Real estate stories in San Francisco’s East Bay
Just listed: this four-bedroom, 3.5-bathroom home at 161 Avenida Drive up in the north Berkeley hills. Designed by Paul Wang in 2003, it is described as “serene”, “secluded” and “spectacular” all at the same time.
Perhaps most interesting, though, is the price: $1,685,000, which is a not insignificant $240,000 (12.5%) down on the $1,925,000 it changed hands for just three years ago.
Lotus founder Mitchell Kapor last week secured approval to build a large, contemporary-design home on Rose Street in north Berkeley.
Read about it on the Block today.
Here’s my pick of three Berkeley homes (pictured in listed order) that have just come up for sale, and that may be worth adding to your list this weekend.
661 Santa Rosa Avenue: Price: $949,000. If the Mediterranean style is your thing, this 3-bedroom, 1,733 sq ft home in the Thousand Oaks neighborhood may float your boat. Lots of elegant archways and what’s referred to as a “dramatic” sunken living room. Listed with Red Oak Realty.
2853 Stanton Street: Price: $425,000. This 2-bedroom bungalow with the pretty front garden is near San Pablo Park and the new Berkeley Bowl West. Highlights are the large backyard and an enclosed deck. Listing with Alameda Victorians.
1329 Ordway Street: Price: $979,000. Contemporary feel to a 1920s home. Remodeled, 4-bedroom, 3-bathroom with a penchant for mocha paint. Close to BART, shops and restaurants. Listing with Grubb Company.
First published on Berkeleyside.
Anyone wanting to get their hands on an architecturally distinctive property in Berkeley — and with $3,680,000 to spare — is in luck with the recent arrival on the market of this multi-unit complex on Codornices Road.
Designed by Henry Gutterson in 1924, the nine units are across the way from Bernard Maybeck’s Rose Walk. Four of the duplexes face a garden, and a cottage with a large deck faces Codornices Road near Rose Garden.
Because the buildings are landmarked, property tax relief is available for the buyer who takes them on. “Tremendous potential” — or so says the listing.
According to new research, published in Forbes, renters in the metropolitan area of San Francisco, Oakland and Fremont are in a sweet spot if they are contemplating taking the plunge and becoming homeowners.
Read more about it on my Block post today.
Home Girl is a huge fan of walkability — and the need to reduce our dependence on cars. But Walk Scores can be misleading.
Read about “deep walkability” — of which the new listing at 5370 Miles Avenue in Oakland (above) has plenty — on my Block post today.
Things ain’t what they used to be in Mill Valley. This three-bedroom secluded home at 10 Lockwood Lane, for example, whose pool and waterfall was featured in Sunset Magazine, has been on the market for 168 days and its price has twice been chopped. Originally $1,375,000, it is now down to $1,250,000.
Read more about languishing Mill Valley listings on the Block today.
This David Stark Wilson designed home at 5 Woodside Way in the Oakland hills has just had a second price chop bringing its total reduction to $650,000, a sum which would buy you a perfectly decent house in some other Oakland neighborhoods.
The four-bedroom home, built in 1994, has the requisite gourmet kitchen (above), panoramic bridge views, a wine cellar, in-law suite, level lot and yard and a “functional floorplan join to create a timeless, private residence”.
The originial asking price in September 2009 was $3,600,000 and it’s now down to $2,950,000 — the price, which Stark Wilson sold his own home for last month.
A languishing mega-estate in the Berkeley-Oakland hills has re-appeared on the market with a slimmed down, although still substantial, price-tag.
We were pondering this substantial home a while back on Home Girl.
Read the latest on 7080 Norfolk Drive, which is now listed for $3,899,000, on the Block today.
Back in November, reader Debtpocalypse alerted us to a listing at 252 Stanford Avenue in Kensington (above). He wrote: “$1.7 million for a sub-7,000 sqft lot in Kensington? Good luck with that.. This is the silliest listing in quite some time.”
Well, the home in question — a Michael Thomas-designed mid-century modern house on three levels, did not reduce its asking price, has found a buyer and is now marked “sale pending”.
We will be sure to report back when — if — the closing price is revealed, just to see how “silly” this listing turned out to be.