- A Palo Alto house listed for sale Friday had a line about where its owners' kids went to college.
- Commenters said the brag was a sign of how much the area values academic and professional success.
- The sentence about colleges was quickly removed. The $4.9 million home is already listed as pending.
When the sellers of a $4.9 million house in Palo Alto listed it on March 7, they chose a distinct sales pitch.
Play up where their kids went to college.
"A legendary home where success is part of its history. Since its 2017 rebuild, every owner's children have gone to Harvard or Stanford, paving the way for even greater achievements. Now, it is ready to pass on its extraordinary energy to the next family," the listing said, according to screenshots posted on X.
Some people turned to social media to make fun of the tactic. Reddit users called the marketing ploy "peak Palo Alto," befitting a wealthy enclave so focused on academic prestige and tech-world success that former NFL quarterback Steve Young said he would often go unnoticed by his neighbors.
It might've worked. The next day, the home was listed as pending on Zillow and the other major real-estate listing sites, which usually means that the seller has accepted an offer from a prospective buyer but that the deal hasn't yet closed.
The sentences about Harvard, Stanford, and the home's "extraordinary energy," however, had been deleted from the listing.
A listing photo showing what appear to be framed Harvard and Stanford acceptance letters proudly displayed above a fireplace was also removed but captured in screenshots.
Now the listing highlights more mundane selling points, including buried utilities and a primary suite with its own wet bar.
According to the current listing, the 2,722-square-foot, five-bedroom house also has a dedicated piano room and an 11-foot kitchen island.
It sits on a tree-lined cul-de-sac in Palo Alto that's an eight-minute drive to the Googleplex, a 12-minute drive to Stanford's main campus, and a 20-minute drive to Meta's headquarters.
The home last sold for $4.18 million in 2018, according to its listing history on Realtor.com.
Wen Guo Real Estate Group, the sellers' real-estate brokerage, did not return calls and emails requesting comment on Tuesday.
