Barry Zito Takes Marin Mansion off the Market

Former San Francisco Giants pitcher Barry Zito may not have a job, but he’s still got some pretty nice digs.

And at least for now, the former Cy Young award winner is apparently unwilling to give up his sprawling Marin County property.

Zito, who last summer put his Kentfield property (660 Goodhill Road) on the market, has pulled it from the listings.

The secluded hilltop property that goes by the “Kent Woodland Estate” and “Villa Della Pace” is by all accounts a scenic nirvana with views of Mount Tamalpais and Phoenix Lake, a 7,100-square-foot house and a pool.

The property went on the market for $11.5 million in July of 2012 and was reduced to $9.8 million earlier this year, Curbed SF reports.

All of that of course is chump change for Zito, who made $126 million in seven turbulent years with the Giants and will pocket an extra $7 million for doing nothing this year with San Francisco exercising his buyout option.

It’s not clear why the property was pulled from the market (Zillow.com lists the property as “not for sale”).

Zito is a free agent. He’s indicated through his agent. Scott Boras, that he’d like to pitch next year, the San Francisco Chronicle’s John Shea tweeted last month.

The move nevertheless has Marin County real estate insiders watching.

“There’s definitely an awareness of it,” Marin real estate broker Tom Verkozen said.

“It’s really funny to me how much agents track stuff like that even though it is rarified air. It’s something that not that many people can sell.”

It’s not something that many people can buy, either.

“What’s $10 million to someone that makes $130 million?” Verkozen said.

The property’s status has nevertheless generated chatter in Marin real estate circles ever since Zito purchased it in 2007.

“People are kind of excited about having a major league pitcher,” Verkozen said. ”He’s something of a celebrity even though he didn’t have a great year this year.”

There is also affection in Marin real estate circles what Verkozen calls a “neat sort of house that has a lot of history.”

“It’s one of those unique properties that there just aren’t that many buyers for even though you’d think that his name would up” its value, he said.

The eventual sale of the property itself probably won’t have much of an affect on the Marin real estate market, but don’t expect that to stop realtors from watching, Verkozen said.

‘It creates a bit of a buzz but it’s a little meaningless because 99.9 percent of the (real estate) agents aren’t going to sell anything over a couple of million dollars,” he said.

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