my home is in Redwood Heights...

In 1999, my husband and I purchased a major fixer in Redwood Heights.  At the time my daughter Nia was 2 1/2and my son was 8 months old.  I was so excited about moving into the neighborhood that I lived in during my elementary and middle school years.  I visited Redwood Heights Elementary as soon as I was in contract on my house and found several teachers from my youth in the hallways.  There was an immediate warmth that embraced me with this neighborhood.  The reasons I bought in this community was the elementary school, the recreation center, the diverse community and it was a true neighborhood that fit my budget.  I didn't want to compromise and purchase a small house that I would outgrow, I wanteda three bedroom, 2 bathroom home with a yard and a sidewalk out front.  For my husband and I, it was not important to walk to BART or a high-end restaurant, as we just loved being a quick 5 minute car ride to almost anywhere we needed to be. 13 years later I am still in my 1951 Redwood Heights horseshoe shaped rancher and I have no intentions of moving.  I have restored many aspects of the property, I know all of my neighbors and it is comforting and familiar like your favorite down throw.  Over the past 3 years my neighboring houses are selling for less,  making Redwood Heights a great place to invest.  Here you can get a larger home in one of Oakland's stand out communities.  Check out the newest neighborhood video visioned by and created for Red Oak Realty, Redwood Heights.  (continue on below to view market stats.)

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Keep in mind the prices above are averages and will vary based up, size, condition, lay-out and upgrades.

bites in Oakland and Berkeley

I am a total foodie! I was raised on brown rice, tofu and carob and tasteless healthy meals.  Back in the 1970's health food was not chic or delicious. My kids joke about me  because most of my childhood memories are of my dad taking me to eat regular food, burgers, pizza or a burrito.  In fact if I had a father daughter date, he would ask me what I wanted to do and I would reply, "eat something good".  At the age of 19 I enrolled at the California Culinary Academy and worked in restaurants for the following 14 years.  I was trained to makepâté and marzipan, but find my favorite foods to be simple clean food with full flavor.  I am so impressed with the Oakland restaurant renaissance.  Here are a few of my favorite picks in both Oakland and Berkeley.  Keep in mind some menus are seasonal and may not be available at all times.

Ceviche @ Rumba al Sur

chopped salad @ Hawker Fare

Fritto platter @ Trattoria La Siciliana

Haven chicken

poached egg and bacon salad @ Southie

Cafe 15

Bar Gelato by Naia

Zut! in Berkeley

frozen chocolate pot de creme @ Boot and Shoe

pork and grits @ FIVE

mussels @ Hawker Fare

80 Selkirk Street Oakland, CA 94619

Interview with the Tanja & Adam:

Where have I been?

If you follow The Oakland Berkeley Journal, you find new articles almost weekly. I am a month behind, yikes!  I thought December would be a month for me to catch  up and write fun articles about fantastic dinner recipes and local restaurants, but instead I found real estate to be an extraordinarily busy month.  In addition to helping my clients buy incredible loft space, hillside condos and Redwood Heights properties, my services include helping clients with market analysis for taxes, property separation and more. Every January, I reflect on how the previous year turned out, what I can do better and how can I provide a higher level of service.  Red Oak Realty is a company unlike many in our industry.  We are hyper-local, green, technically savvy, artist, charitable and always looking to improve our service.  Yesterday, was our annual 2012 Kick-Off Breakfast and I was honored to hear nationally acclaimed real estate expert, Nancy Gardner speak and consult about our economic forecast; I love how Nancy speaks with such clarity and truth. (Call me to discuss her predictions)  As tradition, awards were announced and cheer was raised and in the midst of it all, I was awarded Company-Wide Top Producer, an honor that I will cherish always.  I thank you, my clients for your continued support and trust and for my clients to come, please know I will continue to provide service from my heart.

Happy New Year!

Deidre

Buyer Beware - all that sparkles does not shine

Last month, I showed some clients an attractive house in one of our solid Oakland neighborhoods. The marketing campaign advertising this home as “all new” was an asset to my clients. They have good jobs and credit but, like most new homeowners, they can’t absorb the cost of any major repairs right now. The house had all the sparkle of a fresh remodeling project: fresh paint, granite counters, stainless steel appliances, new landscaping etc. It was the right house, in the right location, in apparently superb condition.  My clients were excited and, after two visits to make sure, wrote an offer that was accepted. Next came the inspection period. Although everything looked perfect on the surface, it was still important to have reputable professionals give their independent opinions. The back story on this house is that it was purchased at a foreclosure sale, all cash, by a group of investors. They prepared it for resale and marketed it as having $80,000 worth of improvements.

Our inspections began with a three hour examination of all systems by my favorite home inspector. He checked the roof, the crawl space, and everywhere in between. What he found was substantial pest damage to the structure, an outdated electrical system with glass fuses, potential drainage problems, and a sewer connection that was inaccessible for video inspection. Based on this we got a drainage consultation from an expert who advised us that the house some of the work done to improve the house was not done to building code standards, that it needed $40,000 to $50,000 worth of structural work, and that we should get an engineering inspection, at an additional cost of $500, to confirm that this work would be enough.

Sadly, I sent my clients’ cancellation notice to the seller today. They spent several hundred dollars on inspections and had their hopes raised and crushed by the entire incident. But that is a much better outcome than they would have had if they had relied on superficial impressions given by the remodeling work. All buyers should have inspections on their properties. Whether it’s old, new, or “flipped” like this one.

What to Inspect When You’re Inspecting

Tips On Home Inspections

All home inspection should be done by an ASHI (American Society of Home Inspectors) certified inspector. These guys will look at everything from the foundation to the roof. They’ll inspect the electrical, plumbing, roof condition, foundation and everything in between. An inspection can cost anywhere from $585 to $ 650, depending on the size of the home.

Pest inspection of termites or beetles and all water damage. Approximately $235

Sewer – buyers are responsible for sewer lines until they hit the city main. For $75 your inspector can take a video camera into the pipe to check the condition of the pipes.

When to Get a Second Opinion:

Pest/Termite Inspections:

Recently a seller supplied an inspection report that had been done by an out-of-area pest inspection company. The report stated that there was no pest damage to the seller’s property.

I encouraged my buyers to get a second opinion.  My clients employed a highly respected local company to do another inspection. The local company found $6500 worth of pest damage. Ultimately, I was able to negotiate a $6500 credit for this discrepancy.

Sometimes home inspectors will call for a second inspection. It could be for anything from electrical wiring follow up to having a structural engineer come to look at the foundation.

Anytime that this is suggested it is recommended that you have professionals look before removing your inspection contingency. (An inspection contingency is a period of time during an escrow that a buyer is allowed to investigate the condition of a home and neighborhood.)

Jason - Harry Clark 

Paul

what's behind there

Rot

If Your Walls Could Talk

I absolutely love what Joyce did during her kitchen remodel.  After renovating the kitchen and restoring the walls, she decided to create a "picture" of the history of  her 1910 home. In the photo below you can see various wallpapers and plaster layered under the paint. A nice rectangle was evenly measured to create a custom work of art.  Genius!

history of a home

Shower Pans and Real Estate Transactions

This happened last year.... I woke up abruptly at 2 am worried about the shower pan at a Montclair property my client was purchasing.  In the disclosure reports the seller noted that a licensed contractor replaced the shower pan prior to listing the home.  Yes, that’s a good thing but, since no one lived in the house since the replacement, the new shower pan had never been tested. Inspection reports often call for the replacement of leaky shower pans.  To test one, the inspector stops the drain, runs water a few inches high, and then inspects the crawl space, garage, or room below it, (if there is not a nice finished room below). After tossing and turning from 2 am on, I left my home early the next day with towels in hand to test the shower pan.  I put several towels in the shower drain and ran the shower until the water rose several inches high.  I then went downstairs to the garage below the bathroom and waited.  No water, great!  The next day, I stopped by the house and the ceiling below the shower was soaking wet, we had a problem.  I immediately called the listing agent, who in turn called the licensed contractor who had replaced the shower.  We negotiated with the seller, and the shower pan was completely replaced for my buyer.

What happened? It turned out that when the contractor initially replaced the pan, he was trying to preserve the marble walls and did not bring the waterproofing membrane up high enough on the wall.  When he replaced the shower pan for the second time, the original marble walls could not be saved and also had to be replaced.  This situation could have been messy, but the agent representing the sellers was helpful and cooperative.  He even sent me photos of the shower reconstruction progress.  Below is a picture of the shower pan replacement in progress and the black paper is the water proofing membrane that was needed.

Shower replacement in progress

An Opportunity to Give Back - Fountain to Vessel

Oakland resident Karlya Benjamin has a vision of honoring the past and empowering the future.  She feels that our elderly have so much to tell and who better to listen than our youth.  Additionally, too often our seniors crave visitors.  If you or  your teenager have the desire to reach out and volunteer for a few hours, read a few of the details below and email me at deidrejoyner@gmail.com.

Who: We, a group of parents and teens in a project called, “Honoring the Past, Empowering the Future”

What: We will go to 3 facilities to share and interact with seniors for 1-1½ hours.  There are 2 facilities and two dates so far.

Where: November 21 – 10:30 -11:30 – North Berkeley Senior Center

November 22^nd – Center for Elders Independence, Berkeley – 10:00 – 11:00 am

Why: To keep us (especially teens) connected to the elderly and as human beings.    By sharing with each other, we are able to appreciate the elderly as an incredible wealth of knowledge, history and strength.  A lot has happened in the last 80-90 years and they’ve seen it and were a part of it.  In turn, the elderly are able to see the young as possibilities to empower create and shape the world and as vessels to carry forward the knowledge of the past.

Possible Cliff May Home For Sale in the Oakland Hills

Last week, I walked into 3425 Robinson Street in the Joaquin Miller area of Oakland.  One glance at the wooden windows that slide to the side to open, the triangular windows sandwiched between the wall and ceiling and I said, this looks like a Cliff May house!  Karen Lum the listing agent said that her seller told her it is a Cliff May designed property, but she has no verification.  I went home and checked the online Cliff May registry and could not find it.  Regardless, there are many mod features: radiant heated concrete floors, floor to ceiling windows, gravel, concrete and wooly thyme landscaping, exterior doors from the master bedroom, kitchen, living room and more. The kitchen is tweaked out with gourmet appliances and  windows to the backyard. I loved it!

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New Listing - Live/Work Inspired Home in the Laurel

I am really digging my new listing in the Laurel district of Oakland. It is part private yacht meets live/work space.  The previous owner was a contractor who created a huge space for his large projects.  Barbara Tapp created this great aerial view sketch for me. Click here for more info www.3901LomaVista.com

12 month Oakland and Berkeley Real Estate Market Recap

We are now in our Fall real estate season.  Homeowners who have waited all summer to list their properties and are now trying to sell, before winter. .  I am seeing “cream-puff” properties, (homes that have it all: vintage details in tact, great flow, structurally sound, lush landscaping, stable neighborhoods and are priced right) sell quickly.  Other homes that need work, are over-priced and that are not presented well to the market seem to sit on the market.Buyers can be very cautious about neighborhood, property condition and their future space needs. Beyond that unless a buyer has all cash, a home needs to appraise.  An appraiser is an independent person who analyzes a property, neighborhood and recently sold homes to determine if a home is worth the purchase price.  They are the eyes to the bank who is providing the loan to the buyer. As a seller it can be difficult realizing your home is not worth what it was 1,2,or 5 years ago, but you have to price it carefully to gain the attention it deserves.  Speaking of pricing and analyzing comparable sold data, Red Oak has proprietary data for our clients.  My sellers are also able to study custom graphs scrutinize number of units sold, median pricing, average days on market and more.  What makes the data available to me different from my competitors is: neighborhoods are broken down into real neighborhoods, not just zip codes. I can access data on various square footage, bathroom count, select time or just one Thomas Brother Map Code. The possibilities are endless. Red Oak as a company scored a great coup, with the addition of Aman Daro, our Director of  Media.  I am fortunate enough to partner with him on all of my listings.  See my Bay Area recap on the next page, but please call or email me with your questions, I am happy to chat with you about your property.   - Deidre 510.693.4253

Are you up for a short sale?

The chart above illustrates the active conforming, (regular sales) and short sales by zip code in Oakland and Berkeley as of three days ago.  Short sales are here and we are all affected by them.  You as a seller might owe more than your home is currently worth and need to sell your property due to a life change; you could be a home-buyer and are in love with a property that is being sold as a short sale; or if there are multiple properties being sold as short sales in your neighborhood, (they are often being sold slightly under market price) and are affecting your home's value.  To learn more about short sales email me at,  deidre@redoakrealty.com.

What's Going On Out There

This chart shows Montclair market data from the first quarter of 1997 through the second quarter of 2011.  As you can see, sales and selling prices are trending down. As I was writing this blog post, I got word that my favorite property from last Thursday's Broker's Tour went pending in less than a week.  A cool mid century home on Saroni was built in 1950 and and renovated  to tug on the heart strings of any mid-century modern purist.  Click here to view the project. This home was in pristine condition, was tastefully renovated to enhance the property, (no Home Depot cookie cutter finishes here), is level and has a sunny backyard.  Additionally it was priced correctly, hence it is under contract.

Click on the link to view a cool video of the  Montclair district of Oakland.

Before and After in Oakland

Every buyer has a wish list as they venture out and start their house hunt.  My Crocker Highland buyers wanted a home in original condition.  They wanted to embrace the vintage details of  a 1920's or 1930's property and enhance it to blend with their modern edge.

All of the original gum wood was preserved.  The hardwood floors were refinished with a water based matte finish to open up the space.  The wall paper was removed and the plastered walls were hand restored.

North West Oakland, Time to Visit

If you follow my blog, you know what a foodie I am.  I love exploring new taste treats in Oakland and Berkeley.  A coworker told me about the new storefront for James and the Giant Cupcake. Eurydice Manning opened her concept in 2008, but realized her dream of opening her own shop, when her North Oakland location opened for business, just last week.

My Daughter, Nia has already made a special request for these cupcakes in lieu of a birthday cake for her next special day. Here you can also order gluten free and vegan varieties.

A thriving retail corridor, the area along the Oakland Berkeley border at San Pablo has been growing and is part of the Walk Score Renaissance that Oakland has experienced. This week Walk Score announced that Oakland ranked number ten in the nation’s most walkable cities.  In the past ten years, walk-ability has become more important to Oakland families and is part of the reason that home prices have remained relatively stable in our neighborhoods. Click here to read the article.

While I was there, I happened along the Actual Café, which is, as the name states, (with tongue firmly in cheek,) an ACTUAL Café, not a cyber one.  The owners invite you to unplug, kick up your feet and stay a while. There is a wonderful bike rack, free WiFi and they sell seriously local coffee, McLaughlin Coffee that is roasted a few blocks away in Emeryville.

A Verb for Keeping Warm is one of those Etsy-esque artisan knitting shops whose purveyors have a penchant for doing things by hand.  I discovered knitting classes and yarn dyed by hand right on the premises.

I love exploring my City, and it’s always a great time to support local business.  Consider a stroll in your very walkable Oakland!

Temescal life

Last Sunday I spent a great day at the Temescal Street Fair.  The weather was gorgeous, (not too hot.)  My company, Red Oak had a booth and so we were right there in the middle of the action.  It was quite a cast of characters.  There was live wrestling, not something you see at many street fairs, and my favorite, Barlata Tapas Bar with their famous paella.

Besides meeting our neighbors, Red Oak was there to promote the launch of our new neighborhood video series.

Click here to view!

It’s so fun to see all my neighbors out and about.  If you are not familiar with this vibrant neighborhood of Oakland, it’s worth a special trip, even on a non-street-fair day!

How Graphs Can Help Buyers

Often times people know what they want, but have no idea what it costs. I would love to live in Upper Rockridge for $600,000, but I know that is not feasible. A client came to me looking to buy a home in three specific neighborhoods - Rockridge, Claremont and Crocker Highlands.

He came to me with no real knowledge of the market or what these neighborhoods typically sell for. So as a way to help familiarize him with the market and the prices that these neighborhoods typically command, I had these graphs made for him. After he reviewed them, he was able to determine if these neighborhoods would in fact fit in his budget.

Below are some samples of the graphs I prepared for him: (Elmwood, Crocker Highlands, Claremont 1st quarter 2008 - April  2011)

Goats and Weed Control in Oakland

The City of Oakland has hired some furry friends to help with the weed problem at Joaquin Miller Park and other public grounds. Goats are excellent crawlers, climbers and jumpers, so they don't mind being on the side of steep hill.

Goats are also a natural and less expensive alternative to weed control. According to Ken Gee, Noble Foundation wildlife researcher, goats will choose weeds or woody plants 85 percent of the time and grasses only 13 percent of the time.