I am busy getting everything set up to introduce my new listing in bustling Adams Point which is having a resurgence of activity and rising prices.
This listing, a fantastic 1172 SF, 2 Bedroom, 2 Bath PENTHOUSE with 450 SF ( per Sellers' measurements) , has no shared walls, 2 car gated garage parking and a private elevator key,  is truly a one of kind opportunity.
233 Orange Street Unit 401
Listed for $419,000 Open Sunday June 2 and June 9th -2-4:30.
Check my website and the flyer for a list of amenities and local treasures.http://www.justsellmyhouse.com/233-orange-oakland-penthouse.html

Look Behind My Ears

I can hear again and I know why ! I finally bought myself a pair of hearing aids at the Center For Better Hearing Aids. I had been tested at my beloved Kaiser many times and told that if I wanted to I should buy some hearing aids which might help my mid-level loss in both ears. After a flirtation wit a pair I bought there I returned them because "they didn't make much difference".

As a Realtor at Red Oak Realty in Berkeley, it is essential that I hear what my clients are saying all the time, that I do not miss the nuance of their comments. Until now and for a very long time that has been a more of a problem than I was willing to admit.

This winter I allowed myself to see Greg at The Center for Better Hearing in El Cerrito Plaza ( plenty of parking) where over three +/- months working him I came to understand that I do have a serious hearing loss which has been corrected.

Greg's style was to work patiently and meticulously with me on a regular basis, sometimes once a week, until the hearing aids were working effectively, feeling comfortable and staying put in my ears the way they must or else " why bother".
I wore the testers with Greg's adjusting them until they were perfect; at least perfect for me, and I trusted that the whole idea that wearing hearing aids was a significant addition to my life.

When we achieved that status he ordered me a pair of " ruby red"  hearing aids which turned out to be less Wizard of Oz sparkly shoe color and more muted red. We were initially disappointed but decided that it was a better color to blend in with my hair.  BTW, you cannot tell that I am wearing them unless I whip them off to proudly show them to you.

I was and am delighted with the attitude and intention of everyone at the Center and the care and kindness that I received. If you need hearing aids or even think that you do,  take the plunge as i did and make an appointment to explore the possibilities. The visits are free, including the testing, until you decide to buy the hearing aids. I am sure that you can pay a bit less at other venues but I know that you will not get better care insuring that you have bought just the right hearing aids for your loss and life style and achieved a clear understanding of what is causing your loss, than at The Center for Better Hearing Aids, nor could you work with nicer and more competent people.
BRAVO TO GREG AND HIS STAFF, AND TO ME WHO FINALLY BIT THE BULLITT AND CAN HEAR WHAT YOU ARE SAYING !

The Center for Better Hearing Aids is located in El Cerrito Plaza between See's Chocolates and the ones I now prefer at Trader Joe's.
    

 

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Challenges of Getting a Loan Post- Retirement

Even if you have mega - bucks or even a reasonable amount of money in the bank, refinancing or buying a new home when you don't have a steady income can be challenging.

Now, is the time to refinance or maybe buy your next home while you are still working.
I know that you can get a loan after retirement. But I also know that it will probably be more cumbersome. So why wait when your steady income will make getting a loan now easier.

Read all about it!

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/realestate/qualifying-for-a-loan-after-retirement.html?smid=fb-share

I Remember My Mama- May Newsletter

Barbara Hendrickson Realtor 510.708.3800 barbara@redoakrealty.com www.justsellmyhouse.com BRE #00780582 I remember my Mama. Do you remember yours? Mine died almost 21 years ago. But I remember her. She was an artist and musician. She is remembered by her students as an exemplary art teacher who motivated them to do their best work. She was Sylvia Applezweig until she married Lee Deiro, when her name was inadvertently misspelled on the invitations to their wedding. After than she became Silvia not Sylvia; not that it really mattered. She studied music and played her 1924 Baby Grand Steinway until she died. I had it shipped to Berkeley thinking I would like to have some of her around. "Moonlight Sonata" and Chopin's "Impromptu in A Flat Major" were two of my favorites. Last year I donated the piano to Congregation Beth El because no one in my life wanted to play it and it took up too much physical space in my life. Food was not her thing. Her idea of a stew was stew meat cooked in ketchup with canned vegetables. And dessert alway s had Cool Whip on it. But she was also sly. She frequently prepared TV dinners and set the food out on different platters, giving the illusion that she had cooked it all herself. After she was divorced, rumor has it that had a quite a social life, although she was discreet and I don't know much about it. I am just glad that she had fun. She wanted me to be popular, giving parties for me and my friends from school, camp and the village from the time I was 12 at Downtown Community School until I graduated from Music and Art. I am not sure that it worked the way she wanted it to, but my friends still talk about my parties on Barrow Street. She invented Trail Mix and delighted in setting it out along with drinks and chips and the other uncooked foods she bought at the store across Hudson Street. My mother, a progressive woman, didn't care who slept over or where they slept in our three story brownstone as long as she didn't find them in her bed. As you might imagine she was very popular with my friends. When I applied to Music and Art, she matted all of my work so that I had a stunning portfolio. She taught me how to use white paint to change the colors in my paintings. And of course she encouraged me to be a painter. Mama sold that brownstone in 1961 for $54,000, even after she changed her mind because the Realtor told her that she would owe him his fee even if she didn't sell it. It recently sold for $4,700,000. Don't worry, I never make anyone pay if they change their minds, but that was then and this is now and here. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer she told me not to be afraid, that she wasn't. She lived for 12 years after the diagnosis. Towards the end of her life, I would work on one of my paintings in the morning, take a Polaroid of it and Federal Express it to her so that we could discuss it the next day. We liked doing that and it helped us end our relationship on a positive note. Of course it wasn't all good. But this is a moment to remember Mama is her best light and so I do. Happy Mother's Day to all of you who are and to those of you who aren't but remember your Mamas. Barbara Click to friend me on Facebook! LINKS Search Listings Open Homes East Bay Neighborhoods Forward this to a friend DISCLAIMER		Real Estate Update ARE WE BACK IN A BUBBLE? Even knowing that prices are rapidly rising, every week brings at least one astonishing closing. It was not so long ago that a different boom was followed by the bursting of "the bubble." Is this another bubble? We don't think so and here is why: More stability: Most loans are now at fixed rates. You can't get a sub-prime loan, and the old ones have been mostly purged from the system.   More investment: Buyers now have higher down payments - most have at least 20% - and many have all cash. A boom is not a bubble unless it is empty. More truth: Both lenders and borrowers are required to disclose more. Buyers have a clearer idea of loan terms, and must undergo a more rigorous examination of their finances to qualify.   Less inventory: Inventory in our area will increase as more owners are free to sell because they are no longer "under water." But that is not likely to come in a surge.   Less speculation: In the previous decade we saw properties "flipped" multiple times before they were even built.   No more phantoms: Fear of back-logged foreclosures has dissolved. And new whispers about a mass sell-off by investors are improbable. At some point buyers will have more choices, or rising interest rates will hold them back. But this will stabilize the market, not kill it. Not everyone agrees. Karl Smith writes in Forbes Magazine: "Sometime in the near future it is very likely that credit standards for homebuyers will fall. This will allow homebuyers to make larger offers and it will allow young people to buy a home even when they lack a down payment. This rapid increase in the number of buyers and their purchasing power will likely drive home prices into a bubble." But our money is on Berkeley-based economist Ken Rosen and others presenting at the annual Fisher Center Real Estate Conference last month. Red Oak Realty CFO Kevin Hamilton attended in search of a deeper understanding of the underlying economics, particularly on the local level. Here is what he reported back to the Red Oak agents: "The speakers outlined the many reasons why the Bay Area has experienced an expedited road to recovery and higher than average appreciation rates. We still maintain a disproportionate percentage of high paying jobs, in-demand technologies, and venture capital funding - all long-term boons to a stable and organic recovery." So what's a buyer to do? Buy what you love, what you can afford, and what you anticipate holding for the long term. Get a fixed rate mortgage and save for a down payment to increase your buying power. Robert J. Shiller, Professor of Economics at Yale, seems to agree. In the concluding paragraph of his recent New York Times article: "With rates now relatively low, this could be an auspicious time to buy a house with a fixed-rate mortgage. That could make good sense for people who aren't out to bet on the housing or mortgage markets but are instead focused on settling into a home for the long term." Monthly Market Snapshot As the spring real estate market picks up its pace, the stats continue to impress. After suffering from a dearth of new listings, there has finally been a modest 5% increase in sales over last year. But the increase in inventory has not slowed down price appreciation, with median values up 80% - and in Oakland they're up 121%! Even more homes are selling over asking, now a median 10.3% above original list price. As we head into May and June, We expect the high end of the market to pick up, and prices will most likely follow. Mortgage Rates Employers created far more new jobs in April than expected -- and hiring was much stronger during the prior two months than originally reported. Both conditions led to a day of panic in the bond markets as mortgage investors expecting another weak report from the labor market. Non-farm payrolls rose 165,000 last month and the jobless rate fell to a four-year low of 7.5%. Payrolls rose 138,000 in March, 50,000 more than previously reported, and job growth for February was revised up by 64,000 to 332,000. The burst of job growth in February was the biggest since November 2005 for any month that did not include temporary Census bureau hiring. At first glance the numbers looked solid, but the devil is always in the details. Nearly one of every five new workers hired in April took jobs as temps, indicating companies are still reluctant to add permanent employees. The probabilities are high that employers are adjusting their operations ahead of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act later this year. Rather than being an anomaly, the hiring of temporary workers will likely increase and the hours worked by these temporary hires per week will edge lower as companies focus on avoiding the significant cost government mandated health-care dollar-outlays for full-time employees will add to net operating expenses. The national jobless rate was reported as 7.5% for April, but that number is an even larger 13.9%, up from 13.8% in March, if everyone who wants a full-time job but can't find one is included. The likelihood this measure of labor market conditions will grow in the coming months is high. The bottom line is that there is nothing in the recent data, or in forward-looking labor market forecasts, likely to dissuade the members of the Federal Open Market Committee from continuing their $85 billion monthly purchases of Treasury debt obligations and agency-eligible mortgage-backed securities. This means that the prospect for steady, low interest rates looks very good. It is still an ideal time to purchase or refinance a property. If you have any questions, please contact Faramarz Moeen-Ziai at Bank of Commerce Mortgage - fmz@bocm.com / 510-250-8725. MONTCLAIR'S MOVIE NIGHT SURVIVAL GUIDE Lawn chair. Check. Snacks from your favorite restaurant in the Village. Check. Beverages. Check. Action! What's the Red Oak Montclair Outdoor Cinema you ask? Picture this: local residents gathering outside in the heart of the Montclair Village, equipped with blankets and lawn chairs, setting up camp in the parking lot of a local business to watch a movie projected against a huge outdoor screen on a warm summer night. And... it's free! The 2013 Red Oak Montclair Outdoor Cinema series begins June 15th with the original Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. The movie will be shown in our parking lot at 6450 Moraga Avenue in Montclair Village, Oakland. The lot opens at 7:30pm and the movie will start shortly after 8:00, complete with free popcorn. Future movie nights will be held on the third Saturday of the summer, June through September, so stay tuned for more titles. Hope to see you there! RESTAURANT REVIEW: BELLI OSTERIA With wood-beamed walls, exposed brick and an overall industrial vibe, Belli Osteria is a welcome addition to the campus neighborhood. You'll have to like gluten if you want to dine here as ravioli is the signature dish. On a recent lunch hour I stopped in for the watermelon radish and truffle vinaigrette salad paired with black ravioli with salmon, grilled prawns and lemon zest in crema smitana. Different AND fabulous. The perfect amount of dressing on the salad and the perfect portion of ravioli. The wait staff is friendly, prompt and knowledgeable about the locally grown organic menu. Between the great weather and the slew of new dining options, we don't expect many Berkelyites to leave the Bay Area any time soon. Here's to more months of low inventory. Belli Osteria 2016 Shattuck Ave at University, Berkeley, 510.704.1902. Lunch M-F 11:3 0am-2pm; Dinner Mon-Thu 5:30-9pm, Fri-Sat 5:30-10pm, Sun 5-9pm.
1891 SOLANO AVENUE, BERKELEY CA 94707  ·  www.redoakrealty.com  ·  6450 MORAGA AVENUE, OAKLAND CA 94611