Can Danville support yet another new restaurant? Chow owner Tony Gulisano thinks so and to back up his confidence he has invested a ton of money in converting the old Blockbuster premises on Railroad Avenue into an extremely individual space.
Picture yourself living in this cozy 1960s character home in a quiet secluded location just above downtown Lafayette. Enjoy the charming ambience created by the well-proportioned rooms with beamed ceilings and gleaming hardwood floors.
This exceptionally well-maintained home has been tastefully updated and remodeled to a high standard and significant improvements include the installation of high quality dual-pane windows, a composition shake roof and a particularly attractive remodeled master bathroom. Outside, there is a large wooden deck at the front of the home, ideal for catching the last rays of the setting sun, and an attractive well-stocked garden at the rear filled with a wide variety of trees and shrubs including oranges, figs, olives and pomegranates. All this together with a completely private seating area and also a sheltered side garden with raised vegetable beds.
Sierra Vista Way is a quiet lane in a country setting, within walking distance of downtown Lafayette with its wide range of restaurants and shopping facilities to meet your everyday needs.
Freeway access is only minutes away and it is generally accepted that Lafayette schools are among the best in Contra Costa County.
1149 Sierra Vista Way, Lafayette, California
Offered For Sale at $817,500
Twin Creeks is one of San Ramon’s most popular neighborhoods and Twin Creeks View is the “Jewel In The Crown” of Twin Creeks. Homes here have significantly more appeal than those in the rest of Twin Creeks, most of them being situated on much larger lots, with 3-car garages and with secluded yards offering a high level of privacy.
This single storey floor plan is one of the most popular in the area, and this particular home has had countless improvements made in recent years including a comprehensive kitchen remodel, which now features granite countertops over maple shaker-style cabinetry, inset lighting and high quality stainless steel appliances. The bathrooms have all been remodeled to a high standard, and the master bath has a large frameless walk-in shower with designer ceramic tile. The windows have been replaced with high efficiency dual-pane units and paneled doors have replaced the original ones.
Outside, the home is set in an elevated position behind a beautifully landscaped front garden with a lawn and a variety of well-established plants and shrubs. A wide driveway leading to a 3-car garage and there is also additional parking to the left hand side. At the rear is an expansive, completely private yard with large concrete patio and a lawn that is bordered by a wide variety of plants, shrubs and trees.
Homes of this quality are rarely offered for sale in Twin Creeks View and this is an outstanding opportunity for a discerning buyer to acquire a home that is absolutely move-in ready in one of San Ramon’s most desirable neighborhoods.
Twin Creeks is one of San Ramon’s most popular neighborhoods and benefits from excellent schools and easy access to shopping, restaurants, local parks, the freeway network and Bishop Ranch office park.
Call Bernard Gibbons on (925) 997-1585 for more details or to arrrange a private showing
There are many homes for sale in San Ramon at present at this point in time but few have the combined location, condition, general appeal and price as this attractive 3 bedroom 2 bath 1980s rancher.
316 Cindy Court is situated on a large flat lot on a quiet court in San Ramon’s popular Town & Country neighborhood. Light, bright and airy, it has a great floor plan with good-sized roooms including formal living and dining rooms and a family room with a feature brick fireplace.
The home is set in attractive lawned gardens with many established trees and shrubs. The back yard is particularly attractive and secluded with a sparkling pool and covered patio area for outside entertaining.
This is one of San Ramon’s most convenient locations, being in easy reach of all grades of school, freeways, shopping and Bishop Ranch office park.
Call Bernard Gibbons on (925) 997-1585 for more details or to arrrange a private showing.
Many parts of the Bay Area, and in particular, the San Ramon Valley and Lamorinda, historically do much better than much of the country when real estate appreciation is considered.
Unfortunately, because prices increased so much and so quickly, they had further to fall and the resulting impact was devastating for many. Recently, however, the rate of decrease has slowed significantly in our area, and this is despite the negative effect on home values caused by many short sales and bank owned foreclosures that have been dumped on the market.
Evidence of Improvement
The economists tend to look at real estate on a national level and one figure they give a lot of credence to as a meaningful indicator is the “Pending Home Sales Index”. Last month this rose 5.3% nationwide, which is a significant amount. More importantly, it rose in every region of the country.
Now note that this is an index that considers numbers of transactions, not total value of transactions.
You Can’t Expect To Buy At The Bottom
What can be inferred from these numbers is that buyers now believe that home prices are not likely to fall much further, so they have the confidence to write offers and buy homes. Of course there will always be some buyers who are planning to “buy at the bottom” but the only problem with that strategy is that you can only identify “The Bottom” after you have passed it and prices are on the increase.
Possible Improvements In The Market
It will surely soon be apparent to most buyers and sellers that prices are really so close to the bottom that it makes no difference and as buyers become more active, this will encourage more potential sellers to list their homes for sale. The likely effect is that there will continue to be a wide choice of homes to buy for the next few months but as we approach the Holiday season, many of the sellers who have not been successful in agreeing a sale will take their homes off the market. From Thanksgiving onward, it is quite possible that there will be a shortage of homes to buy. The wild card in this reasoning is that we don’t know how many people will be forced to sell their homes or have them foreclosed. These are not discretionary activities and a sudden increase of numbers of homes for sale will certainly keep prices down.
What Will The New Year Bring?
As we enter 2009, I foresee that there will be many buyers who are poised to take action. If the majority of those sellers who took their homes off the market in late 2008 decide to re-list them for sale in January, the balance between buyers and sellers should be at a reasonable equilibrium and we can expect to see stable home prices throughout the year. If, on the other hand, sellers do not take such immediate action, and there are more buyers than homes available (a situation I have seen on numerous occasions at the start of a year), home prices are likely to rise. This is simply the economics of supply and demand.
Note that my thoughts only relate directly to the affluent San Ramon Valley and Lamorinda here. In other areas, not too far distant, there will continue to be a glut of homes on the market for some time to come because the numbers are already so astronomical. In these areas prices will stay low and may even decline further with more foreclosures etc.
It may seem strange to review a coffee house under the title “Restaurant Review” but Sideboard is really not so easy to categorize.
A relative newcomer to the Danville restaurant scene, Sideboard occupies the space in the old Danville Hotel that was vacated by Lisa B’s restaurant. This has one of the most appealing ambiences of any restaurant in the area and it is hard to understand why any restaurant serving average to good food should not be able to make a success here. Sadly, Lisa B’s failed. Sideboard, on the other hand, already has a loyal following.
In England, we have a peculiarly English phenomenon that is known as a wine bar. Somewhere you can enjoy a glass or a bottle of wine or beer, optionally have a bite to eat - anything from a snack to a full-blown meal - and just hang out with friends and enjoy the surroundings
.
Sideboard is an English wine bar!
Not content to just move in to the already attractive space, owners Erin and Ford Andrews have made major improvements including removing a wall to incorporate the conservatory are into the main area, making worthwhile changes to the bar and introducing attractive shabby chic furniture with comfortable seating. It all works well!
Sylvia and I visited on Tuesday after Labor Day for a light evening meal. We were immediately welcomed by the friendly staff who explained the system to us. At sideboard, you order and pay at the counter then find a table and your food and drinks are delivered to your table (just like an English wine bar).
The menu is mostly made up of salads, sandwiches and some pasta dishes. Sylvia ordered the Beef burger with fries (this is so out of character!) but opted for walnut bread on the side rather than the normal Acme bun. I had Papardelle Carbonara.
Both of these dishes were absolutely outstanding and portion sizes were good. Sideboard use organic and natural food wherever possible and it shows. I think even the peas in my Carbonara were fresh rather than frozen and Sylvia’s Beef burger tasted like grass fed steak. Pasta Carbonara is a favorite of mine and I can tell a good one. Papardelle is not a common variant but it really worked here. I will find it difficult to order anything else at Sideboard, it was that good.
The wine list here is fairly short and seems a little light on less expensive wines. We accompanied our meal with a bottle of Artesa Chardonnay ($38). This is a little more than I expected to spend on wine although this really is an excellent Chardonnay.
But I think the secret of Sideboard’s continuing success will be that it can be whatever you like. They open all day from breakfast to dinner. It can be your local coffee shop (serving Bluebottle coffee) where you can also have a pastry if you like. And they look delicious. Or just call in for a glass or bottle of wine or beer. Sylvia and I dined inside to experience the ambience but you can hang out on the patio at the front of the Danville Hotel if you like and just watch the world go by.
Sideboard may be a newcomer to Danville but I guarantee that they are here to stay. This is one of the best additions to the Danville restaurant scene in years. You can expect to see me there. Often!
I just updated information on my main web site at www.BernardGibbons.com that should be of interest to homeowners facing foreclosure and also to buyers wanting to know more about opportunities and pitfalls relating to buying foreclosures, short sales or bank-owned REO properties in the San Ramon Valley and Lamorinda.
If you are having problems meeting your current mortgage payments or if you know anybody in such a situation, this new legislation may offer a solution.
At the end of July, a $300 billion housing rescue bill was signed into law aimed at helping homeowners avoid foreclosure. Now, thousands of borrowers who are unable to meet their mortgage payments will be able to refinance their existing loans into new low-cost fixed-rate ones insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).
It is estimated that 400,000 borrowers with $68 billion in loans could benefit from this program - but the bill allows for up to 2 million borrowers to participate.
Who will be eligible?
In order to qualify, you must be an owner-occupier and your loan must have been taken out between January 2005 and June 2007. You must also be able to show that you are spending at least 40% of your gross monthly income on all household debt.
You may be up to date on your existing mortgage or you may be in default, but either way you have to show that you can’t afford to keep paying your mortgage and that you are not intentionally defaulting just to get lower payments.
Before you can get an FHA-backed mortgage, you must first clear any other debts on the home, such as a home equity loan or a line of credit.
You will need approval from the FHA, and total debt cannot exceed 95% of the home’s appraised value at the time.
How do you apply?
You should initially contact your current mortgage servicer or alternatively, you can go directly to an FHA-approved lender for help. There is a list of lenders on the Department of Housing and Urban Development web site (http://www.hud.gov/ll/code/llslcrit.cfm).
How does the refinancing process work?
Note that this is a voluntary program and the lender holding the original mortgage has to agree to rework a given loan before things can get started. They will have to agree to make substantial concessions, writing down the value of the loan to 90% of the home’s current value. In areas where prices have plummeted by as much as 20%, that will mean the lender writing off a significant amount.
So it is likely that lenders won’t sign off on such a workout unless they think that they’ll lose less money that way, than they would by foreclosing.
Each loan will be underwritten by an FHA lender on a case-by-case basis, so the banks will have a new appraisal to determine the home’s current value, as well as verifying up to date income statements, bank accounts etc. in the same way as a normal mortgage application.
The new lender then buys the old loan and takes over the reworked mortgage.
The old lender has to write off any fees and penalties on the original mortgage, and accept the proceeds from the new loan on a paid-in-full basis. It also pays the FHA an up-front premium equal to 3% of the mortgage principal.
Your new FHA loan will have an interest rate that is fixed for the life of the loan, as opposed to an adjustable-rate mortgage that can be have rates that are totally unpredictable.
What does it cost you?
There should be little up-front cost for you. Loan origination fees, for example, could probably be paid back over the life of the loan. There are some other costs to take into consideration though. This is not a simple bail-out deal.
You will not be allowed to take out another home equity loan for at least five years, unless it’s to pay for needed repairs or maintenance on the home.
You will also have to pay an insurance premium to the FHA which is equal to 1.5% of the principal, every year. This is a mortgage guarantee policy.
Shared Equity Increases
The FHA also gets to share in any profits you make. The way that works is that when you resell your home, or refinance it, you pay back 3% of the mortgage principal to the FHA.
And that’s not all! In the event that you sell or refinance within a year, you have to pay the FHA 100% of any profits you make as a result of an increased home price. Of course if the home does not increase in value, that won’t be an issue.
After a year though, you still have to share any profits with the FHA but the amount reduces on a sliding scale - 90% in year two, 80% in year 3 etc. until it reaches 50% where it will remain until whenever you sell or refinance.
Will it work for you?
It really depends on your individual circumstances and you are strongly advised to consult with your CPA or other financial advisor. For many, savings will be substantial, although you do need to remember that the FHA will be sharing any profit you make on the home down the line. Nevertheless, this is a much better scenario than losing your home through foreclosure.
If you are having financial difficulty in meeting your loan payments but you don’t feel that this will work for you, if you have no, or little, equity in your home, you may want to consider a short sale. In this case, the lender forgives the outstanding loan and you get to walk away from your home without any further financial liability to them. In this case, you need to list your home for sale before a foreclosure becomes inevitable and here, I may be able to help you. For more information, please contact me, Bernard Gibbons, at any time, on (925) 997-1585.
I know that many of my readers are familiar with Café Esin in San Ramon and it has been no secret that they have been planning to move to new, more spacious accommodations in Danville’s new Rose Garden Center close to the Sycamore Valley Road 680 off ramp.
Well at last they are there. Sylvia and I were present on the opening night and although this was intended to be a “soft launch” for the new venture, with no publicity announcing the opening date, it was interesting to see that around a quarter of the inside tables in this quite large restaurant were occupied. And this was on a quiet Tuesday evening.
Esin has an immediate feeling of quality. Even before entering, the exterior is evocative of a quite up-market restaurant and at the front and side is an array of tables for outdoor dining with numerous overhead heaters. You can see that this will become very popular.
Inside, there is a very pleasant and spacious bar area to the right and I predict that this will become a regular meeting place for the after-work crowd, providing some relief from the often overcrowded Forbes Mill and Piatti bars.
The dining room is to the left. Here you will see high ceilings, cream walls, much wood paneling, very attractive lighting and lots of space.
So as you can see, at least as far as the premises were concerned, Esin impressed us considerably. But what about the food? Can they maintain the high standards that we have become accustomed to at Café Esin in San Ramon?
I am glad to report that the answer is a resounding “Yes They Can!”. I am always prepared to give a new restaurant some leeway as it often takes time to get the wrinkles out. No such allowances are needed at Esin. Service was as impressive as ever - prompt and attentive without being intrusive. They appeared a little over-staffed on this first night but I suspect that this was to make sure everybody quickly gained familiarity with the new systems as well as to avoid any possibility of slow service.
Esin’s menu will be familiar to their past patrons although I did note a number of new additions. We both passed on the appetizers on this occasion, although I personally was tempted by the oysters (roasted and stuffed with spinach, bacon and cheese) and the zucchini fritters. But at Esin, you have to save room for dessert!
For an entrée, Sylvia chose an old Café Esin favorite, Filo Wrapped Chicken Breast filled with 3 cheeses. This is normally served with couscous but they happily substituted roast fingerling potatoes. I had the Dry Rubbed Ribeye Steak which was served with mashed potatoes and caramelized onion jam. This came exactly as ordered (medium rare). Both dishes were first class.
Esin is famous for its desserts, and rightly so. On this occasion we shared the bread pudding of the day (made with apples). Neither of us normally eat desserts but one almost feels it is heresy not to indulge at Esin. It came right up to our high expectations.
We accompanied our meal with a really outstanding bottle of Viognier, having found little Chardonnay to interest us. If it wasn’t for the amazingly good taste of this wine, at a quite reasonable price, then I was anticipating criticizing the wine list. They probably do need more Chardonnays if they are going to keep the locals happy though.
So in summing up I have to say that I consider Esin to be one of the most appealing quality restaurants in Danville. I have no doubt that even though it has a large number of tables both inside and out, if you want to dine here at the weekend, reservations will be essential. Check out their web site at www.esinrestaurant.com.
2007 and 2008 have been stressful years for many homeowners, particularly those who bought their homes within the last couple of years. The vast majority of these are doing fine, even though they have seen the equity in their homes decreasing but the people who bought homes with little or no down payment and those who borrowed money on the basis of “stated income” just because they could not otherwise qualify are those that got into trouble.
Many of these people have been forced into “short sales” and others have been foreclosed on. The reaction of lenders, who many believe are largely responsible for this mess any way, was to suddenly decide that they didn’t really want to lend to anybody with less than 30% down so loans became hard to get.
The Good News
Now there are signs that things are getting better. From June 1st, Fanny Mae scrapped its “Declining Markets” policy which effectively meant that the largest available loans to most people was 90%. Now with 95% loans available again, first-time buyers can qualify for a loan, thus stimulating the market from the bottom.
The increase in conforming loan limits in March is also just starting to have an effect. $417,000 was the previous limit for lower cost conforming loans but now, with the limit at $729,750, buyers can get a first loan up to that figure at a low interest rate, topping it up with a second loan for the balance of financing needed, rather than take out a large, expensive, jumbo loan.
Higher limits for FHA loans are also starting to have an impact. With just 3% down a home buyer, even with less than stellar credit, can qualify to buy with a loan up to $729,750.
The Market Will Recover
All of this is helping to move the real estate market towards recovery. And it will recover. Fully. A new study from the Joint Center For Housing Studies of Harvard University finds the country poised to see an increase in housing demand over the next decade. The reason? Our population is growing.
From 2010 to 2020 the population will grow by an average of more than 1.4 million people per year. That is a lot of growth.
And note that this is a nationwide study. If you look at Danville or San Ramon for example, you will see that we almost always have a buoyant housing market.
Our Market Is Resilient
Even now, with all the talk of doom and gloom, there is less than a 6 month supply of homes for sale based on the latest figures. 3-6 months supply is generally considered a neutral market. Less than 3 months is a sellers’ market and over 6 months is a buyers’ market. You can find a buyers market in Brentwood or Pittsburg or Antioch or even Concord but you won’t find it here. That’s why our prices have stopped plummeting. Sure there are some low priced homes to be found but they are mostly bank owned foreclosures, many of which are in pretty bad shape. An increasing number of the rest are selling above list price and with multiple offers.
All of the above has to be good news for the real estate market and home owners as a whole.
Soon, things will get back to normal with moderate 2-4% annual increases in value backed by sensible lending policies.