Tucked away near the easternmost edge of the city of Atherton is a block of two dozen properties. Only two directly belong to people.

The rest, according to parcel data from Regrid as of February 2023, are owned by some type of legal entity, such as a trust, limited liability company or real estate group.

Many of those entities are named after the people who own them — families and partners, in most cases. For example, a home owned by Jane Doe on this block would more likely be officially owned by the Jane Doe Trust or Jane and John Doe LLC.

This block is typical of how homes are owned in wealthy Atherton, which boasts Stephen Curry and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt as residents, and reflects a broader trend toward homes being owned as trusts, LLCs and other investment structures in the Bay Area’s wealthiest communities.

Not all of them are planning on making money on their purchases. The main motivation for this trend, experts say, is families guarding their privacy and assets until they can pass on their estates to their children. But others are businesses, buying up expensive property with the intent of turning a profit.

Trusts and corporate ownership are especially common in Atherton, where the typical home is worth several times more than most Americans will make in a lifetime. In 2022, 72% of the home purchases in the 94027 ZIP code, which is mostly Atherton, were purchased as trusts or other corporate entities, according to data from real estate brokerage website Redfin. It was by far the highest percentage of any Bay Area ZIP code that had at least 15 home sales since 2000, when Redfin started keeping records.

A significant portion of the investors who bought homes in Atherton last year — 44%, or 32% of total sales — had the word “trust” under the owner name. Redfin senior economist Sheharyar Bokhari said most of these trusts are likely family trusts. Essentially, putting a home in a trust allows the owner’s beneficiaries — such as their children — to inherit the estate without going through a potentially expensive and time-consuming process in probate court.

“If someone sets up a trust, it’s almost like a corporation that continues to live beyond the person,” said Michael Repka, CEO and managing broker for DeLeon Realty.

There are likely even more trusts than Redfin’s data indicates, since the counts don’t include abbreviations for the word.

Trusts and LLCs are particularly attractive to celebrities and millionaires who want an extra layer of privacy, as they can obscure who owns the property. Repka’s Silicon Valley company even offers to set up LLCs for buyers of homes worth more than $10 million. About 85% of clients, he estimates, either accept the offer or already have one.

“I would be very, very surprised if Steph Curry’s house — if you went onto Google and you searched the address — if it just said, ‘(Owned by) Steph and Ayesha Curry,’” Repka said.