Mountain View Real Estate Agent
Craftsman cottages near Castro Street and ranch homes near Grant Road answer to different rules. Representation that starts with the address.
Lisa M. Lum is a Mountain View real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Realty, based at 1706 El Camino Real in Menlo Park. Mountain View’s residential fabric is unusually varied for a city its size.
Old Mountain View, the historic core around the Caltrain station and Castro Street, holds Craftsman cottages and Victorian farmhouses on grid streets dating to the late 1800s.
Cuesta Park, between Grant Road and El Camino Real, takes its name from a 25-acre park. Waverly Park, to its east, is built around its namesake park and Cooper Park.
Monta Loma, north of Central Expressway, is a planned 1950s neighborhood with a long-active neighborhood association. Sylvan Park mixes single-family homes with townhomes, duplexes and apartments.
Downtown, Castro Street runs six blocks of restaurants and theaters, with the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts and a year-round Sunday farmers market. To the north, Shoreline Park and Shoreline at Mountain View cover 750 acres of bayfront open space, and the Stevens Creek Trail runs from the Bay Trail south toward Cupertino.
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 Mountain View home
Lisa prices a Mountain View home from comparable sales in your neighborhood. A Craftsman in Old Mountain View and a ranch home in Waverly Park price differently, and the school line near Cuesta Park can separate otherwise comparable homes.
If your sale may land near $6 million, the Measure G tier belongs in the pricing conversation, because the city rate steps up above that line. Your tax advisor can walk through the numbers.
Mountain View has no point-of-sale sewer lateral ordinance. Many sellers still scope the lateral before listing as a courtesy to buyers.
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, ready before the home goes live.
Lisa manages the marketing, showings and negotiations. When offers arrive, she reviews each one on price, terms, contingencies and the buyer’s financing, so you choose with every detail in front of you.
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 Mountain View
Start with schools, because assignment follows the address. Mountain View Whisman School District serves most of the city for K-8, and a portion near Cuesta Park falls in Los Altos School District.
High school students attend Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District, at Mountain View High School or Los Altos High School depending on the district’s boundary line. The Los Altos School District line near Cuesta Park is highly specific, and a single street can fall on either side. Confirm both the K-8 and high school assignment for the exact address with the districts before you write an offer.
Then look at the trees. Under Municipal Code Chapter 32, a Heritage Tree is any tree with a trunk circumference of 48 inches or more, or 12 inches for oak, redwood and cedar. Removal requires a city permit, so commission an arborist report before you draw a site plan.
In Old Mountain View, many parcels sit within a designated potential historic resource area. Renovations and second-story additions there often route through added architectural review, so confirm the path with the city’s Planning Division before you sign.
Under Measure G, the city transfer tax is $3.30 per $1,000 for sales of $6 million or less and $15.00 per $1,000 above that line, on top of the county’s $1.10. How it applies to you is a question for your tax advisor.
For the full picture of the market, see the Mountain View community guide and Lisa’s buyer’s guide.
Mountain View neighborhoods served
- Old Mountain ViewLate-1800s grid streets near Castro Street, where townhome infill sits beside single-family homes.
- Cuesta ParkMid-century ranch homes on 6,000 to 8,000 square foot lots near a park with bocce and tennis courts.
- Waverly ParkSingle-story mid-century ranch homes on cul-de-sacs near El Camino Hospital and the YMCA.
- Sylvan ParkA mix of housing types between Central Expressway and El Camino Real, close to Stevens Creek Trail.
- Monta Loma1950s ranch homes on rectangular lots west of Highway 85, on flat streets that connect by bike to Shoreline Park.
Every neighborhood above has a full profile in the Mountain View community guide.
