Walking to coffee from central Piedmont is about a mile and a half on foot to Piedmont Ave and about the same distance to Montclair Village.  Both destinations have  several coffee shops.   

 If you prefer the uphill part of the walk before your coffee then head to Montclair Village.     Start at Park Way & Highland,

Continue up Park and climb the stairs at Pala up to Scenic, then walk right on Scenic about 50 yards to stairs that lead to upper Scenic.  Continue west on upper scenic and turn left on Blair, and continue on Harbord to Wood Drive.  Turn Right on Wood and then Left on La Salle and walk down to the Village of Montclair. 

Coffee shops in Montclair Village:  Royal Ground, Nelly’s Java, Starbucks & Peets

The downhill part of the walk is the first leg if you head to Piedmont Ave.  From Highland & Oakland Ave in Piedmont, head north to Moraga Ave and then Left (west) on Moraga Ave for about a mile.  Right on Pleasant Valley and Left onto Piedmont Ave. 

Coffee Shops on Piedmont Ave:  Piedmont Cafe & Bakery, Gaylords,  Peets & Starbucks 

“Walk Score” is a fun app to evaluate the walkability of any address.  You can even compare Bill Gates home outside of Redmond to Tony Soprano’s fictional home in New Jersey.

What about the concept of resetting the DOM (Days on Market) on MLS so that a “stalefish” listing has an opportunity to adjust the clock and appear as a new listing? 

Seems silly to me.  Buyers in the Bay Area are hardly naive.  They search, investigate and learn the history, condition and all pertinent details of a home pretty quickly so that this lame tactic reflects negatively on the seller AND the seller’s agent which makes a difference during the negotiation.  (no respect here)

My colleague, Arn Cendella has some thoughts on the subject.

At an Open House I held Sunday at 2524 Eagle Avenue in Alameda’s East End I was asked by 5 or 6 groups of buyers “How can I find a list of Open Houses each Sunday?”  Even the Chronicles’ list is challenging because a home in Rockridge might appear alphabetically somewhere behind Piedmont, but it could also show up in the list with other Oakland homes. 

My advice…if you want to make the process easier to navigate, ask a Realtor at one of the Open Homes you’ve visited to email a list to you each week.   If you’re in the early stages of your search explain that to the agent.  Believe me, most Realtors know it can take awhile before you’re ready to make an offer and if you choose to work with them it won’t be because you felt pressured. 

In most areas of Oakland & Piedmont Realtors that subscribe to the service receive a PDF on Saturday with an updated Open House list, sample at:   Open House list Oakland & Piedmont Jan 27, 2008  

This is a great time of the year for buyers to begin the search!  The list builds each week through the summer. 

As I walked in the door the agent listing this 2 BR/1 Ba home in Lincoln Heights described the “green” renovations done by the seller….tankless hot water heater, thermal pane windows, etc. ….wonder if that’s why the bathtub was moved to the back deck???

The tub and 1080 sq ft of living space can be yours for $629,000.

There are many great benefits about living in Piedmont that lots of us don’t know until after they’ve chosen Piedmont as our home.  (myself included)

“Schoolmates” is an after school program with fun after-school activities for elementary through middle school that the kids really enjoy.  The program is well supervised, allows flexible scheduling, inexpensive & safe. 

The “REC” as it’s called, Piedmont Recreation Center has great summer and school vacation  camps and the kids REALLY have a blast.  The assortment of camps and breadth of camp offerings appeal to every prospective camper.  My children remember “Design your own camp” (ages 12-14) as their favorite.  The first day of camp the group of 12 or so kids are given a specific budget and the cost of a menu of activities from which to choose.  The group votes on the activites and each day the rest of the week they visit the destinations they choose…Water World, Santa Cruz, Stinson, Exploratorium, etc. 

There are several sets of stairs nestled in the hills above Highland for convenient walking access to town.

Concerts in the park with great bands several times each summer including July 4.  Couples & families often bring picnics and lounge on blankets.

Movies in the park for kids on several Friday nights in the summer…….also well supervised and fun!

12 tennis courts, 4 of them have lights in 4 separate locations.  A tennis decal can be purchased at the “REC” for $35/year which allows reservations to be made on any of the courts. 

Piedmont is dog friendly!  The park behind the Community Center has several nice paths and there’s a fenced dog park on Linda Ave where dogs can play leash-free.

Another desirable Bay Area community known mostly for the beach is Half Moon Bay.  It’s been a couple of years since I’ve visited so it was great to learn more in Marian Bennett’s Blog, Coastside Real Estate and Lifestyles .

Just like the extreme variation in micro weather climates from one side of the bridge/hill/tunnel compared to the other side,  extremes in Real Estate “conditions” exist in many parts of the Bay Area.

What’s true in Oakland’s Real Estate market is also true in San Francisco & the Peninsula.   As Arn Cenedela, a Coldwell Banker Realtor in Menlo Park wrote yesterday, The SF Chronicle finally gets a real estate article right !  “The market above about $800,000 market is strong. Below $700,000; the market is weaker.”

The same is happening in Oakland though the “tipping point” is about $600K.
Altos Research states “There are about 1,375 properties on the market in OAKLAND as of January 06 2008″ compared to roughly 650 on Jan 8, 2007.

The climate in Rockridge is very much the same as it was in Jan ‘07.  Currently 13 homes on the market in 94618 compared to 15 at the beginning of 2007. 

Stay tuned for the local forecast!

Using the last two years as a predictor for what might be in ‘08, the chart below shows a spike in Inventory levels in Piedmont after Sept 06, but the spike occurred several months earlier in 2007 when many more sellers decided to hit the market in May.

2007 is probably the best predictor for ‘08. If you’re planning to sell your Piedmont home this year, it may be better to hit the market in the Spring .

Seems zillow hasn’t developed a method to differentiate homes in a Gold Medal School* in America from the others…..probably because the zip code crosses both cities.

* US News & World Report , Piedmont is ranked # 68

Confidence in the reliability of zillow.com data by Buyers & Sellers in Piedmont, Rockridge, Montclair, Glenview & Oakmore areas seems (to me) related to a Real Estate surfers’ technology aptitude. Tech-savvy types have a more realistic perspective of “zestimates” and acknowledge the grab for most of us is it feeds our thirst for hard data. We can dump the numbers in a spreadsheet and analyze it in so many ways! Truth is zillow is lacking in the information it spits.

• LOCATION: There may be an abandoned, decrepit home next door, a steep hillside, OR it may be a desirable “walk-to-coffee” neighborhood or located near a great elementary school.

• CONDITION: No differentiation between a complete fixer lacking electricity or plumbing and a home in top-notch condition; clear pest report, new foundation.

• NON-MARKETED PROPERTIES: Re-fi’s & inter-family transfers of title show the same as a staged home presented on MLS.

• ADDED VALUES/NEGATIVES of the PROPERTY: Views, in-law units, stairs, traffic noise aren’t factored in.

As a check I investigated the comps on Zillow for a 3 BR/2Ba home in Piedmont owned by a friend for 10 years. The “zestimate” generated was $987,942 based on zillow’s list of 50 comparable homes.

Taking a closer look at these 50 comps revealed 29 of the homes on the list are actually located in Oakland. After eliminating those, the average value of Piedmont comparable homes is $1,349,000.

In the interest of full disclosure, it makes sense to facilitate details for sold properties so that buyers & sellers have the benefit of the same information realtors, appraisers & mortgage lenders are able to access. Anyone can Zillow an address and get recent sold prices, with BR’s Baths and sq footage. Providing more details about the property’s condition, photos and extra features (or problems) makes the data more meaningful.
Isn’t that what the internet is all about?

The home inspector called over to my client and said, ” Did the seller tell you when he had the fire in the attic?” To which my client responded….”this could be a dealbreaker” Ultimately it was even though my client has spent >$900 on Termite, Structural & Drainage & a General Home Inspections.
The undisclosed fire in the attic was the tip of the iceberg…..also discovered was a hot water heater & the homes forced air furnace were not hard wired….the DIY seller had supplied electricity via extension cords.
The moral to a seller is always assume everything you know about your home will be discovered by the buyer so it’s always best to deal with repairs and corrections prior to escrow….it costs you far less money in the long haul.
PS: My client asked for a $20K price reduction (less than all of the inspections estimated)but the seller wouldn’t budge on the price so we pulled out of the deal. That was over a month ago and the house hasn’t yet sold.