The Keys
The Keys in Walnut Creek
I want to tell you about one of my favorite condo complexes in all of Walnut Creek. It's kind of right in that midrange level in terms of affordability, but it's got a couple of unique things going for it. It's called the Villas and you've probably driven by it. If you know anything about Walnut Creek, it's on Olympic Boulevard as you're headed towards Lafayette, built in 1991. The Villas has kind of a Mediterranean vibe if you will. There's three stories and it's an elevator building too. Sure you could take the stairs. But it's nice knowing that you don't have to also great thing about the Villas, even though it's from the early nineties, it has personal washers and dryers in the units so you don't have to schlep your dirty laundry down to the community room and make small talk with your neighbors. You can just do it in the comfort of your living room.
There's actually two homeowners associations here. One is the North Villas and take a guess at what the other one is the South Villas. And for years, the South Villas had much, much lower HOAs than the North Villas did. That's kind of evened out a little bit over time. The South Villas’ HOAs have climbed just because everything else has climbed too, which is reasonable because it has a pool. All the outdoor maintenance is taken care of. Obviously, you don't pay for the roof, trash water, sewer, all included everything you'd expect. What I really like about The Villas is it's really well kept up. People stay here quite a while even though it's a condo and you'd expect them to just be there for a couple of years and then move on. But there's people who have been there for a long, long time.
Really well-run HOA and some of the units are great. The downstairs ones have large shaded private patios, the upstairs ones have vaulted ceilings, there's fireplaces and like I said, it just feels like a nice well kept up condo association and the location is great. You're right by 24 and 680. Great for commuters. All great. All around. The one thing about it is there are rental restrictions. So investors beware, you're not a able to just buy it and rent it out. If you do want to buy a unit and then rent it out. You got to put your name on the list and you got to wait until that list essentially gets paired down with people selling and, or investing and then you can move up the list and get on it and rent your place out.
What schools are near The Villas
Schools for the villas are Parkmead Elementary, Walnut Creek Intermediate and Los Lomas High School.
What are home prices at The Villas
1 bed 1.5 bath units start around $500K, the larger top floor 2 bed 2 baths units are in the $1M range.
