Homeview’s residential real estate is located in two neighborhoods on either side of Ralston Avenue, Sterling Downs (north of Ralston) and Homeview (south of Ralston). The neighborhoods are similar – entry-level properties with two and three bedrooms on smaller (4,000-5,000 square feet) lots, boasting proximity to both Highway 101 and the Belmont Caltrain station. Homeview (south of Ralston) is comprised of six cul-de-sac streets abutting the warehouses of Old County Road, while Sterling Downs’ layout is less gridded.

Homeview’s two neighborhoods are well maintained and include a few mid-rise apartment buildings. They’re at the entry-level of Belmont’s real estate market, with some single-family residences still available for a little over $1.38 million. For the past few years, however, Homeview listings have been selling for significantly more than their asking prices, reflecting a Bay Area-wide demand for entry-level real estate. It is not unusual, in 2021, for Homeview properties to close escrow for totals nearing $1.86 million. For the first few months of the year, the neighborhood’s median home value was $1.59 million.

Homeview residents are likely to be younger (neighborhood median age: 35.2 versus 38.8 citywide) and unmarried (43.1 percent versus 53.6 percent citywide) than other Belmont residents. 22 percent of neighborhood residents have children, a figure slightly higher than that of the city as a whole (21.7 percent). The local K-6 public school is Nesbit Elementary, which scores a seven out of 10 on Greatschools.net and notched an API score of 845 for the 2011-2012 school year. Students then move on to Ralston Middle School and Carlmont High School.

Homeview (and Sterling Downs), like parts of neighboring Carlmont, is the least “Belmont” of Belmont’s neighborhoods. Its streets do not wind lazily up and down hillsides, its homes were not built during Belmont’s growth boom of the 1960s, 70s and 80s and it doesn’t offer sweeping views of canyons and/or San Francisco Bay. What it does offer, though, is accessibility – both to commute options and to home ownership for entry-level buyers.

Belmont is a wonderful, serene town with a rural feel and a destination for families. Most of the streets do not have sidewalks, and since much of the town is built amidst the hills, many homes offer extraordinary views of the peninsula. Belmont boasts four parks, and is mostly made up of homes and retail stores. The town’s heritage harks back to William Ralston, the founder of the Bank of California and builder of the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, who built his masterful summer residence, Ralston Hall, at the current site of Notre Dame University.

Ralston was offered to have the town of Modesto named after him, but at a Spanish ceremony he declined, and a Spanish lady dubbed him muy modesto, or very modest, and that is how the town got its name. To see a high resolution map of the image above, click here.