Martinez · Buying a Home

Buying a Home in Martinez

Someone who knows these streets one by one, telling you the truth about every house you walk into.

Buying a Home in Martinez

Martinez is the county seat and reads as a real town, with craftsman housing downtown rather than tract product. If you are buying here, that is the thing to understand before you start touring, because it decides which houses are actually worth your Saturday.

Martinez has a working marina, a courthouse and a farmers market, and it never became a subdivision. It offers character housing at a lower entry than the 680 corridor cities, with the maintenance that comes with it.

Talk to us about Martinez

Prefer to talk? Call (925) 325-4663 Book a call with Jaynlin See how we do it, step by step

How Martinez actually prices

Pre-1980 construction predominates, so condition and updates drive price here more than square footage does.

Here that means being specific about which part of town, because the differences within this city are larger than the differences between some towns.

Buyers looking here almost always look at Concord, Walnut Creek and Pittsburg as well. Martinez gets weighed against Concord and Pleasant Hill, usually by buyers who want the character and are weighing the upkeep.

What matters when you are buying a home

Finding listings is the easy part now. Everyone has the same apps and within a week you can recite the inventory in your range from memory.

Budget for the maintenance an older house actually needs, not the number the listing photos suggest.

What the app will not tell you is why one house sat for sixty days while a nearly identical one went in a weekend with five offers. There is always a reason. Sometimes it is the floor plan, sometimes it is what backs onto the yard, and sometimes the sellers priced off a number they needed rather than one the market supports.

The mistake to avoid in Martinez

The one we see most often here is underestimating what deferred maintenance does to an offer on pre-1980 construction.

Our job is telling you which is which before you fall for one, and telling you plainly when a house is a bad idea. Especially one you love.

Who is buying in Martinez

Buyers wanting older character housing at a different number than Concord or Walnut Creek. You are looking at the farmers market, the marina, and the Alhambra Valley just west of town.

Talk to us about Martinez

The Mashore Group works across the Bay Area from an office at 44 Sycamore Ave in Brentwood. Krista Mashore has sold more than 2,300 homes here over more than two decades. Across the team there are 201 published reviews averaging 4.9 stars.

If you want to talk about buying a home in Martinez call (925) 325-4663. A first conversation costs nothing and carries no pitch, and if the honest answer is that you should wait, we will say so.

Older stock needs an agent who knows what a 1940s bungalow costs to bring current, and what buyers will pay for one that already is, and that is worth more in Martinez than a general opinion about the county.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I get pre-approved first?

Before you make an offer, yes, and in a competitive situation it decides whether you are considered at all. Before we talk, no.

What should I look at closely in Martinez?

Pre-1980 construction predominates, so condition and updates drive price here more than square footage does.

Will you tell me not to buy a house?

Yes. That is most of the job, and we would rather lose a sale than watch you buy something with a problem you could not see from the driveway.

What goes wrong most often in Martinez?

The most common mistake is underestimating what deferred maintenance does to an offer on pre-1980 construction. Older stock needs an agent who knows what a 1940s bungalow costs to bring current, and what buyers will pay for one that already is.

Martinez

What buying a home looks like in Martinez

Craftsman housing, a working marina, and Amtrak to four cities.

Martinez is the county seat and it feels like a real town rather than a subdivision. There is a farmers market, a marina, independent restaurants and a courthouse, and the housing downtown is bungalows and craftsman homes rather than tract product.

That older stock is the trade. It has character you cannot build new, and it comes with the maintenance that pre-1980 construction brings.

The homes: Bungalows and craftsman-style houses from the mid-20th century downtown, with larger homes and lots moving south toward the hills. Alhambra Valley has custom homes, larger parcels and some horse properties. Pre-1980 construction predominates. Named areas include downtown and the waterfront, Upper Martinez and the Estates, and the Alhambra Valley corridor.
Why people choose it: Chosen for older character housing at a different price point than Concord or Walnut Creek, and for a town with a farmers market, a marina and independent restaurants rather than a master-planned feel.
Schools people ask about: Martinez Unified School District covers the majority of the city, including Alhambra Valley, Mountain View and most of Vine Hill. Mount Diablo Unified serves portions of Martinez, so assignment follows the parcel rather than the city name. Confirm any specific address with the district.
Getting around: Amtrak Capitol Corridor stops here with direct rail to Oakland, Berkeley, Sacramento and San Jose with no transfer. Highway 4 and Interstate 680 by car. Downtown is walkable; Upper Martinez is 10 to 15 minutes from downtown and about 20 to 25 minutes from Walnut Creek.
Nearby: Benicia directly across the Carquinez Strait, Concord to the south, Pleasant Hill to the southeast, and the Alhambra Valley to the west.
The trade-off: None of the newer-subdivision feel found in Brentwood or San Ramon, and the older stock asks for comfort with maintenance.

From the blog