Think back to the year 2000: What do you remember about the East Bay? What’s changed that’s impacted you and your family?

 

There are many new buildings, new neighborhoods, new restaurants, new people. The median price of a home was just $300,000. We didn’t have iPhones yet.

 

And now look where we stand: last year the median price was $800,000 and technology has made significant changes in the way we buy and sell homes, from digital signatures, to robust home search apps, to “virtual” showings using FaceTime and Facebook Live.

 

Red Oak has been through  these changes firsthand. In fact, by the time Y2K rolled around, we were already 24 years into the business. Here are 5 reasons why Red Oak gets the East Bay - from its colorful past to its exciting future.

 

 

 

Red Oak was founded in a hot tub in Albany 40 years ago (not kidding). Our first office was in a garage (like all good start-ups), which was at 844 Ramona just off of Solano Avenue. Then just a few years later, we moved to our first official location at 1891 Solano, where we still have a presence today.

 

 

 

The founders of the company Dale Quick, Pete Campbell, Pat Leaper and Bob Blumberg and eventually Laurie Capitelli in the 1980s (included in the Fab 4) - helped make Red Oak what it is today. They have seen the East Bay change first-hand: neighborhoods become hot, then not, and laws like Proposition 13 that shifted the landscape of the entire market. It pays to understand the history of those changes as they help clients make better decisions for the future.

 

 

 

 

Sure, home prices increased 167% between 2000 and 2019 (based upon the numbers above), but the market wasn’t always a rosebed: do you remember the 1980s when interest rates reached 20% and unemployment reached 10.8%? And do you recall the financial downturn when East Bay median home prices fell 60% in two years ($588,000 in 2007 to $237,103 in 2009)?

 

Suffice it to say, Red Oak has seen both prosperous and challenging times and has always found ways to navigate both. Our drive to stay at the forefront as an industry leader continues to confirm that our foothold in the East Bay isn’t going anywhere. Is it really the best time for you to sell? How do you buy the home that will deliver the greatest return over time? This is where experience really pays off.

 

 

Large corporations and publicly traded franchises have become the norm in real estate, but don’t rule out the power of local, independent brokerages.

 

Why? Because we’re not held captive to decisions made in another state (or country). East Bay clients and agents can pick up the phone and speak to the owner of the company. And we don’t have to abide by the policies of a number cruncher looking for a profit margin.

 

Every staff person and agent has made the East Bay their home. Our five offices are located only in this region - from El Cerrito to Montclair Village. Management, staff and agents have a personal interest in making sure our communities thrive.

 

 

 

The Red Oak Opportunity Foundation (ROOF) has raised $1.3M to support local nonprofits that do not receive significant funding from other sources. Since 1986, funds have been raised by Red Oak agents, partners and vendors, allowing us to make a difference in our own backyard. When we see new issues crop up - from homelessness to the need to keep a nonprofit from shutting its doors - we can shift money to help those who need it most.

 

Since we exclusively focus on the East Bay, we have crafted our services to speak to the needs of buyers and sellers of the region. We have a deep understanding of the fine differences of East Bay neighborhoods and offer others the opportunity to discover what makes over 50 of them unique.

 

We’ve built an extensive database which provides a hyperlocal analysis of market trends going back over 20 years. We know how buyers search and move into and through the East Bay, and can optimize marketing for our properties to reach the audiences with these strategies in mind.

 

We have also spent years building solid relationships with local agents, and nurture those relationships daily. And those relationships matter.

 

Staff have said that Red Oak is an established company with a start-up mentality. Indeed, we have been able to use our rich history to find new ways forward. From employing over 20 staff to support our clients and agents, including a full-time videographer, to being nominated as one of the nation’s most innovative real estate companies in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, we believe that one can never rely exclusively on the past to create opportunities for the future.

 

*Source of market data: MLS, single family home sales in Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, El Cerrito, El Sobrante, Emeryville, Hercules, Kensington, Oakland, Piedmont, Pinole, Richmond, San Pablo and San Leandro.