Bay Area Sweet Digs

April 14, 2008

Haddon Hill Hottie

452haddon Haddon Hill HottieSomething must be piquing your interest on 45 Haddon Road in Oakland, as it showed up as the leader in our Daily Stats. Maybe its exterior charm? Price? Location? I, for one, cannot be sure what it is. The agent has posted a lovely hand-drawn rendition of the front of the home. Pretty lawn, well manicured bushes, all very inviting. Unfortunately there are no pictures, exterior or interior, to back it up. And given the fact that it is listed as a fixer-upper, I am hesitant to believe what I see. As for the price, well, it was just reduced from $529,000 to $498,000 (6%), after only 34 days on the market. At $284 per square foot, that would seem to be a bargain, at least compared to nearby similar listings and recent sales. Even Zillow and eppraisal show significantly higher estimates (although cyberhomes seems to have hit closer to the mark with a value of $464,508). Problem with all these comps and guesses is that they don’t take into consideration the condition of the property, which is currently listed as a 3/3 SFR but has been legally converted to a tri-plex. So it needs work to convert back to a SFR (and possibly updating as well). As for location, the agent describes it as a “desirable neighborhood.” I’m not sure this is true. Using the City of Oakland’s Crime Watch, I did a search for any crimes committed within ½ mile of the home (see image right). Wow! Vehicle theft: about 45. Theft: about 40. Robbery: 27. Simple Assault: 15. Burglary: 9. Aggravated Assault: 5. That seems like a lot to me, but then again, I do live in the suburbs. So what is it that is so appealing on this one?

Recent Sweet Digs Posts:
Fannie Mae Issues Warning to “Walkaways”
Bay Area Rents Outpace Pay
Oakland Fixers for Sale
Los Gatos Mountains FSBO – No Down
The Verdict is In: Buyer Suing Agent
SF: Reduced Prices Offer Tax-Time Solace (To Buyers, Anyway)

Posted by susan.brady on April 14, 2008 8:35 AM | del.icio.us | Digg

  • anon
    On the crime front, it's really a tradeoff--when you live in the city, you get the benefit of being walking distance to amenities and services, but you do sacrifice some things (crime is one, and in Haddon Hill, parking and privacy also factor in. Lots tend to be small and not all homes have garages/driveways--also tradeoffs for many homeowners.) I do think Oakland can (and hopefully will, one day soon) be safer than it is right now, but it will always have more crime than more remote areas, simply because it has many more people in close proximity (and they run across the income spectrum). For us, that's a tradeoff we're willing to make to live near the center of this vibrant city, but it's a very personal decision. (I would also add that, headlines aside, the vast majority of crime in Oakland is still property crime, a lot of which can be prevented through plain ol' common sense--NO, it's not a good idea to leave your iPod on the seat of your car when you park on the street!)
  • Alison - I did see your post, but wondered if something else was prompting people to be researching this property.

    As for the crime rate, I guess that if you live in Oakland, that you get used to this crime rate and do consider it low, all things being relative. As a suburbanite, it is far above what I would consider normal or acceptable. All a matter of option, guess.
  • anon
    This is a great little 'hood--we live on the other side of the lake but would happily have bought in Haddon Hill had we been able to afford it! It's walking distance to the lake as well as to the Lakeshore shopping district (and the Parkway theater, in the other direction), and has a number of beautiful homes. There is crime here, but it's on par with other nice Oakland neighborhoods (though all are on the rise right now with economic woes abounding). Note that the neighborhoods above and below Park Blvd are quite different socioeconomically--so the half-mile radius will likely pick up a lot of Eastlake (below Park) crime too.

    That said, we've heard that this isn't one of those beautiful Haddon Hill homes--"fixer" may be an understatement, if reports are to be believed. So that may explain a lot of this--even in this market, I would expect a quality home of that size at that price to be snatched up in a moment unless it had some fatal flaws.
  • Alison Ching
    PS. The neighborhood is a nice spot as it overlooks Lake Merritt and is very close to the Grand/Lakeshore shopping area. Like many parts of Oakland, there is crime and it's all relative: there's probably more crime on Haddon Hill than an area like Rockridge but significantly less than deep East Oakland.
  • Hi Susan, see my post on Oakland fixers which includes 452 Haddon; Redfin readers share the scoop with us.

    http://sfbay.redfin.com/blog/2...
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