Missin my hometown of Oakland! (Berkeley, Richmond: for sale, 2015, foreclosures)
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Remember the concept of Tiers. Well Oakland had quite a bit more cheap housing than everyone else. I don't have the time to go and compare housing prices for middle class neighborhoods for Oak/Albany/El Cerrito/Berk. But those prices are the same. Median isn't helpful in this case since Oakland has way more homes under $200k than those similar cities. And far more condos. Albany/El Cerrito/Berkeley do not have equivalent neighborhoods to the ones with under $200k prices. A better comparison: if you spend $600k, $800k or $1M, what do you get? Are they pretty close? How about $400k?
Your concept and "theory" might work if any of the cities you were comparing were vastly different, but the neighborhoods in El Cerrito don't defer too greatly from those in Oakland.
While El Cerrito may not have an abundance of low income neighborhoods aka Section 8 gang lands, like Oakland, the city also doesn't have a number of ultra high end neighborhoods like Oakland does (namely Hill neighborhoods). On the surface, your theory doesn't take that into account. The point being, in the end, it still evens out, and the base logic of "people speak with their feet and dollars" still applies.
But if you'd like to take the time to show how your "tier" theory applies to the East Bay cities you listed, I'm all ears (eyes).
Last edited by Mr. Fantastic; 10-26-2010 at 11:58 AM..
The majority of those cities are exterior bedroom communities, especially Suisun and Dixon. Richmond is a high crime area on par with Oakland, and Emeryville is a mostly condo zoned area with very few SFRs. The point being, those cities have serious negatives associated with them, the biggest of which is a lot of them are bedroom communities which is why BayDude's comparison with "East Bay" cities made sense.
Also a 20% increase in which zip codes? Through my MLS account, the entire city of Oakland has seen a 30% increase in inventory since October of last year. That's very telling when it comes to examining sales data. When inventory increases by 30%, it pretty much shows that nothing is selling.
Well back to the OP's original point, whenever I visit the Bay Area, I do enjoy Oakland, especially around Lake Merritt (sp?). I'm aware of the areas to avoid, I avoid similar areas here on Oahu. But Oakland and SF are both wonderful IMO. Being a California girl, I love it all.
Sadly your city is filled with so many killings and even cops are afraid to live there
Dying on the streets of Oakland is preferable to living in some trailer trashy seaside hole where NY rejects flee to.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Fantastic
While El Cerrito may not have an abundance of low income neighborhoods aka Section 8 gang lands, like Oakland, the city also doesn't have a number of ultra high end neighborhoods like Oakland does (namely Hill neighborhoods). On the surface, your theory doesn't take that into account. The point being, in the end, it still evens out, and the base logic of "people speak with their feet and dollars" still applies.
I love El Cerrito. The retail strip along San Pablo Av is very SoCal-ish but the neighborhoods up on the hill are textbook Bay Area. Oh and the views are just to die for.
As far as the hood below Macarthur Bl, from the San Leandro border all the way to the lake, home prices tend to be cheap and don't start to climb until around Seminary Av depending on the area.
Some areas in East Oakland below Macarthur are actually a bit upscale relative to the rest of the area, Maxwell Park comes to mind immediately.
By the time you get to Ivy Hill and cross Park Blvd, across the street, prices in Cleveland Heights soar due to its lakefront location and general demographic that lives there(wealthy).
In the Hills, the SE Hills (except for the area around Campus Drive which is expensive due to those huge view lots and also the huge equestrian estates along Skyline Blvd) are relatively less expensive than the NW Hills. Seqouyah, Grass Valley, Golf Links, Chabot Park are all underpriced IMO. Excellent neighborhoods too but less expensive than the NW Hills.
I have to say also, that the most expensive homes in Oakland rarely come on the market. Sometimes we'll have a trophy estate come on the market-the last time a really exquisite equestrian estate came on the market in the Skyline-Hillcrest Estates area was over 10 years ago imo. There's a lot of 'old' money up there and those homes hardly ever go on the market.
The NW Hills particularly around Piedmont are very expensive relatively speaking. Upper Rockridge has many homes built in the 1990s(inclunding mine) following the Firestorm of 1991 which destroyed thousands of homes. When homes in Upper Rockridge come online, its usually at least 1.2 Million and top out at around 5 Million--keep in the mind the lots are very small compared to similarly priced homes in other expensive Bay Area locations.
Montclair is a huge area that has many homes built on hillsides so steep that they can only be built on stilts and the home has virtually no backyard. A level lot in Montclair is rare and when it does come on the market its very expensive.
Anyway there are tons of other areas to talk about.
If I had to guess what was the most exclusive neighborhood in Oakland, I think its a toss up between Hiller Highlands, Claremont or Piedmont Pines...maybe even Skyline-Hillcrest Estates.
I pick these 4 cause they have amazing homes that almost NEVER come on the market.
Anyway we could talk all day about Oakland's rich areas and poor areas...LOL
The majority of those cities are exterior bedroom communities, especially Suisun and Dixon. Richmond is a high crime area on par with Oakland, and Emeryville is a mostly condo zoned area with very few SFRs. The point being, those cities have serious negatives associated with them, the biggest of which is a lot of them are bedroom communities which is why BayDude's comparison with "East Bay" cities made sense.
Also a 20% increase in which zip codes? Through my MLS account, the entire city of Oakland has seen a 30% increase in inventory since October of last year. That's very telling when it comes to examining sales data. When inventory increases by 30%, it pretty much shows that nothing is selling.
19.87% is the composite including all Oakland Zip Codes August to August...
When out of town guests come for a visit... no visit is complete without a meal on the Oakland side of College Ave and/or Piedmont Ave... and no visit is complete without a stop at Fenton's Creamery...
Had house guests visit a few weeks ago... they had lived here in the mid 80's and were prepared for ground zero based on media coverage... they commented repeatedly about being pleasantly surprised to find their old areas thriving.
Oakland is big enough to be all things to all people... what ever you are looking for... you will find it in Oakland
19.87% is the composite including all Oakland Zip Codes August to August...
You know, I really went to look at the numbers on this, and I found that actually Oakland sales are up year-over-year using August. However, I found that homes "for sale by owner occupant" were down by nearly 70%. There is only one explanation for that, the sales volume in 2010 is mostly explained by bank foreclosures, and REOs. That's sickening, and really shows where Oakland's real estate market is at the moment.
LOL Why do Oakland people need validation from others that they live in a good city? If a given city is awesome it speaks for itself. It will be self-evident and people will vote with their feet, property values will rise etc.
Now ask yourself this question:
Why are property values in Oakland consistently averaging among the lowest in the east bay area (if not the entire bay)?
Because it has some of the oldest, most decrepit and most unfinancable real estate in California. Durant Manor is in Deep East Oakland and it has very healthy property values.
LOL Why do Oakland people need validation from others that they live in a good city? If a given city is awesome it speaks for itself. It will be self-evident and people will vote with their feet, property values will rise etc.
Now ask yourself this question:
Why are property values in Oakland consistently averaging among the lowest in the east bay area (if not the entire bay)?
exactly, Oakland residents don't NEED validation that their city is a great place in many ways. Just like they don't need negative "validation" from trolls who to try and tell them what their home is REALLY like. How lame can you get?
As for property values, you do realize that Oakland has a huge amount of very expensive homes, right? And voting with your feet? Oakland is at it's highest population EVER, just like SF and SJ. What about crime? Oakland's murder rate this year is significantly below what it was last year.
You trolls keep trying, and the facts keep proving you wrong....But who needs facts when you have your own twisted delusions (and that garbage TV show "Gangland" LOL), right?
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