In the past, we have discussed how important curb appeal can be to potential buyers.  We have made some suggestions about making the home as appealing as possible-both inside and out.  Now let us reverse the roles.  Let's assume you are looking at an Alameda home or an Alameda Bay Farm Island home with the intention of buying it.  It looks right.  It feels right.  However, you have only been inside on a tour once, or possibly a few more times.  What is the next step towards making the decision?  How can you avoid discovering unpleasant surprises once you purchase the home?  Besides the obvious home inspections and disclosures that you would be receiving, an additional plan towards making your decision is to drive around the area-a lot!

 You really…

1724 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

As the result of a recently published analysis of various housing markets, Zillow-a multi use real estate web site, has concluded that the San Francisco Metropolitan Area is the second best area in the United States for home sellers.  The first area is the San Jose Metropolitan Area-not too far away.

Since the San Francisco Metropolitan Area, by definition, includes Oakland homes, Piedmont homes and other East Bay cities, that is encouraging news for those making plans to sell a home in our area. 

The criteria, for defining a seller's market, according to Zillow, is "one where sellers are more likely to sell their home for close to asking price, and where listings spend less time on the market."

Obviously, this situation varies from city to city,…

1780 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post