Category: real estate

The Hill That Would Not Hold

Posted in California, erosion, home value, flood, HOA, memoir, neighborhood, real estateLeave a comment

(re-run from 2024) My neighbors’ hill collapsed fifteen months ago in the crazy January rains of 2023. For months nothing was happening, and I concluded that a lot of guys had looked at the hill and had either refused to bid the job or had bid it way too high. A bulldozer appeared in November,… Continue reading The Hill That Would Not Hold

Coming Out of the Fog

Posted in care giver, CC&Rs, curb appeal, grieving, HOA, landscaper, liens, grief, memoir, native plants, real estate, realtors, staging, retirement, Silicon Valley1 Comment

When a family member dies, you go on with living. But everything is affected by the loss of the family member. You don’t realize it at the time, but it is. A year and two months after losing my older sister, I am finally getting back to normal, or the new normal. It’s weird to… Continue reading Coming Out of the Fog

Whole Court Shake-up

Posted in Bay Area, California, children, girls, Las Trampas Ridge, memoir, moving, neighborhood, neighbors, pandemic, party, real estateLeave a comment

(re-run) Ten years ago, I moved to the best little court in my town, in the suburbs of the Bay Area.  At the time, it was a court filled with girls – two grade-school girls across the street (they moved in five months after I did), two same-aged girls next to them, a baby girl… Continue reading Whole Court Shake-up

Whole Court Shake-up

Posted in Bay Area, California, children, girls, Las Trampas Ridge, memoir, moving, neighborhood, neighbors, pandemic, party, real estateLeave a comment

Ten years ago, I moved to the best little court in my town, in the suburbs of the Bay Area.  At the time, it was a court filled with girls – two grade-school girls across the street (they moved in five months after I did), two same-aged girls next to them, a baby girl bordering… Continue reading Whole Court Shake-up

Carmel Real Estate and Doris Day

Posted in California, Carmel, Carmel Pine Cone, Covid 19, dogs, Doris Day, fixer, flip, hair salon, ICU, Karma, memoir, open house, pandemic, real estate, ZillowLeave a comment

Doris Day passed away, and her Carmel house is on the market. I read about it in the free Carmel magazine which comes out every other month that anyone can pick up in front of the local liquor store. I liked Doris. I liked her dog philanthropy and her hotel that allowed dogs. I am… Continue reading Carmel Real Estate and Doris Day

The Crazy Real Estate Game

Posted in Caldecott Tunnel, children, memoir, Midwestern, Oakland, real estate, wallpaperLeave a comment

My old house at 155 Clover Hill Court in my town just sold for $1,335,000. I saw it in the Homes section of my local Sunday newspaper. My ex and I paid $286,000 for the house in 1987. We suffered big-time sticker shock, coming from the Midwest, where his house cost him $85,000 and mine… Continue reading The Crazy Real Estate Game