City offers families more for real estate their money

There are several populations other than recent newcomers who’ve bought homes in Oakland and are pleased with their choice.

One group is composed of first-time buyers who’ve been here well over two years. They have much better feel for the city now than in their first hectic year of home ownership. “During our first year, all we did was paint and dig in the garden every single weekend,” says Carl. “We were either in a fog of paint fumes or covered with redwood compost dust for months and months, but we wanted to get the house the way we wanted it. We didn’t have money for frills anyway, after making the house payment.” But after a few years, salaries catch up with house payments and the new buyers get some relief from the close ratio of income to house payments that qualified them to buy in the first place.

“We had no thought what a fantastic neighborhood the Oakmore is when we went into it,” enthuses Jackie. “We thought it looked excellent, and we loved the house, but we got really lucky with our neighborhood, I have a friend who fell in like with a house in Walnut Creek, bought it, and found his neighbors to be terribly snooty, nosy and disagreeable. He despises it there now. I have another friend who went into the Oakland hills, and he’s so sick of his neighbors fighting over views that he’d like to live somewhere else more peaceful, too. On our street, people are really nice and friendly. My husband can work on his car on the weekends and nobody complains.

Lincoln Heights district for over four years, and has recently married a woman with two teen-age boys. “My elderly next-door neighbor “adopted” me when I first went here. I was the only single guy in the neighborhood, and I reckon she worried that I’d starve to death or something. Now she’s adopted the boys, gives them books and cookies and watches our place when we’re gone. She’s fantastic.” The fact that James was the first minority in the neighborhood is further testimony to the welcoming atmosphere in this town.

James has to chuckle, though about people’s perception of Oakland. “When I tell them I live in Oakland, people say, “I didn’t realize IBM (his employer) paid so poorly,’ or they don’t say anything, but they just look at you strangely. Oakland has a reputation and image even in Chicago, where I’m from. But I say, give it a chance. Come and take a look. You’ll be surprised how nice it is.”

(more…)

The real estate in Berkeley has always remained immune to price shocks and market crashes. According to the ‘Daily Californian’, in September 2009, home prices in Berkeley were down 12% from the prices in September 2008. But that decline was insignificant compared to those seen in other areas of California. Reports showed that prices in southern Berkeley had, in fact, gone up by 31%.

According to the ‘California Association of Realtors’ the median price for homes for sale in Berkeley was $621,500 in October 2009, down from $675,000 in October 2008. They say that single digit decline was not even half of other cities in California had.

What makes Berkeley real estate immune to market crashes? Experts say its notably well-educated and affluent residents, and its world-famous higher education institutions. Berkeley is home to the University of California, the oldest of the University of California system. The city’s residents are also among the most reliably liberal in the U.S., with one study placing it as the third most liberal city in the nation.

The University of California-Berkeley dominates economic life in the city. A full 7 percent of male and 5 percent of female Berkeley residents are employed as post secondary teachers, while many other residents are employed as staff in other capacities by the university. Others commute to jobs in other cities within the Bay Area, including Oakland and San Francisco, both home to the headquarters of many multinational corporations.

Berkeley is served by Amtrak (Capitol Corridor), AC Transit, BART (Downtown Berkeley Station, North Berkeley, and Ashby Station) and bus shuttles operated by major employers. AC Transit has proposed a new transit project for the Berkeley-Oakland-San Leandro corridor: Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). Berkeley is the safest city of its size in California for pedestrians and cyclists, considering the number of injuries per pedestrian and cyclist, rather than per capita. (more…)