South of 580

We bought a home in a CV Baywood neighborhood because it's a quiet area with large lots where we could keep a few rabbits and chickens. There are so many newly remodeled homes with expanded floor plans & pretty landscaping. It's also an ideal location for commuting by car compared to living in the CV hills - more alternative routes via the streets to 880 or 580. It's a VERY walkable area with nearby Trader Joe's, The Japanese Gardens & Carlos Bee Park - great for small children. There are lots of dog walkers, joggers, and couples walking the neighborhood daily.

This is an undervalued area solely because some look down on it's proximity to Hayward - NOT on merit, alone. Sure, there are small homes. There are also 1,800+ sq ft homes. The homes here are on par with many other CV homes north of 580. There's a nice range of home styles & sizes. Tanglewood and Baywood have redwood & oak trees on their lots, along with a creek. There are homes with amazing hillside views from Shadysprings, Gail, and Knoll Ave. The "Taj Mahal" of CV is located here! My neighbors include a retired rocket scientist (no joke), dentist, techies, entrepreneurs, etc. But most importantly, nice people who care about their family, home & neighbors.

It's very easy to access downtown CV's BART, movie theater, mini golfing, bowling alley, restaurants, shopping, etc on foot or with a bike. Good for families that don't want to rely on a car. If you're really into a "lifestyle" where being social & active without a car is important AND you need to commute during the week - this is a great place to live. We could have bought a smaller home north of 580, but for our family - Baywood had so much to offer.

Now, with that being said... the schools are not in the CV school district (which we would have preferred). There are other schooling (private or charter) options which made moving here a viable option for a family with young children. We've had our child in private school, but were fortunate enough to get into an excellent charter school. It's way too easy to dismiss this lovely neighborhood when you don't really know its' true character. It's just as much "like Castro Valley" as East CV or other lowland CV neighborhoods. And this isn't a knock on Hayward - we bought our first home there. But south of 580 definitely feels like Castro Valley :-)

The neighborhood to the south of Highway 580 in Castro Valley is made up mostly of older homes dating to the 1950’s. So you get a lot of smaller Ranch style homes in this neighborhood--the kind of places that remind me of my grandparents’ neighborhoods. By small, we are talking between 1000 and 1350 ft. or so, which is pretty small for 3 bedroom houses by our modern standards.

The median home price here is around $300K, with prices ranging from about $100k to $500k.

This neighborhood is flat and looks a lot more like San Leandro than hilly Castro Valley. In terms of crime it is more like that and Hayward as well, with a homicide along Foothill within the last month and a half dozen assaults in the last six months. There have also been about 2 dozen robberies during that time.

Schools are also more like Hayward and San Leandro than Castro Valley. In fact, I think the South of 580 neighborhood is served by Hayward schools and not the usual Castro Valley schools--so Bret Harte with its API of 4 would be the middle school for this area. That certainly seems to be the indication from the local elementary, Stonebridge Elementary which has an API of 2--pretty lousy and an indication that things are not working smoothly here.

Overall, I suppose my recommendation would be to stay north of 580--especially if you are thinking of raising a family in Castro Valley.