Hollycrest Dr, Los Gatos

Hollycrest Drive is part of the Live Oak Manner neighborhood which is a relatively unknown pocket of Los Gatos. It is in the Los Gatos school district, is quiet and clean (with neighbors that keep up their homes nicely), unpretentious, safe, close to good shopping areas (three minute walk to Trader Joe's!) and packed with lots of good families who like each other and have kids constantly playing up and down the street.

I am from the East Coast originally and wanted that tighter neighborhood feel I grew up with for my family and we found it here. We hunted high and low in the south bay looking for a place that was quiet, safe, and with good schools. The one thing we could not have planned for is how sweet and fun the neighbors themselves are, which we found out the weekend we moved in when we spontaneously ended up BBQing with the folks next door. It's the sort of cohesion you can't scout out in a real estate hunt and if you drift a couple of blocks away they don't seem to have the same glue that Hollycrest has.

The one thing to know is this is not your uppity Los Gatos street. Most of the houses are modest ~1600 sq ft ranches built in the late 50's. Most have been upgraded so much that they don't at all resemble the track homes they once were, so there is personality to the homes, but the vast majority remain single story dwellings for now. The great thing is that as a buyer, the lots are large enough to qualify under Los Gatos' strict building codes to add a second story which gives you quite a bit of upside to your investment if you decide to go that route.

To sum it up, I feel like I found the perfect place for us to raise our family and I smile to myself virtually every day as I pull into my driveway. It's a great feeling to be in a wonderful place surrounded by great people and I would not be surprised to find myself still here in 20 years.