San Ramon's Most Expensive Neighborhoods

San Ramon has an incredibly wide range of properties and values, allowing a wide range of families or individuals to afford a home and to settle down as property owners in our lovely city.

There presently are 220 homes on the market that range in value from $125,000 to $1,599,000. Many are affordable — there are 28 condominiums for sale at less than $200,000, some with two bedrooms.

The most expensive neighborhoods in the San Ramon area are in Norris Canyon Estates and the Shapell-built Gale Ranch in Dougherty Valley.

Norris Canyon Estates is just off Norris Canyon Road on the western slopes. This neighborhood is outside San Ramon city limits, so is in the jurisdiction of Contra Costa County. Most of the homes in this area have dramatic sweeping views of the San Ramon Valley and of the Mount Diablo range and sit on oversized lots that rarely have usable flat areas.

The most expensive home in this neighborhood was sold in 2006 for $2.65 million. Built by Toll Brothers, it had more than 6,000 square feet of living area, five bedrooms and five bathrooms, a pool and great views.

Today, similar homes are selling in the $1.7 million range, but price can vary wildly depending upon the view, usable flat land, landscaping and amenities.

Gale Ranch homes in Dougherty Valley were built by Shapell Industries, which has been constructing homes in San Ramon since 1976. The first neighborhood was called Rancho Ramon, and the model homes were built on Oakham Court, just off  Montevideo Drive.

When the model homes were built, they sat alone on a small cul-de-sac in an empty field. I recall driving on Interstate 680 in 1976 and seeing these five isolated homes with a very tall flag pole flying an American flag in their midst. No homes were north of Montevideo Drive at the time.

Since then, Shapell has built several diverse neighborhoods, including Rancho Ramon, Inverness Park, Newcastle and now Gale Ranch in Dougherty Valley. Shapell has built more homes in San Ramon than any other builder.

The most expensive home sold in the Gale Ranch area was in 2007 and closed for $2,521,000. It had more than 6,800 square feet of living area with five bedrooms and five bathrooms. The home was a former model and had sweeping views of the Bridges Golf Course. It included a wine tasting room, a master suite with a large retreat/exercise room, four closets and a balcony.

Another nice feature was an interior courtyard with a fountain and fireplace. There also were separate living quarters with a kitchen that could be used by in-laws or an older child.

Market Update

This column closely tracks the trends of the San Ramon real-estate market. Here are some key data points for the beginning of February:

The home inventory has grown from 186 units to 220 since Jan. 1, a normal occurrence at the start of the year. This is not a concern unless it grows past the 250 mark.

Sales have been moving at a “normal” pace over the last 10 days. The average marketing time for a home is now about 60 days. This is normal and a desirable timeframe for homes to be on the market.

Distressed properties (foreclosures and short sales) are 51 percent of the inventory, but 63 percent of the sales. Both of these numbers are too high and reflect the true weakness of the market. Until we get these percentages below 20 percent, we will struggle to regain property appreciation.