Ordway St, Alta Key Route (Upper)

Ordway Street is on the eastern half of Albany where the bay city starts pushing up against the Berkeley Hills. Although Ordway is on the part of Albany that does begin to make its ascent up into the hills, this is not one of those winding hillside roads where you are guaranteed a stunning bay view from your back deck. You won’t find many decks here and I doubt many of them have much of a view.

Most of the homes on Ordway date to the Jazz Age. These are very nice bungalow walk-ups, one of which holds the distinction of being the highest priced home sale in Albany in the last year. A rather shabby looking bungalow here sold for $1.2 million in March--definitely a good sign for the housing market given that less than a decade ago the same home sold for half a million. In my opinion this isn’t even the best home on this block, much less in Albany.

Most homes along Ordway don’t quite reach this level. A couple of other very attractive bungalow style homes sold for $684K and $745K respectively.

It is the location that people really like about Ordway. It is in a thoroughly residential area but you are relatively close to Solano Avenue--a great Sunday morning brunch site and to Berkeley, so if you are a professor or just like to have a nice time every so often you are well situated for it.

Another draw to Albany is the amazing schools that serve the area. From Marin Elementary and Cornell Elementary to Albany Middle School and Albany High, all the schools on this eastern half of Albany have APIs of 10.

As to crime, it is really low on Ordway and the surrounding area. All you really get is 3 or 4 burglaries per month--not much of anything really.

Overall, however, I would say that although I like this area, I do not think of it as million dollar territory.