Starter House

In  2012

This was our first house, which we bought in 1976.  The selling price was $42,000 for three bedrooms and one bath in El Cerrito.  We looked at many houses in our price range before settling on this one, and we spent a lot of time in Spenger's bar drinking Manhattans AFTER looking at, say, ten houses on a Sunday afternoon.  It was a depressing business.  There were some really dreary houses,  including one on Hopkins Street in Berkeley where the dining room and living room floors  had simply rotted away.

This house, which Jerry referred to as "the box," was clean and well-cared for, but  tarted-up in a style that wasn't ours.  The kitchen had white plastic brick on one wall, the master bedroom was intensely blue, and my study had fake white wood halfway up the walls and then bright pink plaid wallpaper to the ceiling.  Jerry's study was baby-blue and white.  The lawn was so miniscule that I'd mow it by using hand clippers.  We lived there 18 months and used the equity to leap to Berkeley, closer to our jobs.

But before we moved, we spent numerous evenings sitting on our St. Vincent de Paul sofa bed thingie (not the typical type) drinking Manhattans and coming up with ideas on how to improve this house.  Oh, we thought about removing the linen closet and replacing it with French doors leading to a backyard deck.  We'd take down the wall between the dining area and the kitchen and have an open plan.  And we'd definitely add a dishwasher.  The next morning we'd come to our senses. We never even got rid of the plastic brick.

About 15 years later, when the house was on the market yet again (no one stayed very long), we went to look at it.  We were amazed to see that someone had drunk enough Manhattans to actually DO some of the remodeling we'd talked  about.  They'd taken out the linen closet and replaced it with French doors to a deck, and they'd taken down the wall between dining area and kitchen.  They must have gotten even drunker than we did because they'd turned the tiny room with the water heater into a half-bath.  Plus put up a white picket fence and a very short but slightly winding brick path to the front door.  Then they'd run out of money and been foreclosed on.  There was a spot for the dishwasher, but it had never been installed.

The other day I drove out The Arlington to take at look at the place.  I wish I'd had the courage to knock on the front door to hear what the new plans are.

Addendum:  According to Zillow, this house last sold in September 2008 for $477,000.  It's now valued at $388,000.