Inside San Anselmo homes
Water is the organizing fact here. The creek that gives the town its shape has flooded downtown more than once, and even in a dry February the houses nearest it carry a cool, mineral smell that a quick pass with a mop does not touch. Crews working the Yolanda blocks and the flats behind San Anselmo Avenue plan for baseboards, closet floors and the underside of sink cabinets — the places moisture settles first. Nothing dramatic. Just a different order of operations than a slab-on-grade house across the county.
Climb toward Seminary or up into Sleepy Hollow and the job changes shape again. Larger houses, more staircases, wide-plank floors laid before anyone thought about vacuum cleaners, and oak trees dropping tannin-stained leaf litter onto every deck from October through January. We ask about pets and floor finish when you book, because a waxed fir floor and an engineered plank take different products, and getting that wrong on a hundred-year-old surface is not something you fix later.
San Anselmo homes, structurally
Most of the town predates the war. Shingled cottages and Craftsman bungalows sit on narrow lots on the valley floor, typically 1,300 to 1,900 square feet, with fir or oak floors, painted trim, and one bathroom that has been remodeled and one that has not. Hillside addresses run bigger and add two or three levels, often with a garage below and living space above. Winter brings mildew on north-facing window frames; summer brings dust off the ridge trails. Almost nothing here has an HOA.