For the past year or so I’ve seen a set of condos being erected near my office in San Mateo. For a while my coworkers and I marveled at the ugly paint color they chose for the exterior. The property is the Stonegate community developed by Syme Properties. The plan is for 40 luxury condominiums and five single family homes. The model homes are finally showing so I went in for a quick look.

From the Outside:

The exteriors give you no indication of luxury since there is still a lot of concrete and dust around the property. The front entrance is on 20 Madison about half a block from El Camino Real, and it’s a very small street next to a six floor office building. So the view you will get from the top floor is the parking lot of the office building or El Camino. Or if you choose just to look inside the property, there is a little garden in the middle.

Onto the Sales Office:

When you walk in, you will be greeted with very nice brochures with an artist’s rendition of the property. I must say the picture looks much nicer than the real thing. The place is very dark, and the sales office is right on the left. When I walked into the sales office, a middle aged Asian sales person seemed to be yelling at a prospective customer. Then the salesperson turned to me and said, “ARE YOU WITH HIM?” That sort of scared me for a bit and I said, “no”. Then the other customer said to the salesman, “did you have a bit too much caffeine this morning?” The salesman replied, “you don’t have your agent with you!” The other man sounded a little perturbed and said, “I am here, and it says open house, and I want to see the homes. That’s all.” I was a bit freaked out right there and wanted to walk out, but I just took the pricelists from the table and went onto the model homes on the right.

The Prices

The prices are what I call barfalicious (extremely high). Here’s a rundown of the currently available units:

1 bedroom 1 bath condo:
Plan D – 770 square feet – $535,000 & $552,000 -$706/sqft on average

2 bedrooms 2 baths condo:
Plan C1 – 1107 square feet – $773,000 – $698/sqft
Plan E1 – 992 square feet – $699,000 – $705/sqft
Plan F – 1176 square feet – $775,000 – $659/sqft
Plan H1 – 1251 square feet – $855,000 – $683/sqft
Plan I1 – 1175 square feet – $788,000 – $670/sqft
Plan M2 – 1152 square feet – $889,000 – $771/sqft

Single Family Homes on Hobart:
21 Hobart – 3 bedrooms plus den, 3 baths – 2583 square feet – $1,498,000 – $580/sqft
23 Hobart – 3 bedrooms plus den, 2.5 baths – 2,265 square feet – $1,426,000 – $630/sqft
25 Hobart – 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths – 1,991 square feet – $1,298,000 – $652/sqft
27 Hobart – 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths – 1,991 square feet – $1,298,000 – $652/sqft
29 Hobart – 4 bedrooms, 3 baths – 2,639 square feet – $1,478,000 – $560/sqft

Inside the Model Home:

I went into unit 111, which is a 2 bedroom 2 bath unit that’s supposedly already sold. I thought the floor plan was a bit odd since the master bath was almost bigger than the second bedroom. The kitchen was a bit small and the floor was covered with a dark wood which I don’t like. The master bathroom was my favorite room, because it was huge, and covered with marble. Other than that, the entire place felt very small. There are two other models, but one is a one bedroom unit, which felt even smaller. I didn’t go to the single family homes because I wasn’t sure if they were done. There was no helpful salespeople since I kind of got scared away.

Final Review Summary

Price — very high and scary, probably unwarranted even for new luxury condos. Though the price list did say that Syme Properties may change the price without notice and liability. So the prices on the condos might go down if not enough people order them. The prices on the single family homes are comparably not so horrible for this area. For example, take a look at that sold for more than 1.2 million dollars. Anyway, none of the homes are affordable for the average San Matean, but I guess they’re going for a richer demographic.
Salespeople — As I mentioned, the man in the sales office was a bit scary and rude. After I read the documents about their loan policies, I figured out what they were arguing about. Apparently Syme Properties only accept pre-approved buyers who can put 20% down and are non-contingent. I guess they’re trying to protect themselves in this market.
Location — It’s very close to Aragon High and Central Park and about a mile from San Mateo downtown. So overall not a bad area, though the properties themselves are a bit too close to El Camino Real.
Overall Rating — Not the worst I have seen, and definitely not the best. The price is way too high for the condos and amenities and the entire place feels very dark and cramped. So I give it a C-.

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