GreenBungalows Gazette: February 2024

When the daffodils bloom, the real estate market begins!

Dear friends,

I hope that you experienced a little bit of extra love yesterday, or a way of celebrating any of the special rituals that this week brings us! Whether you enjoy the Lunar New Year, Mardi Gras or Valentines Day, this week offers us colorful reminders that we are fortunate to have reached another time of celebration.

This week is special as I see my first daffodils in bloom, because for me that signals the beginning of this year’s real estate market! Most male agents will tell you the market begins after the Super Bowl, and this year the convergence was precise. While inventory this week is still quite low, that will change quickly now. Every active agent I know is working on listings that will appear either this month, or later this spring. The ones I’m working on are taking a while to get ready, as contractor schedules need to be juggled, rain needs to be worked around, and product delays need to be dealt with. And this year there’s the added hurdle of anticipating the requirements of insurance providers. In past years, it would be a rare seller who would upgrade their electrical service or wiring just for the purposes of making the sale smoother. But now it’s a savvy seller who does that, including each of my current sellers. There’s been a wee bit of easing of the insurance market, but it’s still the case that a home with knob and tube wiring may be uninsurable to the vast majority of carriers.

In general, the market appears to be starting off with tremendous strength. For many agents, last year was a really challenging one, and as I’ve shared with you before, I feel very fortunate to have bucked the trend in having my best year ever. I am tremendously grateful to the buyers and sellers who chose me as their guide in buying, or entrusted me with the preparation of their listing. I am deeply grateful to have ranked as the third individual agent at Red Oak in 2023. And by selling a wonderful historic multi-unit in North Berkeley, I also sold the highest-priced property in Red Oak’s history. I currently have a wonderful multi-unit listed near campus (The Spruce Six-Plex will take you to a website including a quick video I narrate) and if that sells, I would break my own record! Fingers crossed, as there are currently two very interested parties.

Interest rates have bobbled a bit this past month (read more below) but the predictions are pointing strongly in the direction of lower rates. Buyers are ready! That includes buyers both with all-cash and those obtaining loans. Many buyers were hesitant in the fall, and contrary to the trends in most election years, many early 2024 buyers seem committed to making a purchase, and willing to pay what it takes to succeed. There have been some early outliers: properties selling more than 75% over list; a fixer receiving 24 offers, and a property that didn’t sell last fall now getting crazy interest. And yet, like in most markets, there is no consistency. Of the first 23 sales in Berkeley this year, six of them (26%) sold below list. Some things have not changed this year: each house and each set of buyers is unique!

I’d like to call attention to two articles that appear later in the newsletter:

Each month this year, the Red Oak calendar highlights one California native plant. I had urged my managers to have the calendar feature natives for several years, and so I was really pleased when they agreed that would be the focus for this year. I know many of you no longer use paper calendars, so this may be my last year of sending them out (though I also get enthusiastic thank yous from some of you who like a small physical calendar for a particular spot in your home. Let me know if you would still want me to send you one!).

If you are at all interested in learning more about natives, including the importance of pollinators in your garden, being able to save water in your garden, and would enjoy obtaining some free seeds, this weekend is the perfect time with the Native Plant Extravaganza! We are fortunate to have several nurseries in the East Bay that specialize in California natives, and can share super expertise. You’ll find a schedule of talks and other special features here.

This month’s calendar features the California Native Rose, Rosa californica, which is an abundant and fragrant bloomer throughout the summer and fall. According to a wonderful resource for California natives, Calscape.org, the flowers attract butterflies and other pollinators. In fall, it produces deep red rose hips that provide food for birds. I have one in a large pot and look forward to it beginning to share its lovely pink flowers. I obtained mine at the Filoli Gardens, which has a nice selection of natives for sale, in addition to being a terrific destination for a Bay Area outing that offers pleasure to fans of both architectural and garden beauty. Right now, there are lots of orchids in bloom, and in March they will have their spring celebration as thousands of bulbs come into bloom.

I have obtained many native plants at that candy store for plants: Annie’s Annuals and Perennials, and this Saturday they will have a talk at 11 am: “Selecting native plants using Calscape”,  by Jessica Woodward, of the California Native Plant Society. You may see me there!

Roses in general get lots of attention this week as people celebrate Valentines Day, but roses are such a wonderful plant to grow in our area year round. This is the perfect time for you to give roses some love: it’s the time we need to get out and prune our roses, and possibly spray with an organic horticultural oil. It’s also the perfect time to plant bare root roses, ideally from their own-root stock. Curious why this matters? You might enjoy this brief video from a rose expert from Heirloom Roses. I learned a lot!

Most of you who are orchid lovers probably know that this weekend is the big Pacific Orchid Exposition in Golden Gate Park. Not as grand as when it was at Fort Mason, but this event is still very inspiring, and will allow you to see the amazing variety of blooms that this huge genus offers. And you can plan your visit to take a tour through the San Francisco

Also mentioned later in this newsletter is a favorite local source of special edible treats: The Xocolate Bar. I confess that I have a soft, gooey spot in my heart for this small local business, having been the recipient of numerous birthday and valentine presents from there. As it happens, yesterday I received a new bag of disks of their sipping chocolate, which makes exceptional hot chocolate. You can also ask for a small sample before committing, but if you like dark chocolate (this is 70%) that little sip just won’t be enough! I still have very fond memories of indulging in a thick, dark cup of chocolate like this in a hill village in the Le Marche region of Italy, and Xocolate Bar’s sipping chocolate is the closest thing I’ve come to reaching that state of chocolate bliss!

Let me end with the notice of a very special event for me and those who love folk music. Next Wednesday, Feb. 21 at 8 pm, two dear friends, Pat Humphries and Sandy O who together performa as Emma’s Revolution, will be on stage with an amazing cavalcade of their musician friends, celebrating their 20 years of exceptional music making together. Their career is also being celebrated in a future feature-length film, and some of this concert will be used in the film. They are bringing together many names you may have heard of: Holly Near, Reggie Harris, Melanie DeMore, as well Greg Greenway, Crys Matthews and so many others! Click here to see the entire list, and to order either live tickets or livestream (good for 48 hours after). I will be out front during the interval helping sell the amazing toffee these two create! I am reminded of that line: “What if the Pentagon held a bake sale to fund the defense department and the schools got all the money they needed?” How different our world might be if artists got federal support?!

As we celebrate the Lunar New Year in this year of the Wood Dragon, may you all find your resilience and confidence, and set down successful roots into whatever projects give you pleasure!

Arlene