# House Hacking in Menlo Park (94025): A Meta-anchored pocket with a permanent job floor · The Rent Hacker > Menlo Park 94025 for house hackers: A Meta-anchored affordable pocket (Belle Haven ~$1.28M) with a permanent job floor 0–1 mile away and an intact ConnectMenl Canonical: https://therenthacker.com/house-hacking/menlo-park-belle-haven-94025/ Source: The Rent Hacker (https://therenthacker.com/). License: RSL, attribution required — https://therenthacker.com/license.xml --- [Peninsula guide](/house-hacking/peninsula/) · Tier A · Rank #9 of 28 # House hacking in Menlo Park (Belle Haven / The Willows). A Meta-anchored affordable pocket (Belle Haven ~$1.28M) with a permanent job floor 0–1 mile away and an intact ConnectMenlo zoning envelope: A on the strong Meta anchor plus moderate zoning, discounted for the freshly paused Willow Village and bus/auto-only access. **Status check:** Verified 2026-07-16: the Willow Village pause is stable with no further escalation, and ConnectMenlo Bayfront capacity was confirmed via a new unrelated project. Held at A. ## What's actually happening in 94025 - Operational Meta / Facebook HQ (1 Hacker Way plus the Bayfront campus): operational, a 250+ acre, 30+ building footprint adjacent to Belle Haven with tens of thousands on-site. The permanent price floor; underwrite off the operational HQ. [City of Menlo Park](https://www.menlopark.gov/Government/Departments/Community-Development/Projects/Approved-projects/Willow-Village) - Adopted, intact ConnectMenlo Bayfront/M-2 upzoning: adopted 2016, up to 4,500 units and 5,500 jobs; the envelope that made Willow Village possible remains intact (~2,700+ residual concept units) even with the project paused. [CEQAnet 2015062054](https://ceqanet.opr.ca.gov/2015062054/2) - Paused: exclude from base case Willow Village: paused May 1, 2026; the ~1,730-unit expansion is on indefinite hold and Meta retains vested rights for 10 years. Never underwrite it as base case. [The Almanac](https://www.almanacnews.com/menlo-park/2026/05/07/metas-halted-3-5b-project-leaves-belle-haven-empty-handed/) ## The numbers Median price ~$1.28M (Belle Haven typical value, Zillow ZHVI) Market rent 1bd ~$3,510/mo (Zumper, May 2026) Property tax (San Mateo County) 1.26% combined effective average (range 1.08–1.52% by tax-rate area; purchase resets the assessed basis to sale price) Per-bed rent band $1,200–1,700/mo per bed (Meta commuters) ADU rent band $2,500–3,200/mo Whole-home rent band $3,900–4,900/mo whole-home Underwriting vacancy 3–4% underwriting vacancy Appreciation scenarios 2.5 / 4.0 / 5.5 %/yr (conservative / base / upside) Belle Haven ranch stock is the in-scope pocket; Menlo Park overall runs ~$3.3M and the west side is out of reach. Appreciation basis: Base off the operational Meta HQ plus ConnectMenlo only; Willow Village is paused and excluded. Rent bands are city-level medians; confirm the specific parcel before trusting any of them. [Run your own scenario in the calculator](/calculator/). ## Buildings we underwrote in 94025 5 buildings in 94025 carry a record. 0 beat renting and index funds, 1 rejected; the rest did not. Every row links to its own page, with the numbers it was scored on. Property At our defaults Status [Pierce Rd](/property/rh-glowtz/pierce-rd/) 2 units · $1,988,000 −$1,691,006 S&P 500 Underwritten — the index wins at our defaults [929 Alice Ln](/property/rh-9qjjc1/929-alice-ln/) 4 units · $3,100,000 −$2,615,716 S&P 500 Underwritten — the index wins at our defaults [835 Fremont St](/property/rh-o2g5fx/835-fremont-st/) 4 units · $2,988,000 −$2,645,146 S&P 500 Underwritten — the index wins at our defaults [265 Waverley St](/property/rh-l2ma4a/265-waverley-st/) 4 units · $3,600,000 −$2,912,085 S&P 500 Underwritten — the index wins at our defaults [761-767 University Dr](/property/rh-qh7gfq/761-767-university-dr/) — no verdict on file Rejected — West-of-101 (0.39 mi from Downtown Menlo Park/Santa Cruz Ave, 3.01 mi from the Belle Haven centroid) — out of the Belle Haven framework per our strategy notes STOP-1. Independently our listing feed Multi-Family and the ZIP's multi-unit strategy is not priced per our published methodology STOP-2. Additionally NO VERIFIED LISTING RECORD with an empty verified unit count, so the unit count itself is unverified (the bathroom count caps this at 6 units is a ceiling, not a count). No west-of-101 our research and no MFH comp set exist for this ZIP, so no rent basis can be sourced without fabricating a number outside the documented evidence. The full [board](/board/) shows every region's current week; this table is every record we hold for 94025, newest basis first. ## The house-hack angle ADU or SB 9 on Belle Haven's ranch lots is the core lever, plus Meta-commuter room-by-room. West Menlo (R-1, very high land value) is un-hackable on price. ## What breaks it - The Willow Village pause removes the promised retail and ~1,418 net new units - Belle Haven is not walkable to Caltrain (~2–3 miles; bus, US-101, and Dumbarton auto access) - Single-employer concentration risk on Meta This page is the standing analysis. The weekly part, actual Menlo Park-area listings that pass the math, lands on the Peninsula board every Thursday. [This week's Peninsula board](/board/sf-peninsula/) [This week's Peninsula board](/board/sf-peninsula/) · [Read past Peninsula issues](/issues/sf-peninsula/) · [Every pick, on the record](/track-record/) · [How a deal becomes a pick](/methodology/) Data synthesized 2026-07-05, catalysts re-verified 2026-07-16. Mortgage-rate basis: 6.43% (Freddie Mac PMMS, week of 2026-07-02). Sources are the public planning documents and market listings named above, fetched on the synthesis date. Nothing here is investment advice; every deal needs a bindable insurance quote and parcel-level verification.