Bay Meadows

Bay Meadows real estate is diverse in appearance and ranges in size from studios to four bedrooms. For-sale pricing ranges from $1.2 to $3.1 million, with a median sales price of $1.88 million. The neighborhood’s almost exclusively multi-unit personality is consistent with its “New Urbanist” ethos, in which urban features like increased population density, pedestrian friendliness and proximity to mass transit (in this case, Caltrain) are incorporated into a suburban setting. (car commuters enjoy easy access to Highway 101 and El Camino Real.) Bay Meadows is master-planned and will eventually feature its own “downtown,” in the planning and construction stages on South Delaware Street. When completed, Bay Meadows’ commercial core will feature more than 40,000 square feet of retail space, restaurants, community outdoor space with bocce courts and a fire pit and even a biergarten. Though still finishing its “build-out” phase, Bay Meadows has already become home to hundreds of residents whose daily lifestyle now includes mornings at Blue Bottle Coffee and evenings at the Field Work Brewing Company’s outdoor beer garden, “Mom Days” every Monday and monthly “Rubbing Elbows” events. Both of these meet-ups happen at Paddock Park, one of four large green spaces in the neighborhood. Persimmon Park, home to Bay Meadows’ community garden, is another. Bay Meadows has grown into a neighborhood of 11 unique residential communities offering homes for sale and to rent, along with parks, pathways, and the independent Nueva School’s grade 9-12 campus.

Fiesta Gardens

Fiesta Gardens sits across Highway 92 from 19th Avenue Park. Fiesta Gardens real estate claims the same vintage as its Eichler-heavy neighbor but could not be more different. Where 19th Avenue Park is full to the brim with California Modern wood and glass, Fiesta Gardens chooses a more traditional route. Its neat, wide streets are lined with post-war ranch homes, simple three-bedroom (and usually two-bath), single-story homes built in the 1950s andd 1960s on 5,000 square-foot lots that now sell for between $1.1 and $1.5 million. What is unique about Fiesta Gardens’ 1,200 – 1,600 square-foot homes is the condition in which they’re kept. Like a condominium complex, Fiesta Gardens has a strong homeowners’ association – some might say a “legendary” HOA. Homeowners’ dues are approximately $300 per year. The Fiesta Gardens Homes Association has an active presence on Facebook. There you will find announcements regarding Easter Egg hunts, the results of the holiday decorating contest, postings asking for remodel advice – everything you’d expect to find on a neighborhood message board. Fiesta Gardens school children have the option to attend Fiesta Gardens Elementary School, a K-5 Magnet School whose focus is a two-way Spanish-English immersion and Global Studies and its neighborhood is served by Borel Middle School and Hillsdale High School as well.

To view a detailed google map of the Fiesta Gardens neighborhood, click here. The MLS area is 420.

San Mateo has it all: a diversity of neighborhoods, great parks, easy access, a plethora of shopping, and home to many businesses and an anchor for employment on the peninsula. With a rich heritage, dating back to the turn of the century with its most famous resident being A.P. Giannini, the founder of the Bank of Italy and later Bank of America, San Mateo offers a delightful spread of activity for all. The downtown area is studded with delicious restaurants and a variety of retail stores, and also boasts a 12 screen movie theatre and one of the largest wine cellars in the country, at Draeger’s Grocery Store. Shopping abounds at Hillsdale and Bridgepointe as well as the many neighborhood shopping centers.

Perhaps the most well known natural area is Coyote Point, a rock outcropped peninsula that juts into San Francisco Bay and home to a natural history museum, the Peninsula Humane Society, windsurfing, a private marina, and large picnic areas with uplifting vistas. Within walking distance of downtown, Central Park has something for everyone: ride the toy train, pick up a game of tennis, take a serene walk through the Japanese Garden, have a picnic while listening to Thursday evening’s Jazz in the Park, or enjoy the playgrounds.

San Mateo attracts a variety of homeowners, from those seeking their first home in the upcoming neighborhoods of the Village, Parkside, or Shoreview, to those looking for more a little more space in Hillsdale or the Meadows, to larger families seeking the spaciousness offered by San Mateo Park, Baywood, and Aragon.