The Voice of East Bay Living

Judith Glass (left) and I in 2007. Judith Glass, my long time real estate partner and lover of the arts, talks about the ups and down her life during this last year. She and her husband, who has recently passed away, have been living at Cardinal Point, a lovely senior living residence in Alameda, California.

My dear friend, Mary Leggett, a longtime resident of the Claremont neighborhood is the Queen of Christmas spirit. For many years, her annual Christmas parties attracted many friends and neighbors where she had a huge feast of baked turkeys, hams, and all the trimmings. The children were in a separate wing where they could decorate cookies, play games and feel independent while the adults enjoyed sharing food and stories together upstairs. Mary has a collection of hundreds of Santas, dating back 50 years and a trunk load of ornaments which wrap around her ceiling and stay in place all year. This year with COVID restrictions, Christmas is different for all of us. Mary, in her usual optimistic spirit, is busy decorating a precious small tree which was a gift from one of her admirers. Her huge love for the holidays is still as bright as the brightest of all Christmas candles.

Wreath making is one of my favorite holiday activities. I begin in November collecting grape vines, wire frames, ribbons, and touches. I love to use a variety of pine branches, magnolia branches, hydrangeas and anything else that catches my eye. Often, I spray the finished wreath with very light layers of gold and silver for that extra pizazz. By the way, the world in French for wreath is  couronne  which means crown-Isn’t that just perfect? Here are some wreaths and holiday decorations currently decorating my house: Every year I decorate the California juniper in my atrium so that I never have to buy a real tree. The smaller artificial tree from Target is dedicated to our precious rescue poodle, Monsieur Jacques. We have added dog bone ornaments, snoopy Xmas lights, Scottish terrier ribbons and misc. Dog ornaments-mostly purchased on Amazon. Of course, Monsieur Jacques has numerous holiday outfits... Life is short—why not enjoy all the details!

Back in March and April, many pundits were predicting a 30% decline in real estate; a return to the crash of 2007 and 2008; and rampant foreclosures. Instead, the median price for the East Bay real estate market is up +7% compared to last year. Here are some of the bright spots in our market with median price increases for the year: Piedmont (+17%), Glenview, Upper Dimond District, Oakmore, upper Laurel District and the Mormon Temple area (+12%), Laurel District, Redwood Heights, Upper Redwood Road, Crestmont, Ridgemont, Hillcrest Estates and other areas of the south of the Oakland hills (+11%), Elmwood/Claremont area of Berkeley (+9%), Albany (+8%). Read more about the state of the East Bay real estate market in this detailed blog post by Grubb Co.

Do you want a great escape during lockdown? I would recommend a trip to Nevada City, only three hours from the Bay Area in the heart of the Gold Country.   In the mid 1800’s, Nevada City  was considered one of the most interesting Gold Rush towns-in fact, the entire downtown district is a national historic landmark.  We were fortunate to stay at the Magnolia House on Prospect Hill , a top rated airbnb.  Check out the photos-you will want to make a reservation.