My new Upper Rockridge listing is a beautiful 4BD/3+BA Mediterranean at 5200 Proctor Avenue with views of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. This is a custom-built home designed for entertaining with large formal rooms, high ceilings and French doors that open to a terraced flowering garden sandstone patio with areas for dining under the pergolas. The architectural features include Honduran mahogany wood doors and trim with their distinctive beautiful rich reddish brown color. The high ceilings with smooth plaster wall finish have both crown and picture railing moldings. The asking price is $1,995,000.
What makes a “custom-built” home different from other homes in our area? As you may recall, in October, 1991, approximately 3,400 homes burned to the ground in Hiller Highlands, the Berkeley and Oakland hills behind the Claremont Resort and Upper Rockridge. In the aftermath, these fire victims had to decide whether or not to re-build their homes. Many victims (approximately 60%) decided to sell their lots and to move on. For the most part, these lots sold to developers and contractors who built “spec” (speculative) homes for sale. Though many of these spec homes were well-built, some weren’t.
I remember one home on North Hill Court in which the contractor created a fake pier-and-grade-beam foundation that the city building inspector didn’t catch. The home was built and sold. When the unsuspecting buyer decided to sell some time later, this ruse was discovered and the home sold for considerably less than what this buyer had originally paid.
The remaining fire victims (approximately 40%) who decided to re-build the homes they lost, typically spent twice as much and took twice as long to do it. These are the “custom-built” homes that feature the architectural details that many of the spec homes don’t have. 5200 Proctor Avenue is one of these homes.
Check out the home here!