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, Q2 2023 results
Looking at the market data for the second quarter of 2023, the theme seems to be “good news, bad news.” Let’s start with the bad. If you compare price results for the second quarter of this year to the second quarter of 2022, prices are, not surprisingly, down. The median sold price in the hills was $1,725,000 for the second quarter this year, which is down 12% from last year. The average sold price per square foot, $904, is 13% lower than it was for the same period last year. In North Berkeley, the median sold price in the second [...]
REAL ESTATE ANSWERS: What’s going on in the home insurance market, and how does it affect current homeowners?
What’s going on in the home insurance market, and how does it affect current homeowners? In late May, State Farm, which is the largest issuer of homeowners’ policies in California, announced that it would not sell any new home insurance policies in California. In addition, Farmer's Insurance just announced that they will limit the number of new policies they sell here. Allstate also stopped issuing new policies in California last fall, so this is a significant trend. Why are these big insurers pulling away from California at this time? Major wildfires in recent years have resulted in surges in claims, [...]
N11 Refresher
N11 Refresher Here’s a brief refresher on N11 quick-access phone numbers (where N is a number between 2 and 9) . 911 of course connects to a dispatcher for emergency services. Did you know, though, that if you call 911 on a cell phone, the call often ends up in a regional center, and then needs to be forwarded to more local help? If the call needs to be re-routed, this adds time to the process. This is not ideal in an emergency, so it’s a good idea to have your local, direct-access emergency number stored in your cell phone, [...]
COMPLETED SALES, North Berkeley, 2nd Quarter 2023
Click to see details and photos of properties SOLD in North Berkeley, 4/1/2023-6/30/2023. 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, 2nd Quarter, 2023
Click to see details and photos of properties SOLD in the Berkeley Hills, 4/1/2023 - 6/30/2023. 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.