About San Leandro's The Broadmoor

Always the historian, I have been just itching to find out what was built when and where within The Broadmoor. I collected this information from Alameda County Public Records.

Starting with the homes in my area, Derry, Weaver and Derry's "Cherry City Tract". As you can see, 1927 was the year for Superior Avenue being the hub of activity. Streets such as Diehl and Lewis only having a few homes being constructed.

1927 is a great year for storybook style homes right smack in the middle of that design style's lifespan.

It shows you the difference between a tract of homes vs select custom home constrution

Hi there blog readers,

Just to let you know that I have been elected to the board of The Broadmoor Neighborhood Association. I hope that I can do my neighborhood justice as their representitive. Being on the board of "The Broadmoor" is something I have wanted to do for a while.

Having lived in The Broadmoor all of my life I am happy to finally be on the board. I am so proud of my wonderful neighborhood.

I have got to be The Broadmoor's greatest cheerleader. It truely is a great place to live and I am so very proud of it.

If you are looking for the East Bay, consider San Leandro's "The Broadmoor" neighborhood. Give me a call, because I would love to help you find a great home!

Well blog readers, sorry I have taken so long to post a new blog post.

Guess what

I have been busy helping clients. I just finished with two closed escrows. I was working with Tommy and Rachel finding them a nice ranch styled home in Hayward. I was also working with Xiaodong and Faqiang getting them an investment property in Pittsburg.

I have been trying some new marketing. On Sundays when all the house hunters are out looking for open houses, I have been placing my tent sign out at the corner of Bancroft & Dutton with large print printout reading "LIST OF LOCAL HOMES FOR SALE". I then printout the MLS list for the area and supply them in an large envelope attached to the tent sign. Home hunters have been very receptive of this house hunting tool. If you're in the area on a Sunday, stop off at Zocalo Coffeehouse www.zocalocoffeehouse.com for a mocha or latte and then pick up one of my lists at the corner. If you come across a property that you would like more information and would like to see in person, please give me a call at 510 334-7800

Two houses are available on Superior Avenue 565 and 666. 565 is a beautiful well kept storybook style tudor built by Derry, Weaver & Derry as part of the "Cherry City Tract". 666 is a fantastic corner lot 1940s art-deco home built by Derry Bros. I'd love to sell one of these homes to you.

Lets go and find your dream house for you.

I am considering doing a coffee table book of lesser photographed views of historic mansions. The servant's entrances so to speak. The entrances most of us would have had to enter these historic properties from.

Here are some views from the rear side of the Dunsmuir - Hellman Historic Estate in Oakland California. This property is located 20 houses away from my home at the San Leandro - Oakland border.

This property was used in several movies.

• Burnt Offerings (Bette Davis, Karen Black, Burgess Merideth, Oliver Reed)
• A View to A Kill (Roger Moore, Tanya Roberts)
• So I Married an Axe Murderer (Mike Meyers, Nancy Travers)
• Phantasm
• Gloria (Sharon Stone)
• True Crimes (Clint Eastwood)

And now for the view everyone has been familar with The front view as seen from the Northern estate entrance

If you're looking to get into the beautiful East Bay, give me a call! I'd be happy to help you find your dream home.

The other day someone from a sub-contractor for Pacific Gas & Electric came by my neighborhood and replaced all the old spinning dial meters with a new one that transmits the data directly to their billing offices.

An example of the old style spinning dial meters where someone would have to go home to home and read and document the readings.

An example of the new SmartMeter.

The install the new meter is only a matter of removing the metal ring around the meter and unplugging the old meter.

The new meter is then plugged into the socket, the metal ring re-installed and the installer moves on to the next home.

A few weeks later this same installer came back and added a similar SmartMeter for my gas meter.

PG&E is making this change so it can layoff or redirect the meter reading staff. A future cost cutting measure for the utility company.

It blows my mind that PG&E will spend millions of dollars to lay people off when they are still using Civil War technology. I am talking about the Telegraph poles up and down the streets that clutter our landscape and have wires dangling over our streets and yards. I understand that the telephone company, cable company and power companies all use these poles as their common delivery method.

(photo: sxc stock exchange)

But really, how ugly are these things, let's keep the meter readers and get rid of these sources of blight in our cities. It's time these utility giants do something to give back to the homeowners who have been paying for service for the last many decades (some addresses have been paying over 100 years) it's high time for an upgrade (or below the grade) undergroundnig of utilities.