by Clair Handy, Mary Pope-Handy | Oct 5, 2026 | Los Gatos Neighborhoods, East Los Gatos
The Magneson Loop area is charming neighborhood with tree lined streets and luxury homes ranging from attractive historic designs to more contemporary styles. This is a close in neighborhood with great proximity to public schools, which are in the highly regarded Los Gatos Union School District, as well as many coffee shops, stores, and eateries. It’s one of the most accessible areas in town and enjoys a Walk Score of 78 out of 100 (WalkScore.com). And the area has some fascinating history as well!
Where is Magneson Loop?
The Magneson Loop neighborhood is a smaller community of homes in the 95032 zip code centered around its namesake street.
Magneson Loop is an L shaped road that begins and Los Gatos Boulevard near King’s Court Shopping Center and ends at Shannon Road. The original subdivision included homes the length of Magneson Loop, along the east side of Los Gatos Blvd (and later office buildings on that stretch), and the north side of Shannon, ending at the Presbyterian Church of Los Gatos. Magneson Terrace is a cul de sac that branches off from the turn in Magneson Loop and is also included in this neighborhood.
The older part of the street is a little narrow so in the image above you’ll note that a few cars are parked stradling the soft curb. Around the corner, as the road turns toward Shannon Road, it’s wider and this doesn’t happen, nor is this typical on Magneson Terrace, a younger tract. The Shannon intersection is one-way, though – vehicles are not permitted to turn into the Loop from Shannon, it’s exit-only. This protects the neighborhood from cut through traffic.
This area includes 2 primary subdivisions: Coombs (sometimes misspelled Coombes or Cooms) which is the light lavendar color in the map, and El Gato Rancho (Tract 1691 in the Magneson Terrace area). While both highly sought-after, these tracts are quite different from each other, which we’ll get into in the next part.
What are Homes Like in the Magneson Loop area?
There are 2 major developments on Magneson with distinctly different characteristics. If you walk the length of it, you’ll see everything from fairy tale cottages to Eichler-esque MCM to contemporary styles. But the type of home and lot can differ significantly depending on if it’s in the older Coombs subdivision or the younger El Gato Rancho tract.
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by Mary Pope-Handy, Clair Handy | Oct 3, 2026 | Events, Kids
Graphics: © Marina Zlochin via canva.com
Celebrate the season in style with the Los Gatos Halloween Pet and Kids Parade! The Paw-Looza is sure to be tons of fun for all!
Details on the Los Gatos Halloween Pet and Kids Parade
The event takes place on Sunday, October 25th, 2026
Town Plaza Park | 9 AM – 12 PM Events and activities, including face painting and a costume parade
Downtown Trick or Treating | 12 PM – 12 PM Trick-or-treat at participating downtown businesses, marked by festive balloon bundles.
Please check on the Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce’s webpage for all of the details for the day!
Come in costume and bring the whole family. Many downtown merchants will be participating in handing out treats to the costumed visitors participating. There will be prizes for the best costume!
There is NO FEE to attend, but donations are welcome and will support a very worthy cause, The Street Dog Coalition.
The Street Dog Coalition
The Street Dog Coalition is an amazing and wonderful volunteer organization and we are proud to support them. Per their website:
“The Street Dog Coalition provides free veterinary care and related services to pets of people experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness. Using a One Health approach to street medicine and pop-up street clinics, we care for lives on both ends of the leash.”
Please learn more about them at their website: The Street Dog Coalition
Many thanks to the Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce and many sponsors for making this a wonderful Los Gatos tradition!
Howling Halloween – a precursor
Years ago, we had a fun dog costume parade in Los Gatos each October called the Howling Halloween Pet Parade. The proceeds used to go to the Los Gatos Monte Sereno Police Department’s K9 unit – a wonderful cause. That event was hosted by Society Dog, a pet supply company that closed several years ago.
by Mary Pope-Handy, Clair Handy | Sep 29, 2026 | About Monte Sereno, Monte Sereno neighborhoods, Monte Sereno Real Estate
An Introduction to the city of Monte Sereno, California
The city of Monte Sereno is cozied into the base of the Santa Cruz Mountains on the west side of Santa Clara County (about an hour south of San Francisco and a few minutes from San Jose), adjacent to the town of Los Gatos. It is a scenic, small city which is semi-rural with neither sidewalks nor street lights. It has, in fact, the tiniest population of the 15 cities within the County, having just about 4000 residents in about 1.6 square miles.
There are no businesses in town, just residences, the city office, a church or two, and Daves Avenue School. It is one of the most highly regarded and upscale communities in Silicon Valley.
Monte Sereno enjoys many rolling hills and green views of the coastal range, particularly El Sereno, the peak of which rises over the the city and has an elevation of 2249 feet. There is an open space preserve there now, with 1415 acres and 7.4 miles of trails. Please see the El Sereno Open Space Preserve website for information on parking, trail maps, equestrian trails, and more.
As you might imagine, the city is named for this mountain: monte – mountain, sereno – serene, calm or pleasant. And it is a pretty calm place to be.
It shares schools, police, parks and the library with the town of Los Gatos, so they have much in common.
Please also see The Monte Sereno Real Estate Market (updated monthly).
City of Monte Sereno Zip Codes
Almost 100% of this small city falls into the 95030 zip code, with a very tiny sliver belonging to the 95032 zip code. Both of these zip codes are also utilized by neighboring Los Gatos.
Public Schools
Of the approximately 1250 households in the city, all but about 60 of them fall within the boundaries of the highly regarded Los Gatos School District. The other small minority is in Campbell Schools.
by Clair Handy, Mary Pope-Handy | Sep 25, 2026 | Homes & Housing Market, Los Gatos Real Estate, Monte Sereno Real Estate
The City of Monte Sereno is a popular community bordering Los Gatos, Saratoga, and the Santa Cruz mountains. It’s also quite small, with just about 3,500 residents, so tracking the real estate market trends for the area can be tricky.
Info at a glance (details further below):
- With so few sales and listings, Monte Sereno real estate data can swing quite wildly, so take it with a grain of salt.
- This city appears to be in a seller’s market with low inventory – just 4 available homes at the end of August.
- There were 3 closed and 1 pending sales by the end of last month.
- The average sale to list price ratio for August (based on those 3 sales) was 101.8% of asking, rising well above the previous month’s 95.5%, but below June’s sky-scraping 111.9%, and down significantly from this time last year at 103.9%.
- The lack of sales makes it difficult to track trends using averages and medians. It’s still useful data, especially if we piece it apart a bit. The MLS showed 4 closed sales in August, and from those:
- Homes sold between $2,600,000 – $5,998,880. That low sale is one of the lowest we’ve seen in a long while, and it was sold off-market.
- The 2 lower sales sold off-market (0 DOM) and the other 2 took 11 and 86 days on market to sell.
- Of the 2 that sold on the open market, one sold at asking price and the other sold over asking at 105.5% of list. The higher sale had originally been listed at $7M back in April and had multiple price reductions before selling.
- As of today, September 25, 2026, the MLS shows that there are 7 available Monte Sereno homes for sale (2 are Member’s Only: Show), 0 contingent sales, 2 pending sales, and 2 closed sales so far this month. Activity has been high in recent months for this small city, though lately it seems to be coming in waves!
The number of houses sold in any given month will always be extremely small making the data tend to jump around. Checking the Los Gatos market will also help, but the best pulse on the market will come from identifying particular sales in particular neighborhoods to track relevant micro markets.
Houses make up most of Monte Sereno – there are no commercial buildings, just city hall, some churches or religious grounds, and an elementary school. There are also extremely few residential properties that are not detached single family homes. We don’t track the condo or townhomes in this area as we do in other communities because there just wouldn’t be enough (and more often not any) data for it!
First up for the market analysis is the Altos Research weekly profile for Monte Sereno (uses list prices, not sales). This is updated automatically, so feel free to check this article weekly to see what’s happening now with listed homes.
Trends at a Glance from the RE Report:
The number of home sales is very small in Monte Sereno. Even when there are sales, one or two outstanding properties could cause major waves in the data, so take this summary with a grain of salt.
August: 3 Sales
| Trends At a Glance |
Aug 2026 |
Previous Month |
Year-over-Year |
| Median Price |
$4,000,000 (-2.4%) |
$4,100,000 |
$4,668,000 (-14.3%) |
| Average Price |
$4,566,290 (+13.6%) |
$4,018,670 |
$4,839,330 (-5.6%) |
| No. of Sales |
3 (-50.0%) |
6 |
3 (0.0%) |
| Pending |
1 (0.0%) |
1 |
2 (-50.0%) |
| Active |
4 (+100.0%) |
2 |
6 (-33.3%) |
| Sale vs. List Price |
101.8% (+6.7%) |
95.5% |
103.9% (-1.9%) |
| Days on Market |
4 (-90.7%) |
43 |
10 (-60.0%) |
| Days of Inventory |
40 (+300.0%) |
10 |
60 (-33.3%) |
While the lack of sales and listings can make the data in these charts swing wildly, the overall trend in recent months has shown an active market in this high-end community, though it seemed to be having some up and down in recent months following an earlier spring peak. For the right homes, however, it’s still blazing hot! With so few sales it’s crucial to track the neighboring Los Gatos market as well, to gain additional insight.
What does it cost to live in Monte Sereno? With an average sale price of roughly $4 – $5 million, you may wonder if anything sells that’s not in the stratosphere – can you buy an entry-level Silicon Valley home in Monte Sereno? The short answer is this: it’s extremely unlikely you will find anything for under $3 million in Monte Sereno. Even a “fixer” often goes well above that. It can happen, although it’s rare, and the home will certainly be priced that way for a reason.
We also keep track of this market over at the Valley of Heart’s Delight blog, in addition to many other communities around Silicon Valley.
Other pricing consideration: what about schools?
Something else to be aware of is that most Monte Sereno houses are in the Los Gatos Union School District, but a small pocket of properties lies within the Campbell School District. Those with Campbell schools usually sell for a little less. Additionally, most of this city is within the 95030 zip code, but again, there’s a small pocket which is in the 95032 area.
Next, what kind of home is available to purchase in Monte Sereno now?
- List View
- Map View
- Grid View
-
$2,498,000
-
Lot Size
25,082.00 ac
-
Home Size
-
Beds
-
Baths
-
Year Built
0
-
-
$2,548,000
-
Lot Size
2,476.00 ac
-
Home Size
1,715 sqft
-
Beds
3 Beds
-
Baths
2.5 Baths
-
Year Built
2021
-
-
Sold
$2,600,000
-
Lot Size
9,194.00 ac
-
Home Size
2,206 sqft
-
Beds
4 Beds
-
Baths
2 Baths
-
Year Built
1969
-
-
Sold
$2,812,000
-
Lot Size
2,582.00 ac
-
Home Size
2,111 sqft
-
Beds
4 Beds
-
Baths
4 Baths
-
Year Built
2021
-
-
$2,898,000
-
Lot Size
11,270.00 ac
-
Home Size
2,608 sqft
-
Beds
3 Beds
-
Baths
3 Baths
-
Year Built
1967
-
See all Monte Sereno, CA Homes for Sale & Recently Sold.
(all data current as of
10/6/2026)
Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.
by Mary Pope-Handy, Clair Handy | Sep 17, 2026 | Homes & Housing Market, Los Gatos Real Estate
The Los Gatos real estate market in August was strong for single family homes, cool for condos and townhouses, and a cold market in the mountains. This is a repeat from July, more or less.
1 – Los Gatos real estate market statistics for the “in town” areas: multi year data
Here is some Los Gatos real estate market data that I pulled directly from the MLS. This is for the in town areas of 95032 and 95030.
Inventory of available homes for sale in Los Gatos 95030 and Los Gatos 95032
Click on any of the images below and a larger version will pop up in a new tab and be easier to read.
Inventory in August was way up from July, but a little lower than August 2025. It was in the range of normal.
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