Ficus neighborhood · Lot F618
F618 at Ecovilla San Mateo
$208,950
F618 is a 1,980 m² lot with a 495 m² buildable area, a partly level and partly sloped landscape, forest and treetop views, strong airflow, and a creek below the lot.
Property details
- Lot number
- F618, previously shown as F18
- Lot size
- 1,980 m² / 21,313 sq. ft.
- Buildable area
- 495 m² / 5,328 sq. ft.
- Terrain
- Partly level with a workable slope toward a creek
- Views
- Forest canopy, treetops, sunsets, and a possible ocean view
- Site observations
- Strong airflow, mature vegetation, and only one neighboring property
Location and 3D terrain
F618 sits in the Ficus neighborhood, near the Espavel common area. The map and 3D view show its position relative to the roads, neighboring lots, creek, and surrounding terrain.
Videos of F618
These videos show the terrain, vegetation, outlook, and surrounding landscape from different visits.
Independent site walkthrough
I asked local permaculture consultantMatthew Human to visit the lots on my shortlist. He recorded this walkthrough of F18/F618 on April 13, 2025. Roadwork and vegetation may have changed since then.
Read Human's F18 walkthrough transcript
Lightly edited for punctuation and clarity.
Guys, here I am at F18. There's my car up there. They're still doing a lot of road work up here. You can see that they're using some of the material from this lot to finish these roads. So it's kind of curious to see how they're going to leave this area. But, in general, this is kind of a nice lot. You've got some ocean view up here in Ficus. There's nice airflow up here. I like that.
I like some of these big trees. I'm not sure why I keep calling this madera negra, although, honestly, I'm not sure it looks like a madera negra to me. This guy here, this big one—whatever it is, there's a bunch of them here. These are coyol palms. Again, you've got these coyol palms that you would cut down. And then this guy looks like a big laurel. This is a big laurel tree, so that's nice wood. You could use that for something. It's a big, straight piece of wood. I think you could get a permit to cut that one.
It's kind of hard to see. I'd have to chop in more to get down there, but it's pretty thick. Most of the land goes down to this kind of creek. It's a pretty big piece of land, and it slopes down. It doesn't look like a serious, serious slope. It looks workable, anyway. It's nothing like a big drop-off. It definitely goes downhill. You would have to do water maintenance for sure here, but it doesn't look unusable to me. It's just a little more than a gentle slope, maybe, and it looks like there's quite a bit of land down there to use.
It's pretty open. You'd have to get it chopped more to really be able to see the whole lot. But, in general, I kind of like this lot. I like the airflow. I like the ocean views. I like the treetop vistas. Again, we're not sure how the roads are going to be done up here. But this is a nice lot, actually. It's a little bit bigger too, I think. It looks like a bigger lot—a lot more space, anyway. It feels more spacious up here.
How I evaluated it
F18/F618 rose to the top because it offered a balance of airflow, views, usable terrain, water, and privacy without the extreme building challenges of some other lots.
- Airflow: Human felt this lot had the best airflow of the lots he visited, which could make it cooler and less buggy.
- Views: The site has treetop and sunset views, with the potential for an ocean view.
- Terrain: The slope seemed workable rather than extreme, with possibilities for terracing and different building approaches.
- Water: The lot sits uphill from a creek. Human said water management would be necessary, but he still considered the lot workable.
- Privacy: The lot borders only one neighboring property, leaving more open sides for privacy and buildability.
- Space and vegetation: Human described it as spacious and liked the mature trees and natural character.