Gorgeous Crisp Fall Morning in Oakland Today (Pictures) (Nice, London: condos, mortgage)

[llowllevellowll]

lol What do you use, Gentoo?

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by Parti Rhinocéros

lol What do you use, Gentoo?

I'm a Nikon guy.

[rah]

Nice pics! I love how the air is so clear after it rains...i love when we get thunderstorms too. After one particularly earth-shaking thunderclap, my cat freaked out so bad that she shot across the back yard at a speed that would make NASA envious. We need more thunderstorms, if only for my own amusement

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by rah

Nice pics! I love how the air is so clear after it rains...i love when we get thunderstorms too. After one particularly earth-shaking thunderclap, my cat freaked out so bad that she shot across the back yard at a speed that would make NASA envious. We need more thunderstorms, if only for my own amusement

One of the things we get here. Lotsa thunder storms with fantastic lightening displays, especially during the summer, although some are forcast for tomorrow. Last year I was literally blown back into my garage by one lightening bolt that hit the ground at the end of our driveway. Talk about a psychodelic light show, and I wasn't even on drugs!

[ssmaster]

speaking of the ellington : what percentage of units have been sold?
i know it's above 50%.

nicest pool and spa in residential downtown oakland area

[llowllevellowll]

Originally Posted by ssmaster

speaking of the ellington : what percentage of units have been sold?
i know it's above 50%.

nicest pool and spa in residential downtown oakland area

I asked her specifically and she said right around 50% and she expects to be sold out by the end of the 2011 calendar year.

I was looking for myself and not someone else. For me, I just don't need the high-end amenities and can't rationalize HOA's over $500 - even if it does have a pretty sweet rooftop pool. A pool is such an expense because of the upkeep and insurance liability involved - so I'm trying to avoid it. I wouldn't mind a really cool workout center, though.

[Stephen1110]

The Ellington sits in a nice place.

- Has views of downtown Oakland.
- surrounded by numerous

restaurants
retail shops
nice apartments
bus routes
businesses
movie theater
marinas

[jade408]

Originally Posted by Parti Rhinocéros

I asked her specifically and she said right around 50% and she expects to be sold out by the end of the 2011 calendar year.

I was looking for myself and not someone else. For me, I just don't need the high-end amenities and can't rationalize HOA's over $500 - even if it does have a pretty sweet rooftop pool. A pool is such an expense because of the upkeep and insurance liability involved - so I'm trying to avoid it. I wouldn't mind a really cool workout center, though.

Those $500 HOAs but a real damper on things don't they.

I saw an open house at 200 Second. They said "we have the lowest HOAs in JLS" (Around $370 for the 1 bedroom) I wanted to say..."you have the worst amenities..... AKA nothing but a few murals. I thought 428 Alice and the Sierra were pretty similar for HOAs? The older loft conversions are solidly in the upper $300s so they were misinformed.

[The Land]

Originally Posted by Parti Rhinocéros

I asked her specifically and she said right around 50% and she expects to be sold out by the end of the 2011 calendar year.

I was looking for myself and not someone else. For me, I just don't need the high-end amenities and can't rationalize HOA's over $500 - even if it does have a pretty sweet rooftop pool. A pool is such an expense because of the upkeep and insurance liability involved - so I'm trying to avoid it. I wouldn't mind a really cool workout center, though.

Yeah I remember when these first opened I went and toured, I was shocked by the prices a two bedroom unit with 1200 squarefeet was going for 700 K and the HOA's were $720. This was back in 2009 I'm sure prices have come down but I see HOA's are still high and depending on the unit probably can still go up into the 600's and 700's. These are nice but unless they lower their prices dramatically they won't be sold out considering you can get a house in Piedmont for the price of some of these units. I saw recently some units are even being rented out now and that's not a good sign.

[llowllevellowll]

Originally Posted by The Land

Yeah I remember when these first opened I went and toured, I was shocked by the prices a two bedroom unit with 1200 squarefeet was going for 700 K and the HOA's were $720. This was back in 2009 I'm sure prices have come down but I see HOA's are still high and depending on the unit probably can still go up into the 600's and 700's. These are nice but unless they lower their prices dramatically they won't be sold out considering you can get a house in Piedmont for the price of some of these units. I saw recently some units are even being rented out now and that's not a good sign.

That's exactly right. Condo living is nice and all and there's certainly a benefit to not having to maintain certain parts of your property, but when you factor in the amount of money you're spending monthly on an HOA payment instead of either saving it or putting those same funds into a SFH via a mortgage payment, you're talking in the range of $180,000 over the course of 30-years in the case of some of these JLS residences.

My pipe dream is that the A's get the ballpark done in Oakland in the next 5 years and we really see what happens with JLS - I think JLS has the opportunity to be a really, really great place to live. We need more night life, more shopping, and more condos for better competition!