The Story Behind the Newsom Estate in Fair Oaks, Now for Sale

One of the most storied homes in the Sacramento region hit the market this morning. The Fair Oaks estate where Gavin Newsom and his family lived during most of his time as governor is for sale, listed August 24, 2026 at $7.5 million.

The headline numbers are fun on their own. The Newsoms bought the place for $3.7 million at the end of 2018, and the new asking price is a little more than double that. But what I love about this house has nothing to do with the math. This is a property with a genuinely great story, going back more than fifty years, and today feels like the perfect day to tell it.

It all starts with a freeway that never got built

Back in 1970, the land this estate sits on belonged to the State of California. The state had acquired it for a planned crosstown freeway called Route 244, which was going to run right through this stretch of Fair Oaks, above the American River. The owners at the time were paid about $129,000, and the site was set aside for highway use.

Then the plans changed. Like a lot of cities in the 1970s, Sacramento rethought its freeway map, and Route 244 was shelved for good. Suddenly the state owned a beautiful piece of river bluff it no longer needed, and in 1979 the land went to public auction.

The winning bid, around $530,000, came from Vern and Gloria Jones. Vern had started his career as an oilfield roughneck and went on to build a successful company called Exploration Logging. In 1985, on the bluff where the freeway was supposed to go, the couple built their dream home: a 12,000-square-foot Mediterranean with a tennis court, a pool, a wine cellar, and heritage oaks shading the grounds. They loved it there, and they stayed for about 35 years. A broker who lives in the neighborhood has written a wonderful history of the property, and it is worth a read.

So the same land that was once set aside for concrete and traffic became one of the prettiest homesites in the region. Sometimes the best thing that can happen to a piece of land is the plan that falls through.

How it became the governor's house

When the Joneses were ready to move on, the estate took its time finding the right buyer. It was first listed in 2015 and spent a few years on and off the market before selling in December 2018 for $3.7 million. The timing turned out to be perfect. California had just elected a new governor, and he was house hunting.

Gavin Newsom had a choice to make that every modern governor faces: live in the historic Governor's Mansion downtown, or find a family home nearby. With four kids, two dogs, and a rabbit, the Newsoms chose the family home. SFGate reported at the time that they wanted somewhere more kid-friendly, and it is easy to see the appeal: eight private acres, a pool, a tennis court, and the river below.

It was also a little bit of history in the making. California has not had a working governor's residence for most of the past sixty years, so governors have always improvised. Newsom did something refreshingly normal. He just bought a house near the Capitol and raised his family in it.

The Schwarzenegger story neighbors still tell

Here is my favorite piece of local lore. For years, people around Fair Oaks have said that Arnold Schwarzenegger looked at this very estate back when he was governor, and came close to buying it. I went looking and could not find it confirmed anywhere in the public record, so enjoy it as a neighborhood story rather than settled history. But the backdrop makes it easy to believe.

When Schwarzenegger took office, nobody knew where he would live. He talked about commuting from Los Angeles by plane, and in the end he spent his Sacramento nights in a suite at the Hyatt Regency across from the Capitol, per Capitol Weekly. Seven years as governor, living in a hotel. If his team ever did tour a gated estate on the American River, about 25 minutes from the office, you can understand why the neighbors have never forgotten it.

What the estate looks like today

The Newsoms moved back to the Bay Area in late 2024, settling in Kentfield in Marin County, and now the Fair Oaks estate is ready for its next chapter. The new listing, with Nick Sadek Sotheby's International Realty, shows a home that has been beautifully updated since 2018. It now offers seven bedrooms across 12,663 square feet, described as Santa Barbara-inspired, with a resort-style pool, a full-size tennis court, a private casita, a cold plunge and spa, and a 5,000-bottle wine cellar. The photos are worth a scroll on their own.

The setting is still the real star. The house sits in Southcliff, a quiet gated enclave on the bluffs, with 8.2 acres of oaks and river views that no new construction can recreate. Properties like this simply do not come up often, in Fair Oaks or anywhere else in the region.

What about the price?

Naturally, everyone wants to talk about the number. At $7.5 million, this would be one of the biggest home sales the Sacramento area has ever seen, in a market where a typical Fair Oaks home sells in the mid $600,000s. Estates like this play by their own rules, though. There is only one bluff like this one, the home has been extensively refreshed, and it now carries a piece of California history along with it. It only takes one buyer who wants exactly that.

And if this listing gets you curious about Fair Oaks itself, good news: it is a lovely riverside suburb that does not require a governor's budget. On Houseberry we rank a dozen Fair Oaks neighborhoods, and our Fair Oaks city guide covers the schools, safety, and amenities picture for the whole town. The areas up near Lake Natoma score especially well for families.

However this sale plays out, I hope the next owners appreciate what they are getting: a home built on a freeway that never came, shaped by a family who stayed 35 years, and lived in by a governor who chose it over a mansion. That is a lot of story for one bluff above the American River. Houses like this are why I love this business.

Sources

Movoto: 7640 Tobia Way listing and price history

Coldwell Banker: 2018 sale record, MLS 18037687

SFGate: Gavin Newsom picked this home over the Governor's Mansion (2019)

CBS San Francisco: Newsom family skips historic Governor's Mansion

ActiveRain: Governor Newsom is my new neighbor (property history)

SFGate: Will statehouse be in Hollywood? (2003)

Capitol Weekly: Governor, wife, dogs to live in official mansion

Robb Report: Gavin Newsom pays $9.1 million for a Bay Area home

NBC San Diego: Newsom family to live in $3.7M, 12,000 sq. ft. mansion