Logo
Real EstateReal Estate

For the first time since its construction, the Silicon Valley house where the social media platform, Facebook (now known as Meta), was created, has hit the market for $5.3 million, The Post can report.

The unassuming blue house with a painted yellow door was first constructed back in 1998.

Made up of six bedrooms and 4½ bathrooms, the Los Altos property had only ever been up for rent since 2004.

And its first tenants?

Then 19-year-olds Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz, along with 24-year-old Sean Parker, who cofounded what is now a multi-billion-dollar global company.

Judy Fusco was looking to rent her newly refurbished home that August when Zuckerberg and Moskovitz, now 37, and Parker, now 42, stopped by to look at the house.


  Dustin Moskovitz, Mark Zuckerberg and Sean Parker were roommates in the early days of Facebook. Getty Images (3) Dustin Moskovitz, Mark Zuckerberg and Sean Parker were roommates in the early days of Facebook. Getty Images (3)

“Mark stood outside and never went into the house, while Sean and Dustin ran up the front stairs to see the house,” Fusco recalled to The Post in an interview. “Mark stood there and asked if they could rent the place, without even looking inside.”

“I read the check and asked him what he did, and he told me about a company called Facebook, and how he planned to connect the world,” Fusco said, adding that Zuckerberg was wearing black jersey shorts, sandals and his trademark hoodie at the time. “I said, ‘I don’t care if you are going to connect the world, if this check does not pass, you’re not moving in.’ ”

The now-embattled tech prodigy wrote her a check on the spot. 


  The first deposit check written by Mark Zuckerberg for the Facebook cofounders’ lease of the house they eventually called Casa de Facebook. Their rent was $5,500 a month.
 The first deposit check written by Mark Zuckerberg for the Facebook cofounders’ lease of the house they eventually called Casa de Facebook. Their rent was $5,500 a month.

A first-time landlord herself, she didn’t think much about the reason for Zuckerberg’s urgency. But what she didn’t know was that the motivated teens were forced to move out of their previous Palo Alto pad following an incident involving a zip line tied around a chimney, leading down to the pool — the scene immortalized in the film “The Social Network.”

“This home is perfect for multigenerational living with two owners’ suites, and bedrooms on various levels,” the listing suggests.

Crystal Souza and Hannah Isaka of Live Play Real Estate hold the listing.


  The home spans 3,000 square feet. Live Play Real Estate The home spans 3,000 square feet. Live Play Real Estate

  The living room that opens onto a balcony. Live Play Real Estate The living room that opens onto a balcony. Live Play Real Estate

  The balcony. Live Play Real Estate The balcony. Live Play Real Estate

  The kitchen with a breakfast nook. Live Play Real Estate The kitchen with a breakfast nook. Live Play Real Estate

  A small sitting area. Live Play Real Estate A small sitting area. Live Play Real Estate

  The formal dining area. Live Play Real Estate The formal dining area. Live Play Real Estate

“After scheduling a listing presentation with Judy, I was happy to have the opportunity to show this strong, successful woman the business I am building with Live Play Real Estate,” Souza told The Post.

“When she told me she would like to move forward with the listing, I was honored and eager to get started and take on the challenge of finding the perfect buyers for this unique home.”

The founding employees would lease the home for a year, before they needed a much larger space to hold the growing company. Parker would be the first to move out of the home — in January— after developing an allergy from the jasmine flower that would bloom at night.


  A hallway leading to the bedrooms. Live Play Real Estate A hallway leading to the bedrooms. Live Play Real Estate

  One of six bedrooms. Live Play Real Estate One of six bedrooms. Live Play Real Estate

  Another bedroom. Live Play Real Estate Another bedroom. Live Play Real Estate

  A bathroom. Live Play Real Estate A bathroom. Live Play Real Estate

  The expansive backyard with a gazebo. Live Play Real Estate The expansive backyard with a gazebo. Live Play Real Estate

  A view of the neighborhood which includes the Los Altos Golf and Country Club, Downtown Los Altos, a farmers market, shops, restaurants and Rancho San Antonio County Park. Live Play Real Estate A view of the neighborhood which includes the Los Altos Golf and Country Club, Downtown Los Altos, a farmers market, shops, restaurants and Rancho San Antonio County Park. Live Play Real Estate

Before renting the house — which took three years to complete — Fusco recalled inviting a monk over to bless the property. The monk had predicted that someone “who was going to be very rich and famous will come live here.

“Sean [Parker] would come to me repeatedly, asking me to invest, telling me I would be a billionaire one day if I did,” Fusco admitted. “They proposed giving me stock instead of the rent — a dollar a stock. I said no. And looking back, I always think about the monk that had come to my house. I had no idea that would be the Facebook brand. I had a daughter to put through school, I was afraid to take the risk at the time. But Sean was right.”

“I guess I just wasn’t meant to be a billionaire,” Fusco said. “That was not my fate.”

Today, Facebook is estimated to be worth $570 billion.

Comments
anonymous profile image
Powered by RoundtableBuilt on infrastructure designed for real-time media. Learn more at RTB.io.© Roundtable 2026. By using this site you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy