A 1980s home on seven acres near Murphys
Updated after I walked the property. The new roof, the view and the neighborhood put this home at the top of what this year's acreage sales support, not the middle.
The upside: $775,000–$800,000, in reach if the right view buyer finds us early, or if the house measures closer to the 2,400 sq ft an older listing showed. Now that I've seen it in person, this home earns a premium. My recommendation is $749,000, and the math is below.
What we're working with.
Public record first, then what I saw when I walked it.
- Bedrooms / baths
- 3 / 2
- Living area
- 2,048 sq ft (county) · 2,400 in an older listing
- Land
- About 7 acres
- Built
- 1985
- Zoning
- Rural residential
- Garage
- Large detached, about 800 sq ft
- Roof
- New
- Setting
- Custom-home neighborhood off a quiet court
What I saw at the walk-through
- A new roof. The single most expensive question an acreage buyer's inspector asks is already answered, and the lender's appraiser sees a house that's been cared for.
- The view is the real thing. Not a peek from one window. It's the reason a Bay Area buyer drives up Highway 4, and it will lead the photos.
- A neighborhood buyers ask for by name. In this price band most buyers get either acreage or a good neighborhood. This home has both.
- Outside, only light paint. A few days of work before photos, not a reason for a buyer to negotiate.
- The detached garage. The feature acreage buyers ask about most: the shop, the RV, the boat. It gets its own photos.
Still to confirm before we launch
- The online records are wrong. Redfin lists the home as vacant land and Zillow shows no bedrooms, baths or square footage. Every buyer's first look starts there, so I fix it first.
- The real square footage. 2,048 or 2,400? At local rates that difference is worth close to $100,000, so we measure before the listing goes live.
- Roof permit and warranty, to hand to buyers.
- Well output and depth; septic type, age and last service.
- The garage: size, power, insulation, permits.
- Showings: who's living there, and furnished, staged or empty.
Murphys acreage right now.
There are really two markets in Murphys. Across the whole zip code, homes sell in about a month at 97% of asking, carried by in-town homes and Forest Meadows. Acreage moves slower.
What the online numbers say about this home
If you've looked the property up, you've seen numbers that don't agree with each other. Here's what each one is built on.
| Source | Number | What it's built on |
|---|---|---|
| Zillow Zestimate | $738,900 | An algorithm working from a record that shows no bedrooms, bathrooms or square footage. It lands near my range, but by luck rather than evidence. |
| Redfin Estimate | None | Redfin won't estimate it at all. Its record calls the property vacant land. |
| County assessed value | ~$775,000 | The Prop 13 tax value: the purchase price plus improvements, rolled forward. It sets the tax bill, not the sale price. |
| Closed sales like this one | $600–687K | Five homes on 2.75–11.8 acres, 1,788–2,651 sq ft, built 1981–1992. None had a new roof and a view like this. |
What this means. The buyer's agent and the buyer's appraiser will both work from closed sales. So the case for the price has to be made on the features those five homes didn't have, and the listing photos and description make the same case.
Comparable sales.
Every home on two or more acres within about five miles that closed in the last twelve months, 1,600 sq ft and up, no teardowns. Each line says what that home had that this one doesn't, or the other way round.
| Home | Sold | Bd/Ba | Sq ft | Land | Built | Price | $/sf |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This homeAbout 7 acres, view, new roof, large detached garage | — | 3/2 | 2,048 | ~7 ac | 1985 | $700–750K | $342–366 |
| Comp A · upper tier2.0 mi · Brand-new 2025 build on 40 acres. Listed $1,300,000, one reduction to $1.2M | Jul 2026 | 4/3.5 | 3,235 | 40 ac | 2025 | $1,200,000 | $371 |
| Comp B · upper tier4.6 mi · Ten flat ag acres minutes from Main Street: barn, horse setup, pastures, creek, ag water, shop. Listed $1,249,999, sold in 39 days | May 2026 | 3/2 | 1,860 | 10.05 ac | 1989 | $1,000,000 | $538 |
| Comp C · upper tier0.3 mi · A neighbor. Nearly twice the square footage, 17 years newer. Sold at list after 197 days | May 2026 | 4/4 | 3,863 | 3.15 ac | 2002 | $999,000 | $259 |
| Comp D · upper tier3.7 mi · Built 2006, 700 sq ft larger, 18.8 acres. Listed $999,000, sold as-is in 63 days | Apr 2026 | 3/3 | 2,768 | 18.76 ac | 2006 | $919,000 | $332 |
| Comp E · upper tier4.6 mi · Vineyard estates next to town. Listed $929,000, sold in 23 days | Jun 2026 | 3/2.5 | 2,200 | 2.44 ac | 1995 | $875,000 | $398 |
| Comp F · most like this one3.7 mi · Smaller 2-bed home on 5.6 acres, closer to town. Sold at list in 3 days | Jun 2026 | 2/2 | 1,788 | 5.61 ac | 1984 | $687,000 | $384 |
| Comp G · most like this one0.6 mi · Same neighborhood. More land, 3-car shop garage. Listed $699,000, sold in 61 days | Jun 2026 | 3/2 | 2,312 | 11.77 ac | 1992 | $660,000 | $285 |
| Comp H · most like this one2.8 mi · 5 acres, detached garage, RV storage, workshop. Sold over asking in 3 days | Jul 2026 | 3/3 | 2,362 | 5.02 ac | 1983 | $635,000 | $269 |
| Comp I · most like this one0.7 mi · Same neighborhood. 600 sq ft larger on well under half the land. Sold at list in 1 day | Aug 2026 | 3/3.5 | 2,651 | 2.75 ac | 1986 | $600,000 | $226 |
| Comp J · most like this one3.7 mi · Listed $795,000 twice in 2025 and never sold. Relisted $629,000 | Mar 2026 | 3/2 | 1,808 | 5.14 ac | 1981 | $600,000 | $332 |
| Comp K · most like this one4.9 mi · Bank-owned after a failed short sale. Highway frontage | Dec 2025 | 4/3 | 2,928 | 2.20 ac | 1982 | $555,000 | $190 |
| Comp L · most like this one1.1 mi · Smaller, older home. Sold over asking in 2 days | Nov 2025 | 3/2 | 1,660 | 3.12 ac | 1979 | $469,000 | $283 |
| Comp M · condition sale3.8 mi · Listed $489,000, sold in 8 days. Shown for completeness, not weighted | May 2026 | 4/3.5 | 2,599 | 2.54 ac | 1983 | $355,000 | $137 |
Street addresses are removed from this sample; the valuation a seller receives names every sale so it can be checked. Sale data from MetroList, of which Legacy Properties is a member.
Most like this home: $600,000–$687,000
- Five sales share its profile: a 1980s or early-'90s home of 1,800 to 2,650 sq ft on 2.75 to 12 acres, at a middle of about $285 per sq ft. None came with a new roof, and none had a view to match. That's the gap this price lives in.
The upper tier: $875,000–$1,200,000
- Each had something this home doesn't: new construction, 700 to 1,800 more square feet, or a location minutes from Main Street. They show what this area pays for a home that has it all, and this home sits between the two groups.
What buyers can choose instead.
On the market as of September 30, 2026: two or more acres, within about five miles.
| Home | Asking | Bd/Ba | Sq ft | Land | Built | Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Twenty acres, older home | $574,900 | 3/3 | 2,290 | 20.37 ac | 1960 | 154 |
| Five acres, same era | $599,000 | 3/3 | 2,238 | 5.01 ac | 1983 | 159 |
| Nearby. Newer and larger, less land | $639,000 | 4/2.5 | 2,333 | 3.87 ac | 2004 | 107 |
| Older home on far less land | $724,000 | 2/2.5 | 2,376 | 2.62 ac | 1962 | 175 |
| Twenty acres, larger home | $799,999 | 3/2.5 | 2,796 | 20.30 ac | 1983 | 91 |
| Closer to town, larger home | $899,000 | 3/3 | 2,841 | 2.10 ac | 1978 | 75 |
| Nearly twice the size | $999,900 | 3/3 | 3,985 | 2.95 ac | 1993 | 84 |
| Newer build, seven acres | $1,225,000 | 4/4.5 | 3,460 | 6.96 ac | 2011 | 213 |
Three histories worth learning from
- Comp J: an ask the house couldn't back up. 1,808 sq ft on five acres, listed at $795,000 twice in 2025 and never sold. It closed at $600,000 in March. This home has what that one didn't: more house, a view and a new roof.
- Comp B: what features are worth. An 1,860 sq ft home sold for $1,000,000 because of what came with it: ten flat acres, a barn, a creek and a shop. Buyers here pay for features, which is why this home's are priced in.
- Comps F and H: what a sharp price does. Five acres each, same era. Both priced at their market and sold in 3 days, one over asking.
Where I'd price it.
Three list prices, what likely happens at each, and where it probably closes. The list price is the seller's decision, and I mean that.
Test the upside
Tests the top for 21 days. Works if a view buyer from the Bay Area finds us in the first weeks. If showings are thin by week three, we move to $749,000 on a date we agree on now. Probably closes $760–789K if it lands; otherwise a reduction.
My recommendation
The top of the range, and just under the $750,000 search line where acreage buyers set their filters. Prices the roof, the view and the neighborhood in, and still invites the showing. Probably closes $725–749K in 30–60 days.
Stand out
Priced to stand out against everything between $639,000 and $799,999. The version most likely to bring more than one offer. Probably closes $710–735K in 2–4 weeks.
The arithmetic
The five sales most like this home sold at a middle of about $285 per sq ft. None had everything this home has, so I credit each feature on top of that.
| Starting point: 2,048 sq ft at $285 | $585,000 |
| About 7 acres in an established neighborhood of custom homes | + $40,000 – $55,000 |
| The view | + $35,000 – $50,000 |
| New roof, and an exterior that needs only light paint | + $20,000 – $30,000 |
| Large detached garage | + $20,000 – $30,000 |
| Indicated range | $700,000 – $750,000 |
One more thing could move it up: an older listing measured the house at 2,400 sq ft. If that holds when we measure, the same math starts near $685,000 and the $775,000–$800,000 upside comes into play.
What supports $749,000
- A new roof: the biggest inspection question is already answered
- A view that leads the photos and sells the drive up
- A neighborhood buyers ask for by name, on about seven acres
- A shop-ready garage, the feature acreage buyers want most
- Nothing between $639,000 and $799,999 offers all four
What we protect against
- The appraisal: the buyer's appraiser starts from the same sales, so I give them the roof, the view and the garage in writing
- Paint touch-up done before photos, so nothing reads as deferred
- The public record fixed first, so buyers see 3 bed and 2 bath, not vacant land
What happens from here.
- You pick the list price from the three options. If we test the top, we set the review date that same day.
- We measure the house and pull the roof permit and warranty, so the listing shows the right square footage and buyers see the new roof on paper.
- Exterior paint touch-up before photos. Small job, big first impression.
- I correct the public record before we launch, so the listing replaces "vacant land" everywhere buyers search.
- Pre-listing reports: well output, septic inspection and pumping record, and pest. On acreage these answer a buyer's first questions before an offer, not during escrow.
- Photography with drone. The view and the land lead, then the garage. The first image has to show why this property costs what it does.
Want one for your home?
Tell me where it is and I'll prepare a valuation like this one. No automated estimate, no obligation.
