5201 Masonic Avenue, Oakland
Sold for $2,165,000

3 Bedrooms, 2 full baTHrooms (and then some)

An Upper Rockridge Monterey Colonial

When most clients tell me about their dream house, they begin with thoughts of how many bedrooms and baths, whether it’s light and bright or wooded and private. Mine began with ‘we want to stay in the neighborhood’.

Bonus for me: I’ve raised my two sons in Upper Rockridge, know it like the back of my hands and have strolled the streets oh-so many times in the late afternoon. How fun a challenge this will be, I thought!

We looked at lots and lots, and then one day I received a note from another agent in my Top Agent Network, letting us know that he had a Coming Soon property in the neighborhood. I knew the house; I strolled past it on many occasions, and drove past it nearly every day. More, I’d always admired the landscaping in the front: The Monterey Colonial sits a fair distance back from the street and is not quite hidden by the many plants, shrubs and trees the meandering brick pathway seems to follow along the front.

Once inside the house (to preview it for my clients), I had that feeling. You know, THAT feeling. I told the listing agent my clients were going to buy this house (ballsy, I recognize, but it just came flying out).

I emailed my clients (because they were at work and I didn’t want to interrupt them… okay, I really did want to interrupt them, but was being nice) that I’d found their new home. They played along and agreed to come and see it with me.

They walked in the front door, stepped into the chef’s kitchen, then the sunken living room, back around again and said, ‘Adele, you just may be right!’.

The rest was history. Fast forward through the negotiations, document signing, giddiness, questions, architectural meetings, and more, but really just history. I love what I do.

The yard is magical, and even moreso in the back—the part I never saw on my strolls. I welcomed the neighbors I already knew to welcome them onto their street. Three bedrooms and two baths are the public records; it’s really a four-bedroom, three-bath home, with a warm, wooded den, huge sunken living room and dining room, both opening to the back deck and yard. Kitchen with so many cabinets we lost count trying to add up all the knobs, and loads of room for entertaining.

Best of all? They’re in the neighborhood they raised their own kids in, just down the road a bit, as we say.

This is why I love what I do, and I’m so happy for them.