You’re in luck! The Rockridge Kitchen Tour is happening again in 2026! I love the Rockridge Kitchen Tour, not only because my own kitchen is desperately in need of updating. If you love going to open houses for remodeling ideas, you must come to the tour on September 27th. It’s like open houses on steroids!…
The answer is MAYBE. When you first read about SB-9 in Oakland, it sounds like multi-family properties are not qualified for lot splits. Reading between the lines, you see it is single-family zoned properties that my be allowed to split lots under California’s SB9 act. There are many 1-4 unit properties (duplexes, triplexes etc.) in single-family…
If you are thinking of selling a Berkeley 1-2 unit property that currently has natural gas any time soon, you may want to time any energy-efficiency upgrades based on the sale date. Why? Because Berkeley limit the number of years a home upgrade qualifies for points toward their energy efficiency program. As of this writing,…
When looking at houses with clients, I often point out that a living space can essentially be extended at relatively low cost by plunking an 8×10 studio in the backyard — not to mention the bigger investment of an ADU. So when the 2026 Bay Area ADU Expo in San Jose popped up in my inbox,…
When it comes to real estate investing, the old adage “location, location, location” couldn’t be more true, especially in higher-priced East Bay real estate markets such as Berkeley and Alameda. The BRRRR strategy, which stands for Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, and Repeat, is a formulaic real estate investing approach that has helped many hard-working, risk-taking…
First, know that buyers don’t hire me to show them what they can find on Zillow. I’ve helped many buyers who chose to “request a tour” through Zillow. Being a Zillow agent was a really cool way to meet people who were not familiar with an area or who decided to start exploring by visiting…
Let’s talk about that house. You know the one. Maybe it showed up in your search or on “Zillow Gone Wild” or it’s a mysterious house you’ve always been curious about as you passed by. It’s in one of those popular neighborhoods like Rockridge in Oakland that you adore—tree-lined streets, great local coffee shop, neighbors…
The price of gold is at an all time high, more than 10x what it was around 1980 when the price shot up. Before then it had been relatively flat for decades. The price of Bay Area real estate has had a slower trajectory up. As you can see in this Median Home Price Trends…
I know you might be thinking, “Wait, isn’t the number one life goal to find inner peace, get married, achieve true happiness, or become a yoga guru?” And sure, those are all popular goals—but let’s talk about a truly achievable, life-changing goal that can actually fund your path to inner peace: Buy a house. Why…
The Getty Center and Getty Villa emerged from the 2025 Los Angeles fire disaster as examples of fire hardening best practices. Yes, they had staff to supplement all of the measures the Getty team took to stop fire approaching and stop smoke from penetrating the buildings. But they also meticulously followed best practices for fire hardening…
