This is the Plan 4 home at the Summerhill new home development in Mountain View CA at the former Pumpkin Patch property on Grant Road. The first release plan 4 homes will sell for approximately $1,770,000.00, and be constructed on at least an 8,000 square foot lot. The plan 4 homes feature 5 bedrooms and 31/2 baths.  These new construction homes will have approximately 2925 to 2940 square feet. New homes will have some features that buyers can customize to their needs such as extra bedrooms, study areas, or media/family room areas. Summerhill builders does an outstanding job of making their homes customizable to the needs of  buyers. If the past is any indication, this luxury builder will price each individual home according to the market conditions at the time of release, and the desirability of the  location within the complex.  This plan 4 model home is currently the sales office, which is where the garage is located. There will be 53 single family homes built in the Enclave at Waverly Park development, but only three models: plan 1, a single story home, plan 3, a two story home and plan 4, one of the largest homes. The plan two homes and plan 5 homes will not have a sales model, however some have already been sold. The price quotations by Summerhill are for homes with standard (as in plain) finishes. As in all Summerhill new home developments, ALL prices are subject to change without notice.

Homes for sale, especially new homes for sale in the greater Los Altos and Mountain View neighborhoods have been increasing in price since April of 2009. This week I spoke with 5 different families that have plans to relocate to the Silicon Valley area and so I would expect that these gorgeous new single family homes will cost more with each release by Summerhill home builders.

Innovative Floor Plans: The architectural design of Summerhill developments really takes into account the needs of today’s homebuyers. All homes will have a ground floor bedroom so that aging visitors or relatives can easily enjoy the home without fear of falling while climbing stairs. The optional Casita, a small guest house is intelligently designed an beautifully detailed. It could serve as a guest house, au pair quarters, or slightly removed office or studio. The optional Casita really fits the needs of today’s buyers.

Summerhill homes is perhaps the most savvy new homes developer in the Bay Area or even the nation. They always seem to be launching their developments at the beginning of a business expansion, typically in an excellent school district, and in a convenient, sought after location. Generally, they only release a few new homes at a time, unlike other builders that release many homes or home sites at once. If homes are released in an upwardly trending real estate market, the costs of  the new homes in each release escalates over time, mostly due to market conditions. Real Estate market conditions in the Silicon Valley are heavily influenced by an expanding economy and job market. In the past, there have been times when multiple offers were a frequent occurence in a Summerhill development.

Green Homes: Not only are these homes beautiful, spacious and conveniently located, but they will be green point rated. Each new construction home in the Enclave at Waverly Park development will have some very significant green features, along with some even greener options.

Green Home features include some of the following:

All homes will have some Solar

Green Point Rated

Tankless hot water heaters

15% plus over t-24

Low-emitting insulation in walls and ceilings

Hot water pipe insulation

Energy Star appliances

Low VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) for paints, caulking, and adhesives

Bath fans that are Energy Star: They have a vent that closes when you turn them off so heat does not escape out the fan

Low flow toilets

HVAC filter MERV 8+

High efficiency air conditioner with environmentally responsible refrigerants

Optional Green Features include the following:

Whole house fans

Blowin-in insulation

Owl electricity monitor

Kohler dual flush toilets

Map of Homesites for the Pumpkin Patch development

This is a map of the homesites for the Enclave at Waverly Park in Mountain View CA. This new home development of 53 homes along Grant Road in Mountain View CA has had instant success. In the first release 6 of the 9 new homes available were sold in less than two weeks. These home range in price from the high $1.5M up to about $1.8M at this time. These approx prices are with standard finishes, and most homes will probably have many updated finishes. The residence one is a one story home and only 11 of these homes will be built. This is the most popular of the models according to the marketing team.

Scroll down to see previous blogs with  videos of Residence Plan 1 and Residence Plan 3.

Enclave at Waverly Park Plan 3 Home by Summerhill builders, in the Pumpkin Patch Development of Mountain View CA. Approx. $1,680,000.00 prior to upgrades. Residence 3, 3-4 Bedrooms, some homes can be configured for an optional 5th bedroom. Approx 2890 square feet, Approx. 8300+ sq ft lot. These are green point rated homes featuring solar, tankless water heaters, sprinklers, and many for green amenities. This new home development is located in the former Pumpkin Patch on Grant Road. The location is very convenient to shopping, world class health care at El Camino Hospital and Palo Alto Medical Foundation, and transportation corridors including Hwy 85, Hwy 237, Hwy 101 and Hwy 280, and the Cal-Train. The first release of 9 homes had 6 of the nine home sell within the first two weeks. The most popular home is the one story plan one home. Scroll down to see a video of the Plan 1 home.

Remember that stuff about hiding under a table or standing in a doorway? Well, forget it! This is a real eye opener. It could save your life someday.

EXTRACTED FROM DOUG COPP’S ARTICLE ON ‘THE TRIANGLE OF LIFE’

My name is Doug Copp. I am the Rescue Chief and Disaster Manager of the American Rescue Team International (ARTI ), the world’s most experienced rescue team. The information in this article will save lives in an earthquake.

I have crawled inside 875 collapsed buildings, worked with rescue teams from 60 countries, founded rescue teams in several countries, and I am a member of many rescue teams from many countries. I was the United Nations expert in Disaster Mitigation for two years, and have worked at every major disaster in the world since 1985, except for simultaneous disasters.

Don't go under furniture in an earthquake

The first building I ever crawled inside of was a school in Mexico City during the 1985 earthquake. Every child was under its desk. Every child was crushed to the thickness of their bones. They could have survived by lying down next to their desks in the aisles. It was obscene — unnecessary.

Simply stated, when buildings collapse, the weight of the ceilings falling upon the objects or furniture inside crushes these objects, leaving a space or void next to them – NOT under them. This space is what I call the ‘triangle of life’. The larger the object, the stronger, the less it will compact. The less the object compacts, the larger the void, the greater the probability that the person who is using this void for safety will not be injured. The next time you watch collapsed buildings, on television, count the ‘triangles’ you see formed. They are everywhere. It is the most common shape, you will see, in a collapsed building.

TIPS FOR EARTHQUAKE SAFETY

1) Most everyone who simply ‘ducks and covers’ when building collapse are crushed to death. People who get under objects, like desks or cars, are crushed.

2) Cats, dogs and babies often naturally curl up in the fetal position. You should too in an earthquake. It is a natural safety/survival instinct. You can survive in a smaller void. Get next to an object, next to a sofa, next to a bed, next to a large bulky object that will compress slightly but leave a void next to it.

Collapsed building with Triangle of Life next to file Cabinet

3) Wooden buildings are the safest type of construction to be in during an earthquake. Wood is flexible and moves with the force of the earthquake. If the wooden building does collapse, large survival voids are created. Also, the wooden building has less concentrated, crushing weight. Brick buildings will break into individual bricks. Bricks will cause many injuries but less squashed bodies than concrete slabs.

Collapsed building with Triangle of Life next to car in garage

4) If you are in bed during the night and an earthquake occurs, simply roll off the bed. A safe void will exist around the bed. Hotels can achieve a much greater survival rate in earthquakes, simply by posting a sign on the back of the door of every room telling occupants to lie down on the floor, next to the bottom of the bed during an earthquake.

Roll off your bed if quake strikes at night

5) If an earthquake happens and you cannot easily escape by getting out the door or window, then lie down and curl up in the fetal position next to a sofa, or large chair.

6) Most everyone who gets under a doorway when buildings collapse is killed. How? If you stand under a doorway and the doorjamb falls forward or backward you will be crushed by the ceiling above. If the door jam falls sideways you will be cut in half by the doorway. In either case, you will be killed!

7) Never go to the stairs. The stairs have a different ‘moment of frequency’ (they swing separately from the main part of the building). The stairs and remainder of the building continuously bump into each other until structural failure of the stairs takes place. The people who get on stairs before they fail are chopped up by the stair treads – horribly mutilated. Even if the building doesn’t collapse, stay away from the stairs. The stairs are a likely part of the building to be damaged. Even if the stairs are not collapsed by the earthquake, they may collapse later when overloaded by fleeing people. They should always be checked for safety, even when the rest of the building is not damaged.

8) Get near the outer walls of buildings or outside of them if possible – It is much better to be near the outside of the building rather than the interior. The farther inside you are from the outside perimeter of the building the greater the probability that your escape route will be blocked.

9) People inside of their vehicles are crushed when the road above falls in an earthquake and crushes their vehicles; which is exactly what happened with the slabs between the decks of the Nimitz Freeway. The victims of the San Francisco earthquake all stayed inside of their vehicles. They were all killed. They could have easily survived by getting out and sitting or lying next to their vehicles. Everyone killed would have survived if they had been able to get out of their cars and sit or lie next to them. All the crushed cars had voids 3 feet high next to them, except for the cars that had columns fall directly across them.

Lie down next to your auto if you are in a garage

10) I discovered, while crawling inside of collapsed newspaper offices and other offices with a lot of paper, that paper does not compact. Large voids are found surrounding stacks of paper.

Spread the word and save someone’s life…

The entire world is experiencing natural calamities so be prepared!

‘We are but angels with one wing, it takes two to fly’

In 1996 we made a film, which proved my survival methodology to be correct. The Turkish Federal Government, City of Istanbul, University of Istanbul Case Productions and ARTI cooperated to film this practical, scientific test. We collapsed a school and a home with 20 mannequins inside. Ten mannequins did ‘duck and cover,’ and ten mannequins I used in my ‘triangle of life’ survival method. After the simulated earthquake collapse we crawled through the rubble and entered the building to film and document the results. The film, in which I practiced my survival techniques under directly observable, scientific conditions , relevant to building collapse, showed there would have been zero percent survival for those doing duck and cover.

There would likely have been 100 percent survivability for people using my method of the ‘triangle of life.’ This film has been seen by millions of viewers on television in Turkey and the rest of Europe, and it was seen in the USA , Canada and Latin America on the TV program Real TV.

Everyone might be saved if they chose these places to be during an earthquake

Subject: Save your life with “The Triangle of Life”

If you are inside a vehicle, come out and sit or lie down next to it. If something falls on the vehicle, it will leave an empty space along the sides. See below:

triangle of life collapsed building after earthquake

Source：國際救援小組（ARTI），網址：http://www.amerrescue.org/

American Rescue Team International（ARTI）is said to be the World’s most experienced rescue team and disaster management-mitigation organization.

This beautiful 4 bedroom 2/1 bath home on De Soto drive in Palo Alto CA was remodeled by a Japanese Architect who honored the original home but improved on it with gorgeous designer touches. If I were remodeling an Eichler home, I would hire this architect. There is so little inventory in the Palo Alto Real Estate market that anything that is nicely updated and does not have any location defects flies off the market. This Palo Alto CA Eichler home sold in 10 days. I would use this video as a means of getting ideas for how to successfully update a Palo Alto Eichler home or a Mountain View Eichler home.

Two spacious new College Terrace Homes for sale. These homes are being sold as TIC or Tenants in Common ownership. A larger downpayment will be required for purchase along with a legal agreement if there is more than one party purchasing the homes.

TIC: Tenants in Common Financing guidelines are more stringent than a typical Palo Alto home mortgage or Palo Alto Condo purchase. Most people use mortgage companies that specialize in TIC financing, and most are located in San Francisco where TIC also known as Tenants in Common ownership of homes is more popular.

Ginna Lazar of Sereno Group is the listing agent.