Moving to Oakland area from Pasadena

[Tallysmom]

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.

Monte Vista -- yep -- they qualify price wise, but lack the walkability and other criteria set up by the OP.

Durant Square would be more walkable -- but would you want to? Neighborhood isn't the best... I speak from experience.

Two weeks ago, I heard banging on the side of my house, went out side and interrupted a "pavement princess" and her client ....banging on the side of my house.

This is the SECOND time....that I know of. I sleep like the dead -- heavens knows what happens then.

[City Boy]

Originally Posted by baybook

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.

It Matters because in order to move the place the fastest you have to drop the price to a point where it attracts buyers. You can't do a short sale at market value and expect to get buyers. Banks already drag out the process for months on end.

[sonarrat]

Originally Posted by 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'

I sleep in a 9x9 bedroom with a walk-in closet. It's cozy for sure, but it fits a digital piano, queen-size bed, and dresser with enough room to walk around.

[baybook]

If you have a short sales in your neighborhood, the pricing impacts you. No one is going to buy your place at 500 when there have been sales (short, foreclosed or otherwise) for 250. No one, unless they are paying cash.

If the OP finds a house, wants to buy and makes a reasonable offer while the house is on the market, no bank is going to drag out getting through escrow.

[City Boy]

Originally Posted by baybook

If you have a short sales in your neighborhood, the pricing impacts you. No one is going to buy your place at 500 when there have been sales (short, foreclosed or otherwise) for 250. No one, unless they are paying cash.

If the OP finds a house, wants to buy and makes a reasonable offer while the house is on the market, no bank is going to drag out getting through escrow.

I see what you're saying but short sales are special circumstances. Alot of times they just go to foreclosure because the bank takes so long approving offers. Especially right now with so many foreclosures taking up their time. I'm in the process of a short sale now and the offers that have come in have driven the price up almost 100K of what we were offering. So the price listed will usually end up being what is market value or close to it based on people trying to out bid one another. The price looks good at first but ends up not being so much of a deal.

[fizbin]

Originally Posted by Ultrarunner

Bedrooms also requires a window area of 10 sq feet with half of that... 5 sq feet openable... nothing about closets.

Somewhere in the real estate world (appraisers or elsewhere) I thought a closet was required to be listed as a bedroom. That was the explanation given for why our house was listed as a four bedroom rather than five. We do have one extra big room with no closet that we use for our AV stuff.

[Ultrarunner]

Originally Posted by fizbin

Somewhere in the real estate world (appraisers or elsewhere) I thought a closet was required to be listed as a bedroom. That was the explanation given for why our house was listed as a four bedroom rather than five. We do have one extra big room with no closet that we use for our AV stuff.

Could be... it might also be a FHA or VA thing...

I was surprised the City of Oakland considers a room for building fee purposes a bedroom without a closet.

The Oakland Housing Authority has a broader interpretation... they require a bedroom to have a closet... but the closet can be free-standing.

We have some 1850-60 homes in the area and a couple I've been in do not have closets in every bedroom...

I ran into a similar problem with an appraiser... the "Bedroom" was 10 x 14 with a large built-in closet and a screened skylight that opened for ventilation... the appraiser would not count it as a bedroom because none of the walls had a window

Maybe an appraiser can cite the code section?

[artemis78]

Individual cities actually have specific code on this, so it could just be that it varies between wherever these homes were. I'm not sure of Oakland's (or if they specify to begin with, other than OHA), but it's pretty common to require that the room be on an external wall, have a window, and not be accessed through another bedroom. Not all cities have the closet requirement, though.

[westcoastbound]

Looks like we're going to be living in a closet (maybe with a window)
Sounds like our move may very well not be realistic.
We may need to go back to the drawing board and reassess our options.
I really appreciate all of your input.

[Ultrarunner]

That's what City-Data.com is all about... asking questions and getting answers

Good Luck on which ever you decide...

Post again if you have more questions!!!