Busting thru $2 Million Barrier

As the Bay Area real estate market continues to surge, Eichler neighborhoods are setting record-breaking sales prices. In the past few weeks, the Eichlers of the East Bay joined a few other Eichler locations around the Bay in busting through the $2M price barrier—with two separate sales.

The first, for $2.1M, was in Castro Valley's Greenridge tract; the second, for a whopping $2.625M, was in the Northgate neighborhood of Walnut Creek. Both Eichlers were listed by Thomas Westfall of Compass Real Estate.

For the Castro Valley listing, at 18407 Cotton Court, the home had "the two most important things in real estate," says Westfall—"location, location, location—and Eichler, Eichler, Eichler!"

Also known as 'The Hill,' Greenridge climbs to a ridge where 185 Eichler homes designed by architects Jones & Emmons and Claude Oakland were built between 1960 and 1963.

"This house has a view that rivals the famous Stahl house [of Los Angeles]," Westfall adds. "You are looking down the southwest view of the Bay Area and can literally see past Palo Alto. It has the second best view in the neighborhood."

Castro Valley itself has become quite the real estate draw over the past two decades. A small rural community nestled into a quiet valley lined with oak trees on rolling hills, the town is a rural rarity in the middle of urban Alameda County.

The Cotton Court Eichler was listed for $1.8 million in early August, and, according the Westfall, "it's not only the first East Bay Eichler to close at over $2 million, but the first East Bay Eichler to surpass $1,100 a square foot." Prior to this $2.1M sale, the previous high in Greenridge was $1.95M, also a Westfall listing, which closed in mid-August.

A Claude Oakland-designed atrium GR-4 model from 1962, the single-level home is sited on a quiet cul-de-sac and features four bedrooms, two split baths, and a two-car garage. It has an expanded open floor plan that captures those spectacular panoramic views—from the common areas, as well from as the great room and kitchen.

A special feature of the property is a heated saltwater pool and multi-level, terraced outdoor space landscaped with exotic and indigenous low-maintenance plantings.