Michael Greenslade

San Leandro is full of fall color everywhere you look. Who needs trips to Vermont and New Hampshire to see fall foliage? You can get a blast of color on every street in town.

Bancroft Avenue has some brilliant yellow Ginko trees with Pops of color that cannot be ignored.

The Crepe Myrtle trees also have a wide variety of colors from green, gold, red, yellow and orange.

Ginko

Crepe Myrtle Crepe Myrtle Decorative Pear?

If you are interested in moving to the East Bay, give me a call and I will be more than happy show you around.

www.dunsmuir.org is the website to go to.

Located at the Oakland San Leandro Border is the Dunsmuir Hellman Historic Estate. Each year at this time of year the home and all the out buildings are all decorated for the Christmas holidays.

The mansion and grounds are open for weekends during December for the Holiday Show. Stop on by and say hello if you see me up there.

The high tea at the Dinkelspeil house located at the north gate is a must for anyone wanting a relaxing break from touring the mansion and gift shopping.

I've been volunteering up there since 1987.

Fa-la-la-la.

Enjoy a spot of tea at the Romantic Storybook Normandy Tudor.....Dinkelspeil House.

The Mansion at the Dunsmuir - Hellman Historic Estate Oakland, California.

Dunsmuir Hellaman Mansion

Long time volunteer and good friend Teresa greets you at the front door.

Here I am volunteering at the mansion. I've already done two Christmas party evening tours this season. I will be hosting a children's school tour comming up soon.

When I'm not selling real estate I am volunteering. I love selling historic homes and architecturally significant homes. Give me a call.

***update, just back from volunteering again this morning. We had two bus groups that came through the property. The first group as a retired teacher's group from San Jose. The second group was an early alzheimer's group from Fairfield***

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.

Once again I transcribed the open house guide from the San Leandro Times and rearranged it for your convenience.

If you miss seeing any of these, I would be more than happy to represent you as the buyer. Call me and I can arrange for a viewing.

I have set aside this weekend to showing homes to people just like you. In fact, it could be you! Give me a call at 510 334-7800 to schedule.

San Leandro

2246 Blackpool Place, San Leandro

Offered at $349,000.00 through Rinetti & Co. Realtors

3 bedrooms / 2.5 baths

Sun 2-4

715 Sybil Avenue, San Leandro

Offered at $385,000.00 through Prudential California Realty

2 bedrooms / 1 baths

Sun 1-4

981 Lee Avenue, San Leandro

Offered at $494,950.00 through Re/Max in Motion

2 bedrooms / 2.5 baths

Sun 1-4

1441 Regent Drive, San Leandro

Offered at $639,000.00 through Rinetti & Co. Realtors

3 bedrooms / 2 baths

Sun 2-4

2820 Darius Way, San Leandro

Offered at $785,000.00 through Coldwell Banker

4 bedrooms / 2.5 baths

Sun 1-4:30

2076 Marineview Drive, San Leandro

Offered at $895,000.00 through Rinetti & Co. Realtors

3 bedrooms / 2 baths

Sun 2-4

San Lorenzo

Nothing this week :(

Hayward

627 Rossmore Lane, Hayward

Offered at $425,000.00 through Re/Max in Motion

4 bedrooms / 3 baths

Sun 1-4

Castro Valley

18340 Joseph Drive, Castro Valley

Offered at $519,000.00 through Re/Max in Motion

3 bedrooms / 2 baths

Sun 1-4

18365 Joseph Drive, Castro Valley

Offered at $539,000.00 through Re/Max in Motion

3 bedrooms / 2 baths

Sun 1-4

32075 Palomares Road, Castro Valley

Offered at $736,850.00 through Prudential California Realty

2 bedrooms / 1 bath

Sun 1-4

4988 Kathleen Avenue, Castro Valley

Offered at $489,000 through Coldwell Banker

3 bedrooms / 2 baths

Sun 2-4

17565 Oakshire Place, Castro Valley

Offered at $1,099,000.00 through Prudential California Realty

4 bedrooms / 3 baths

Sun 1-4

32777 Palomares Road, Castro Valley

Offered at $1,157,000.00 through J. Rockcliff Realtors

3 bedrooms / 2 baths

Sun 1:30-4

Oakland

Nothing this week :(

Piedmont

29 Olive Avenue, Piedmont

Offered at $799,000 through Re/Max in Motion

2 bedrooms / 3 baths

Sun 2-4

Fremont

Nothing this week :(

Alameda

Nothing this week :(

San Ramon

Nothing this week :(

Hello Blog readers,

I though that I would share this with you. It's a listing of duplexes for sale in Oakland.

Have you ever considered a duplex? It's a great time to pick up an income property. If you are not sure you would be able to make all the payment on your property buy yourself and don't want to have a roommate, consider a duplex.

Duplexes are only slightly more expensive than single family detached homes. A duplex is like having that roommate, but only having a wall between you and them.....cool huh.

Here is a list of available duplexs in Oakland above $300,000.00 from the MLS, I thought that I would give this a try for the blog. This list will I am sure expire as the properties go on and off the market.

If you would like an updated list, call.

http://MAXEBRDI.fnismls.com/publink/default.aspx?GUID=b74a3fac-44ba-4c92-a189-765e1d622163&Report=Yes

If you see anything you like, please give me a call and I would be glad to assist you in anyway I can. If you are looking for something like this in another nearby city, I can create you a similar list of duplexes (or single family homes) in your requested area.