We've Moved.

Hey, thanks for stopping by.

We've moved and can now be found at http://myeastbayagent.com

Come and check us out over there.

--Andy

Top Rated East Bay Eats

Thinking of heading out for a bite to eat? Looking for a recommendation?

You might want to check out one of the East Bay restaurants that made the Chronicle's top 100 Bay Area restaurants list.

20.Fonda, Albany

21.Rivoli, Berkeley

22.Eccolo, Berkeley

23.O Chame, Berkeley

24.Viks Chaat Corner, Berkeley

25.Cesar, Berkeley

26.Chez Panisse,

27.Downtown, Berkeley

28.Grasshopper, Oakland

29.Oliveto, Oakland

30.Pearl Oyster Bar, Oakland

31.A Cote, Oakland

32.Pizzaiolo, Oakland

33.Bay Wolf, Oakland

Technorati: real estate, east bay, activities, restaurants, sfgate

image courtesy of sfgate

Turning a Paperclip Into a House

Has anybody been following the story of Kyle MacDonald, the guy who turned a red paperclip into a home through a series of trades. Amazing!

Kyle MacDonald's goal was simple — to trade one red paper clip all the way up to a house.

Today, exactly one year after starting his quest it looks like he achieved his goal.

Check out his blog which chronicles his adventures over the past year.

Technorati Tags: real estate, pop culture, one red paperclip, blogging

flickr photocredit kylemac. Used under a Creative Commons License.

Oakland Waterfront Plan Approved

SFgate had an article today saying that..

The Oakland City Council early this morning approved the controversial Oak to Ninth development south of Jack London Square, a 64-acre project that will help transform the waterfront as the city's largest housing development since World War II.

The council's 6-to-0 vote supporting the project came a day after a coalition of affordable housing, open space and local hiring advocates -- working with Councilwoman Pat Kernighan, whose district includes the project -- gave the project their blessing.

The groups, the city and Ghielmetti agreed to have 465 of the 3,100 housing units on the project be made affordable to families earning between $25,000 and $50,000 a year, as well as hiring 300 Oakland residents as apprentices in the building trades.

Ghielmetti said he expects to break ground in late 2007 after a series of approvals from other government agencies. The project will include 200,000-square feet of retail and 30 acres of parks and trails, a 170-slip marina, and restored wetlands accessible by the public.

It will take 15 years to develop, although Ghielmetti said he expects the first residents to move there in 2010.

I spent most of the day yesterday in San Francisco with Mark Choey checking out what's going on in the world of new developments. There's some great stuff happening down there and I'm glad to see that it's not confined to that side of the bay.

Technorati Tags: real estate, east bay real estate, oakland, real estate development, jack london square

Brainjams: Rent an Expert

Looking to add something new to your technology repertoire? Maybe your stuck at a roadblock and getting frustrated? Maybe you have technical expertise coming out of your ears and want to share some of it?

If so, come on out to the Rent an Expert event next Thursday.

Rent an Expert is an event where people who want to help others do or learn something offer their services to the members of the community for a very small fee. All the money collected will be donated to a charity that is chosen by all participants. Some examples of what might be offered include: how to setup a blog, how to get the most from shortcuts in Photoshop, configure a Drupal community, redesign a Web site, customize a WordPress theme, create a survey, optimize AdSense ads, figure out tagging, how to shoot better photographs or just about anything really - even non-technical things like how to write a press release.

The event is co-sponsored by BrainJams and MindJet and will be held on next Thursday, June 15th from 530PM till 900PM in San Francisco. Please RSVP on the Wiki if you're coming.

Technorati: brainjams, RentAnExpert, sanfrancisco

West Berkely Bowl is A Go

It know it may sound a bit weird, but one of the best things about living in Berkeley is The Berkeley Bowl grocery store.

After spending most of my life in Wisconsin and growing accustomed to the produce sections at the local Kohls or Piggly Wiggly, walking into the Bowl for the first time was truly one of my first "California moments" With world class produce at rock bottom prices, and a parking lot of which nightmares are made of, Berkeley Bowl is truly an experience.

For the past few years, they've been working to expand and build a new location and now they've finally gotten the go-ahead from the city of Berkeley.

Located at 920 Heinz Ave (map) in West Berkeley, the new 90,970-square-foot project will have 99 parking spaces beneath the building and another 102 spots in surface lots.

Although many in the immediate neighborhood are understandibly concerned about the impact of the increase in traffic, this is something that was deperately needed.

More info & reviews: Tribe, Yelp

Technorati Tags: real estate, berkeley real estate, west berkeley, berkeley, berkeley bowl

Berkeley Information via Wikipedia (RIP?)

Even though Wikipedia has been declared dead, its still a great resource. For some reason, I've never checked out the Wikipedia entry for Berkeley. When I finally did so last week, I found another great resource of local information.

A link to the Wikipedia entry has now been added to my list of local links that I send to perspective clients who are unfamiliar with the area.

Technorati Tags: real estate, berkeley real estate, berkeley, wikipedia

Emerging from the Trenches

I've been deep in the East Bay real estate trenches and before I knew it, MyEastBayAgent has been dormant for the past few weeks.

For some reason, its a challenge for me to juggle both. If I really get into a blogging zone, my desire to actually get out there and mix it up would diminish. If I get really into the actual day to day operations of running my real estate business, the blogosphere always seems to take a back seat. Time to make another effort to strike a balance between the two.

A sincere thank you to the people who have sent emails recently checking in with me. Sometimes I forget that there's people out there actually reading what I have to say.

Onwards and upwards!