Arlington

We came here this weekend to take a look around. We have been considering places that we could move this summer after our lease runs out. We have been looking for a house since we are now officially in a “family way.” We know we can’t really afford a home in Palo Alto or even in the surrounding areas and we have heard bad things about EPA and other areas so we are looking for places in Redwood City that might fit the bill.

We were visiting some friends who live in the apartments here so we took a look around at the houses. In Arlington, most of the apartments are by El Camino—a lot like in Menlo Park where we are now. Apartments here seem to be just as expensive as apartments in Menlo Park though. The only ones for rent that we could find right now were $2300 for a two bedroom, which I think is pretty high for an apartment.

We did see a little “house” for rent for $1300 but it had no yard and was super tiny, probably smaller than our apartment and didn’t look hospitable at all.

We looked around at some houses here too, but they were mostly way outside of our price range. There was an older home—I guess it is called a Cape Cod style house—which is on the market for just almost $2 million ($1.8 million), for example. It is really an attractive house, very quaint in an old school sort way, but that is not only not in the ballpark of our price range, it isn’t even in the same league as our price range. It’s a major league price—we are totally still in the minors.

More disheartening was that we saw a much less attractive house right by it, and it too was over $1 million. We figured out that to get that house we would have to pay over $6000/month. That is definitely not happening now or any time in the near future since that is way more than we make per month after taxes at this point.

This area of Arlington is pretty nice right around the middle of the neighborhood just off Edgewood Road. It is really leafy in kind of slightly uncontrolled way (some yards just look like a wall of green), but I would not at all have pegged it as a million dollar home neighborhood. There are sidewalks, which is nice because you want your kids to be able to walk places with you without being afraid you’re going to get run down and it is nice and flat which is nice also for the same reasons.

There were some condos for less than $500 K closer to El Camino on the eastern end of the neighborhood, but that doesn’t really seem to me to be much of a step up from an apartment to me—especially in terms of buying.

We did see one possibly way on the western end of the neighborhood that we need to look into further. It is still outside of our price range (close to $800 K) but at least we are not in million dollar territory anymore. It is smallish (1200 sq. ft.) but it has nice backyard and is on a nice shady street. Still, the payments would likely be around $4500/month and I don’t see us being able to swing that.

The other good thing about this area is the school system. I believe North Star Academy is the elementary that serves this area, and it is a superior school with an API of 10. Sequoia High is also really good—definitely one of the schools that keeps up the high standards of the Peninsula. So that is a definite draw to this neighborhood. There is at least one nearby daycare as well, when that should be necessary.

As to the other things you look for in a neighborhood, such as walkability, Arlington is within a mile of a Lucky and a Trader Joes. There are also a number of restaurants of the fast food and cheap variety right along El Camino (e.g., Carls Jr. and The Sandwich Spot).

There is even a pretty good bar nearby (“The Office”) and about a half dozen of them by the Cal Train station.
Overall, this would be a pretty good spot to find a house if we could find an affordable one.

Arlington is a long, flat strip of affluent residential terrain nestled along the vast San Francisco peninsula. For the perspective resident, the neighborhood provides your typical charming, upper middle-class aesthetics and, consequently, makes for a great environment to raise a family. For the most part, the district is fitted with large homes plotted on even larger properties. In fact, some homes come in well over the $1 million dollar range. It’s not a secret that people live here for the number of secluded, two-story homes and sizable, picture perfect front yards.

Though almost exclusively residential, Arlington is one of the nicest neighborhoods around. Its beautiful neighborhood aesthetics come with quaint front yards, nice, luxury cars parked in the driveways and heavily leafy, tree-lined streets making for shady neighborhood walks. If you’re driving through the area, you’ll come across everything from Mediterranean style homes to mission revivals to spruced up english tudors. Most of which, you’ll be pleasantly surprised of their luxurious appeal.

Arlington is also a well-connected community within the heart of Redwood City. For commuters, the district’s main strip is considered Whipple Avenue and connects residents to El Camino Real and US Route 101. The area is also within walking distance to the Redwood City Caltrain which offers commuters a second option. And just adjacent to there is the Sequoia Hospital which serves the community well. Residents also don’t have to travel far for their around-the-house needs. In fact, a small commercial area is located just down El Camino Real.