Mission / Garin

The Mission-Garin neighborhood is on the far southeastern end of Hayward, east of Mission Blvd. and sprawling out onto the hills. As throughout the East Bay, you can always look to the hills for the nicest houses with the best views. The same is true of the Mission-Garin neighborhood.

On the western end of the hilly area, just as you begin the climb up, the homes are mostly of the nice 1970’s style Ranch homes. As you get farther up into the hills, the homes get newer and the style changes to Contemporary--large and boxy, with tiled roofs and adobe walls. The views are much better from here as well.

The median selling price for a home up here is $350K though prices tend to rise with the altitude. So many of those Contemporary style homes fetch over $600K--a rarity for Hayward. (Though, of course, just across the bay on the Peninsula, these same homes would sell for much higher even without views.)

Another positive of this neighborhood is that you have the South Hayward BART station right there--which really helps with the commute. (Hayward is a great spot from which to commute virtually anywhere in the Bay Area because of its location near the bulls-eye of the Bay Area.

Unfortunately, the schools here are not particularly good, with low APIs for all except for Tennyson High, which has an average rating.

Overall, I think this is one of the best residential neighborhoods, marred only by the weak schools that make it undesirable for the families you would expect to live in a quiet, attractive spot like this.