Big Quiet Sunny Garden Apt w/Private Fenced Backyard

Welcome to your family-sized sunny garden apartment with a back-yard entrance. It is in the bottom floor of a sunny, remodeled 2-story Queen Anne Cottage.

I have a 2-month minimum, and I only rent by the calendar month (from the 1st day of a month to the last day of any month). You don't need to arrive right on the 1st, but you do need to start paying rent on the 1st.

The price above includes water and trash pickup. It also includes PG&E (gas and electric) up to $50/month. If you use lots of heat and the PG&E bill exceeds $50/month, you will be responsible for the overage on that one bill.

In addition to the monthly discount, if you rent this apt for at least 4 calendar months (including Oct, Nov, and Dec) I will give you an additional discount.

Your entrance is in the fenced back yard, which has fruit trees, bamboos, and a table with chairs.

- 650 square feet (bigger than many 2-bedroom apartments)
- Sunny windows on three sides
- Two closets, including a huge bedroom closet
- Extra large kitchen with huge sunny window
- Off street parking for 1 car (but not covered or gated)
- Easy street parking for other cars

RECENT RENOVATIONS:
- New kitchen cubboards
- New double pane windows
- New heater
- New Pergo flooring (looks like hardwood)
- New paint
- New fridge
- New stainless steel kitchen sink
- New bathroom vanity
- New faucets, doorknobs, ceiling lights, etc

There is a queen sized sofa bed in your living room (with a Sealy Posturpedic mattress), as well as a queen sized Swedish foam mattress in your bedroom. Your bathroom is big, sunny, and has a full sized bathtub. And if you like to sit outside, there is a table and chairs in the fenced back yard.

It is in a safe and quiet part of Oakland, minutes from Berkeley and Rockridge (an upscale neighborhood with great ethnic restaurants.)

- Quiet street with trees, not a through street
- The only people who drive here are the neighbors.
- Area is very flat, so it is easy to bike around town.

The UC Berkeley campus is about 2 miles away. If you want to take a bus there, you can catch the AC transit bus one block from my house. It is also an easy bike ride (2 miles away).

It is about 1 mile from the nearest BART subway stations (Ashby or Rockridge), and a little more than a mile from Whole Foods and the locally famous Berkeley Bowl.

If you walk 3 blocks east to Telegraph Ave and turn north, you will find:

Addis Ethiopian Restaurant
Saysetha Thai Restaurant
Oriental BBQ
Nude Sushi
Cafe Colucci (Ethiopian Restaurant)
Pizza Hut
Nick s Pizza
57th St Gallery (jazz night club)
Nomad Cafe
Jumpin Java Cafe

And if you walk 7 blocks south -- to the Temescal neighborhood -- you can enjoy:

Peet s Coffee
Abesha Ethiopian Restaurant
Juhu Beach Club (Indian Restaurant)
Temescal Produce Market
La Calaca Loca Taqueria
Genova (Italian) Delicatessen
Round Table Pizza
The Cheese Shop

There are also two Farmers Markets in walking distance. Every Tuesday from 2 - 6:30pm, you can walk to the South Berkeley Farmers Market. And every Sunday from 10am-1pm, you can walk to the Temescal Farmers Market. Both are VERY festive, with a variety of live musicians, music groups, and vendors selling freshly made ethnic food.

The AC Transit bus (which stops one block away) can take you to the subway station, the grocery store, or the UC Berkeley campus.

By car, you will be about 8 minutes from the Bay bridge. There is plenty of space to park on our street, and no permit is required.

For your personal laundry, there are two door-to-door laundry services nearby that will pick up your laundry, wash, dry, fold, and return it the next day: Hambrick Laundry and J&L Laundry. Two weeks of laundry is about $30.

Hambrick Laundry J&L Laundry (Open Tues-Sat)

If you re on a budget, my ex-girlfriend (for whom ambiance is very important!) recommends Washingtown. It is 11 blocks away it is clean, there is parking, there are large skylights and plants inside.

In order to provide you (and every guest) with a spic-and-span apartment, I charge a one time $175 cleaning fee regardless of how long you stay. If you have cats, add another $50 for cleaning (due to cat hair and dander).

Do you need a bicycle while you are here? if you are going to stay here for at least a month, I can arrange a bicycle for you.

If you stay here for more than a month, VRBO only collects one months rent at a time. If you have questions about the exact cost (with VRBO fees), please call VRBO.

ABOUT YOUR ARRIVAL & DEPARTURE DATES

You can avoid the 14% Oakland occupancy tax by booking for at least 31 nights.

If you stay for 3 calendar months or more, we can discuss a small discount.

When I break up a calendar month (for example, renting the suite from the 1st to the 25th), it is hard to rent out the leftover portions of that month. It is even harder when someone rents from the 15th of one month through the 20th of the next. That leaves me with two partial calendar months, increasing the risk of vacancies.

For these reasons:

I prefer renting to people who book the suite for one or more *calendar* months (i.e from the 1st day of a month to the 1st day of the following month).

So if you are planning to arrive or depart on dates other than the first of a month (or the last day of a month), I will ask you if you have any flexibility to change at least one of those dates to the first of a month.

DISCLAIMERS

1) There is just one gas heater in the living room. I installed two wall vents so heat from the living room could flow into the bedroom. It works great. However, it means sounds from your living room and kitchen are now more audible from your bedroom, and vice versa.

2) I live upstairs except for occasional singing and piano playing (before 10pm), we do not play loud music or TV. We also do not wear shoes inside.

But you will still hear us walking around. You will also hear water running when we shower or flush the upstairs toilet. And you will hear us opening and closing our back door.

In the past, most of my downstairs guests and tenants were used to living in apartments or multi-family houses. So, this was no big deal.

3) When the upstairs guests come and go, you will see them walking along the side of the house, right outside your kitchen window.

4) We provide the first roll of paper towels and toilet paper. However, once you move in, we no longer provide these supplies. We do not provide dish washing liquid, sponges, trash bags, or similar supplies either.

5) When tree branches or significant weeds intrude on the walkway from your front door to your parking spot, we will trim them.

However, to keep our costs down (and pass the savings onto you), we only hire a gardener to weed the rest of our yard, trim trees and bushes, and pick up bamboo shreds every 2-3 months. So, our yard is "overgrown" more often than not.

6) If you don t have pets, the cleaning fee is $175. However, if you have 1 or 2 cats, the cleaning fee is $150 (due to the cat hair and dander). Either way, the security deposit is $1,200. Absolutely no dogs.