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Helen and Kathryn's Newsletter | |
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Greetings!
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Please tune in on April 19th at 8 pm
to see our listing on HGTV
On April 19th, one of our listings will be featured on HGTV. The program features the buyer and her experience with buying her first home. We represented the sellers and are looking forward to watching the show.
Click here for more information.
 The beginning of 2011 has been very interesting. Several homes, if they are in good neighborhoods, well priced and don't have too much deferred maintenance have been selling at or above their asking price. It also seems like the most active homes on the market are those in the list price range of around $650,000 to $900,000. Spring is usually a very active market for East Bay real estate but not as many homes have been coming on the market as in past years. It appears that very few people are selling into a move up home and most sales are because of family circumstances or a job change.
Spring is a great time to make lists of projects and to get things done. One thing to consider is changing all your smoke detectors to photoelectric detectors. The Fire Chief of the City of Albany spoke to the Berkeley Association of Realtors recently and convinced us that these were by far the best smoke detectors to use. Please read the article below concerning this important safety information.
We hope you find this newsletter useful and interesting. If you need more information on any real estate related needs, please let us know. If you don't want to receive this newsletter, please click on "Unsubscribe" at the top or bottom of the email.
Scroll down to see complete newsletter or click on article headlines on right hand side.
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| Electronics Recycling on April 21 and 22 in Berkeley | |
Help celebrate Earth Day - On April 21st from 1pm to 4pm and April 22nd, from 10am to 12pm, please bring all the electronics items you no longer need to the Berkeley Association of Realtors for recycling. The address is 1553 Martin Luther King Jr. Way at Cedar. Come to the back door to drop items off. |
Some Recent Sales in Berkeley
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Street |
List Price |
Sales Price |
Bd/Ba |
Sq. Ft. |
Date
Sold | |
Byron nr Bancroft |
$450,000 |
$470,000 |
2/1 |
1490 |
2/28 | |
Kains nr Gilman |
$649,000 |
$625,000 |
3/1 |
1291 |
3/4 | |
Rose nr MLK |
$649,000 |
$649,000 |
3/1 |
1489 |
3/9 | |
Roosevelt
nr Dwight |
$799,000 |
$965,500 |
3/2 |
2485 |
3/25 | |
Ellis nr MLK | $595,000 |
$615,000 |
3/2 |
1490 |
4/1 |
Data from Multiple Listing Service
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Some Recent Sales in Albany
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Street
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List Price
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Sales Price
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Bd/Ba
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Sq. Ft.
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Date Sold
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Solano nr Jackson
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$579,000
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$675,000
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3/2
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1467
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2/18
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Cornell nr Solano
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$499,000
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$505,000
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3/2
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1467
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3/7
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Sonoma nr Peralta
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$828,500
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$828,500
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3/1
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1474
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3/7
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Santa Fe nr Solano
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$649,000
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$660,000
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2/1
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1428
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3/19
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Marin nr Tulare
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$785,000
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$825,000
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3/2
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1972
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3/23
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Curtis nr Thousand Oaks
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$745,000
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$745,000
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3/1
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1332
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4/5
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Data from the Multiple Listing Service
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Some Recent Sales in El Cerrito
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Street
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List Price
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Sales Price
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Bd/Ba
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Sq. Ft.
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Date Sold
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Pebble Beach nr Cutting
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$800,000
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$820,000
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5/3
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2769
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2/10
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Ramona nr Lynn
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$625,000
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$715,000
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3/1
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1506
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3/9
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Don Carol nr Arlington
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$699,000
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$757,500
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4/3
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2370
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3/11
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Richmond nr Stockton
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$495,000
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$475,000
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2/1
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1116
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3/21
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Terrace nr Moeser
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$699,000
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$682,000
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3/2
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2420
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3/28
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Data from Multiple Listing Service
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Some Recent Sales in Rockridge
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Street
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List Price
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Sales Price
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Bd/Ba
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Sq. Ft.
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Date Sold
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Shafter nr Clifton
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$659,000
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$720,000
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2/1
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1217
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2/7
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Ross Circle nr Ross
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$939,000
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$1,001,000
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3/2
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2182
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2/28
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61st nr Hillegass
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$849,000
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$837,000
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2/1
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1744
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3/7
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Kales nr Broadway
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$799,000
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$882,660
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3/1
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2062
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3/25
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Broadway Terrace nr Harbord
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$725,000
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$725,000
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2/2
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1641
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4/5
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Data from Multiple Listing Service
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Search for Homes in the East Bay
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Search East Bay MLS |
Mortgage Rates
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National Average
Mortgage Rates
as of 4/12/2011
15 Year Fixed Conforming 4.125%
30 Year Fixed Conforming 4.875%
5/1 Year ARM Conforming 3.5%
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| Important Safety Information Concerning Smoke Detectors |
Recently the Albany Fire Chief, Mark McGinn spoke at the Berkeley Association of Realtors monthly membership luncheon. He is a fire chief who is more interested in fire prevention than fire fighting. His concern is that 95 percent of homes in America have ionization smoke detectors which will not detect a smoldering fire, the most deadly type of residential fire. We felt that the information he presented was so important and wanted to help reach as many people as possible. Please pass this information on to your friends and families.
The following information is directly from him (with permission, of course)
Warning: Your smoke alarm may not detect smoke.Currently there is great confusion regarding the topic of smoke alarms. There are two types of smoke alarms used to protect residents in the event of a fire: photoelectric and ionization smoke alarms. Both respond differently to smoke and flame. The fact is: ionization smoke alarms react poorly to deadly smoke while photoelectric alarms react 14-45 minutes sooner than the ionization alarms in lethal smoldering fires. Ionization alarms are present in over 95% of homes in America and react slightly faster to flaming fires than photoelectric smoke alarms. But the ionization alarms have a high failure rate when it comes to detecting deadly smoke. The problem is: most deadly fires are smoldering fires and not fast flaming fires. By now, most people understand that it is the deadly smoke and heat that kill you before the flames even reach you. Ionization alarms should be labeled flame alarms and not smoke alarms. An example of a fast flaming fire would be a Christmas tree fire; which certainly have claimed their share of resident's lives; but nowhere near the number of lives claimed by smoldering fires. Other fast flaming fires would be kitchen fires which are one of the leading causes of residential fires, but rarely do they claim lives. (For more information about Albany's smoke alarm ordinance and important videos , http://www.albanypac.org .)
The fire industry has yet to take an official stand that ionization smoke alarms need to have a warning label stating: Ionization alarms are flame detectors and are poor at detecting smoke. Additionally, ionization alarms are prone to false alarms when placed near kitchens, bathrooms, and living rooms with working fireplaces. Please replace all your alarms now with Photoelectric Smoke Alarms.
Because the ionization alarms contain a radioactive chip, disposal is often a question. This year the Berkeley Association of Realtors will accept ionization alarms at the Electronic Recycling Day - April 21st and 22nd (see information above). If you have ionization alarms that you need to dispose of, this will be an easy way to do. For more information about ionization and photoelectric smoke alarms,http://www.theWFSF.org. FYI, the only type of smoke detectors Costo sells are the photoelectric ones. As for cost, they are only a few dollars more than the ionization ones.
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| Interesting Local Events & News | |
We love baseball and the Giants and A's are off to an "okay" start. Here is a copy of the schedule for each of the teams for you to print and have available. Giants schedule and A's schedule.
Berkeley High's biggest fundraiser of the year, Berkeley High Live will be on April 17th at the Pauley Ballroom at UC Berkeley. It starts at 5pm and should be a great time. Check out their Facebook page for more information.
Cal Day is April 16th. It is a great day to go to classrooms, labs, performance venues and museums. Plus it is just a beautiful campus to walk around.
And if you want a reminder of the top 100 restaurants from the San Francisco Chronicle, here is Michael Bauer's 2011 list. We are so lucky to live where we can eat great food in all price ranges. And to have fabulous farmer's markets. |
For more information about any of the properties or events listed above, please call us at 510-207-2968 (Helen) or 510-593-7311 (Kathryn), or simply respond to this email. We'd love to share our real estate tips and experience in the East Bay community with you!
Feel free to visit our website at www.helenandkathryn.com for more information as well.
We honor your privacy and requests to be deleted from the mailing list. Simply click on to the Unsubscribe link below if you are receiving this newsletter, but would prefer not to. On the other hand, if you'd like to pass it along, please do so!
Helen and Kathryn
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