Oakland Real Estate

Oakland Real Estate Has Lots To Offer Prospective Homebuyers

Many are drawn to the unique neighborhoods

There are certainly many people in the Bay Area who believe that Oakland is populated exclusively by folks who can’t afford to live anywhere else. Or aren’t smart enough to realize how bad off they are.

Suburbanites (some are my dear friends) look on us with pity and shake their heads at the nightly news broadcasts which detail robbery, murder and mayhem on the streets of Oakland. To live here is to be more or less constantly on the defensive about your choice of location, and to be angry and saddened at the stubbornness of our problems. To live in Oakland is to routinely meet with rock solid convictions that there’s nothing good to be had here.

How then to explain the approximately 1,800 home buyers who took on mortgages here in 1993, thus promising to live at least for the near future in this city of contradictions ? Surely they all knew of Oakland’s awesome reputation.

Interviewing some of my own clients revealed interesting perspectives.

Many of Oakland’s new residents are first-time buyers who do approach our town with trepidation, having heard the worst from friends and family (none of whom have ever lived in Oakland; many have never visited). High crime, bad neighborhoods, uncaring, hostile neighbors, terrible schools, all await the home buyer native enough to consider Oakland.

And yet, shown the neighborhoods in their price range, whether Maxwell park, the Laurel, the Glenview , the Oakmore, or Crocker Highlands , prospective home buyers are unfailingly surprised and delightedwith what’s available to them.

Many searched diligently in other areas before coming to Oakland, leaving this town as a last resort. If lucky enough to come upon a Realtor who knows about the neighborhoods here, they will learn what many of my clients did: we have more affordable, interesting, stable, centrally located neighborhoods than any other city within driving distance.

What brings first-time buyers to Oakland? The past years saw interest rates at historic lows, enabling hundreds of buyers to get into their first home. Lenders encouraged this new clientele  by offering low down payment and low interest rate packages. When interest rates were lowest , buyers could go with 3-5 percent down payments and start out with a 3.25 percent interest rate. These variable loans can adjust up two percent every year (and probably will) with a cap of 9.875 percent. People who are comfortable with the probability of their payments going up took advantage of these loans to buy “more house” in better neighborhoods.

The low interest rates combined with reduced prices made a huge difference to my clients, Amelia and Jim. We looked diligently for several months until the home of their dreams came within their reach in the Grand Avenue area. By that time they understood the loan process and had seen many areas of Oakland . They were ready to go forward with confidence. Amelia says, “We totally fell in love with this house and this neighborhood. Initially we looked in Berkeley and found it too expensive, so we came here. What started out as fiscal decision as we fell in love with our house and our Rose Garden neighborhood.”

Jerry and Wendy, another young couple, found themselves able to afford a lovely Craftsman bungalow  in the Glenview. The came from San Francisco, where there was no possibility they could have bought a house. In Oakland, we found a house which needed some work — drainage, interior paint, floors refinished. After exhaustive inspections and much agonizing, they decided to go ahead and buy, because they liked both the house and the neighborhood. I felt the projects to come for them would not be beyond their capabilities. The price was a real stretch for them, but they’re glad the did it. Spending every weekend painting walls has replaced trips away and movies for the time being, but they did manage to go camping this summer. Jerry says, “I love living in this city. My co-workers in San Francisco say, ‘you must live high in the Oakland hills if you like it so much,’ but I tell them, no, I live on a hill in Oakland, but it’s pretty close to the flats. My neighbors are just great… we were welcomed when we moved in, and this month everyone’s trading apples and plums from their backyard trees. I have coffee with my elderly neighbor down the street  every morning before I walk our new dog. Oakland turned out to be just great for us. I’m proud to live in Oakland now.”

‘Everything is so easy here. You can drive 10 minutes, park, and enjoy yourself, no hassles.’

— FRANK, A JOAN DARK CLIENT

Meredith and Susan , who found a home in Maxwell Park, are equally fond of their neighborhood. Susan got very involved in solving some problems with an unsavory apartment building up the street. ” If I’d moved to the ‘burbs I never would have known about neighborhood activism,” she says only slightly ironically. It sounds crazy, but Susan learned some new skills. she decided something was not acceptable in her neighborhood, organized the neighbors, and began the work it takes to clean up a nuisance. She says the problem is gone now, and she feels safe. “Living in Oakland — I wouldn’t trade it for anything. It’s a place with a lot of heart.”

A common thread running through my first-time buyers’ conversations was their discovery of neighbors and neighborhoods. All were renters before and had hardly looked at their environment. All that changes with home ownership. I tell buyers to cruise their prospective neighborhoods at several different times and days of the week to see what goes on. Also, they talk to prospective neighbors to ask if there are any problems there. “We never realized neighbors took care of each other the way ours do. If we needed help with anything, they’d be here in a minute. And we do the same,” comments Wendy. ” We never even knew our neighbors where we lived befor.”

Typically, new buyers are delighted with Oakland’s diversity. ” My neighbors are white, black, Hispanic, Chinese, gay, young, old, cheerful, crabby, musical, eccentric and every combination you could think of . We have block parties where the kids put on skits, we go Christmas caroling, we have Home Alert meetings. People here have problem living next to each other,” says Frances of her Piedmont Avenue neighborhood.

There’s diversity of activity, too. People are thrilled to be so close to parks, lakes, the bay (Jack London Square is a big hit, both the bookstore and Sunday morning farmer’s market), interesting shopping districts  (Piedmont Avenue, College, Lake-shore) and numberless cultural activities. “Everything is so easy here. You can drive 10 minutes, park, and enjoy yourself, no hassles,” marvels Frank. “I used to just pray I could find parking somewhere near my house in the city, forget finding it near any place else I wanted to go.”

New buyers patronize Oakland merchants almost exclusively. They seek out produce stores, supermarkets, movies, bookstores, hardware stores, restaurants, dry cleaners. “We find people to be so friendly here. At ‘our’ hardware store, they know us by name now,” comments another client who’s working on his house.

The two biggest issues for new-comers to Oakland are the same ones we are all concerned with: crime and schools. Crime, interestingly enough, is taken in stride. ” If you like living in a city, you have to figure out how you’re going to deal with crime, especially violent crime. I’ve always felt safe in Oakland, believe it or not, but I’m watchful and careful. Just normal common-sense precautions— after dark, park close, don’t walk alone, things like that. I’m personally willing to deal with the crime issue in return for the benefits of living in the city.” “In the suburbs, you trade the perception of safety for boredom. I’m not willing to trade.”

Schools are a perennial problem. Several clients said their street is full of children and not one goes to the local neighborhood school. Parents know what the problems are, but they seem so overwhelming that it would be impossible to improve the schools in time for their children to attend. “The greatest real estate boom in history would happen if  Oakland school test scores suddenly rose to rival Piedmont’s,” an unlikely scenario, laments another client contemplating a family. “We don’t know what we’ll do… we really hate to think of leaving, and probably won’t.”

As for advice to other first-time buyers, Jerry says, “By all means, look in Oakland. You’ll be really surprised how nice it is and what you can afford. Just be prepared to explain yourself to everybody you know who’s an ‘expert’ on Oakland and thinks you’re crazy.”

Oakland’s benefits far out-weigh its negatives, at least according to its newest residents.

Joan Dark is a Realtor with Pacific Union in Montclair.