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San Leandro, CA Real Estate News

By Pam Winterbauer, "Providing Blue Ribbon Service"
(Pam Winterbauer Real Estate)
On Monday (7/28), the San Leandro City Council acted to send three parcel taxes to the voters in November.  Two of the ballot measures will ask for renewal of existing parcel taxes - one pays for 911 services and the other is a utility users tax.  The third measure will seek approval of a new parcel tax to pay for "public safety."  REALTOR® Impact:  Parcel taxes have a direct impact on housing affordability.  In the case of the 911 and utility taxes, San Leandro property owners are already paying these taxes and if they are renewed their tax bills would not change.  The "public safety" parcel tax would raise property taxes by $48 per year for single-family homes; $24 per year per unit for apartments and mobile homes and $12 per year per 1,000 feet for commercial and industrial building...
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By Michael Greenslade
(Better Homes & Gardens | Mason-McDuffie Real Estate)
Two homes in my neighborhood are for sale and I would like to be the selling agent.  These homes were built around 1927 by Derry, Weaver & Derry as part of the Cherry City Tract.  These homes are part of "The Broadmoor Neighborhood Association" who's membership is voluntary, but highly encouraged.  At $40 a year, it's very affordable. We are a very close knit neighborhood.  We will be having our 15th annual National Night Out Against Crime block party on August 5th.  First off at 574 Superior is a very nice Tudor home located three houses from Dutton Avenue.  This beautiful home has great curb appeal.  A large picture window is perfectly framed by dramatic architectural detail on the front gable.  The front door to this home features an awsome random brick surround.  It is listed for $...
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By Pam Winterbauer, "Providing Blue Ribbon Service"
(Pam Winterbauer Real Estate)
On Wednesday (6/18), the City of San Leandro held a community workshop on updating its General Plan Housing Element.  Approximately 40 residents and interested parties attended. The audience was split on creating more rental housing opportunities and the city's investment in home ownership assistance programs. Bay East staff attended the meeting to monitor the discussion and to encourage city staff to use Bay East as a source for real estate market information and housing policy analysis.  Considering moving to the East Bay?  Do you want to Buy or Sell a home? Do you have clients with needs in the East Bay?  Contact Pam Winterbauer, 2006 REALTOR® of the Year  Broker Associate, ASR, CRS, e-PRO, GRI, PMN, SRES, At Home with Diversity Certified Windermere Welcome Home Please contact Pam Wi...
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By Michael Greenslade
(Better Homes & Gardens | Mason-McDuffie Real Estate)
On the Western edge of the city of San Leandro is the San Leandro Marina, Oyster Bay Regional Park and the Monarch Bay Golf Course. The Marina was concieved in the early 1950s and built in the late 1950s to early 1960s.  Along the shoreline are restaurants: Pelusso's Blue Dolphin Restaurant.  A fine dining establishment with banquet facilities. This building was built on pier pilings and was closed and torn down in recent years. El Torito, this building was originally the Casa Maria Restaurant. The restaurant later became Tia Maria Restaurant.  Similar restaurants were built at other Marinas including Berkeley.  The Chain restaurant company El Torito now operates in this location. Horatio's a fine dining establishment offering excellent food was the last to be built.  http://www.ci.san-...
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By Pam Winterbauer, "Providing Blue Ribbon Service"
(Pam Winterbauer Real Estate)
San Leandro, California.......Come help those wanting to help celebrate Earth Day in San Leandro.  On Saturday, April 26th,  a "Corbett Crew" to volunteer for the Castro Valley Earth Day Clean-up and I hope you and your friends and family will join us!                                                                              They will be meeting at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 26 at the community center at Castro Valley Park located at 18988 Lake Chabot Road in Castro Valley.  Afterwards, I hope you will join us and the other volunteer groups at Lake Chabot from 12-3pm for a free catered lunch, volleyball, horseshoes, discounted boat rentals and lake tours, and other fun activities - all courtesy of the Castro Valley Sanitary District and Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley.To parti...
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By Michael Greenslade
(Better Homes & Gardens | Mason-McDuffie Real Estate)
I would like to recommend Chris Kinser of Kinser Restoration & Construction for your construction and restoration.  Kinser Construction is located in San Leandro's "The Broadmoor" and can service the entire East Bay area.The residents of Superior Avenue in San Leandro have hired Chris and love his work.  As soon as I get some money in (and I will) I will be having Chris remodel my laundry room to tile the walls, and remove the old tank water heater and to install a brand new tankless water heater.By installing a tankless heater, I will finally have room in the laundry room for a washer & a dryer.Tim, one of my other neighbors has offered to give Chris some glowing references!!!   We stick together on Superior Avenue....That's why we are Superior..... Just kidding, Superior Avenue was na...
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By Michael Greenslade
(Better Homes & Gardens | Mason-McDuffie Real Estate)
I drove around San Leandro with a mission take pictures of the neighborhood signs that the city added to identify each of the neighborhoods. I wanted to get these signs photographed so I could post them onto Localism. The Estudillo Estates sign was hit by a car and it hasn't been fixed yet.  The majority of these signs are in the North Area. The Bay-O-Vista sign is the oldest of the signs dating back to the 1970s. ***** UPDATE 5/15/2008 ********* The Estudillo Estates sign has bee repaired again.
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By Michael Greenslade
(Better Homes & Gardens | Mason-McDuffie Real Estate)
Hi there,  I had the opportunity to visit Bayfair Center again yesterday. I had to replace my old cell phone because it wouldn't hold a charge anymore.  I had to go to the AT&T store at the mall. The store at East 14th and Juana didn't have the model I needed.  So I had to make the trek across town.When I got to the Mall I was thinking how much it has changed since I was a child.  I remember having lunch at the Woolworth's lunch counter.  The grilled cheese sandwich at the lunchcounter was always just great comfort food.Back then Woolworth's was near the location of the current mall entrance to Kohl's Department Store. Woolworth's opened up to the open air walkway.During the 1970s the open air walkway and center court escalators were enclosed in to the mall.I remember the Rollerrina Rol...
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By Michael Greenslade
(Better Homes & Gardens | Mason-McDuffie Real Estate)
Some neat things are starting to happen in San Leandro's North Area."The Broadmoor" neighborhood association's email list server is all a buzz with the idea of becoming a solar community.  Today is April 11th 2008.  If this message is timely for you, and if you want more information please let me know and I will forward you the information. "The Broadmoor" and Estudillo Estates are looking into the possibility of community vegetable gardens in the parking strips between the sidewalks and the curbs."The Broadmoor" will also be starting garden sharing.  This would be if your garden needs to have plants split, or you have too many bulbs. You share the clippings, cuttings, bulbs with your neighbors in an open exchange.It's just so very ...
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By Michael Greenslade
(Better Homes & Gardens | Mason-McDuffie Real Estate)
The photo I use for the home page icon for the San Leandro California group here on active rain is the following photo.I received the photo from Bill Sales of La Quinta California.  Bill is the stepson of Harold "Tom" Derry.  He sent me this photo showing the sales office for the Cherry City Tract.  This is the 400 and 500 blocks of Superior Avenue.This is the street of Storybook style homes between Dutton and MacArthur Boulevard.  The homes were built by the company Derry, Weaver & Derry.The photo shows the map of the street. The horizontal bar on the map is Superior Avenue.  The angled street on the right side is Dutton Avenue.  The curving Street on the left side is MacArthur Boulevard (which at the time was named Hollywood Boulevard) A much smaller curving street at the far left of ...
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By Michael Greenslade
(Better Homes & Gardens | Mason-McDuffie Real Estate)
If you're looking for a great place to eat in San Leandro's downtown plaza area.  Try Tequila Grill, it's a mexican restaurant for lunch and dinner.  For Breakfast it's an all american good food diner.  There is some mexican overflow on the breakfast menu and that's really a great thing.I have the Huevos Divorciados with rice and beans and flour tortillas.  MMMMM yummy.  This dish comes with both Red and Green Enchilada sauce over eggs and tortillas.  I order my eggs scrambled because I am not too much of a fan of mixxing the yoke with the two sauces.The servers Chuy, Luis and Fatima are friendly and like family to all the customers.My group of diners on Sunday mornings have been eating at the same table for about 10 years now.  The restaurant has changed hands recently and was called D...
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By Michael Greenslade
(Better Homes & Gardens | Mason-McDuffie Real Estate)
Harold Peary, a San Leandro native became a nationally known actor/comedian in the 1940s with his character Throckmorton P Gildersleeve or as he is best known as "The Great Gildersleeve".The show the Great Gildersleeve was a spin-off of the Fibber McGee and Molly radio shows.  While still a part of the Fibber McGee and Molly show, the location was set in the town of Wistful Vista.  Summerfield became the location when the show was spun-offHarold Peary went on after the Great Gildersleeve to voice acting in many classic cartoons for Rankin-Bass and Hanna Barbera. He also appeared in front of the camera in Pettycoat Junction, The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Brady Bunch.Harold Peary was born in July of 1908 and lived to the age of 76 until he passed away in 1985.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki...
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By Michael Greenslade
(Better Homes & Gardens | Mason-McDuffie Real Estate)
San Leandro is located just South of Oakland and Alameda.  Interstates 880, 580 and 238 all run through parts of the town making San Leandro very commute friendly.  The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) has two stations making access to San Francisco, SFO, Oakland International Airport and the Oakland Coliseum very easy.Lake Chabot Regional Park borders the city to the East.  The San Leandro Marina, San Francisco Bay and Monarch Bay Golf Courses border the city to the West.  The marina has several water-front restaurants for casual dining.Bayfair Center a large regional shopping mall and is located near the southern border of the city.  Bayfair has Macy's, Target, Bed-Bath-&-Beyond, Kohl's and Century Theaters 16 mega-plex. Beyond Bayfair Center to the South is an unincorporated area of Ala...
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By Michael Greenslade
(Better Homes & Gardens | Mason-McDuffie Real Estate)
I want to put it out there that I am a big fan of mixed use development.  I look around at commercial business districts, like Webster Street here in Alameda or Bancroft & Dutton in San Leandro, I see oodles of wasted space above each business establishment.Places like Bayfair Center, San Leandro Plaza and Alameda Town Center should have condo units above housing thousands of people.It drives me crazy that in someplaces "they roll up the sidewalks" after some of the shops close at 5pm.  How cool would it be if people actually lived directly above these places and were there all the time.Could you imagine waking up in the morning, getting ready for work and taking the elevator down to the street or plaza level and walking to a bakery, coffee shop or diner for breakfast.Getting to work wo...
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By Michael Greenslade
(Better Homes & Gardens | Mason-McDuffie Real Estate)
 [edited 2/7/2008] San Leandro is having some new construction around town.  Most of the new construction is in the higher density row houses.Cherry Park Square Built by JohnBenCo at the intersection of Superior Avenue and Mac Arthur Boulevard.  8 craftsmans style row houses.  I was instrumental in naming of this tract.  At the planning department meeting for this tract at city hall, I suggested the name "Cherry City Square" in relation to the older portion of Superior Avenue "Cherry City Tract".Cherry Glen built at the interchange of Interstate 880, Interstate 238 and Washington Avenue. 43 row houses.Then there's Toscani Place, the Portofino Italian Mediterranean styled row houses on Davis Street. 9 units in that complex.There is Bayport Court off of Lewelling Avenue.  6 units in the c...
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By Narma Delores Mayfield
(Mortgage Magic - Bogan & Associates)
Waiting For...What?Narma Delores Mayfield  As an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, I read Waiting For Godot, a play by Samuel Becket.  The play is the story of two old mean awaiting the arrival of a mutual acquaintance who never appears. The old men hardly know this person, Godot, and admit that they would not recognize him even if they saw him.  One of the continuing threads of the play is the idea that "nothing" is a thing that has to be done and the characters will spend the remainder of the play doing just that - while they await Godot.  There are three themes in the play that I find intriguing:  waiting, lack of recognition, and doing nothing.  The following is a brief discussion of the three themes as they relate to the real estate industry in today's market.  Certainly, I will relate...
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By Michael Greenslade
(Better Homes & Gardens | Mason-McDuffie Real Estate)
10. The Pink Storybook Castle on Callan Avenue. Why:It's position on the corner of Santa Rosa and Callan.  It's Classic W.W. Dixon Storybook design.  It was known locally as the Pink Castle because of it's original rose colored tinted stucco.  the home is undergoing major renovation and promises to be a beauty again.9.  The Mirror Image Art Deco Houses on Glen Drive. Why: These two art deco houses on Glen Drive just West of Superior Avenue are Hollywood Glam art deco at it's best.  Both Homes are mirror images of each other and play off of each other very well.8.  The Grey Victorian on Estudillo. Why:  A very rare example of Italianate design in San Leandro.  Just the vertical scale of this house alone on Estudillo makes it rank high on my listing.7. The Craftsman on Dutton Avenue. Why:...
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By Michael Greenslade
(Better Homes & Gardens | Mason-McDuffie Real Estate)
I'll put this out the Internet. Here's a blog posting for the San Leandro Group. Back in early 1980s when I was attending San Leandro high school, one of my best friends was Liz R.  Over 25 years later little does she know that she holds the key to confirming that Derry, Weaver & Derry homes were designed by W.R. Yelland. I am looking for her to help confirm this information.  If anyone knows how to get a hold of her, please let her know that I am trying to get a hold of her.  Even better maybe one day she will google herself and find this and get in touch with me. So the Story is.   Back in 1981 when we were in our junior year, Liz's parents sold their beautiful storybook Tudor on Lee Avenue.  It was a big deal back then.  It was featured in a fine homes magazine and sold for a quarter...
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By Michael Greenslade
(Better Homes & Gardens | Mason-McDuffie Real Estate)
Merry Christmas to all.I have to say that we had some excitement this Christmas morning and it wasn't because of opening presents.  My parents are both elderly handicapped and we really don't do much for Christmas anymore.   My two brothers both live far away and it's me and the parents.Oh Yeah, back to the excitement.  I got up this morning and braved the chill and went out to Jack-in-The-Box for the Supreme Croisant Sandwich Meal Deals for my parents and myself.   When I got to my parents San Leandro home my mother goes on to tell me how she saw me drive by this morning on the way out to get the breakfast  (I live two homes away from them on the same street).  She said that she went out to get the newspaper and found that someone had sabotaged our holiday lighting display with the lig...
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By Michael Greenslade
(Better Homes & Gardens | Mason-McDuffie Real Estate)
Okay, where I left off we were in Oakland's Lakeshore Highlands with two Yellands on one street. If we go back up into the hills into the Piedmont Pines neighborhood we will come across the Hildreth Residence.  It was featured in Sunset Magazine for being a unique use of a down sloping lot. The article, "They Park their car in their Attic" was about the home. The home is very unique looking from the street.  The home shows a shift from the traditional sloping catslide roofline and into a more angular version of the roofline. The home is in a word a cubist version of what the earlier storybook home had been in the 1920s and early 1930s. Off of the sidewalk features a small tower down to the lower living level of the home.  The siding of this tower are alternating zig-zag black and white ...
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