Foothill Terrace

Foothill Terrace is a small, quiet neighborhood with rolling hills in northwest San Mateo bordering Baywood Knolls. It is a relatively more affordable alternative to better-known San Mateo neighborhoods like Aragon and Baywood, offering access to the same schools (Baywood Elementary, Borel Middle School and Aragon High School), a similarly convenient, close-in location, some tree-lined streets and post-war single-family homes larger than those found in the numerous Hillsdale neighborhoods to the south.

Most of the homes are single story ranchers though higher up on the hills there are some two story homes with incredible views of lower San Mateo. Older homes – those found on Foothill Terrace’s “lower streets” are smaller, with 1,500 to 2,000 square feet of living space. They sit on smaller lots of 6,000 or 7,000 square feet and can be purchased for an average of $2.3 million though homes are sometimes available for less than that, depending on condition and location. Built in the 1950s, they often resemble the last of David Bohannan’s Hillsdale tracts – classic California ranch homes with one- or two-car garages on neat, level lots – though some incorporate more daring and visually interesting elements of Mid- and post-Mid-Century design. You will also find a few newer, two-story homes mixed into this part of Foothill Terrace.

Further into the hills are home built in the 1960s and 1970s with a few newer individual properties. Here the homes are larger and the streets more heavily wooded. Homes in “upper” Foothill Terrace often have two floors and more than 2,000 square feet of living space. Some have views of San Francisco Bay. That they’re a bit further from the bustle of Highway 92 doesn’t hurt property values, either.

While its freeway-adjacent location keeps it from becoming “the next Baywood,” Foothill Terrace real estate attracts homebuyers looking for space, convenience, good public schools and the sophistication of a post-war house. Located between “old” San Mateo and David Bohannan’s south San Mateo triumph, Foothill Terrace is a “bridge” between the two sides of the city in more than one way.

To view a detailed google map of the Foothill Terrace neighborhood, click here. The MLS area is 434.