by Eric Haggin on April 10, 2011 | 
3 Comments | Topics: Opinions
The horrific events in Japan recently should serve as a reminder to us in and around Dublin, CA that the Bay Area is due for another major earthquake. I have used the Sendai Earthquake and Tsunami as a reminder to prepare for the impending disaster. I took the following seven steps to help my family get ready.
by Around Dublin Team on April 8, 2011 | 17 Comments | Topics: Opinions
A growing number of residents in and around Dublin, CA are abandoning their AT&T land lines and switching to one of a handful of much cheaper Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) options on the retail telecommunication market. Each VoIP solution comes with its own set of advantages and limitations, and no one product is perfect for everyone. For some consumers today, the optimal solution may still be the land line. The key is finding the solution that best fits your family’s needs.
by John M. Zukoski on April 5, 2011 | 3 Comments | Topics: Local Businesses · Opinions
Former online payroll processing upstart Perquest appears to have sold all of its client accounts to business services behemoth ADP. Perquest is currently leasing 38,000 square feet of space at the Dublin Corporate Center. According to industry insiders, the sale appears to have taken place last November. Although Perquest has not confirmed the deal with ADP, Perquest’s venture capital funding may have dried up after the initial $40M had been provided. That venture capital firm is rumored to have struck a deal with ADP in trying to recover at least a portion of the venture capital investment.
by John M. Zukoski on April 4, 2011 | 8 Comments | Topics: Opinions · Schools
Dublin Unified School District (DUSD) is determined to go forward with plans to take millions of dollars from the Measure C funds and add capacity at Wells Middle School in Dublin, CA, even though the school district’s own student population projections do not support such a move. According to SCI Consulting Group, DUSD’s demographer, Wells Middle School will need no more than 80% of the current capacity through 2015-2016. If approved in its entirety, the Wells Middle School improvement project will cost an estimated $19M. This latest estimate is $6.5M more than what had been budgeted under the original Measure C bond fund allocation.
by John M. Zukoski on April 1, 2011 | 12 Comments | Topics: Opinions · Parks
As East Dublin residents in the Dublin Ranch Villages and Sorrento at Dublin Ranch come to grips with the reality that the Promenade may never come within their lifetime, they can take comfort in the huge swaths of raw land along Tassajara Road that the real estate and construction magnate John DiManto has effectively given to Dublin as the newest multi-purpose park space. Representing the best of what public-private partnerships can accomplish, the new “DiManto Park” has a timeless look that money cannot buy. The fallen down fences, unkempt “weedscaping,” and farming relics from another era provide residents with a tremendous opportunity in learning and play. Master-planned parks are so last decade. The latest trend in park design is minimalist rustic, as cities like Dublin take the sustainable approach to park construction and maintenance and let Mother Nature do the heavy lifting.
by Vickie Nagy on March 26, 2011 | No Comments | Topics: Opinions
Home buyers are continuing to snap up newer condos in Dublin, CA. Of the 21 condos sold during February in Dublin, 66% were built within the last 8 years, and only one was built prior to 1990. The newer homes tend to have central heat and air, garage parking, modern kitchens, and updated bathrooms. The sale prices for these condos ranged from $260,000 to $626,414, with an average of only 41 days on the market.
Inventory levels continue to shrink for Dublin CA condos. Dublin has just 86 condos and townhomes currently for sale. This figure is down 16% from last month’s report. Of these only 10 are foreclosures and 29 are short sales. Dublin also has 109 condo and townhome pending sales. This number is up 8% from last month’s report.
The prices for the foreclosure pending sales range from $92,610 to $424,900. A whopping 67% of these are reported as short sales, is down compared to the 79% from last month. One unlucky buyer has been waiting since last June for bank approval to proceed with a short sale. The listing prices for the pending short sales range from $119,500 to $425,000.
Of interest to many Around Dublin Blog readers are the condos in Brookside. As of March 14th, two homes in Brookside are listed as pending:
by Scott Hill on March 25, 2011 | No Comments | Topics: Local Issues · Opinions
You have found the perfect home in and around Dublin, CA. You have negotiated the right price or arranged a great refinancing opportunity. As I had described in my first article on the Around Dublin Blog, one option is the No Closing Cost option. No Closing Cost mortgages are also referred to as No Point No Fees loans, and they have existed in the mortgage industry for over 15 years. Before you can fully appreciate how No Closing Cost mortgages work, you have to understand that all loans have associated costs, and these costs generally fall into three different categories.
by Judith Henderson on March 23, 2011 | No Comments | Topics: Opinions
The Tri-Valley holds a subtle beauty expressed in a swath of earthen tones, natural smells and textures. Mount Diablo’s cretaceous skirt sweeps the regions floor, offering recreational and historical value from indigenous peoples, their myth and lore, to hiking, water sports and wineries.
This weekend, friends took me for a walk up Mount Diablo. I was assured our efforts would be worth it, as we slowly ascended the west peak between rain and tiny snow flakes.
You locals may already know this, but the native people of the region believe the world was created within the massive crevices of Mount Diablo. Once you reach the north, south, east, or west peaks, you can understand why the natives feel something spiritual about the mountain; it’s eerily surreal standing in the heavens, and the views are breath taking.
If you want to know where you live within the north, south, east and western central coastal regions of California, I encourage you to climb Mount Diablo and take a look. Once I arrived at the northwest point, I was startled at the vastness in view. First, looking northwest I identified a familiar shape from my new perspective. Like a navy blue construction paper cut-out, the golden gate bridge lay flat against a lavender backdrop, floating in a sage sea. The city under a deluge of rain clouds, just turned on the afternoon lights. Like diamonds sewn on black velvet, the lights twinkled and danced over Twin Peaks. I could almost hear the Hyde Street cable cars ringing their bell.
by John M. Zukoski on March 21, 2011 | 2 Comments | Topics: Development · Opinions · Sustainability
Why are the parking spaces, streets, and the front doors of new home communities like the ones in Dublin, CA getting thinner even as the average American’s waistline and cars are getting wider? Many experts refer to the trend of building tight parking lots, skinny streets, and densely packed homes as “smart design.” Regular folks call it annoying. The new home communities in Dublin serve as a wonderful Petri dish to look into “smart design” in action.
The Villas at Dublin Ranch Villages by Toll Brothers is a wonderful community of luxury townhomes and condos located directly across from Grafton Station. As gorgeous as the homes at the Villas are, at what point did Toll Brothers think that the front doors should only be three feet wide? Yes, I have packed on some weight over the years, but threatening me with getting stuck in the front door to my home is not a good incentive to lose the extra weight. A home should not make visitors feel like a Gargamel in the Smurf village. Many homebuilders in and around Dublin have relied on the “smart design” concept to squeeze in a few extra units to boost their bottom lines.
Street design has evolved over the years. Once upon a time in a land far, far away, city planners thought wider streets make better streets. To heck with the bicyclists and pedestrians who value good health and fitness. Just look at El Camino Real in Sunnyvale for a peek into the past. If streets were designed like Anna Nicole Smith then, they look a lot more like Kate Moss now.
