Woodacre, CA Real Estate & Homes for Sale
By Matthew Martinez, Founder, CEO & Managing Broker, Diamond Real Estate Group. California DRE #01869679.
Woodacre is an unincorporated village at the eastern end of the San Geronimo Valley in Marin County, California, with about 1,600 residents and roughly 650 homes, from early summer cabins to post-war houses on the level “Flats” and the slopes around them. Marin County, not a city, sets the rules here. Redfin’s median sale price for Woodacre was $1.7 million for the three months ending September 2026, a figure drawn from only a handful of sales.
- County
- Marin County
- Government
- Unincorporated (Marin County rules)
- ZIP code
- 94973
- Population
- 1,627 (Census ACS 2020–2024)
- Median sale price
- $1.7M (3 months to Sept 2026, Redfin)
- Water
- Marin Water service area (confirm by parcel)
- Wastewater
- Septic systems; no community sewer
- School district
- Lagunitas School District
Woodacre homes for sale
Current MLS listings for Woodacre and ZIP 94973 appear below. Redfin counted two Woodacre sales in September 2026, so it pays to watch the whole valley, west through San Geronimo and Forest Knolls, in our property search.
What do homes in Woodacre sell for?
$1.7M
3 months to September 2026, Redfin
$1,071,800
2020–2024, Census ACS (±$187,228)
$1,678,750
Single-family homes, Sept 2026, C.A.R.
Read Woodacre’s numbers as a range, not a trend line. Redfin reports the $1.7 million median as 61.5% above a year earlier, but it counted two sales in September 2026 against six the September before, so a single sale can move it sharply. The Census figure is lower; it pools five years of owners’ own estimates and carries a wide margin.
| Measure | Figure | Period and source |
|---|---|---|
| Median sale price | $1.7M, up 61.5% year over year | 3 months to September 2026, Redfin (its calculation from MLS and public records) |
| Homes sold | 2 in September 2026 (6 in September 2025) | Redfin |
| Average time to sell | 78 days (79 a year earlier) | Redfin, as of September 2026 |
| Median value of owner-occupied homes | $1,071,800 (±$187,228) | 2020–2024, Census ACS (Census Reporter) |
| Housing units | About 652 (±177) on 1.8 square miles | 2020–2024, Census ACS |
| Marin County median, single-family | $1,678,750 (up 1.7% year over year) | September 2026, C.A.R. |
When we price a Woodacre house, we sort the comparables by setting first: Flats or hillside, the septic system’s record, distance to a creek and road access. In a market this thin, those details tell you more than the median.
How Woodacre grew: summer cabins, then year-round homes
Woodacre’s name is a developer’s coinage. According to the San Geronimo Valley Historical Society, the Lagunitas Development Company bought valley land from the heirs of the Mailliard family, who held Rancho San Geronimo until the early 1910s, and invented the names Woodacre and Forest Knolls while subdividing it. The area stayed mostly summer homes until building picked up after World War II.
That history still shows in the housing. The Census Bureau’s 2020–2024 survey puts about 652 homes on 1.8 square miles, roughly 360 per square mile, which makes Woodacre the most tightly built of the valley’s three Census places (San Geronimo has about 140 per square mile; Lagunitas-Forest Knolls about 220). The Point Reyes Light has described the Flats as resembling the suburban neighborhoods of Fairfax and San Anselmo, while homes off the valley floor sit on slopes where access and drainage need a closer look.
Septic and the Woodacre Flats sewer plan
Woodacre has no community sewer, so homes here rely on individual septic systems. In February 2019, Marin County’s Environmental Health Services published the San Geronimo Woodacre wastewater recycling study, which tested a community sewer and a tertiary recycled-water plant for up to about 360 developed properties on the Woodacre and San Geronimo Flats.
The Point Reyes Light reported in July 2022 that Flats homeowners had pushed for a sewer for more than a decade and came close in 2017. As of October 2026 the county shows no construction schedule, so buy assuming the septic system you inherit is the one you’ll keep.
- Know the system’s class: the county files systems as Class I (meets current code) through Class IV (undocumented or failing). Ask Environmental Health for the parcel’s records before your inspection.
- Alternative systems: these need an annual county operating permit and professional monitoring, a recurring cost to budget.
- Rules in motion: the county’s septic rules are being rewritten, with adoption targeted for the end of 2026.
- Water is separate: Marin LAFCo describes Marin Water’s territory as running west from the bay to the San Geronimo Valley. Ask for the seller’s water account history, or the county well permit if the house has its own well.
Marin County recommends a septic inspection at sale but doesn’t require one. On a small Flats lot, where a replacement leach field may be hard to site, order the inspection and read the county file before you remove your contingencies.
Creek setbacks on Woodacre lots
A Woodacre lot near a creek may fall under the stream rules the Board of Supervisors adopted unanimously on July 19, 2022, to protect coho salmon and steelhead in the San Geronimo Valley and the Lagunitas watershed. The ordinance followed a 15-year legal fight over the 2007 Countywide Plan. Before you plan an addition or an accessory dwelling near a bank, have the county confirm whether the parcel is mapped in the Stream Conservation Area. We explain the rules in more detail on our San Geronimo page.
Wildfire, the county fire headquarters and the road out
Marin County Fire’s headquarters is at 33 Castle Rock Avenue in Woodacre, and it’s moving. The county plans to shift most of its functions to a new fire station and training campus at San Geronimo Commons, 1.8 miles west, at an expected design and construction cost of $71 million. On July 7, 2026, the Board of Supervisors approved the first design contract, and the county says construction is planned to begin in fall 2027 and take about 18 months (County of Marin). The department calls the Woodacre site aging and hasn’t said what becomes of it.
- Look up the zone: check the parcel on the State Fire Marshal’s Fire Hazard Severity Zone viewer; the state-responsibility maps took effect April 1, 2024. In a High or Very High zone, the seller provides a recent defensible-space inspection report under AB 38, or both sides agree in writing that the buyer will get one within a year.
- Clearance: state law calls for 100 feet of defensible space around a home, and on a small lot that distance reaches onto the neighbors’ land.
- Parcel tax: expect the Measure C wildfire tax on the bill. It was set in 2020 at up to 10 cents per building square foot and is adjusted for inflation each year.
- Getting out: Sir Francis Drake Boulevard is the valley’s main road, east over the hill to Fairfax and west toward Olema. Register with Alert Marin, which sends evacuation notices only to people who sign up.
Spirit Rock and the open land beside Woodacre
A parcel of about 409 acres beside Woodacre belongs to the Spirit Rock Meditation Center. By its own history, the center contracted in 1987 to buy 411 undeveloped acres from The Nature Conservancy and took title in 1988; its residential retreat center opened in July 1998. For a buyer, the point is the zoning: agricultural, at very low densities. The county’s 2010 environmental filing for a master plan amendment lists 409.3 acres at Sir Francis Drake Boulevard and San Geronimo Valley Drive, zoned AG2 (one home per 10 to 30 acres) and ARP-20 (one home per 20 acres), with building confined to an envelope set by a 1988 master plan (CEQAnet). Changes there go through a public county review, so watch for notices if you buy nearby.
Getting around from Woodacre
Public transit here is the Stagecoach, Marin Transit Route 68, which runs from the San Rafael Transit Center through the San Anselmo hub and Fairfax into the valley and on to Point Reyes Station and Inverness. On the April 2026 timetable, weekday buses left San Rafael westbound from 7:45 a.m. to 6:45 p.m., eight trips in all (Marin Transit). The Census survey’s mean commute for Woodacre workers is about 25 minutes, with a wide margin.
Woodacre compared with nearby areas
| Area | Government | One verified difference |
|---|---|---|
| Woodacre | Unincorporated, Marin County | About 652 homes on 1.8 sq mi; county fire headquarters; 12 short-term rental licenses, falling to 8 |
| San Geronimo | Unincorporated, Marin County | About 207 homes; the 150-plus-acre San Geronimo Commons and the Lagunitas School District campus |
| Forest Knolls | Unincorporated, Marin County | Counted with Lagunitas as one Census place of 4.2 sq mi; 8 short-term rental licenses |
| Lagunitas | Unincorporated, Marin County | Next to the 2,882-acre Samuel P. Taylor State Park; only 6 rental licenses, falling to 4 |
| Fairfax | Incorporated town | Its own planning department; its rent stabilization ordinance was repealed by Measure I in November 2024 |
How Diamond Real Estate Group helps Woodacre buyers
Most of the risk in a Woodacre purchase sits underground or beside a creek, so that’s where we start. Before you commit, we pull the county septic file and line up an inspection, ask the county whether the parcel is in the Stream Conservation Area, check the fire hazard zone and AB 38 paperwork, and push for insurance quotes in the first days of escrow.
- Thinking of renting the home short term? The county’s license ends when a property sells, and new applicants join a waitlist, so we treat rental income as a goal, not a given. Our investor services cover the numbers.
- Selling a Woodacre home? Our selling guide explains the disclosures and timing.
- For a list of licensed agents working this part of the county, see our disclosed guide to real estate agents in Marin County.
For the rest of the county, start with our Marin County real estate guide or read how we work with buyers.
Selling a home in Woodacre
Woodacre has no town government, so the County of Marin keeps the property’s paper trail: the Community Development Agency holds building and planning permits, and Environmental Health Services holds the septic file. All three are searchable online by address or parcel number through the county’s Public Access Viewer. Pull them before you list. On a house that started life as a summer cabin, buyers will hold each added room and enclosed porch up against the permit record.
The septic file comes first
The county does not require a septic inspection when a Woodacre home sells, and its draft rule rewrite doesn’t propose one. It does remind sellers that the property’s condition must be disclosed, and it tells buyers to ask for septic records or, if there are none, to have a septic inspector evaluate the system. On the small Flats lots, where a replacement leach field can be hard to site, an evaluation before listing lets you price with that answer in hand.
- Class: the county grades systems from Class I (a dual leach field meeting siting and design criteria) to Class IV, which covers cesspools and systems with no permit on file.
- Form: Environmental Health publishes a residential inspection form for performance evaluations done for real estate sales.
- Alternative systems: these run under an annual operating permit with professional monitoring, so hand the buyer the permit and the latest monitoring reports.
- Timing: new county septic rules were targeted for the end of 2026, but the schedule has slipped; check their status when you go to market.
Our guide to Marin septic systems explains the classes in more depth.
Fire zone, transfer tax and state forms
Enter the address in Marin County Fire’s lookup tool. If the parcel is in a High or Very High hazard zone, the seller provides a passing AB 38 defensible-space inspection, or buyer and seller agree that the buyer will get one within a year of closing.
Woodacre has no local transfer tax, so a sale pays only the county’s $0.55 per $500 of value. In Diamond’s North Bay markets the seller customarily pays it, though that is negotiable; our transfer tax guide has the detail. State law also calls for a written water heater bracing certification and disclosure of any noncompliant plumbing fixtures.
With few Woodacre sales in any given month, a price needs careful comparables; start with a Woodacre home valuation.
Sources for this section: County of Marin Community Development Agency: Records search (Public Access Viewer); County of Marin Environmental Health Services: Septic regulations update (LAMP); County of Marin Environmental Health Services: Septic systems program; Marin County Fire: What is an AB-38 inspection?; Marin County Assessor-Recorder: Fees (documentary transfer tax); California Public Law: Health and Safety Code 19211 (water heater bracing); California Public Law: Civil Code 1101.4 (water-conserving plumbing fixtures).
Woodacre real estate FAQs
Where is Woodacre, California?
Woodacre is in central Marin County, at the eastern end of the San Geronimo Valley, over the hill from Fairfax on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard. It’s an unincorporated community, so Marin County handles its planning, permits and taxes.
Is it Woodacre or “Wood Acre”?
One word: Woodacre. The name was invented by the Lagunitas Development Company when it subdivided the valley in the early twentieth century, along with the name Forest Knolls, according to the San Geronimo Valley Historical Society.
What ZIP code is Woodacre?
Woodacre’s ZIP code is 94973. Neighboring villages have their own: San Geronimo is 94963, Forest Knolls 94933 and Lagunitas 94938.
What do homes in Woodacre cost?
Redfin’s median sale price was $1.7 million for the three months ending September 2026, but only two homes sold that September, so treat it loosely. The Census Bureau’s 2020–2024 estimate of owners’ home values was $1,071,800, with a margin of about $187,000.
Does Woodacre have city sewer?
No. Homes use septic systems, and a 2019 county study of a community sewer for about 360 properties on the Woodacre and San Geronimo Flats hasn’t led to construction. Check the county’s septic records for any house you consider.
Can I rent out a Woodacre home on a short-term basis?
Only with a county license, and Woodacre’s allotment is capped at 12, stepping down to 8 as licenses lapse. A license expires automatically when the property sells, so a buyer has to apply and may wait. Most accessory dwellings created or legalized since 2020 can’t be licensed for short stays.
Which school district serves Woodacre?
The Lagunitas School District, whose TK–8 campus is at One Lagunitas School Road in San Geronimo. Confirm the assigned school for a specific address with the district.
Is the fire station in Woodacre closing?
Marin County Fire plans to move most headquarters functions from its aging Woodacre site at 33 Castle Rock Avenue to a new campus at San Geronimo Commons, with construction planned from fall 2027. The county hasn’t said what will become of the Woodacre property.
What is Spirit Rock, and can it be developed?
Spirit Rock Meditation Center owns roughly 409 to 411 acres beside Woodacre. The land is zoned for agriculture, at one home per 10 to 30 acres (AG2) or per 20 acres (ARP-20), and the center builds within a development envelope set by its 1988 county master plan. Any change to that plan goes through county review.
Does Woodacre add its own transfer tax?
No. With no city government, a Woodacre sale pays only Marin County’s documentary transfer tax of $1.10 per $1,000 of value.
Can I take the bus from Woodacre to San Rafael?
Yes, on the Stagecoach. Marin Transit Route 68 connects the valley with Fairfax, the San Anselmo hub and the San Rafael Transit Center, with eight westbound and nine eastbound weekday trips on the April 2026 schedule.
Sources & notes
- Redfin: Woodacre housing market (September 2026) and Census Reporter: Woodacre, ACS 2020–2024
- C.A.R.: September 2026 home sales and price report
- Marin County EHS: San Geronimo Woodacre wastewater study (2019), septic systems and septic regulations update (October 2026)
- Point Reyes Light: Valley sewer plan revived (July 20, 2022)
- County of Marin: San Geronimo Commons release (May 23, 2024), fire headquarters contract (July 7, 2026) and Marin County Fire: new headquarters
- Spirit Rock: history and CEQAnet: Spirit Rock Master Plan Amendment (2010)
- San Geronimo Valley Historical Society: brief history
- Office of the State Fire Marshal: fire hazard severity zones and Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority: Measure C
- Marin County CDA: short-term rental procedures (February 2025), Assessor-Recorder: transfer tax, Marin Transit: Route 68, Lagunitas School District, and Marin LAFCo profiles of the school district and Marin Water
Figures carry their dates where they appear, and we refresh market numbers every quarter. This is general information, not legal, tax or insurance advice; confirm the rules for a specific property with the agency named. Last reviewed October 2026 by Matthew Martinez.
Plan your next move
Share your preferred location, budget, property requirements and timing. We can help organize a focused search, arrange showings or discuss preparing a property for sale.
Local resource: Marin County planning and township resources. Check official information for the address you are considering; area descriptions do not establish a property’s permitted uses.
