We call Balboa Terrace a St. Francis Wood Alternative. Balboa Terrace has the same feel, weather, type of homes (not quite as stately), and general pride of ownership you see in St. Francis Wood, but without the 90210 effect. The area feels very suburban, has tons of trees, nice small green grass front yards, and is a phenomenal place to go trick or treating during Halloween. Sidewalks are clean, there aren't too many cars parked on the narrow streets, and trash does not blow around in the wind like in other neighborhoods. Homes here are, for the most part, beautiful, well-maintained, and highly sought after, with overbids being very common. Of course, same rules apply...pricing is everything (see 200 Darien on "the listings"). It's doubtful you'd find anything under $1.1MM here, and that benchmark is slowly creeping up.
As you go up the hill away from Junipero Serra (very busy street) the homes tend to get a bit bigger and taller. Homes on Monterey are very "plantation-esque", if you know what we mean. They remind us of something you'd see in the south, with big front yards, large gates and driveways, and that general bigger than life feeling.
You might call this the "saint street" district with names like San Rafael, San Fernando, San Leandro, Santa Ana, San Benito, and San Aleso.
A sampling of homes:
This district is home to Aptos Middle School(might technically be in Mount Davidson Manor), St. Francis Episcopal Church, and the Ninth Church of Christ Scientist (among other things), and all of these places obviously have a good donation system because they are very nice.
Ninth Church of Christ Scientist
Your commercial center would be Ocean Ave, and access to Stern Grove, 19th Ave, Stonestown Galleria, and San Francisco State University are just a stones throw away.
And of course what district would be complete without the forgotten home...in this case we had a tie between 300 Darien:
and this home very close by:
There are some homes in this area that are currently under-going a remodel, so we'll have to wait and see if they hit the market. While we were snapping photos of 300 Darien two different contractors drove by and asked if we were putting it on the market and if so, they'd like to buy it before anyone else has the chance. Go figure.
Let us know if you have any questions. We turned the "comments" on, as a tester, so feel free to share your knowledge.
the listings
the stats
