Adjacent to Belwood of Los Gatos is a small subdivision with 14 homes along Jamie Court and Bacigalupi Drive. Ten homes are in Tract 5921, and 4 are Lots A – D.
Not every subdivision has a name, and that is true for this pocket of Los Gatos. It would have been great if the builder had labelled it Belwood Foothills or some clever name, but no such luck.
This is a tidy little neighborhood (even if some lawns are a bit brown from drought restrictions) and from here it’s super convenient to get to Noddin Elementary School, Walgreen’s Shopping Center, or the Belwood Cabaña and pool.
The houses were all constructed between 1977 and 1979, so generally about 10 years younger than the Belwood of Los Gatos houses.
Where are tract 5921 and Lots A – D?
Here’s a map that I created to show Belwood of Los Gatos along with the “Class D” membership areas. The small pocket on the right is the subject of today’s post: homes along Jamie Court and part of Bacigalupi Drive.
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This area is not part of Belwood of Los Gatos proper, but is an adjacent community which has optional membership with the Cabana, also known as a Class D membership area. The larger and older Surmont and Belgatos areas are likewise Class D areas.
Within the area of these 14 homes we can see the difference between the tract area and the lettered areas in the plat map, below. The lot at the far end of Jamie Court is Lot 1 in Tract 5921.
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Something else that sets apart lots A – D is the street numbers. Tract 5921 has homes with numbers spaced 4 apart (e.g., 101, 105, 109). But lots A, B, C, and D have numbers just 2 apart. I don’t know why that’s the case.
Age and features of the homes in 5921 and Lots A – D
All together, there are 7 homes each on Jamie Court and Bacigalupi Drive. Most of them have at least a touch of Spanish styling, and all of them originally had Monier concrete tile roofs. Being relatively young by Los Gatos standards, the rooms tend to be a good size (if not generously sized) and there are plenty of closets.
- Every house has has 4 bedrooms
- At least 2 houses also have a small office
- Bathrooms:
- 2 houses have 2 full baths
- 10 houses have 2.5 baths
- 2 houses have 3 full baths
- Square footage average is 2377 sf, and the range is 2248 SF – 2542 SF
- Lot sizes average 8549 SF, with the smallest lot being 8080 SF and the largest being 9657 SF
- Each home provides an attached 2 car garage
- Stories: 5 are 2 story and 9 are single story homes
- Many of these houses have a step down living room, family room, or primary bedroom
- Original construction was with single pane windows, and today most homeowners have changed to at least some double pane windows.
- 2 of the homes enjoy built in pools
- These homes have sidewalks, but no sidewalk strip – the sidewalk is directly between the street and the front yard
- 5 of the houses on Jamie Court also have a strip of land on the opposite side of the street that’s included (see the plat map above)
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Are there any concerns for Jamie Court and this stretch of Bacigalupi Drive?
- water issues (all of Belwood & nearby)
- Harwood Road traffic and cyclists
- possibly electric panel and roof concerns
- Jamie Court is close to the Walgreen’s Shopping Center
All of the Belwood of Los Gatos, Belgatos, and Surmont areas are at risk for water collecting in the crawlspace and ensuing foundation and other issues. This is true here, too.
Harwood Road can be busy. Some of it’s happy busy, like kids and parents walking to Noddin Elementary School (just the other side of Blossom Hill Road). Sometimes it’s cars in a hurry. Sometimes it’s a pack of mountain bikers taking on upper Harwood Road. That’s not usually an issue, but if you’re close to Harwood you may not enjoy hearing them talking loudly in the wee hours of a summer morning when your window is open.
Something to be aware of in homes of this vintage generally is that many of them were built with Federal Pacific Electric panels and subpanels. Years ago there wasn’t much concern about them, but in the last couple of decades home inspectors have expressed concern about possible fire risk from these panels becoming overheated. These homes appear to have been built with FPE panels (at least some of the owners have replaced them)
One other concern involves the roofs. When these houses were built, it was legal to put the tile roof on over open beams and without underlayment. That ended up not being too wise, and the code changed within a few years to no longer permit that type of construction. These houses are now getting close to 50 years old, which is when most concrete tile roofs will need replacing. When it’s done, underlayment or sheathing will be required. The bonus is that the house will then be more watertight and more energy efficient. Replacing with a new concrete tile roof will be costly, though, particularly for the single story houses.
Related reading from this and our other sites:
What is a plat map, and what can you learn from it? (from our main blog, SanJoseRealEstateLosGatosHomes.com, aka The Valley of Heart’s Delight blog)
Belwood Cabaña (this site)
Belwood, Belgatos, and Surmont neighborhood (in the Live in Los Gatos blog)
