About Me

My photo
Bay Area, California, United States
CA native. Athlete, hiker, naturalist, food fanatic, coffee connoisseur, Realtor. As a Realtor, my commitment to you is before, during, and after you buy or sell your home. I enjoy working with a diverse set of clients from first time homebuyers to investors and provide customized service to fit each client’s unique needs. To make things easier and more efficient for my clients I utilize current proven technology while still maintaining a personal touch. I have a bachelor’s degree in Business with an emphasis in Marketing. Before pursuing real estate full time I spent several years involved in Merchandise Planning for the corporate headquarters of many high-end home furnishings retailers. This experience taught me strong communication, presentation, and negotiation skills that have proven to be very valuable in today’s Real Estate Market. Opportunity knocks – let me be the key to your success in Real Estate! If you have any questions call me at 925-280-8521 or nhughbanks@rockcliff.com, or visit my website at www.nataliehughbanks.com .

Friday, November 26, 2010

Hiking Strawberry Canyon

Looking toward the lot after
walking under the oak tree
The Strawberry Canyon trail is one of my favorites so far.  It has amazing views at the top, and on the way up some interesting plants and animals.  It's about 7 miles round trip, and it's dog-friendly.

The journey starts at a small gravel parking lot on the right side of Centennial Drive, heading up just past the Strawberry Canyon/Haas Pool at Berkeley and before the Botanical Gardens.  Parking is free but your stay needs to be at or under 2 hours and the lot is fairly small.

Once you are parked, walk under the oak tree at the bottom of the lot and you will see the start of the trail.  Joggers take part of this trail as well so you'll cross paths with quite a few of them on your way up.
Banana Slug
Looking down at the creek

You pass over a small creek that gurgles through the area.  Keep an eye out for Banana Slugs on the path as well.  They are neat little creatures that are about the size of your pointer finger.



Incline to the top
Soon you'll reach the incline that will give you a good cardio workout as you make your way up.  There is a fork in this trail at which you need to keep left for the complete hike.  If you keep right it's a shorter way up.

Once you reach the top, enjoy the amazing view!  There are quite a few places you can sit to have lunch if you brought some.  Save a bit of your energy for the hike down as the incline part is pretty steep.

View from the top!

Friday, November 19, 2010

Welcome to my blog!

My name is Natalie Hughbanks, and I am a REALTOR in the East Bay of California with J. Rockcliff Realtors.

My job, as I see it, is to gather and provide to you a wealth of information to help you with all of your real estate needs – from all the latest property listings to great information for both home buyers and sellers.


All you have to do to get started is click on any of the links to the left. Enjoy these tremendous online tools and remember that you can also count on me to help you every step of the way. Please contact me if there is anything I can do to help you.

I look forward to bringing you more useful content to guide your real estate related inquiries in the near future.  In the meantime, you can find my website and east bay real estate information including live listing content here.  Not into web browsing?  Feel free to call me anytime with questions at 925.280.8521.

Thanks, Natalie!