Berkeley vs. Montclair: A Touch of Comparison Shopping
I was so excited about seeing a Redfin sign outside a home for sale today that I almost veered off the road. Not a good thing when you’re driving along Skyline Boulevard which, as its name suggests, is a road at some height — one that twists along the ridge of the Berkeley and Oakland hills offering stupendous views, the ability to commune with nature with ease and hiking and biking opportunities galore.
The close encounter with that familiar Redfin logo led me to ponder on what it might be like to live in a home right there in the upper reaches of Montclair, and how the price of doing so might compare to buying a house in the flatlands of Berkeley, my usual stomping territory.
Montclair is a small autonomous town (although it is referred to as a “village”) in the Oakland hills. The town center is pretty nice with most of what you need, including a good bookshop and place for breakfast (The Egg Shop), as well as a proper camera shop and Sunday Farmers’ Market.
Friends who live there say it’s peaceful and their homes certainly seem to have a serenity about them — with views of rolling hills and deer roaming the streets. (This can’t be taken for granted in Berkeley, although a small flock of wild turkeys paid a visit to our front yard yesterday — does that count?)
A look at the number of rooms and bathrooms, square footage and standard of decoration in the sample of homes currently for sale in Montclair that I have selected below suggests you get more bang for your bucks there than in Berkeley.
7210 Woodrow Drive (above): A 4/3+ traditional with gardens, “designer” kitchen and billiard room for $1,199,000.
6657 Gunn Drive: 3++/5 “spacious” home with hardwood floors and downstairs 1/1 unit for $849,000.
131 Capricorn: 3/1 “remodeled” home with decks and patios (in the plural) for $959,000.
