Moving to Oakland area from Pasadena (Vista, Montclair: short sales, foreclosures, townhouses)

[daepro]

Adams Point is fine. Great shops, nice people, near the Lake with plenty going on. My advice is to come and take a look.
As for crime, Urban areas have issues that occur all over. Be aware of your suroundings, lock your house and you should be fine.

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by daepro

Adams Point is fine. Great shops, nice people, near the Lake with plenty going on. My advice is to come and take a look.
As for crime, Urban areas have issues that occur all over. Be aware of your suroundings, lock your house and you should be fine.

Yup.

Adams Point is a nice area.

[Puddy4LyF]

Originally Posted by City Boy

Yea I knew it was going to be that size based on the how old the homes are in that area. Closets are a huge selling point today

You can find 2/3-bedroom, 1400 sq. ft. condos/townhomes in Benicia, Hercules, Pinole, and El Sobrante for 115-200k if you're willing to drive.

[City Boy]

Originally Posted by Puddy4LyF

You can find 2/3-bedroom, 1400 sq. ft. condos/townhomes in Benicia, Hercules, Pinole, and El Sobrante for 115-200k if you're willing to drive.

I know, but I'm talking about Oakland.

[baybook]

Maybe I am in a bad mood today but what are you talking about?

There are condos and townhouses in the old Leona Quarry that are under 350k. The area is more than decent. These are 2+ bedrooms. The Durant Square complexes also have units under 350.

There are plenty of places to look if you want to live in Oakland. And no, you don't need to stick to Rockridge and Montclair to have a safe, decent place to live.

Originally Posted by City Boy

Unless it's a short sale or foreclosure you will not be able to find a decent sized condo or town home for under $350K. 1 Bedroom yes, but anything larger than that will cost you $350k and up.

[City Boy]

Originally Posted by baybook

Maybe I am in a bad mood today but what are you talking about?

There are condos and townhouses in the old Leona Quarry that are under 350k. The area is more than decent. These are 2+ bedrooms. The Durant Square complexes also have units under 350.

There are plenty of places to look if you want to live in Oakland. And no, you don't need to stick to Rockridge and Montclair to have a safe, decent place to live.

What are you talking about? I don't care if it has 3 bedrooms just to say it has 3 bedrooms, 3 bedrooms crammed into a 1000 square foot house is not something i'll pay for. If there are plenty of them, post them up. Post up a non fixer upper, non Foreclosure/short sale good sized 2+ bedroom house under 350 K.

[fizbin]

Originally Posted by baybook

And no, you don't need to stick to Rockridge and Montclair to have a safe, decent place to live.

But it helps!!

(I kid.)

[westcoastbound]

It's amazing what they'll call a bedroom these days. My criteria: it needs a window and a closet to be officially a bedroom. But some families call extra space a bedroom to get more home buyers to check it out.

[Ultrarunner]

Off topic... a bedroom is defined by one building department as a habitable room no less than 70 sq ft with no dimension less than 7 feet... So a 7' x 10' would qualify as would a 9' x 8'

Bedrooms also requires a window area of 10 sq feet with half of that... 5 sq feet openable... nothing about closets. In fact one builder tried to avoid a $200 additional city fee per bedroom by not installing sliding closet doors in all the rooms except for the master bedroom... Building Department saw right through that and still charged the bedroom tax/fee even without closets. Others custom homes use the European Standard which is no closets... armoires/wardrobes are then the closet of choice.

Of course, older homes that have not been altered are supposed to be grandfathered back to the codes at the time of construction... so you won't find windows meeting modern dimensions in a Victorian... for instance.

There are additional code items regarding window sill height from the floor and minimum ceiling height and smoke detector requirements...

Rooms smaller have traditionally been called a office/study, sewing/craft room or bonus room...

Practically speaking for most of the last century a non master bedroom bedroom of 10' x 12' was considered more than adequate...

[baybook]

Originally Posted by City Boy

What are you talking about? I don't care if it has 3 bedrooms just to say it has 3 bedrooms, 3 bedrooms crammed into a 1000 square foot house is not something i'll pay for. If there are plenty of them, post them up. Post up a non fixer upper, non Foreclosure/short sale good sized 2+ bedroom house under 350 K.

I'm talking about your comment. ;-)

You said that one would not be able to find anything under 350 except for maybe a 1 bedroom condo. You didn't say house, you said condo/th. Here are a few links.
6101 Old Quarry Loop, Oakland, CA 94605 Oakland Hills MLS# 40375083 - Property Details
Old Quarry Loop, Oakland, CA 94605 MLS# 40408026 - Property Details
323 Castro St #323, Oakland, CA 94607 Jack London Sq MLS# 40398382 - Property Details
1597 Chandler St, Oakland, CA 94603 MLS# 40410316 - Property Details

I'm not sure why it would matter if the listing is a short. Shorts affect the entire neighborhood, so prices should be conparable, no?
Originally Posted by City Boy
Unless it's a short sale or foreclosure you will not be able to find a decent sized condo or town home for under $350K. 1 Bedroom yes, but anything larger than that will cost you $350k and up.