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Karen Izzo, Nancy Cole, and Diana Crawford shared with members their experiences selling property in the Los Gatos Mountains at a September Los Gatos/Saratoga District tour meeting.

It takes certain types of buyers and agents to take an interest in mountain property. Nancy Cole (Coldwell Banker), Karen Izzo (Sereno Group) and Diana Crawford (Intero Real Estate) are agents who specialize in Los Gatos Mountains property. They wouldn’t have it any other way, they told SILVAR members at a September Los Gatos/Saratoga District tour meeting this month.

The agents discussed the benefits of living in the Los Gatos Mountains, as well as the intricacies of purchasing property there. As mountain residents themselves, Cole, Izzo and Crawford were quick to list the many benefits of mountain living – fresh clean air, open spaces, larger properties, with proximity to the city and excellent schools.

A longtime Los Gatos Mountains resident, Cole said she continues to be intrigued by the incredible beauty of her surroundings, but she and the other agents noted it takes a certain type of person to gravitate to the surroundings and lifestyle. Cole described the typical mountain property buyer as being more independent, more self-reliant, more entrepreneurial, highly educated and high functioning.

Mountain property buyers want a different lifestyle from that offered in the city. They want to escape the high density of the city and like the solitude, mellower lifestyle in the mountains, said Izzo.

Crawford described mountain residents as more environmentally sensitive than most. They appreciate the supportive, positive subculture that mountain living offers, she said.

There is a demand for mountain property, and these days the market is offering better values and good buys, said Cole. Buyers come from the valley, the San Francisco Bay area; some are transfers from the East Coast, which has many similar properties.

Mountain living does not come without its unique issues. The agents noted real estate transactions involving mountain property are more complicated than typical residential transactions for homes in the city or suburbs. Buyers have to contend with more complicated title reports, plat maps and easements. Then there is the issue of water – private wells, springs, septic tanks, and of course, road maintenance agreements and/or private roads, and homeowner associations (HOAs) in some communities.

It’s worth it, said Crawford, a Los Gatos Mountains resident for more than 25 years. She said she has the best of both worlds and likened it to “going on a retreat every day.”