Crocker Highlands: A Plethora of Homes for Sale
The Crocker Highlands area has a lot of homes on the market right now: I counted seventeen on Redfin. You can search for them either by typing in Crocker Highlands in the search box (although some are only listed as “Crocker”) or just by honing in on the area of the map of Oakland with the arrow compass. Here are a couple of factoids:
(Second) Best Bang for Your Buck: While not the absolute cheapest per square foot for the whole area (for that see 1272 Bates Rd. listed below at $218 per square foot) at $300 per square foot 684 Walavista Ave. is some pretty nice bang for your buck. I mean, it’s not often you find a 4bd/3ba home in Oakland that was built before the 1980’s. Due to the large number of beds and baths as well as the drawing pictured in the thumbnail, I thought at first that the home was new construction. However, the description states it was built in 1922.
Least Days On Market: 1615 Trestle Glen Rd. (pictured above) and 1272 Bates Rd. have both been on the market for six days and both appear to be English Tudor style (although the Bates home is listed as “Mediterranean”; but the photo looks more like a Tudor). However, the similarities end there: the Trestle Glen home has roughly 600 square feet less than Bates, is nearly twice the price and has almost three times more lot space.
Most Days On Market: At 132 DOM and 122 DOM respectively, 1131 Excelsior Ave. and 812 Creed Rd. take the cake for longevity on the market. While the Excelsior home may be having trouble due to proximity to the highway (see Oakland: Great Deals I Wish I Had Waited For) it’s unclear why the 3bd/2ba at 812 Creed is taking a while to move. This home was originally priced at $799,000 in March of 2008 and is now down 200k to $599,000. Any thoughts on what’s up (or rather, er, down) with this one?
David said:
My bet on Creed is the “bonus room” currently used as 3rd br. In other words, it’s probably not a true 3/2. If that’s the case, 600K is a more reasonable price for a 2/2…or less.
October 7, 2008 10:25 PM
dg said:
I went to the open house of 812 creed back in March and the direct neighbor was for sale as well. I remember how I remarked that the neighbor was priced well and this one was not. The other one was under contract in a month or so, and this one…. well, no. I can’t recall the 3rd bedroom/bonus room exactly but this place is pretty small, nothing special or noteworthy, and a terrible kitchen. That street is really nice though and has a great feel to it. This price is pretty attractive I would think for someone.
October 7, 2008 10:36 PM
Alison said:
Hi David: ahh, the “bonus” room… Well, the price has fallen 200k and is now at 600k…if someone could snag this for $550,000 I think that would be a great deal for Crocker Highlands… then again, in this market, who can tell when the bottom will hit or what it will look like. Maybe $550k will be an unattractive price a year from now in that area for a small house.
October 8, 2008 9:24 AM
Alison said:
DG: Thanks for your comments! Terrible kitchens are definitely a no-no. But I guess it’s all about what you want in a home; some people never cook and don’t care about having a trophy kitchen; so if everything else is peachy, this could be a nice find for someone. I agree that this price looks good.. at least, for now.
October 8, 2008 9:26 AM
HL said:
The Creed house is right under the power lines. It’s hard to notice at first because it sits in a little valley, but they’re there. Bummer, I was interested.
October 9, 2008 6:49 PM
Alison said:
Hi HL: thanks or the scoop. Oh geez, another under-the-power-lines-home in Trestle Glen/Crocker Highlands? This is something I never knew about the neighborhood until readers pointed it out (see http://sfbay.redfin.com/blog/2008/09/redfin_readers_point_out_power_lines_.html#comments)
So are you skipping this one due to the humming or EMF or both?
October 10, 2008 4:40 PM
Chris said:
I checked out the house, I’m sure it’s haunted. Between that, the lousy kitchen and the power-lines I can’t imagine it being worth $600,000!
October 13, 2008 7:47 PM
Alison said:
Hi Chris, thanks for your thoughts. Haunted, eh? Well, it sounds like the kitchen is enough. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with this one.
October 15, 2008 9:40 AM