Giddy Up: Back to School and Back to the Fall Market

Giddy Up, East Bay

Back to School, Back to the Fall Market

We just got back from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and it was fantastic.

We went horseback riding through the mountains, floated the Snake river, explored Grand Teton and Yellowstone, and ate waffles at the top of Rendez-vous mountain—pretty much the perfect mix of adventure, scenery and good food.

The horseback riding, though, was the part that gave us the best story.

I had imagined the whole thing rather romantically. There would be sweeping mountain views, a horse that understood me instinctively, and the quiet realization that I'd been a cowgirl all along, just waiting for the right zip code. I'd even started eyeing the Wyoming listings—those glorious properties with their wide-open acreage, walls of glass, timber and stone, horses grazing in the distance. It felt entirely plausible. a little ranch, a few horses, a life in boots.

The scenery delivered exactly what I'd imagined. The ride itself had other plans.

We set out under big skies, a little wind, a few sprinkles—nothing that seemed worth worrying about. My daughter was having her first real lesson in horse communication, and the first thing she learned is that kicking a horse into motion takes considerably more force than a child can muster.

She kicked.

And kicked.

And kicked.

The horse stood there.

She kicked again. Nothing. Watching her two little legs—like toothpicks against this enormous, completely unbothered horse—try so hard to move it even an inch was both hilarious and, in its own way, what parenting is all about. I knew she would get there.

Eventually we got moving, and the ride continued up toward the ridge. And horses, of course, have their own ideas about pace. They can spend a surprising amount of time refusing to move, and then, seemingly without much warning, decide it's time to go. You can go from sitting there wondering how to get them moving to holding on and trying to keep up.

Then the sky changed its mind entirely.

The horses, who had been ambling along agreeably, stopped listening altogether. They turned their backs to the wind, and within seconds, we were caught in a hailstorm. The horses seemed to sense something we didn't and decided the only reasonable thing to do was wait it out. Even our guide seemed a little bewildered by the sudden turn in the weather—particularly when lightning entered the mix!

There we were, sitting on horseback - our little girls in tank tops, looking out over the Snake River, waiting for the sky to calm down.

View From the Ridge

A pretty spectacular place to wait for the sky to clear

There's a particular anxiety in that moment of waiting, especially when it's your little girl sitting on top of a very large animal. You know the horse could move quickly, but there was nothing to do except sit still, pay attention, and trust the animal beneath you.

It was not the ride we’d signed up for.

And yet, it was one of the most memorable parts of the trip.. There's something about waiting out a storm, about being still, paying attention, and trusting that things will move again, that stays with you.

La Rentrée

As we get closer to September, I keep thinking about la rentrée.

My daughter was raised for the first few years of her life in Paris. In France, September has a very particular feeling. They call it la rentrée—literally, the return. Everyone comes back. After the long summer holidays, after weeks spent along the Mediterranean or traveling somewhere abroad, the country collectively shifts gears.

Cafés fill back up. Sidewalks get busier. Calendars get crowded. Schools open their doors. There's a collective, almost audible click as summer ends and everyone gets serious again.

We don't have quite the same word for it here, but we certainly have the same feeling. Back to school. Back to work. Back to routine. Back to business.

Here in East Bay real estate, you can feel that shift too. We're having our own rentrée.

Giddy up, East Bay

The summer market has its own rhythm.. People travel. Buyers disappear for a few weeks. Sellers sometimes hold off. Everyone seems to be moving a little more slowly.

Then almost overnight, the backpacks come out, the kids are back in school. Vacations are over. And the housing market wakes back up..

This year, there is an added charge in the Bay Area. The AI economy continues to reshape the region. Anthropic and OpenAI have both filed confidential IPO paperwork, while Jeff Bezos' AI venture, Project Prometheus, just signed a major lease in West Oakland, adding another remarkable chapter to Oakland's long history of innovation, industry and reinvention.

Meanwhile, San Francisco's luxury housing market is experiencing what has been described as a “mansion shortage,” as highly compensated buyers compete for a limited supply of high-end homes. Some are looking across the Bay and beyond. And the East Bay is part of that conversation..

More homes are hitting the market as we head toward Labor Day, and the best-positioned ones can move quickly.

Which brings us back to the horses.

You have to be paying attention

One of the things we've learned in real estate is that things can go from standing still to moving very quickly.

A house comes on.
You think about it.
You decide to see it next weekend.
And sometimes, by next weekend, it's gone.

This is particularly true for the homes that are priced well, beautifully presented and located in the neighborhoods buyers already know they want. The window can be surprisingly short. Some even take pre-emptive offers (don’t get me started on this!)

That's why, especially at this time of year, we like to have someone watching the market for our clients all the time.

For us, that means more than scrolling through new listings. It means walking through inventory in person, including broker tours every Monday and Thursday, where we get a firsthand look at what's new, what's changed, what's sitting, and what's got everyone talking.

It means understanding that a home that's been listed for two weeks with steady foot traffic is an entirely different story than one that's been sitting for two weeks with none. And it means knowing these neighborhoods well enough to spot an opportunity the second it surfaces. In those moments, it helps enormously to have someone who already knows the terrain.

Back to school. Back to work. Back to the market.

My daughter is back to school now. The backpacks are out, the shoes are by the door, and somehow the feeling of summer is already giving way to fall.

And somewhere in the back of my mind, I am still picturing those Wyoming horses standing with their backs to the wind, waiting patiently for the storm to pass.

I suppose that's the other lesson from the trip. You don't always get to decide what the day is going to bring, but you can be prepared. Sometimes the horses know something you don't. Sometimes a horse that wouldn't move an inch suddenly takes off.

The same can be true of the market. You can wait for the perfect moment to make your move, only to discover that the moment has already moved without you.

So, giddy up.
We're heading into the fall market.

If you're thinking about buying or selling in Berkeley, Oakland, or elsewhere in the East Bay this fall, we'd love to talk!

Let’s Go!