Los Altos Hills Real Estate Agent
Pathway easements cross most Los Altos Hills parcels, and Heritage Oaks are protected by ordinance. Representation that reads the title report early.
Lisa M. Lum is a Los Altos Hills real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Realty, based at 1706 El Camino Real in Menlo Park. Los Altos Hills is a residential-only town in the western foothills, incorporated in 1956 to preserve its rural-residential character.
There are no streetlights, sidewalks or commercial districts. Roads wind through coast live oak and California bay laurel, and many properties sit at the top of long private driveways.
The town has one residential zone, R-A (Residential-Agricultural), with a one-acre minimum lot. Bridle paths cross the town, and Foothill College occupies its northeastern corner.
Altamont holds some of the town’s most established estates. Fremont Hills, anchored by the Fremont Hills Country Club, keeps the town’s most explicit equestrian character, and the Moody Road corridor runs west toward Hidden Villa.
Most parcels carry pathway easements, open space and conservation easements are widespread, and many homes rely on private septic systems.
Meet Lisa M. Lum
Lisa is a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Realty, working from the brokerage’s Menlo Park office at 1706 El Camino Real. She has been licensed in California since 2018 (DRE #02005150) and studied Legal Studies at UC Berkeley.
More about Lisa →Selling your Los Altos Hills home
Selling in Los Altos Hills starts with the parcel. Acreage, slope, easements and septic all bear on value, so Lisa prices from comparable sales in your neighborhood.
Title work comes early. Verify pathway, open space and conservation easements on the title report well before listing, and disclose each one on the Seller Property Questionnaire.
Any private road maintenance agreement belongs in that disclosure too. So do Heritage Oaks on the property and any prior tree removal permits.
If the home is on septic, confirm with Santa Clara County Environmental Health what inspection applies to your sale, and schedule it before launch so buyers see it with the rest of the file.
Through her Home Refresh program, Lisa manages the vendors for repairs, paint, staging and curb appeal, and you approve every estimate before work begins.
Home Refresh also covers a pre-listing inspection and a disclosure package, so your answers are ready when buyers start asking.
When offers arrive, Lisa reviews each one on price, terms, contingencies and the buyer’s financing.
Go deeper: the Home Refresh program.
Lisa’s guide
The Home Refresh Guide
How Lisa prepares a home before it goes to market, from the pre-listing inspection to staging.
Buying a home in Los Altos Hills
Schools come first, because Los Altos Hills is divided among three districts. Northwestern Los Altos Hills is in Palo Alto Unified School District for K-12.
Central, eastern and southern areas are served by Los Altos School District for K-8 and Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District for grades 9-12. No public school sits within town limits. Confirm the assignment for the exact address with the district before you write an offer.
Then read the lot. Each R-A lot must contain at least one net acre within a circle no greater than 350 feet in diameter. Parcels with a Lot Unit Factor below 1 are nonconforming, and those at or below 0.5 need a Conditional Development Permit.
A new home, addition or significant remodel needs a Site Development Permit before any building permit. Review spans Planning, Engineering, Geotechnical, Fire, Water and town committees, so talk with the Town Planning Department before you commit to a plan.
Heritage Oaks are protected, and removal requires a permit. Unpermitted removal carries fines up to $5,000 or the tree’s appraised replacement value, whichever is higher.
Many properties use private septic systems. Ask Santa Clara County Environmental Health what inspection applies before you write an offer.
No fence, wall, gate or column may sit within a pathway easement.
For the full picture of the market, see the Los Altos Hills community guide and Lisa’s buyer’s guide.
Recent results in Los Altos Hills
From Lisa's published client reviews.
“As international buyers unfamiliar with the Bay Area market, Lisa's multilingual support and patience were invaluable. We felt guided, never pressured.”
Los Altos Hills neighborhoods served
- AltamontHillside estates of one to several acres along Altamont Road, with valley and bay views from elevated lots.
- Page MillLarger, more remote parcels along Page Mill Road from I-280 into the foothills, often bordering open space preserves.
- Fremont HillsEstate homes on one-acre-plus parcels in the southeast of town, often with horse barns and pastures.
- Country Club AreaEstate homes on one- to two-acre lots near the Los Altos Country Club on the eastern side of town.
- Moody RoadMulti-acre compounds on the southern edge, with private road easements and substantial elevation changes.
Every neighborhood above has a full profile in the Los Altos Hills community guide.
