Portola Valley Real Estate Agent
Fault zones and oak ordinances shape what each Portola Valley parcel can become. Representation that starts with the site.
Lisa M. Lum is a Portola Valley real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Realty, working from the office at 1706 El Camino Real in Menlo Park. Portola Valley sits in the foothills above I-280, with Woodside to the north and Los Altos Hills to the south.
Two-thirds of the town’s land is permanently preserved as open space. Trails for horses, hikers and bicycles cross it through the town’s Pathway System.
Lots are typically one acre or larger. The Architectural and Site Control Commission holds to a regional design language of low-slung structures, board-formed concrete, redwood and glass.
Portola Valley Ranch and Westridge each have their own architectural review. Ladera sits just outside town limits with its own community association.
Roberts Market in the Village Square is the town’s small grocery anchor, alongside a handful of restaurants and the Town Center library.
Read a parcel’s hazard designations and review thresholds before you commit to a number.
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 Portola Valley home
A Portola Valley sale is priced parcel by parcel. A Westridge estate and a Sausal home on two acres answer to different buyers.
Lisa prices from comparable sales on your street and in your micro-neighborhood, and she manages the photography, marketing and showings.
Disclosure starts with the hazard maps. Fault zone and landslide designations are required natural hazard disclosure items, so expect buyers to ask about them early.
If you’re in Portola Valley Ranch, Westridge or Ladera, disclose the applicable HOA or architectural review covenants on the Seller Property Questionnaire.
On a septic parcel, ask San Mateo County Environmental Health what inspection applies, and schedule it well before launch.
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 the file is ready when buyers start asking.
The documentary transfer tax is $1.10 per $1,000, split between the town and San Mateo County, and the town adds no city-specific transfer tax. How it affects your proceeds is a question for your tax advisor.
When offers arrive, Lisa reviews each one with you on price, terms, contingencies and the buyer’s financing.
Go deeper: current Portola Valley seller data and 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 Portola Valley
Begin with the ground. Many Portola Valley parcels fall within an Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Fault Zone along the San Andreas or carry geologic-hazard or landslide designations.
Those are required natural hazard disclosure items, so read them closely during your contingency period.
Then check the zoning. The R-E Residential Estate zone carries a one-acre minimum lot size, and the town’s slope-density system has limited development intensity since 1965.
Plans to build change your timeline. The ASCC reviews any building or addition of 400 square feet or larger and any two-story structure, and story poles may be required.
Additions over 500 square feet also go to the Town Geologist. If an addition is part of your plan, talk with the Planning and Building Department before you sign.
The Significant Tree ordinance protects Coast Live Oak and Valley Oak over 11.5 inches in diameter, and Coast Redwood over 17.2 inches. Removing a protected oak without a permit can bring fines of $20,000 to $60,000.
Portola Valley School District serves K-8 through Ormondale and Corte Madera, and Ladera falls in Las Lomitas Elementary School District. Confirm the assignment for the exact address with the district before you write an offer.
Many hillside parcels use private septic. Ask San Mateo County Environmental Health what inspection applies to the parcel, and build it into your contingency period.
For the full picture of the market, see the Portola Valley community guide and Lisa’s buyer’s guide.
Portola Valley neighborhoods served
- Portola Valley RanchA self-managed planned development of 1960s and 1970s Bay Region modernist homes, where a Design Committee reviews all exterior changes. Designated a Firewise Community.
- WestridgeEstate homes on larger lots under covenants recorded in 1947, before the town incorporated.
- Ladera535 homes in an unincorporated community founded in 1946, with a community pool and recreation facilities.
- Alpine Road CorridorMulti-acre lots running from I-280 west toward Skyline Boulevard, often with private road easements and septic.
- SausalMid-century homes on one- to two-acre lots along Sausal Drive, with views of Windy Hill Open Space Preserve.
Every neighborhood above has a full profile in the Portola Valley community guide.
