Bay Point

Bay Point is located just to the north of Concord, sitting right against the waters of Suisun and Honker Bays. You won’t find any bay front properties here however, as there is an extensive undeveloped area on the northern end that provides a sort of no-man’s land between the bay waters and the residential streets.

There is also an unusual looking boat dock where corridors have been cut away from the marsh to allow the vessels access to the bays. You will find the usual set of sail boats and such here, but there are also tug boats and other boats meant for work rather than play.

Homes here date from after WWII, getting progressively newer as you head farther south. By far the biggest home-building boom here came in the 1980’s and 90’s, so you will find, in addition to the usual set of Ranch homes, quite a few of those prototypical Contemporary style homes that were so loved during the Reagan era.

Bay Point has really been hammered by the Foreclosure Crisis with only about 5% of homes currently for sale here not being in foreclosure. This definitely shows in the home prices. The median home sells for about $150K, with only about 5% of homes breaking the $300K ceiling. (These are mostly south of Highway 4.)

Renting is also fairly affordable here, with single families homes going for less than $2000/month for the most part.

One of the advantages of Bay Point versus Pittsburg and Antioch to the east, is that Bay Point’s location makes it much easier for commuting purposes since Highway 4 is not the only way of heading into the rest of Contra Costa County and the East Bay. There is also a BART station in Bay Point, so that makes commuting a little better if you are headed into the city.
Unfortunately, the schools here really do not hold up with bottom dwelling API’s. That makes this not such an attractive neighborhood for perspective families and gives you a sense of the reason why property values are so low.

As to crime, which is rarely far behind when schools are terrible and property values low, that is a problem too. In the last 6 months there have been 2 attempted homicides and over a hundred assaults. For a population of just over 22,000 that is pretty bad.

Overall Bay Point makes for an okay back plan, but is rarely the first choice for most people.