I like to walk. Each neighborhood I move to I walk around checking out the views, the gardens and the architecture .. and of course the for sale signs.

My new neighborhood is rather understated compared to tony Pacific Heights. But there are still some beautiful properties. Today I discovered a secluded area with a creek and a blocked off road. The section blocked off is a one lane road that hugs a very steep hillside that slopes down to a creek. It’s a beautiful treed area. The city of Oakland has some plans for it, they want to open the road and install guardrails. The neighborhood has launched an aggressive campaign against this plan. There are little green postings everywhere with headlines such as “do you want to have to jump out of a way of a car?” and even “what would you prefer: a nice walk or a short trip in a car?”. I must admit it would be ideal to have such a nice walk closed to car traffic. But I missed the deadline to write to the city.

But I digress. When I first moved here, I noticed there were very few for sale signs. It’s an upscale enough area that the homeowners are probably smart enough not to sell in such a poor market. But there are a lot more now. Up the street there is a pending sale, according to the neighbors the house was owned by a man who lived there for 40 years and recently died.  Yours for only $599K.  The one just two houses down from me is listed for $740K.   Of course it has 3 bedrooms rather than two.

I’ve noted the website addresses from the various signs and when I got home I typed them in. Boy these realtors do a lousy job of online marketing.   In 2 of 3 cases I could not find the house on the site. You would think they would do a better job.  Fortunately google helped me out.

The one I did find is interesting (by typing in the website). The possible one foreclosure or fixer in the neighborhood, it’s boarded up. And it’s a steal, only $349K. Here’s the link to it, note the “real fixer upper, needs everything!” comments.