Mira Vista

If I had my druthers—yeah, that’s right, I use the word “druthers”—then we would have moved here to Mira Vista. I think this little neighborhood on the northeastern end is the best neighborhood in El Cerrito. It is basically just a residential neighborhood filled with cute older homes that stare out over the North Bay.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t really find a place to rent up here. So pretty much we would have had to buy a place, which we’re not quite ready for yet. Houses here are relatively affordable, ranging from $300 K to about $650 K, with the median home going for about $450 K. The most expensive homes are on the south eastern end of the neighborhood.

I don’t know if it is because my sense of home prices have been warped from spending so much time looking at homes in the Peninsula, but that seems so affordable to me. If we were ready to settle down and put down roots for the long haul we might be all over that.

This is probably one of the safest neighborhoods in El Cerrito as well, with basically no assaults reported in the last 6 months. (Although you do get a fair share of robberies and car break-ins and that sort thing.)

Unfortunately this is car territory. You are too far up into the hills to walk or even bike places. So that’s the main draw back.
Well that and the fact that the schools are just so-so.

Overall though, I am still a big fan of this neighborhood.