Bottom Dropping Out of Moraga Real Estate? Not So, Say Those on the Front Lines

Moraga realtor Walter Nelson posted an Internet ad for an open house in the Camino Perales area recently - and got his first response about 20 minutes later.

"It was the first of many," he says. "There's considerable interest in that property and in Moraga real estate in general."

Nelson is aware of comments made here and elsewhere about a general decline in the local real estate market. He and other realtors Lamorinda Patch spoke with recently shrug off that perception, and say an ongoing froo-fra about a Dollar Tree store adding to the widening perception of Moraga as some sort of low-end ghetto is off base.

"I had a gentleman come in from Sacramento the other day and he asked me: 'Where's the bad part of town?" Nelson said. "It stopped me. Finally I said: 'There isn't one.'"

People from all over the world come to Lamorinda, Nelson and others said, for a variety of reasons. They settle here because of the schools and because the area is a great place to raise a family.

"I find that people who come into town want everything their mother and father had when they lived here, only they want it today," he said.  "Go to the commons on a Thursday night and look  at the sandbox, that's the lifeblood of the town – that's our future."

Sales, while not as brisk as the boom years of recent memory, remain steady despite data suggesting otherwise. Moraga, Nelson said, is simply in transition.

"You have to climb up to 30,000 feet and look down to get the overall picture," he advised, leaning on his 11 years selling real estate in Lamorinda. "This too, shall pass."

Colleague Wendy Holcenberg agreed.

"I've never heard any of our clients say Moraga is in decline, it's always the positives – great schools, a small-town feel with access to the city," she said. "If you want it 'ranchy' you live in Orinda, if you want a neighborhood feel you have Moraga.  I've lived here 32 years. I'm happy."

Holcenberg said too much was being made of the Dollar Tree coming to Rheem Valley. "People talk about it as an only in Moraga problem," she says. "But there are plenty of empty storefronts in Orinda and Lafayette, too."

Both realtors say they were caught off guard by the vehemence expressed by some opponents of the Dollar Tree – sort of.

"These things pop up, don't they?" Nelson said. "Palos Colorados. Starbucks. OSH. They have all been contested. My feeling is; don't get too excited by the Dollar Tree. The upshot here is that you have 16,000 different opinions in Moraga and two different factions – one wants growth, one wants no-growth – end of story."