Originally Published March 2026 for Piedmont Post
Those of you that are attorneys may be familiar with the saying, “The wheels of justice grind slow, but grind fine” well Lady Justice hold my beer because the wheels of municipal government have the option to grind at a pace that rivals Bleak House.
Case in point, the Moraga Canyon Specific Plan, the City of Piedmont has directed staff to move forward with a request for qualifications (RFQ) which effectively adds another six to twelve months onto the process.
Think of an RFQ as a developer’s non legacy application to Stanford, Harvard, or Southern Methodist University. It is not the project itself. It is the city deciding who is allowed to apply. That is a high bar to entry, and high bars take time to clear.
The next step in the process is a request for proposals (RFP). Parenthetically, my original timeline started at the RFP. The long and winding road to affordable housing in Piedmont just got longer and windier.
In the News
The Senate passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act by an overwhelming 89 to 10 vote, which tells you two things right away. One, housing is now a bipartisan problem. Two, Washington finally noticed that the supply side is broken. The bill is aimed at speeding up housing production, loosening some federal red tape, and limiting large institutional investors from scooping up more single-family homes while giving renters a first chance to buy.
The catch is that it is not law yet. The bill still has to survive the House, where politics has a way of turning housing policy into hostage negotiation. I wrote about this for “some other outlet” but the piece is available on my blog without a pay gate.
Reader Question
This column’s reader question brought this quote to mind:
“Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't."
Edgar J. Schoen
Question: Can I sell my house to my friend without paying my realtor her commission?
Answer: You can if your listing agreement has expired or is canceled, but you need to be extremely careful about the “tail period” in your contract. Most listing agreements include a protection clause that grants the broker a commission if the property is sold to someone who was introduced to the property during the listing period—meaning if your friend popped by during an open house and used the sign-in sheet that qualifies as being introduced.
Even if you cancel the agreement, that broker usually has the right to provide you with a list of names they showed the property to, and if you sell to anyone on that list within a specified timeframe (typically 30 to 90 days), you are still on the hook for that commission.
If you are thinking about cutting out your realtor to save money, check your contract for that specific clause before you make a move. If your listing is still active, trying to bypass the agent is a breach of contract that can lead to a messy legal dispute. If the contract has fully expired or you have negotiated a formal, written release with the brokerage, then you are typically free to sell to whomever you want without owing a commission.
Did You Know
Piedmont’s women have been doing the work since before most people thought to write it down. The city’s only early industry was the Ladies Silk Culture Society’s Silk Farm, a 15 acre mulberry orchard that gave young women a way to earn a living, local women also led the 1891 effort to block liquor sales at the Piedmont Springs Hotel and started Piedmont’s first schools.
The Miss Ransom and Miss Bridges School was one of Piedmont’s early girl’s schools, designed by Julia Morgan, and it is another reminder that women were building the city’s institutions long before the rest of us got around to writing the history down.
That same energy keeps showing up. Women helped shape Piedmont through education, public health, suffrage, fundraising, and civic leadership, and in 2022 the city made history with an all-female City Council and School Board, plus a female City Administrator and City Attorney. For a small city, that is not a small thing. It is the kind of local history that tells you who has been steering the place all along.
Real Estate Roundup Redux
Charlie and Emma have suggested I no longer piecemeal this part due to conflicting and transient information. So, I’ll provide the unfiltered sales and building permit reports once a month at an appropriate juncture to fill in the blanks left by the biased.
So to keep this space chock full o’ value I’m going to debut a new section here:
Pro Tip
This week’s pro tip is, drumroll, how to leverage basis.
In residential real estate, basis is usually what you paid for the home, plus certain closing costs and capital improvements, minus any depreciation if it was ever rented. That number matters because it helps determine your gain when you sell; higher basis is less gain and less gain is less taxes.
If you bought low and the home appreciated, a higher basis from documented improvements can reduce taxable gain. That is why receipts matter. A new roof, kitchen remodel, or permitted addition can all help support a higher basis. Items that add to your basis are capital improvements defined as those that add value and extend the life of your home.
The catch is basis add items need to be completely documented. This means paid invoices and proof of payment. I have a nifty sheet available if anyone is interested, it’s online, you don’t even need to hear my voice.
The simple rule is this. Know your basis before you list, refinance, or move.
America Foy is a Broker Associate and Realtor® with The Grubb Company. If you have questions, comments, tips, I want to know. america@grubbco.com or americasells.com
