$719,000

Walk out your door, and you're one block from Big Basin Way. All of it in the Saratoga Number #1-rated Union School District Saratoga Elementary, Redwood Middle, and Saratoga High. A first home, a right-size, or a foothold in a town that rarely offers one. Wildwood Park is on the same block. This is the part of Saratoga people picture when they imagine living here the boutiques and sidewalk cafs of the Historic Village, La Fondue and Plumed Horse for dinner, the farmers market on Saturday and it's all on foot rather than in the car. The home is a ground-floor residence in the Gatehouse, a gated community set under mature redwoods. Inside, a light-filled living room with updated flooring, a gas fireplace, and oversized windows that look out into greenery. The kitchen is finished in Italian quartz. The bath is a genuine retreat: a cast-iron soaking tub, rich marble flooring, and a marble shower running floor to ceiling. Its best feature may be the private courtyard a sun-dappled outdoor room that works as a second living space from spring through October, and a rare thing at this level of the Saratoga market. The community adds a pool and spa among the redwoods, a sauna and fitness room, a clubhouse, and generous guest parking. Beyond the Village, everything Saratoga is known for is minutes away: Hakone Estate and Gardens with its bamboo groves and koi ponds, Villa Montalvo's themed gardens and trails, Sanborn County Park's redwood and oak canyons, the Blossom Festival and the Mountain Winery concerts. Highways 85 and 17 put Mountain View, Sunnyvale, and San Jose within an easy commute.