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.

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.

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. 

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

“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 .

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!

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 .

* 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.