Cipriani

Cipriani is the neighborhood at the very heart of Belmont. It is a somewhat hilly neighborhood, with somewhat narrow streets that curve along gentle sloops. The homes here are older and not very flashy but nice, and the neighborhood gives you a feeling of shelter from the outside world.

Just past the eastern end of the neighborhood is Twin Pines Park (perhaps Belmont’s best park) and on the western end is Laurelwood Park (perhaps the largest Belmont park). Ralston, the main east-west artery for Belmont, marks its southern border.

The median home price here is about $800K but don’t let this fool you into thinking this is the kind of neighborhood where you will find a multimillion dollar mansion at the end of your block. The ceiling for homes in Cipriani seems to be around $1.25 million (right now there is one home going for $1.27 million, but that is just the asking price).

As with most fairly affluent areas, the foreclosure rate is much lower here than in other neighborhoods, with only about 1 in 3 homes on sale due to foreclosure. Homes here are nice, largely dating from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s as far as I can tell and the more expensive ones tend to be on the larger side (about 3000 sq. ft.).

One of the nice things about this area is that there is a fairly wide variety of homes for sale, so you are likely to find something that you like (so long as you aren’t looking for a brand new construction or one built in the last generation).

The schools are very strong as well, with Cipriani Elementary and Ralston Middle School being the local public options. (There are also a number of private options.)

This is about as safe a neighborhood as you will come across as well, with barely a domestic dispute to report for the last six months.

Overall, I would say that is a perfect little neighborhood for families where one of the parents has a relatively high paying Silicon Valley tech job.