Realistically, Jeannie, I think that you're going to need to do your own determination of how safe you feel in whatever neighborhood(s) you house hunt in. Personal safety is extremely subjective, and even in you buy a home in a place that others perceive as safe, if you don't feel safe, you won't have a good experience of living there. On the flip side, if you buy in a place where you have a sense of safety because you've heard it's safe, you might operate with your guard down, making it more likely that you'll be caught off guard - crime happens EVERYWHERE, so any sense of total security is at least partially false.

I love and live in Oakland, and I can't think of a BART station in town I'd feel footloose and fancy free walking home from at night, with the potential exception of Rockridge (which has its sketchy neighboring areas, too), and many single women can't afford to buy near there.

Oakland is a town in which many of the "safe" and "unsafe" neighborhoods are located extremely close together, geographically. Many of my single women clients do things like buying their condos at least one story up from the street level, owning a dog and staying connected with their neighbors to boost their actual level of safety. In fact, one of my favorite clients just joked that she's buying a dog that can shoot a gun! Overkill, but she still would rather live here than anywhere else.

Tara-Nicholle Nelson, ABR, Esq.
510.910.6713
Tara@REThinkRealEstate.com

I moved from that neighborhood to Alameda...so I could feel safe. To be honest...half the stuff that goes on there is not reported. It has changed a lot over the years. I love Oakland, but that area has become sketchy. I don't think walking to/from Bart would be the best bet....sorry to be a bummer!

Hi Jeannie:
It really is a personal issue. A very dear friend of mine lives in Adams point, and she has never had a safety issue. She kind of watches what she does and when, which simply means you almost always know where you are and whats arround you. I think personally it is a pretty safe area, and would have no problem living there myself. I bought and sold several properties in Adams point, and am negotiating listing an apartment building there soon.
Here is perhaps a suggestion? Take your friend and walk the BArt to Adams point a couple of times at night, and check it out.
Good luck.
Antoine

Hi Jeannie,
While I know Adams Point very well, and recently sold a condo there, it is very difficult to say whether this is a very safe area. There is indeed crime in that neighborhood. I know people who have been crime victims there, and I know others who have not been touched at all by it over the years. Adams Point tends to be one of the nicer areas in Oakland, with stately homes and well kept security buildings. However, walking from the 12th or 19th St. BART means you are going through part of downtown, which may be risky. It is hard to say that any area is "safe" in Oakland walking alone at night. Some areas are obviously safer than others. I would advise you to check the Oakland Crime Mapping sight.. all reported crimes are mapped there: http://gismaps.oaklandnet.com/crimewatch/ Adams Point has a neighborhood Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) which meets. If I were concerned about crime and neighborhood knowledge of it, I would want to see what is going on at the neighborhood meetings, and hear from neighbors and the Oakland Police Officers who attend the meetings. You might want to attend the Adams Point NCPC meeting and get on their Yahoo web site to connect with neighbors. You can get more info from your District Councilperson's office as well. Adams Point is in District 3, Nancy Nadel's district. http://www.oaklandnet.com/Nadel/default.asp Good luck!

Jeannie,
That's a great question. I think the best way to answer that question is to direct you to the City of Oakland's crime statistics web site: http://gismaps.oaklandnet.com/crimewatch/default.asp. You can plug in a neighborhood and a time frame and see exactly what happened there. The other thing I would do is talk to the beat cops and to residents about their experiences. The reality is that in a city, any city, there are risks and there are things you can do to lessen those risks. I always advise my clients to visit their prospective neighborhoods a number of times at different times of day, talk to neighbors, police , merchants and visit the crime website.
Hope this is useful to you and best of luck