Guide Me Home 2 San Francisco East Bay - Home

Livermore Harvest Wine Celebration

2010-09-02T14:20:00Z

If you love wine and exploring new vintages and meeting the winemakers, this weekends Harvest Wine Celebration may be the perfect experience. This year more than 40 Livermore wineries will be showcased Sunday and Monday. Thirty will be pouring at their individual locations and eleven of the smaller wineries will be pouring at either Concannon or Wente.

The festival takes place from noon until 5 PM Sunday and Monday. On Sunday there will be shuttle buses traveling to the various wineries along different routes – each loop includes service to eight wineries. Food from local restaurants will be available at all locations (no outside food permitted). Some wineries are also offering music and art displays – I know Wente is featuring music on three stages!

The Sunday event is expected to draw larger crowds while the Monday event is expected to be a more intimate experience.

Ticket prices are $40 – 65 depending on whether you purchase a one or two day pass, whether you purchase in advance or at the event. Non drinkers can purchase a ticket for $10. Tickets can be purchased at www.lvwine.org or the local Safeway stores.

For a list of participating wineries and events, visit www.lvwine.org. Enjoy the event and if you are thinking of purchasing property in the Livermore area, give me a call at 925-287-0550 or email me at kmardiros@legacyrea.com.

Posted by: Kathy Mardiros

Why rent when you could buy?

2010-09-01T00:00:00Z

With interest rates at historic lows, now is a great time to buy a property. Are you paying more in rent than you would be paying on a mortgage? Would the tax advantages of homeownership be something to consider?

Right now there are conventional loans available for under 5% interest. What are you paying on your rental? I had a young friend who was renting in Orange County. I referred her to a real estate agent down there and she was able to purchase a very nice condominium unit for less than she was paying for rent – and that included principal on the loan, interest, taxes, and homeowner’s dues.

Old Republic Title has a flyer on the Benefits of Home Ownership (click image above to enlarge).

Now let’s look at your purchasing power. Here is a flyer from Paula Iacomini or Prospect Mortgage (click to enlarge). Depending on your down payment and credit and the type of loan desired, you may be able to get a loan at an interest rate below the 5% shown on the flyers.

With interest rates low, prices on many properties lower than in years past, now is a good time to

think about buying. If you have questions on financing, contact Paula directly at 925-449-1157 or by email at . You may also want to visit her web site. Look at the mortgage calculators where you can enter various scenarios to see what you can afford.

If you would like a referral to one of our sales associates, give me a call at 925-287-0550 or email me at . Now is a great time to buy and we are here to help you every step of the way.

Posted by: Kathy Mardiros

California Department of Education: STAR Test Results Available

2010-08-20T16:50:00Z

The 2010 STAR test results have just been made available. Go here and enter the county and district for which you want to see the results.

The STAR stands for Standardized Testing and Reporting. The tests are made up of four components – CSTS California Standards Tests, CMA California Modified Assessment, CAPA California Alternate Performance Assessment and STS Standards based tests in Spanish. The tests are bases on the standards developed by the State Board of Education as to what

California children are expected to know and or be able to do in each grade or course.

An explanation of what is tested at each grade level can be found here. While many parents want their children in the school that tests the highest, parents need to remember that each child is different and each child’s needs must be considered when choosing a school.

If you are considering a move to the San Francisco East Bay, give me a call and I will put you in touch with one of our sales associates. I can be reached at 925-287-0550 or by email at kmardiros@legacyrealestateassociates.com.

Posted by: Kathy Mardiros

Vacationing in Aruba

2010-08-20T10:49:47Z

It’s that time of year. This year, for my family vacation, I took the kids to Aruba. Since I am a single mom, I wanted to make sure the resort I was staying in had enough fun stuff for the kids to do, as well as amenities for me. My boys are 16 and 10, so staying somewhere close to the beach, and with a pool was a requirement.

I found La Cabana Beach Resort, which is located just across a small street from Eagle Beach, one of the best beaches on Aruba, and has a large pool and waterslide, as well as the Pata-Pata poolside bar, which was very convenient. The resort had everything we needed, including a gym for me to workout in the mornings, a small mini-market for getting your kitchen started, with essentials like milk, eggs, cereal, beer and wine! There is also an onsite drug store, which came in handy when my younger son got swimmers ear.

We stayed in a one-bedroom suite overlooking the pool on the third floor. The elevators were convenient. The bedroom had a queen size bed, with lots of closet space and a safe for valuables, and there was a fold out sofa bed in the living room for the kids. The suite also had a full kitchen, with stove, microwave, fridge and all cooking utensils and dishes. I was very happy with the resort, and although they were doing some renovating to some of the units, it was not bothersome at all. The resort provided a bar on the beach for excellent and tasty mixed coconut frozen drinks with rum. Yum. There was a Cinnabon for those mornings I didn’t feel like cooking!

Aruba is a very beautiful island. One of the attractions is that it is out of the “hurricane belt”, making for less of a chance to run into a hurricane. I found it stayed quite breezy, with the wind getting heavy at times. The drinking water right out of the tap is pure and clean tasting; apparently they have quite a good purification system, so it’s much better than, say Mexico, where you keep getting told not to drink the water.

The restaurants on Aruba are amazing. We took the time to sample different restaurants every night. El Gaucho’s is an Argentinean restaurant downtown, known for it’s excellent steaks. I had lamp chops there, and they were delicious. Another favorite was Vittorios, a quite excellent Italian restaurant. Windows on Aruba is another, with wonderful seafood. My older son loves ribs and we were told that Smoky Joe’s was the place to go for ribs. They were right. Amazing ribs, with enormous portions.

We went out to the other, rougher side of the island on a tour one day, where the coastline is more rugged and the wind is unbelievable. It was gorgeous, but very, very windy. We swam at Baby Beach, a gorgeous beach with wonderful shallow waters, great for snorkeling.

The World Cup was in full swing during our visit, and since Aruba is a Dutch island, there was a lot of cheering for Holland going on. People take their football seriously on this island. We watched many great games and met and made friends with new people in the process.

My sons and I had a great time on the island, relaxing, eating great food, and playing. Great vacation, great island, polite, lovely people. Go ahead, go visit!

Posted by: Pam Dakan

Jim & Connie Gholson - Featured agent

2010-08-17T18:21:00Z

Connie & Jim Gholson

Dog Fanciers

For years Connie Gholson has been showing Cairn Terriers in the conformation arena at AKC (American Kennel Club) shows. In 2008, she switched to Rally Obedience.

Rally Obedience is a new AKC event described at http://www.akc.org/events/rally/getting_started.cfm. Rally Obedience has three levels – novice, advanced and excellent. Their dogs Cali and Lucy are in training for advanced now and Havana is in training for her novice title.

Connie and son, Lee, train and show the dogs while Jim assists at events. Active members of the Fremont Dog Training Club, Connie and Jim welcome dog lovers to get to know them better. If you are thinking of buying or selling a home in the Fremont area, give them a call at 510-792-9649 or email .

Posted by: Kathy Mardiros

Still the leading broker in Alameda County

2010-08-12T21:00:27Z

The latest data is in and Legacy Real Estate and Associates still is the leading real estate broker in Alameda County through the second quarter 2010. With over 350 properties sold year to date, Legacy has been helping buyers and sellers meet their real estate needs throughout Alameda County.

When looking at the Tri-Cities area of Fremont, Newark and Union City, Legacy again is the top performing real estate brokerage in Alameda County. With over 250 properties sold year to date, Legacy is far surpassing the closest rival.

Whether you are looking to buy or sell real estate in Alameda County, think of Legacy Real Estate and Associates. With offices in Fremont and Livermore, Legacy agents truly know the area and neighborhoods. If you would like a referral to one of our sales associates, please give me a call at 925-287-0550 or email me at kmardiros@legacyrealesateassociates.com.

Posted by: Kathy Mardiros

New listing in Fremont

2010-08-12T07:34:00Z

I have a new listing in Fremont at 40611 Andante Street, Fremont, CA 94539.

This is a 4 Bedroom 2 bathroom one story house, with a large 10,220 sf lot. There is a 700 square foot separate workshop in the back of the house that could have multiple uses. Listed at $569,888

Click here to see photos and details, and call me at 510-673-4721 with any questions or for more info!

Posted by: Pam Dakan

New listing in Fremont's Warm Springs

2010-08-12T07:07:49Z

JUST LISTED!

47662 Bannon Ct., Fremont, CA 94539

I have just listed this lovely 3 bedroom 2 bath house located at the end of a quiet court in Fremont’s Warm Springs district. Approximately 1303 square feet, with a 9085 square foot lot, this house has been updated and impeccably maintained. The backyard is park-like for your entertaining. Listed at $648,888. Please check out this online flyer for more details and photos.

For open house dates and times, please call me at 510-673-4721.

Posted by: Pam Dakan

It's the Weather

2010-08-05T15:58:00Z

One of the things many people find especially attractive in the San Francisco East Bay is the weather. This year, however, weather patterns have not been typical as July and the beginning of August have been much cooler than normal.

Alameda County offers a variety of weather choices. Knowledge of the weather patterns often help people decide which city would be best for them. Communities along the Bay such as Berkeley, Oakland and Alameda will be cooler in the summer and a bit warmer in the winter than those communities inland such as Pleasanton, Livermore, Fremont and Newark.

Typically throughout the area, temperatures seldom get below freezing in the winter even when our hills are capped with snow. In the summer there are typically days when temperatures will reach over 100 degrees but quite often the evenings will cool off and mornings will be delightful. Summers are seldom rainy with rain most often occurring November through March.

This year fog has crept in during the evening hours and has been staying around until mid morning. Days have been temperate and humidity low. As I drive to work each morning, I listen to the weather report and this year where we would typically see temperatures in the mid to high 90s we are seeing mid to high 80s and some low 90s. Evenings are cool, and mornings when I walk the dog are often in the low 60s.

If you are thinking of buying a home in the San Francisco Bay Area, consider the type of weather you prefer. The East Bay has much to offer in the way of housing, amenities and weather. I would be happy to refer you to one of our sales associates who can show you the area and homes that meet your housing needs. Just give me a call at 925-287-0550 or email me at kmardiros@legacyrealestateassociates.com.

Posted by: Kathy Mardiros

Featured Legacy Real Estate & Associates Agent - Jim Chapin

2010-08-03T16:33:00Z

Jim at Pebble Beach - one of the most scenic courses anywhere

Jim Chapin, Golfer

Legacy Senior Sales Associate, Jim Chapin, loves playing golf as it gives him a chance to see and enjoy some of the most beautiful places in the county.

Jim relates that “unlike many sports, you can play golf most of your life and because of the handicap system you can enjoy playing a match with anyone.”

Jim feels real estate is a lot like playing golf. You need to know the course, have a good game plan, and be honest and ethical. Golf has generated business for Jim over the years as once golf friends get to know you, they can trust your due to your ethics and integrity on the golf course.

If you are looking to buy or sell real estate in Southern Alameda County, give Golfer Jim Chapin a call at 510-744-3557 or email jchaping@legacyrealestateassociates.com.

Photo is of Jim at Pebble Beach - one of the most scenic courses anywhere.

Posted by: Kathy Mardiros

A Day in San Francisco

2010-07-26T16:48:00Z

My niece is visiting from the Seattle area and Sunday we spend a wonderful afternoon in San Francisco. We began our journey by taking BART to the Powell Street Station – a great way to get to San Francisco where there are no parking worries. Strolling up Powell we passed DSW and Jessie had just heard about DSW on the plane coming down so we went in and she bought a pair of shoes. For those of you who have never been DSW is Designer’s Shoe Warehouse – great values and TONS of shoes. Their web site will give you an idea of some of the terrific values.

The off to stroll around Union Square. Jessie had always admired all the wonderful jewelry at Tiffany & Co. so we stopped in and she is now saving for one of their key charms. She especially likes the one with the blue heart. To see the Tiffany keys, click here. I think for Christmas I am going to get her the blue ceramic Tiffany box with the white bow. Looks just like their signature blue boxes.

We finished our stroll around Union Square stopping in a number of shops and then took a cab over to Jardiniere, one of my husband’s favorite restaurants in San Francisco.

The menu changes constantly depending on what is fresh and every meal I have ever had at Jardiniere has been outstanding.

Now it was time for our big event of the evening – tickets to see Wicked! While I have seen the musical before I knew Jessie would love it. We walked down from Jardiniere and Jessie played tourist snapping photos along the way. Wicked is playing at the Orpheum through September 5th and if you have not seen it, try to get tickets before it leaves San Francisco. The show is well worth it and good seats are still available.

The show ended and we went right outside the theater and down the stairs to BART. The train was there within 5 minutes and we were on our way home to the East Bay.

Posted by: Kathy Mardiros

My recent purchase of the iPad

2010-07-22T00:00:00Z

I was excited to purchase a new iPad when the first batch was released back in April. I have been using it fairly frequently as a lighter weight alternative to lugging around my Macbook laptop. I recently took it with me on vacation to Aruba as I knew I would still be needing to check my e-mail and keep an eye on business while I was out of the office. You can transfer all your iPhone applications to the iPad, but if you do, the apps come out smaller, and when you enlarge them, the resolution isn’t so good, so it’s best to download apps specifically made for the iPad. I loved that it was easily transportable. You can download a whole library of books, and they show up on an actual bookshelf which looks great! It is wonderful for web browsing, but I found that every time I turned it off when it wasn’t in use, I had to re-log into the resorts WiFi password, which was a bit of a pain. I also purchased a nice case for it, which enables you to raise it at a slight angle for better typing and viewing. It’s easy to use for accessing your e-mail and the web. The photo quality and resolution is amazing and it works great as a digital photo album. Everyday there are more and more apps available, which is great, as there weren’t too many available when it first came out. It would have been nice to not have to pay extra for the 3G service, especially for those of us who already pay for 3G on our iPhones, so I do have a little gripe with Apple, or maybe with AT&T for that, but otherwise, I love it! I still don’t think it has all the functionality of a lap top, so I went ahead and bought my laptop with me on my subsequent trip to Europe, for instance, I can’t access files, and download photos directly from my camera on it, which would have been a nice feature. There is also no USB port on it, so while it’s a nice “Kindle” type device, I still don’t think it will be replacing my Macbook anytime soon.

There are a few types available, the 16G with the option of 3G or only WiFi, and the 32G with both options.

Posted by: Pam Dakan

Featured Legacy Real Estate & Associates Agent - Frances Navarro

2010-07-15T00:00:00Z

Frances Navarro

A Friendly Visit Can Mean So Much

Frances & her daughters with
Sister Hosanna

Oftentimes the elderly get few if any visitors but Frances Navarro and her family has been visiting the Dominican Sisters at the Convent next to Mission San Jose in Fremont for many years now. One sister in particular won her heart – Sister Hosanna.

She started visiting Sister Hosanna when she was 101 years old – a vibrant and healthy nun with an incredible memory. Sister Hosanna would tell stories of her childhood and the Mexican Revolution and she would share her personal experiences that can only be learned from someone who has lived through the event. Sister Hosanna passed away earlier this year at the age of 106.

Frances remarks “We never expected something that started as volunteer work to evolve into such a wonderful friendship and to fill our hearts with great joy and such inner peace.” She further states “Volunteering your time is so much more than investing a few hours here and there, it’s about making a differenced in people’s lives and the rewards are far superior.”

If you are thinking of buying or selling your home, consider Frances Navarro. She can be reached at 510-580-6997 or fnavarro4homes@yahoo.com.

Posted by: Kathy Mardiros

Pleasanton - Best of the Bay

2010-07-14T00:00:00Z

The city of Pleasanton just made Money Magazines list of America’s Best Places to Live. Cities making the survey are judged on criteria such as schools, safety, recreation and quality of life. Ranking number 63, Pleasanton is the only Bay Area city to make the list this year. For a complete list, go here.

With offices in Fremont and Livermore, Legacy Real Estate & Associates agents are ready to introduce you to the area and assist you in the home buying process. For a referral to one of our sales associates, give me a call at 925-287-0550 or email me at .

Posted by: Kathy Mardiros

2010 Great Road Trip Scavenger Hunt

2010-07-12T12:14:43Z

The 2010 Great Road Trip Scavenger Hunt is underway! Whether you are traveling abroad this summer or taking short “staycations” the Scavenger Hunt might be something of interest to you. A friend of mine and I will be starting our hunt this weekend. Another friend liked the idea and while on vacation last week found 7 of the 20 items!

It is easy to play. There are 20 items that need to be found but they cannot be in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Benito, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, San Mateo or Solano Counties. Find the item and take a photo of one of your team members with the item. Caption each photo with the names of the people in the photo, city, state and/or country where you found the item – photos without captions are eliminated.

Read the contest rules at http://www.mercurynews.com/travel-headlines/ci_15260643. There will be winners in each category such as most items found, most creative scavengers, all in the family, best road trippers, made the judges laugh and wildcards.

Some of the items on the list sound easy to find and others will take some creative thinking. Sound like Fun? Why not get a team together and give it a try?

Posted by: Kathy Mardiros