Southwood

Southwood, the classic mid-century residential neighborhood located just north of Avalon, was developed on part of the former Baden town site in the late 1940s and 1950s as part of South San Francisco’s great post-war expansion. The neighborhood is typical of its era: quiet, narrow streets lined with evenly-spaced single-story homes (a few have been expanded to two stories since), a neighborhood park and more than its share of white picket fences. Southwood is located just off of El Camino Real, adjacent to the California Golf Club, a short drive from Highway 280 and about 1.5 miles from both Tanforan and downtown South San Francisco.

Time has been kind to the homes of Southwood. Well-maintained properties here recently have been selling for between $800,000 and $1.4 million, putting the neighborhood — with its larger-than-usual three- and four-bedroom homes sometimes edging up to 2,000 square feet — in South City’s middle-to-upper-middle-class. Students here can walk to the well-rated Ponderosa Elementary School and to a branch of the San Mateo County Public Library, which children and adults both will appreciate a stroll to one of the area’s best sandwich shops, Little Lucca, located just across El Camino Real from Southwood.

Favorable

• Quiet suburban neighborhood is centrally-located and convenient for commuters, shoppers, diners etc.

• Most neighborhood homes are in impeccable condition; residents’ pride of ownership is obvious

• Post-war homes include excellent craftsmanship and period details

Adverse

• Small neighborhood equals a tight residential home market; listings, while not exactly rare, are not plentiful

• Access to Highway 101 is not ideal