Your Real Estate Expert for Berkeley and Beyond
“Marilyn is exceptional. Her knowledge base, enthusiasm for her job, professional ethics, organization, sensitivity to our aesthetic requirements, loyalty and gentle perseverance set her apart.”
-- Bill and Carol Seidel
Marilyn Garcia, PhD
Broker Associate, Realtor®
DRE# 02014153
District Homes
1758 Solano Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94707
Direct:
(510) 390-5406
THE OUTLOOK: North Berkeley & the Berkeley Hills, Q3 2024 wrap-up
THE OUTLOOK: North Berkeley & the Berkeley Hills, Q3 2024 wrap-up The most interesting news in real estate lately has not been about the local market, but rather about interest rates and Federal Reserve policy. Over the summer, the expectation was that we were reaching the point where the Fed would start lowering interest rates. After 11 increases in the Fed’s interest rate target from March 2022 to July 2023, and more than a year at the July 2023 peak, the Fed reduced its target rate on September 18th. The cut was widely expected, and interest rates on home loans [...]
VOTER INFORMATION, BERKELEY AND ALAMEDA COUNTY
VOTER INFORMATION, BERKELEY AND ALAMEDA COUNTY Election Day, Tuesday, November 5th, is rapidly approaching! Voting is so important, and Alameda County has made the process incredibly convenient. You need to register to vote, but if you registered in the past, you are all set unless your address, name, or political party has changed. You can check your registration status at voterstatus.sos.ca.gov/. You can vote by returning the ballot you should receive in the mail (be sure to sign the envelope!), or you can vote in person. To return the mailed ballot, drop it in a mailbox (no postage needed); it [...]
REAL ESTATE ANSWERS: How has the practice of real estate changed recently?
How has the practice of real estate changed recently? I mentioned in a previous newsletter that there were changes coming in the real estate world, and they’ve arrived. As a result of a settlement by the National Association of Realtors®, there are a couple key things we are doing differently these days. The first is that sellers are no longer committing to pay the buyer’s agent in advance, as part of the listing agreement, and there is no commission offer to a buyer’s agent in the MLS. In the newly revised forms, reflecting the new procedures, the listing agreement only [...]
COMPLETED SALES, North Berkeley, 3rd Quarter 2024
Click HERE to see details and photos of properties SOLD in North Berkeley, 7/1/2024-9/30/2024. Note that, after you follow the link, you can click on each individual property to see photos and more details. Click "Close" near the top to return to the list. * For the purposes of this newsletter, “North Berkeley” is defined as the area bounded by University Avenue in the south, the line of Sacramento Street to the west, the Berkeley border to the north, and below Arlington Avenue, Los Angeles Avenue, and Spruce Street (south of Los Angeles) to the west.
COMPLETED SALES, Berkeley Hills, 3rd Quarter, 2024
Click HERE to see details and photos of properties SOLD in the Berkeley Hills, 7/1/2024 - 9/30/2024. Note that, after you follow the link, you can click on each individual property to see photos and more details. Click "Close" near the top to return to the list. * For the purposes of this newsletter, “Berkeley Hills” refers to the area bounded as follows: north of campus, east of a line heading north on Spruce from campus, cutting over on Los Angeles to Arlington, and then north along Arlington to the Kensington border.