the most part, were originally cabins and weekend getaways. Over time many of them have been updated to modern standards, but this is still a rural community with the feel of most redwood-dense towns serviced by narrow roads. You might think of Felton and Ben Lomond in Santa Cruz County or Rio Nido in Sonoma County as similar feeling neighborhoods. Depending on where you are on the hill, you may be in deep shade all year, or in one of the fortunate spots with acess to full sun.

I just listed a property on the mountain with superb sun and nice river views. The blue circle on the photo to the right shows the house’s location with south being towards the bottom of the image and the river flowing from the north east towards the west. The river views from the house are westerly.

The house itself is right at the borderline of fixability. People may legitimately differ on whether the house should be torn down and built from scratch or repaired and upgraded.

The reality is that Sonoma County septic and construction guidelines will have more to do with how the new vs. remodel question gets answered than the actual situation might dictate. The single most important question that has to be addressed is the septic issue. There is no sewer service available on Fitch Mountain, and almost none of the existing residences could meet new code requirements for Class One septic systems. The current waste disposal systems exist and are maintained as well as they can be and are tolerated by the County as non-conforming.

Whether a home that has been unlived-in and red-tagged by the county will be tolerated without the upgrade to a Class One septic system is an open question. Potential buyers will have to hire septic system experts to analyze the site and negotiate with the county. Once that question has been answered, new owners can choose whether to build new or rebuild a home that sun lovers can appreciate.

I had a chance to visit a terrific ten acre property on Eastside Road near Forestville today. You’re never quite sure what you’re going to find on a place you can’t see from the road, but I have been driving past this secluded driveway for years and have never had a chance to see the house or gardens. First, let me say that you aren’t going to see it here either. Instead, I’m going to tease you with a handful of lovely details and encourage you to visit the “official” web site.

Small details matter to me. This place is filled with deft touches that indicate a deep affection for doing things right. The picture you’re looking at might be hard to make out, so feel free to click on it to see the larger view. What you are seeing is a gently curved piece of wood that serves as a bridge at the pond. Wood has the potential to be very slippery when it’s wet, and the builder has taken the time to carefully insert metal bumps to provide traction. It’s subtle and almost invisible when you’re walking, but it represents a care that is echoed elsewhere on the property.

At the same bridge, there is a lovely railing detail with a curved copper hand cleanly attached to the post. The two side rails are close enough to provide a secure feeling when crossing the bridge and are big enough to feel comfortable in the hand and look correct in the scale of the garden and pond. Again, just the right touch of design sense, choice of materials, and execution to be a fine detail.

The entry courtyard, home of the cactus in the first picture, is also graced with nice details. In addition to the diamond plate cactus, there’s a multi-tiered fountain, and a second small piece of metal art to the left of the gate and a host of fruit trees and flowers. The gate itself has two wooden swinging doors and a bell in the opening in the door that has a melodious gong sound to announce visitors. The whole thing is topped with an exuberant potato vine in a pretty arch. Details make the difference on this Sonoma County Russian River valley parcel.

Sometimes good opportunities are right in front of you and you just can’t see them. That’s what I was thinking after I got done touring the Foss Creek Villas with Ed Buckner last week. I am usually focused on Healdsburg real estate whether it’s vineyard properties or country land or looking at Victorians on Matheson and Tucker. I’ll also check out anything near downtown Healdsburg since walking distance to the plaza is always a great selling point. Somehow in the midst of all that looking, the fact that Healdsburg has some affordable condos in walking distance to downtown just hadn’t registered.

I’ve looked at the condos at the Grove (just across the street), and they’re very nicely done and brand new, but with prices starting at around $615,000 they’re not a weekend getaway place for everyone. I still think they represent an excellent value, but after seeing what $399,000 to $449,000 can buy at Foss Creek Villas I know where I would buy my Healdsburg getaway place. The $300,000 you save buys an awful lot of great dinners at Cyrus and Dry Creek Kitchen, and that’s one of the main reasons you want to spend your spare time in Healdsburg anyway.

The two bedroom, two bath Foss Creek Villas have been totally redone with new interiors, great landscaping, and garages for the first 25 buyers. The kitchens are high quality with granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances and the finishes throughout are very nice quality. You can find a lot more detail and the full sales pitch at the condo web site, but I wanted to mention the project here just to let my readers know that you can still find excellent real estate values in Healdsburg. I don’t know of any place along the 101 corridor from Sonoma County to San Jose where you can be so close to so many good restaurants for well under $500,000. For the real bargain hunters, Ed told me that two units are being sold for only $399,000.

Of course, these places aren’t just for weekend visitors. This is a great location for anyone working downtown, in any of the Foss Circle business condos, or at the Parkpoint Health Club which is just across the street. It’s hard to get more convenient than this.

As a last word, I think the landscaping people have done a great job. Next time you’re in the area, stop by for a look and say hello to Ed for me.

Healdsburg has an interesting architectural history with ornate Victorians and classic Craftsman era homes downtown interspersed with more humble bungalows, and the rare, but ugly, 1970’s condo complex.

Healdsburg’s Growth Management Program mandates an average of 30 new homes per year. For the past several years, that program has funneled growth into Area A, in the northern part of Healdsburg. Part of the planning was to encourage diversity of style, and that has turned out to be as architecturally interesting as was hoped for when residential development was encouraged in this small, hilly neighborhood.

Almost half of the lots in Area A have been built on, and the Clear Ridge subdivision, which was the first to start building, is looking quite complete. There’s a strong Mediterranean feel in general in this neighborhood, but there’s been a lot experimentation with roofs, wall textures and materials, and styles.

The amount of experimentation is very interesting in itself, and the end result of all the variation adds to the charm and visual interest in these view-rich homes.

At the foot of Clear Ridge Drive where it intersects Poppy Hill a new house is nearing completion that is a beautiful example of the designer’s vision. Stone foundations with natural wood siding and copper flashing and gutters are traditional elements that are used to great effect by the designer. The repetitive roof planes and eaves are beautiful. For my taste, this is one of the most elegant and timeless houses in Healdsburg.

If you have some time on one of these harvest weekends, have a drive through this area to see what’s going on. We do have a couple of buildable lots for sale if you think you might like to live in the neighborhood.

I posted recently about two lovely entrances in the Russian River town of Guerneville. I wanted to broaden my rustic selections to include two urban entrances in Healdsburg near the famed Healdsburg Plaza. Both of these are on Center Street half a block down from the Oakville Grocery. The first entry is a classic American white picket fence. The Saggio Hills office features extra detailing on the pickets including a routed groove down the center and well shaped tips. The entrance itself has double swinging gates, usually left open to invite people inside. The gate is tree shaded with a hint of roof feeling, echoing the full arbor we saw on the rustic wooden Guerneville gate. The pickets repeat the vertical railing on the porch as a strong architectural element. If Saggio Hills executes as well on their high end development as they have on their downtown office, it will be a welcome addition to Healdsburg’s resort reputation.

The Barn Diva walking entrance features a thick, square-cornered stone wall entry capped by plants flanking either side. Unlike the continuous hedge in the stone wall from the Armstrong Woods area, these accent plants highlight the entry, but don’t block the view of the restaurant or courtyard from passersby. The wall is a comfortable height for seated privacy in the courtyard, but isn’t a visual barrier to the doors and windows of the restaurant. There is an iron gate that is closed in this photo, and the restaurant was closed as well. The gate serves as a convenient way to indicate the availability of service. Menus and hours of operation are posted on the wall along the sidewalk for the convenience of the public.

Farther down the road is a driveway for Barn Diva accented by a taller iron gate, more appropriate to vehicles than people. The gate is set into the same thick stone wall but is large enough to physically block access to people and vehicles. Behind the gate you can see the vertical landscape elements that pick up the vertical siding on the architecturally interesting Barn Diva building.

Both of these entrances serve commercial establishments well. They are open and inviting when required, and closeable, but not intimidating, when their businesses aren’t open. All of the entrances we’ve looked at feature smart planting to emphasize “doorness” in their walls with plant materials that include flowers, hedge materials, and trees. Let me know if you see a great entrance in your neighborhood.

Congratulations to Levi Leipheimer for his third place finish in this year’s Tour de France. Levi’s a home town guy and we’re all proud of his tremendous effort and success in the world’s toughest race. It turns out that Levi rides twice a week on Pine Flat Road east of Healdsburg. Pine Flat runs from near the Jimtown store in the Alexander Valley all the way to the ridge that overlooks the Geyser’s geothermal fields. This riding article compares the climb up Pine Flat Road to Col de la Pierre Saint-Martin, Stage 16, July 25 (8.9 miles, 2,414-foot vertical, 5.2% average). I have never tried a ride like that, so I couldn’t say anything about the difficulty. I could, however, comment on the beautiful views from the top of the mountains near the geysers, and the beautiful scenes in Mayacamas Mountains Audubon Sanctuary, a 1,400 acre preserve.

If you are interested in country property and decide to follow Levi’s path up the hill, there are a couple of interesting parcels that Eric Drew from Healdsburg Sotheby’s Inernational Realty has available today.

5745 Pine Flat Rd is just a few minutes from Jim Town Store near the beginning of Pine Flat Road. It is a 52 ac home site for $1.45M (with water and perc) with a storage/workshop and an abandoned olive orchard. For a big photo gallery, please go to http://picasaweb.google.com/ericdrew/5745PineFlatRd

The second intriguing land value is just under a square mile of property near the end of Levi’s training ride. It’s 620 acres on Pine Flat Rd about 25 minutes from Jim Town Store and about 30 min to Healdsburg. This very large parcel made up of seven separate AP numbers is priced at $1,595,000. It includes a hunting cabin, good springs, and electricity supplied by the Geysers. I’ve got a nice 4 MB pdf file about this property that I’m happy to send if you drop me an email. The thing to keep in mind about this land is the spectacular views and privacy. It takes a good half an hour to get here, but the road is paved all the way. This is remote, but not inaccessible.

I also want to let you know that for Healdsburg’s 150th birthday celebration a few weeks ago, Daniel Drew reprinted a historic book about a trip to the Geysers in around 1870. It’s a fascinating account of the times and the Geysers when they were one of the natural wonders of the world. I’ll be happy to send you a copy if you ask for one.

Healdsburg has a great collection of Victorians downtown. Matheson St, a main artery to the Healdsburg plaza, has both modest and large examples of what are often called painted ladies. Martin Humphrey’s current listing is an interesting opportunity since it includes not just a Victorian with classically good bones, but five extra units on the .43 acre lot. I want to talk about TIC (Tenants in Common) in a future posting, but Martin has some ideas about how this property could be structured for either multiple ownership, or a single owner who fixes the Victorian to live in and uses the five other units for rental income. In any case, have a look at the show and give me a call if you’d like to see this gem.

Some see ruin, failing brick foundation, peeling paint, sagging floors, and throw up their hands in despair. I see classic lines, the pride of the original designer and builder, and the heart of Healdsburg location. I have loved this house since I first saw it twenty years ago, and it has been sad to witness her slow and avoidable deterioration. There has been the occasional paint job slapped on the great lady to hide and slow the aging process, but gravity is working it’s will. Without the prompt intervention of a new owner to repair foundations and roofs, it will be even harder to save her.

On the positive side of the ledger, she is now in the hands of someone who wants to sell. The house is on a very big lot and the potential to subdivide the lot can help underwrite the high initial cost of purchase and rehab. I am eager to help a restoration-minded buyer acquire this landmark property.

The grande dame around the corner on North St is my favorite Healdsburg fixer, but this “white elephant in the rough” ranks right up there as a challenging repair prospect. Several owners have pondered remodel, tear down, new house, refit, and haven’t managed to find the right combination. There are plans for a new house, but I still think lifting the house to create parking underneath and repairing the house could create a great shared housing project. Sadly, almost all of the original detailing is gone on the interior, but the gutting of the house makes it much easier to see what needs to be done and to create an efficient and modern internal floor plan with up to date wiring, plumbing, insulation, etc.

The outside still has some wonderful details and an architectural presence that isn’t timeless, but is solid and genuine. In any case, this is an interesting opportunity for a project as close to the Healdsburg plaza as you are going to find.