The Mills Estates was developed on land that was once part of the Darius Ogden Mills estate that burned down in the mid-1950’s.  The town of Millbrae is named for him and the land surrounding his vast estate was developed shortly after the fire.  The estate covered portions of both the cities of Millbrae and Burlingame and the area, and homes, were developed by multiple builders over about a 20 year period.  The Millbrae side of the Mills Estates sits just west of Mills High School and runs from El Camino Real up to 280.

The elementary school for the community is Spring Valley School on Murchison Drive and that street is the main street up the hill for the Millbrae side of the estates. The area primarily has single family homes, but you do find some condos and apartments but in the flat-lands near Mills High School and way up in the hills, just below 280 – where the views are amazing.

Right now, there are 9 houses for sale.  One of those houses is Bank Owned, too.

There were 2 sales within the past couple of weeks making it is an active market in the Millbrae side of the Mills Estates.  This community, like its sister side in Burlingame attracts professional seeking close proximity to SFO, easy commutes to San Francisco or the Valley and excellent schools.

We would be happy to show you any of the 9 active listings should you be interested in them.  Call us at 650-696-2820.

©2010 The Wilkas Group. All Rights Reserved.

Since I like to write about happenings between Millbrae and San Carlos, summer means free concerts and each of our towns has some for you to pick from.  Make a picnic and grab your blankets to sit on and/or to possibly bundle up.  Bring the family and enjoy the music.  Free is good. When you’re leaving the concert be sure to thank the local Park & Recreation people for providing the music.  Belmont kicks off the summer season tomorrow afternoon.

Belmont

Let’s start with Belmont. Their concerts are always on Sunday afternoons from 1-4PM at Twin Pines Park on Cottage Lane. They begin in June and run through July.

June 15 – Stompy Jones – Jumpin’ Jazz and Swing

June 22 – Refugees – Tom Petty tribute

June 29 – Tom Rigney and Flambeau – Cajun Fiddling

July 6 – McCarty and Company – Pure Country Western

July 13 – Groovy Judy – Flower Power Funk Rock

July 20 – Blue-Rock and Roll Rhythm and Blues

July 27 - D-5 – Rockin’ the Par

San Mateo

Hop over to East 5th Avenue and Laurel in Downtown San Mateo for free  Thursday night concerts from 6 to 8 PM. These concerts run most of the summer.  Bring your lawn chair or a blanket to sit on, pack your picnic and enjoy the music.

June 12 – The Sun Kings – Beatles tribute

June 19 - Fast Times – 80’s dance party

June 26- Inoahband – R&B/Neo-Soul

July 3- Toot Sweet Jazz Band – Dixieland/New Orleans Jazz

July 10 - Blusion – Funk/Fusion

July 17 - Fotia – Traditional/Modern Greek Music

July 24 – Los Boleros – Latin-American dance

July 31 – native Elements – Roots Reggae

Burlingame

Sunday afternoons in July ,get yourself to Washington Park’s Recreation Center Patio.  The concerts begin at 1 PM. Free lawn seating.  Bring your picnic lunch.  BBQ’s are sponsored by the Youth Advisory Committee for a fee.

July 6 - Oscar Reynolds – Bolivian Afro-Peruvian Fusion Trio

July 13 - The Sun Kings – Beatles tribute

July 20 - City Rocks – San Francisco Rock History Review 1965-1985

July 27 – California Cowboys – Country-Rock

Millbrae

Central Park in Millbrae is the place to be on Sunday afternoons at 1 PM in August. Bring your picnic, blanket and have fun.  There will be BBQ Hot Dogs and Hamburgers available to purchase.

August 3 - Big Rain – Rock Country, Funky Blues Crossover

August 10 - Cocktail Monkeys – The Finalist in the 98.5 KFOX Last Band Standing contest with Classic & Dance Rock

August 17 - Jukebox Heroes – Dance music

August 24 - Unauthorized Rolling Stones – Rolling Stones tribute

Foster City

All of the concerts in Foster City are on Friday night at 7PM at Leo Ryan Park Amphitheater, East Hillsdale Blvd & Shell Blvd. They begin in July and run through mid-August.  Bring your blankets or chairs, picnic dinner and boogie.  It can get cold at night, so don’t forget to bring warm jackets.

July 11 - Livewire

July 18 - Orchestra d’Soul

July 25 – Nathan Owens

August 1 - Journey Unauthorized

August 8 - Fred McCarty & Company

August 15 - Unauthorized Rolling Stone

San Carlos

San Carlos’ concerts are on Friday evening, 6-8PM at Burton Park in August. Bring blankets, chairs, and picnic dinners.

August 1 - California Cowboys – Country Rock

August 8 – Groove Kings – Rock ‘n Soul

August 15 - String of Pearls – Big Band Swing

August 22 – Sun Kings – Beatles Tribute

August 29 - E-Ticket Band – Oldies Rock n’ Roll

©2010 The Wilkas Group. All Rights Reserved.

MILLBRAE

Millbrae, CA

The city is named for Darius Ogden Mills, a rich financier who founded the Bank of California and bought land from the Sanchez family to build his country estate.  The Scott’s refer to a “brea” as rolling hills, and Mills turned into Millbrae at some time in the late 1800’s.  The Mills estate went from Skyline Boulevard down to Bayshore Highway, now 101 and 280, east and west and from Millbrae Avenue south to Trousdale Drive  There were multiple lakes at one time, with the largest where the football field for Mills High School now sits. The mansion burned down in the early 1950’s.

Mills also owned the land where Mills Field stood, the first airport.  It had been a dairy farm and was converted to an airport.  San Francisco International Airport still sits on part of the original land.

The city has about 30,000 residents today.  Some of the areas of the city were developed after WWI, and in 1927 the Highlands, homes built for the upper market above the downtown area between Chadbourne Avenue and Taylor Boulevard, Magnolia Avenue and Ashton, was developed.  The area is known today for its beautiful tree lined streets and Spanish style homes.

After WWII, the town began to grow and more houses were built in the northern part of the city.  The
Mills Estate was developed in the mid-1950’s through 1970’s for the upper market.

The downtown is a bustling street with many restaurants and shops.  Millbrae’s schools are considered
excellent.  Mills High School is a top ranking school.  Weather is moderate, and the hills do a good job of keeping the fog away from the main part of town.

The BART station and CalTrain station are a major transit hub.  Millbrae, sitting across from SFO has many residents who work in San Mateo County, or up in San Francisco.

©2010 The Wilkas Group. All Rights Reserved.

Last week Millbrae had 50 houses for sale.  They were on the market for an average of 68 days, and the number of homes coming to the market  appears to be moving upward.  Prices are trending downward, yet most homes in Millbrae are selling for over a Million dollars today.  A far cry from how this city of about 20,000 use to be, where modest homes housed families of modest means.  Not today.  The median price last week was $1,087,500.  Millbrae is considered a flat Cold! Buyer’s market.

The residential housing market is a great example of supply side economics with the supply and demand, and market conditions determining price.  Altos Research calculates the Market Action Index by measuring available supply relative to the current level of demand.  Index value above 30 indicates conditions favor the seller.  Sitting at 18, Millbrae is very much favoring the Buyer.  Yet the seller hasn’t figured that out as they’re still pricing homes high.  Altos Research also feels that the current pricing conditions are relatively fragile.  If the market cools off further, watch for prices coming down.

Price and Value can be measured by looking at the Price per Square Foot.  Despite the fact that home prices are rising fairly consistently, the price per square foot of homes listed in Millbrae is declining.  This can often be attributed to new and remodeled homes on the market.  Buyers in the area are paying more but also getting more for their money.

Another reason Millbrae is staying up in price has to do with the schools.  Mills High School has become a magnet for buyers from San Francisco.  Mills is part of the San Mateo Union High School District and consistently has high test scores.

Millbrae’s homes are about 59 years old,  mostly built post WWII.  They’re mostly 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and about 1600 square feet in size.  The average lot is 5000 feet.  They’re pretty much like the other Peninsula cities I write about.   If you’d like more information about Millbrae’s real estate market, let me know.  I can get you a copy of the full report we subscribe to from Altos Research.

©2010 The Wilkas Group. All Rights Reserved.

I often have conversations with clients about whether to buy a home near a school with high test scores.  Never mind that they don’t have kids yet, they’re thinking ahead.  So, we talk about how important it is, or isn’t to do this.  I’m mentioning this because the 2006 API test scores were released yesterday.  Most of the school districts around here did fairly well.  Most of the districts have some under performing schools and some high achieving schools.  But it’s the urge to buy near the high performing schools that’s driving up some of our housing prices and causing crazy things to happen like parents camping out overnight so they can register  their child at Baywood School,  a high performing school with too little capacity for all of the neighborhood children.  What’s a parent to do? After all, they paid a lot of money to live near that school and want their children to attend it.

Our area has what I call a public-private education system.  What do I mean by this?  I mean you may send your child to a public school, but be prepared because you’re going to be asked to pay a whole lot of money to that school for anything and everything they need that’s not covered by our property taxes.  Now, the private comes from the foundations that have sprung up in our public school districts.  You don’t see these foundations in low income districts, mind you, but only in high wealth areas.  The areas where the schools know that they can come begging to the parents, and the local residents for funds. And, get them.

The schools have gotten creative since these foundations first showed up back when my three kids were in elementary school.  We’re talking back in the early 1980’s.  They should have by now, since they’ve had over 20 years to create new reasons for us to fund them.  Expect to get a phone call soon from your local district if you live in the San Mateo-Foster City Elementary District.  Or San Mateo Union High School District, for that matter.  They’ll come asking you to donate.  One school within the district, Baywood in San Mateo, puts on an auction that raises a whale of a lot of money — somewhere in the low six figures.  This money pays for teachers as well as “enrichment”.  The things that we used to expect to see taught in elementary school like art and music, new books for the library, computers for the computer lab, field trips, etc.

So, the API scores are out and as expected Hillsborough Elementary leads the pack in the number for the districts: 959 out of a possible 1000. This is expected as Hillsborough is a very high wealth area.  Burlingame Elementary follows with 874, Belmont and San Carlos are just behind with 873, Millbrae follows with 834 and San Mateo-Foster City has 801.  San Mateo-Foster City is the largest district with the widest range of incomes and therefore scores.  So, I ask what does this mean?  Is it really so critical to you as a buyer that you’ll pass up a great home near an okay school just to try and buy one for much more money near the top school?  Does it matter if you don’t have children yet?  Does it matter for resale?

These are questions I pose often and everyone has a different answer.  In my thinking, if we can change the demographics around a specific school with moreeducated parents, the school with improve their test scores.  So, why should it matter today when the child of the future (maybe 6 or 7 years away) will go there?  It doesn’t.  You can only be concerned with what’s going on today and not try to project the future.  Even though I collect magic wands and crystal balls, they’re only for fun.  Do you see anything in them?

©2010 The Wilkas Group. All Rights Reserved.