Friday, 08 August 2008

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  Never in my life has weeks gone by so quickly!  I can't remember anytime where it was Monday, and all of a sudden it's already Friday.  It's good and bad, good because weekends come faster, bad because I'm not stopping to "smell the roses" on weekdays.  Everything just sort of stacks up (picture related).  Mostly just all the work at Yardbarker.com, but also all the fun I have with friends from work and outside of work.

  I took the picture you see in Sonoma County, at the Vianasa Winery.  The shop and deli are really cool, and fun to walk around in.  I'd highly recommend it, and if you're from the bay area, it's only a 30 minute drive from the heart of Berkeley.

  I've been looking for a 1 bedroom condo to buy in San Francisco, and saw some really amazing ones, namely Infinity Towers, Radiance of Mission Bay... and saw some really trendy ones in really creepy areas.

  Infinity Towers is really awesome.  I like how it is really close to the water, Embarcadero Center, and the Ferry Building.  I'd visit that area all the time, and it's super close to the bridge as well as the freeway offramp / onramp, so easy access to the east bay which is a must for me.  The phase 3 tower is still in the works, while phase 2 is available now.  The tower is high, and in some buildings you can see the entire east bay and water, including the bridge.  The other side you can see financial district, and finally downtown.  Good views, but they won't last past 2020 since that whole area will be skyrocketing with skyscrapers, HAH.  So if you're paying for the view, the premium will go down by then.  The 1 bedrooms I saw ranged from $720,000 on the Fourth floor, to $850 on the 16th floor.  No patios, enough room for a single person, great views, nice kitchen, clean and new.  One good thing is the 5,000 square feet gym which I hear has everything including free weights.  HOA is ridiculous though, ~$630.  YIKES!  Too expensive for me.  The HOA includes 24 hour concerige that can walk your dog (don't have one), take out your drycleaning (I just wear tshirts and jeans?), stuff like that.  So for me it's not worth it, but it's such a baller pad.

  Radiance was extremely nice.  It's for extremely rich people who live by themselves (loners!) or some corporate dude who needs a place to live in the SF area.  Surrounding area is nothing, just complete nothingness until you see UCSF's Mission Bay campus in the distance, and then AT&T park to the North.  You can't walk anywhere unless you're going to a patch of concrete.  Other than that, super nice place, fantastic views, brand new building.  I saw a 2 bedroom that costs 2.2 million... great 180 degree views, if I had the money I'd drop it on that place... it's worth it.  No neighborhood though.  Ample parking.  Didn't even ask about the HOA.  I'll have to look into their 1 bedrooms to see if there's something in my price range.

  All the other little spots were not the most exciting.  They're more in the heart of SOMA, and getting outside and smelling piss and seeing homeless people walking everywhere, eyeing your car for any goodies, and bars on some doors, just doesn't give me the warm fuzzy feeling of "home".  I'd rather not be freaked out for my life every day going home... or even in the middle of the night.  Nice lofted places though, but shit, the outside neighborhood SUCKS!  Close to things like the SFMOMA, but hell, I can drive there from a really nice safe neighborhood...

  So I think I'm really just stuck on checking out the nice new developments that are in good neighborhoods.  I'll pay the extra mile for some nice views and such... if I'm buying I might as well be totally happy.  I'll be really poor though, but what else do you need other than a nice place to live and a working car?

  This weekend I'm going to go check out Arterra in mission bay, and Park Terrace.  Hopefully some places on King St. will be available as well.  I'll go early Saturday morning before heading to SOMA Grand to my coworker's house warming party.  Maybe I'll head out there on Sunday as well before basketball.  All in the Mission Bay area!  That place will be rockin soon, with Pfizer's new biomed research facilities, UCSF's stem cell facilities, etc.  I'm digging the King St. stuff, like Safeway and Borders.  And if I want to watch a Giants game, I can just walk across the street.

  I'll report back soon on the new places I checkout!

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