NightOwlnOrinda

Kansas Street in Fairfield is one of the several residential streets in this section of Fairfield where the streets are all named after states. The homes here are mostly fairly beaten up looking Ranch Style homes dating from the mid-1950’s.

Kansas runs parallel and just to the south of the Linear Park Pathway and is also just a bit to the south of the Solano Town Center Mall--one of those traditional Fast Times at Ridgemont High style malls. But it is far enough away so that it doesn’t really get any collateral traffic.

I came here to take a look at a 3-bedroom that was listed at just over $1000, about as cheap as it gets in the Bay Area. The average home here sells for around $100K, which is also about as low as it gets.

Other than its distance from the Bay Area, another drawback to this part of Fairfield is the poor schools that serve it. Both Fairview Elementary and Sullivan Middle schools have below average APIs of 3, while Amijo High gets a slightly better average score of 5.

As to crime, the other worry one might have in a neighborhood with such a low cost of living, it is basically about even with the national average. Some years it is a bit higher, others it is below. You do get about a half dozen murders every year, which is not terrible given the 100,000 residents who live here, but nowhere near as bad as Vallejo’s murder rate which is about 3 times higher and has a crime rate twice as high as the national average.

Overall, this might be an okay alternative for someone who either has a job out here (perhaps working at Travis Air Force Base) or who doesn’t mind trading long commutes for lower rents--something which I am definitely considering.

Muir Road in Martinez runs parallel to Highway 4 so most homes face south offering their back fences to Muir. It also means that you get a bit of traffic noise along parts of Muir. It runs all the way practically from Pacheco Blvd. on the eastern end of Martinez to Center Ave. towards the western end.

Condos just off Muir Road tend to sell in the $200Ks while houses (mostly late 60’s Ranch Style homes) are going for $350K to $499K.

Martinez however is relatively safe and has very good schools with APIs of 8 and up virtually across the board.

Muir Road is also close to both the movie theater on Center and to several stores and some restaurants as well. None of these are spectacular but they will definitely cover your needs from groceries to other items.

Another benefit of living here is the Contra Costa Canal Trail that you can find on the eastern end of Muir Lane. The trail comes off Muir Lane and heads south. It is a great place to go biking or hiking.

Overall, I think Muir Road and especially those streets just off of Muir Lane are good places to live.

Mohr Lane in Treehaven, Concord is basically apartment row. It is filled with apartments and condominium complexes which get increasingly nice the farther you get from Monument Blvd.

I came here to look at a 3-bedroom condo that was listed for $1350, which is about the same price that many of the 2-bedrooms are listed for along Mohr Lane. Now the area is not ideal--especially near Monument where it feels dense and noisy. Most of the apartment complexes here are gated, and the cast iron screens on the front doors suggest crime is an issue in this part of Concord.

The other problem here are the schools. They are unfortunately pretty lousy. Both Fair Oaks Elementary and Oak Grove Middle School have bottom skirting APIs of 2. Ygnacio Valley High is a little better with an API of 5--making it solidly middle of the road--but overall this is not a good combination if you will be sending your kids to schools here.

However, the lower prices and the relatively nice facilities offered in some of these complexes make these viable options for someone like me--a divorced dad with kids.

Oak Grove Road in this section of Concord is a well-trafficked north-south artery that stretches from Ygnacio Valley Road to Ygnacio Valley Park. Most of the eastern half of Oak Grove is made up of single-family homes and apartments. Although Oak Grove Road is a busy lane, the houses and especially the apartments are very nice.

The homes are for the most part late 50’s era Ranch Style homes. The median price for one of these homes during the last year or so is about $500K, with sell prices running from $350K to $650K.

As to the apartments and condos along Oak Grove, they sell for between $125K and $300K and rent for between $1600 to $1800 per month for a two bedroom. I actually came here to take a look at a 3-bedroom listed for $1600, about as low as you get in a good neighborhood like this.

The schools here and especially to the south of here in Walnut Creek, are actually pretty strong. Bancroft Elementary and Valle Verde Elementary (which both serve the southern end of Oak Grove Road) both have APIs of 9. But things are more divergent when you compare them to southern end of Oak Grove as compared to the northern end. Northgate High in Walnut Creek, for example, has an API of 10 while Ygnacio Valley High, which is just off Oak Grove near the intersection of Treat Blvd., has a solid but unimpressive API of 5. The middle schools serving the southern and northern ends of Oak Grove are even more divergent, with Foothill Middle School have a perfect API of 10, while Oak Grove Middle Schools scratches bottom with a 2 API.

The other nice thing about this section of Oak Grove is that you are far enough away from the more commercial sections of Concord and Walnut Creek that you get a certain level of peace (except for the fairly constant traffic along Oak Grove of course)--but you are not so far away that you add significantly to your job, wherever that may be.

I actually really like this area and would one day like to live here perhaps.

William Way is a horseshoe shaped street in Concord. It is fairly typical of Concord really, in that it is made up of Ranch Style homes from the late 50’s. The typical home here sells for about $250K to $300K and I recently saw a home put up for rent for $2000/month, which although not exactly low for this area is a pretty great steal for a 4-bedroom, which this home was.

William Way is one of those streets that looks like it used to have sidewalks but no longer does. The asphalt has been pulled up and left dirt where the sidewalks are. The lawns sometimes have white picket fences but more often than not are just slightly unkept with brown patches or overgrown edges. It is not awful, just a sign that the occupants simply do not have the time or motivation to work on their homes.

Cars along William Way are generally older model and doors tend to have iron gated doors--a sign perhaps of the crime worry in the area.

The schools here are about average: Ygnacio Valley High has an API of 5 and Cambridge Elementary has a 4--which is not too bad for Concord.

With such low rents and property prices, however, this definitely has to be a consideration for anyone going through dire straits.

What would it cost to have a 4-bedroom in Orinda?

I was wondering that recently as I was thinking about what would be the ideal for me and my kids after the divorce. So I took a look and here on Dalewood is the only 4-bedroom I found in Orinda for rent. Dalewood is one of those long gently curving lanes with no sidewalks. The homes here are invariably large and long with big front lawns and walkways. Even the ones that don’t look particularly luxurious still have a certain air of affluence about them. (Perhaps it is the luxury cars in the driveways.) This is definitely the country club set--CEO’s and others who are part of the governing boards of their businesses.

This area is all that you could ask for when it comes to raising kids. Great schools (Sleepy Hollow Elementary all the Orinda schools are well-supported and achieve excellent results), virtually no crime (1 murder in Orinda in 10 years), and a nice secluded area far away from the worries of the world. It is all you can ask for if you can afford it, of course.

A home here on Dalewood will run you $4200/month ($50K per year in case you are wondering). So using the standard of 3 times rent to determine viability, a person would have to make around $150K to afford living here. Thus the reason why I--and most people--can’t really afford to live here.

Devon Ave. in Pleasant Hill is a mostly residential street. Near Pleasant Hill Road there are condominium complexes on both sides of Pleasant Hill Road. I recently looked at a 2-bedroom unit here whose rent was around $1450/month--about what you would expect for a 2-bedroom in this part of Pleasant Hill.

Along the other end of Devon most of the homes dates from the 1980s and have those high roofs that stretch down from the second to the first floor all in one line (rather than have separate roofs for the separate levels). It was sort of a status symbol in the 80’s that denoted a fairly affluent neighborhood. It is fairly dated now, though it still is usually a sign of a neighborhood that is doing fairly well.

Devon’s location is particularly suburban and has a sort of Brady Bunch feel to it. The schools are strong and crime is low. The supermarket is right at the end of the road and from here you are about 10 minutes from the best parts of Concord and maybe 15 from Walnut Creek.

In other words, this is the sort of place that you want to come live when you have a family and kids. And compared to the Lamorinda area this is much, much more affordable.

Oakland Blvd runs parallel to Highway 680 just off the Mt. Diablo Exit. On its southern block (it is basically two blocks long), Oakland Blvd. is mostly made up of older smaller Ranch Style homes. There are also, however, some apartment buildings mixed in for variety and some office buildings across the street. The office buildings are always looking for new lessees--which suggests to me this isn’t a great place to have a business.

The apartments are of the fairly boxy, ugly variety and rent for about the average amount that many similar kinds of apartments rent for in the area--about $1500. These place are pretty close to Downtown Walnut Creek and all the entertainment and restaurants that you will find there.

On the northern end Oakland Blvd. mostly empties out, with just empty fields on one side and the constant rumble of Highway 680 below.

Overall this is a pretty good spot to live. You have good schools, low crime, are close to BART so you can easily commute to work and you also have lots of local places to go as well.

Fig Tree Lane in Martinez is a pleasant residential street that slips right off Arnold Drive and heads up to Midhill Road. It is a bit off from the main part of Martinez and has a very secluded feel to it. You get lots of apartments and condos on the southern half of Fig Tree. I came here to see a 2-bedroom that was going for $1325/month. It was very nice if still a bit beyond my limit at this point.

As I have said elsewhere, I consider Martinez to be underrated as a place to live. Martinez offers low crime, good schools while still having affordable homes.

This area is an example of what I like about Martinez. The street is clean, green and relatively quiet. Other nearby 2-bedrooms run about $1575, which is closer to what you expect for a place like this but still on the relatively affordable side. As to buying, condos here sell for between $200K and $250K

On the northern end of Fig Tree Lane you will find Ranch Homes. Nicely kept but mostly unremarkable. A 5-bedroom here recently sold for half a million dollars--so you can have a sense of the cost.

There is a movie theater in Martinez and all the usual suburban amenities you would want. You also have the Amtrak station on the northern end.

Overall, I would be more than happy to live here, if I could manage.

7th Avenue in Crockett fringes the south-eastern edge of the town, giving many of the homes there a nice little view of the drop down to the S&G Sugar Factory and the old homes there. I recently came here to take a look at a 2-bedroom listed for just $1000.

With rents this low you might expect that this is one of those crime ridden areas, but because of the relatively low density of Crockett, crime is actually relatively moderate. There are a fair number of burglaries in the area and at least 4 registered sex offenders, but assaults are few and far between and most of the police action is limited to the downtown area where the businesses are located.

Schools in Crockett such as Swett High and Carquinez Middle School are solidly average--maybe just a touch above.

One of the main drawbacks of Crockett is the location. In order to get into the rest of the Bay Area, you have to get on Highway 80, which involves hitting some of the worst traffic in the Bay Area. There are some back ways to get into Contra Costa County but those methods get pretty packed as well.

Most of the homes here date from before World War II. But they are relatively well-kept and feel a bit secluded--more like a small town feel in a good way. Overall, I think I could get into living in a place like this. I will definitely keep an eye out for places here.

Carey Drive is just off the Monument Exit on Highway 680 in Concord. Carey Drive is actually not very long, curving from Monument to Victory Lane. Most of Carey is made up of pretty average looking 1950’s style Ranch homes. The street looks relatively quiet and seems to be home for a lot of harding working middle class type blokes.

What brought me here was the apartments on Monument side end of Carey. These are pretty much the shoe box style apartments, with only slight variations (like being in a “V” shape rather than parallel). These are great apartments but they do offer some of the most affordable rents you will find. There was a 2-bedroom here listed for $1025--about as low as it gets. There was also a studio listed here for just $725/month.

The nice thing about this area is that you are just on the other side of the freeway from some of the nicest spots in Pleasant Hill. Crescent Plaza Shopping Center is right across the way so if you have a hankering for a movie or want to grab a bite to eat at a place like Daphne’s (a Greek place) or Pasta Pomodoro--you are practically within walking distance. They have also been renovating Crossroads Shopping Center on the eastern side of the freeway and it has a ton of new businesses around there, such Kohl’s and Gamestop to name just a couple. (Unfortunately, a casualty of this renovation is that they have knocked down the dome theater that used to be there. I drove by yesterday and was sad to see a pile of rubble where that old movie house used to be. I saw a lot of good movies there--they had a penchant for playing independent and more unusual movies.)

Overall, an okay place to live affordably.

Came out here to Nautilus Drive in Pittsburg to take a look at a 3-bedroom that was at least in the ballpark as far as what I can afford. It was a pretty average looking house right at the western edge of Pittsburg, right by Bay Point. It still would take a half hour to make it to my kid’s school from here.

But the rents on this western end of Pittsburg are definitely affordable. This 3-bedroom is going for only $1250/month. In fact, it is so inexpensive they take Section 8 housing. There is another comparable house on the same street going for $1325. Basically this is the beginning of the more affordable sections of the East Bay.

The homes here are the typical Ranch homes that are fairly ubiquitous throughout California and especially in these more affordable neighborhoods.

There is a bit of crime in the area--which is the usual drawback of places like this that are so affordable, but it is relatively mild. Some breaking and entering and a handful of assaults, nothing too worrisome in this section. There are about a dozen sex offenders in the area--which is more worrisome, but that is the price of living in this kind of area.

Unfortunately the schools in this area are also pretty bad with low APIs and bad reputations.

I hear, however, that the commute is pretty terrible heading into the rest of Contra Costa. I suppose that being on the Western end of Pittsburg that this is the best spot for it, but I still don’t know if I would want to face that every day.

Overall, however, it is definitely a location to keep in mind.

Came here to Olivera Road to see about a three bedroom apartment that was listed at $1500. That is still out of my current budget range but it is about as inexpensive as it gets in Contra Costa without sacrificing safety.

Buchanan Airport is just to the west of this section of Olivera, though what actually forms the western end of this section is the Solano Drive-In Theater, a classic outdoor movie theater. I think they still show movies though I have never been to one here. This kind of a theater is more of a curiosity than anything else.

Most of Olivera Road however, is made up of the apartments that are part of the apartment complex that I came to see. These are a nice mix of one and two-story units with covered parking spaces. They are nicely set up for families since they are spaced in a way that the noise levels are less likely to bother neighbors.

In the past year, these condos have also sold for between $65K and $125K.

On the southern end of Olivera there is also a nice big park, Hillcrest Park which has a big play area and baseball fields. And on the southeastern end there is also a set of churches, Calvary Baptist and New Hope International.

In terms of commuting, although you are on the upper end of Concord, the commute is much easier than from Pittsburg or Antioch. The schools here are about average with Sun Terrace Elementary and Mount Diablo High getting APIs of 4 and 6 respectively.

I don’t know what crime is like around here, but from the density in this area, I would guess that crime is lower than in the more crowded areas of Concord.

I think this would definitely be a good place for families to live.

Came here to Viewpoint Blvd. to take a look at a four bedroom that was only sort of outside of my price range at about $1800. I am actually not there yet in terms of my income, but a 4 bedroom would be ideal for my situation allowing me to have a room, and my younger boys and girls to have their own rooms while my oldest--being at the age where privacy is more of thing--could have his.
This is a nice older home. Looks like it dates maybe to the 50’s but is perfectly fine and I have always liked Rodeo as a sensible alternative to the sky high prices of other places. The big drawback, of course, of a place like Rodeo is that it is way out of the way. People regularly complain about how difficult the commute is from here. Though I think that the commute from Pittsburg is worse and probably the worst of all commutes is from Tracy.

Overall Viewpoint Blvd has a very 1970s feel to it, probably because it is a wide lane with lots of well maintained Ranch homes on it. It actually reminds me a lot of Woodland Hills where I grew up. You can tell from how well-kept the homes are here that it has a lot of residents who take pride in their homes and take the time to maintain them.

Overall this is a fairly safe place to live, with okay schools and relatively affordable rents. If you don’t work too far away, or if you do a sort of reverse commute this could definitely be a good option.

If you know Lacassie Street in Walnut Creek, you probably know it as the connector street just to the south of Target. This basically covers one block of Lacassie. However, Lacassie also has a second block that continues on the opposite end of North Main Street. On this western end, Lacassie is a mix of boxy apartment buildings, duplexes and duplexes converted into offices. It has a bit of a worn out look to it and feels a bit overcrowded--especially where the apartment buildings are. Lacassie dead ends right at the 680 Ygnacio Valley off-ramp.

Although this is not the most pleasant and appealing of streets in terms of feeling homey, you are quite close to the BART and the Downtown Walnut Creek area. That is the great advantage of living even in a fairly unpleasant apartment building here.

I came to take a look at a $1200/month apartment here, which the owners were advertising as a reduced price apartment for someone who was willing to be a part-time manager. It was a good deal at $1200 given the location but was not really worth it when you added in the hassles of being a part-time manager into the mix.

Willow Street is a bit of an unusual street, located as it is just outside of the Downtown Martinez. It is unusual in that it is one of those streets that dead ends and then picks up again a block or two later. The two parts of Willow Street could not be more different, however.

Willow Street on its upper end is a fairly typical residential lane right by Downtown Martinez. It is made up of homes dating from before WWII (Martinez dates back to before California was a state and was once the capital of California). I came here to take a look at a tiny duplex which was very cute but very small.

Cute is actually a pretty good word to describe this upper part of Willow Street, which is just far enough uphill from the courthouse and the downtown area that you might not realize you are within walking distance of that area.

On the lower end, you are much more aware of being right by Downtown. Willow is wider here and is mostly filled with old, slightly rundown looking pre-WWII homes. As you get close to Jones Street, however, you get some apartments, one which is actually very new looking with red-tiled roofs and pastel colored adobe walls.

The drawback of being so close to Downtown Martinez is that you are, of course, close to the homeless types that seem to be constantly hanging around down there. It is not the most hospitable of places and being within walking distance of it wouldn’t make me feel too safe.

The other drawback of being up the hill on this side of Downtown is that you right by the hilltop chemical tanks which are also within walking distance. Many people--me included--might be a little worried about what kind of undetected toxins might affect you and your children over time from living in such close proximity to these.

The positives of living so close, of course, are that you are right by the restaurants and coffee shops and that you are also right by the Amtrak station, so commuting is a lot easier.

Overall, it seems like the negatives somewhat outweigh the positives in terms of living here.

Soule Avenue is a pretty residential street that breaks south and then east off of Boyd in Pleasant Hill. Soule is basically made up of single families homes dating to the late 40’s (most seem to have been originally built in 1947). These are mostly Ranch style homes, but they are so nicely kept and the street is so leafy and idyllic that it doesn’t at all take on the typical look of a neighborhood of this kind. In fact, the typical home here has a white picket fence, a biggy shady tree and nicely kept topiary on immaculately green lawns.

Basically this is a hidden away little residential street, quiet and perfect for raising a family. I came here to take a look at detached studio, that was really little more than just a room in someone’s house--no way it would meet my needs though I can imagine a college student taking the room and making something of it.

The typical home here sells for between $550K and $750K. The neighborhood is safe and the schools are strong. Overall a pretty nice place to live.

Sunnyvale Avenue is on the northwestern end of Walnut Creek. Its eastern end is right across the street from the Treat/Geary onramp/offramp--right by the car wash, Wendy’s and the strip mall where Pasta Primavera is located.

Near Main Street there are a bunch of apartment buildings along Sunnyvale Avenue, which is what brought me here the other day. There was a Studio here listed at $900/month which is about as low as it ever gets in Walnut Creek. Now this was just studio, basically a room with kitchen and bathroom--maybe 600 sq. feet.

These are those boxy, cramped looking apartment complexes where it feels like they have done all they can to get people as packed together as possible. In fact, it feels a bit more like a motel than an apartment building where you can live.

As you go farther west along Sunnyvale, however, the housing gets nicer. You start to get modern looking townhomes and nicer looking apartment complexes. The rents go up as well with a 2-bedroom just past the Presbyterian Church going for nearly $1400/month.

Past Sunnyvale Drive, Sunnyvale Avenue becomes virtually 100% single family homes, with a mix of types but predominantly Contemporary style model homes as far as I can tell. Rents here for a three bedroom rise to nearly $3000/month. They are very nice and about what you would expect to pay given the neighborhood and good schools.

The home sale prices follow a similar pattern to the rent prices, with condos going from between $180K to $400K, while home prices hover more typically around $600K.

The other great thing about living here is that you are within walking distance of the BART station, which makes commuting much easier since you will technically not even have to get into your car to make it to work. You are also close to all the shopping and entertainment of Walnut Creek without actually being at the heart of the action.

At the very eastern end of Sunnyvale Avenue, this lane takes on a very rural feel with lots of trees and half century year old homes. You get the occasional picket fence and broken down old car here as well. There is a certain charm to this.

Overall, I like the area and if I could find a nice place affordable enough to rent but not overly cramped I would love to live here.

California Street in Concord is only one block long. It is basically apartment city. You have about a dozen apartment complexes heres, mostly three story boxy monstrosities. The kinds of apartments where you feel as if you have been piled one on top of another. But the apartments here are almost dirt cheap compared to what you might pay for similar places in Contra Costa County. I saw a studio here listed for $750/month.

California is actually in a pretty good spot. It is north of the most dense spots in Concord, but still within walking distance of Todos Santos Park and the Brendan Movie Theater and what shopping there is in Downtown Concord. You are, however perfectly positioned to hit the freeway or to head over to the Pleasant Hill BART station. You are also pretty close to Diablo Valley College, so it would not be too bad a place for students either.

It is not however a very attractive street--too many straight lines, flat and not very natural. There is also a fair amount of traffic noise from Concord Blvd. and the overcrowding of the area. I imagine that when everyone is home at night it must be very active. Not a good spot for insomniacs.

You can’t beat the price though.

Fairfield is a mid-sized town about 20 miles north of Contra Costa County and just a bit of ways north of Benicia. It is one of the first truly affordable satellite communities of the Bay Area where crime is not a dissuading factor.

How affordable is it? Two-bedroom apartments run between $850 and $1600 per month; one-bedrooms between $625 and $1250. Those prices are just light years from most Bay Area locations that are not plagued by high crime (in fact, even those with high crime will often have way higher rates than this--yeah, I’m looking at you Mission District).

Homes are similarly inexpensive, with the median price being around $250,000 and less than 10% breaking the half million mark. (Only about half dozen homes sold for more than a million dollars here in the last year.)

Homes here are mostly 50’s style Ranch homes and boxy 60’s style apartments. There are some newer condos and constructions however which are still fairly reasonably priced for the most part.

Fairfield is mostly a middle class city--the 10th largest in California you might be surprised to find out. It is dominated by Travis Air Force Base on its eastern end. It is the biggest employer. You can often see B-52s and other military planes in the area running missions.

Another big employer is Solano Community College where I taught for a while. A good school with a good mix of students from the various backgrounds in the area.

And, of course, you cannot mention Fairfield without mentioning the Jelly Bean Factory, which my family has often visited. If you are into jelly beans, you will definitely be interested in finding out how jelly beans are made here.

The crime rate is right around the national average or at least has been for the last two or three years after a good decade of being slightly above. In a population of 100,000 there are about 5 murders per year, which is not non-existent but not too bad either.

Schools are similarly average with API’s ranging from 3 to 7. (10 is the highest.)

There is a shopping center and there are businesses who take advantage of the relatively low cost of the living to place their offices in Fairfield, so you may be able to find employment and live here as well. It is much nicer than Vallejo, bigger than Dixon, and almost comparable to Vacaville.

This is also a pretty good spot for couples who are divided between Davis and Contra Costa--sort of an intermediate location in between. Purely for the economics I am considering it. Unfortunately the commute is pretty gruesome once you hit the Benicia Bridge. And the wind can be pretty bad along Highway 80 south of here as well.

You could, however, take the Amtrak train down to Richmond and take the BART from there and work along the way. (Amtrak is also a great way of getting to Davis and Sac, which I also used to enjoy.)

This Concord neighborhood is best known for being the home of Ygnacio Valley High and Carondelet High, a private all girls school. Ygnacio Valley High is gets an average rating in terms of API, but Carondelet is widely considered to be a very strong school that teaches from a Catholic perspective.

The Oak Gravel Treat neighborhood--I have never heard of it referred this way, btw--is a mostly suburban neighborhood, one of the better ones in Concord. (It, in fact, feels a bit more like a Walnut Creek neighborhood than a Concord neighborhood.)

You can roughly divide this neighborhood into two parts when it comes to the homes you will find here. North of Treat Blvd., the median home price is around $375K with prices running between $250K to $450K. (No home north of Treat breaks the $500K mark.)

Meanwhile south of Treat, the lowest priced home sale in the last year was for $375K. Prices on this south side, however rise to as much as $665K. The median is around $500K. Homes seem to date from roughly the same period, though they may be slightly better kept on the southern end than on the northern end.

Overall this is a nice suburban neighborhood with solid schools, low crime and relatively affordable home prices. You are not too far away from Downtown Walnut Creek and the commute is not too bad in the area. (Unless you are going into the city, in which case you might want to consider taking BART.)

I would certainly not mind living here if I could afford it.

Came here to Clayton Way, just off Willow Pass to check out a 3-bedroom that was amazingly cheap for a 3-Bedroom; just $1200, which is what some 2-bedrooms cost on the low end at a lot of nearby places. It was about a 1000 sq. ft. and clean and seemed to be okay. It was unfortunately on the 2nd floor, which would probably be a problem with whoever lived underneath me, given my noisy kids.

This apartment was on the northern end of Clayton Way, where it dead ends onto Willow Pass and empty fields. There are several apartments around here, all with that sort of boxy feel to them that gives them a sort of hotel feel.

As you head away from Willow Pass farther south along Clayton, you get a lot more Ranch style homes dating from around 1960. They are not particularly well-kept and most of them look like they are a half century old (which, of course they are). Homes here sell for between $240K and $400K.

From here you are about 10 miles from Downtown Walnut Creek, but the this commute requires you to hit traffic coming in from Pittsburg and Antioch, much of which uses Willow Pass as a “short cut.” Also, it is just as bad if you use 680 south, traffic all the way, which means the 18 mile stretch to the Caldecott Tunnel is likely to take twice as long as the same trip coming from the south.

The area also looks a bit on the downtrodden side. Not that that really matters for me at this point. I don’t really have my finances in order enough to even manage this expense at this point. It does however, beat living in Pittsburg or Antioch in all senses.

Crockett is a really charming little town up by the Carquinez Bridge. It is built around the C&H Sugar plant which in part accounts for all the nearly hundred year old buildings that grace the sloping town of Crockett.

I came here to take a look at just such a studio in one of these older buildings. Old is definitely the word to describe it. You do feel as if you are in a Depression era costume drama here. From the cold tiles to faded paint to some kind of old musty smell, this place definitely reminded me of my grandpa.But with rent for this studio as low as $650, it is very tempting.

West Street is a fairly typical Crockett street. It ends at the C&H plant on its bottom end where the old building is that I went to see. As it climbs its steep 3 blocks there are some nicer, though still old, homes. It is really a bit of a mixed bag. Some of the homes have old faded wooden boards and just look like they would be a nightmare in terms of upkeep. Other homes have beautiful French style windows and terraces that probably have great views of the brick factory and rusty old bridge as backdrop. West has no sidewalks and lots of very leafy trees that partly droop onto the roadside--a bit of charmingly unkept look in spots.

You are fairly close to the freeway here, but the commute from this area is pretty awful from what I hear from those in Rodeo and Hercules. That is the main problem with this location. Whatever savings you might get in terms of rent, you would lose due to the high costs of the commute.

Overall, it is an okay spot and you definitely can’t beat the price, but with the need to commute it would probably not be worth it.

Roxie Lane in Walnut Creek is a shortish cul-de-sac with about a dozen homes. It is filled with unusual looking duplexes which give this lane a bit of an overcrowded, slightly cramped feel.

I came here to look at one of these rentals that fit within my price range, a studio going for less than $1000. It had a bit of a yard but was quite small otherwise--probably would have caused problems in terms of noise with the next door neighbors.

The duplexes and condos which you find around this area have recently sold for between $350 and $550K, which sounds a touch high to me.

Roxie Lane is between Geary and Oak Park, just off Sunnyvale Ave. This is a pretty quiet spot, far enough away from the downtown areas where you don’t get any traffic that is not specific to the residences here. You are still however close enough that you can make it the restaurants and movie theater and stores of Walnut Creek and to the BART station.

Overall this is a pretty good spot and I would not mind living around here if I could manage it.

I came to see about a place here on Ardith Drive which would have been perfectly situated for my purposes, being a block away from the Orinda Intermediate School and within my very limited budget. Unfortunately, someone snapped it up before I even had a chance to look at it.

I know Ardith relatively well however because of the proximity of the middle school. Ardith is quiet suburban street, only slightly hilly, which is pretty typical of this part of Orinda. Ardith is most made up of nice, big Ranch homes of the kind that are typical of early 1960s. (Most homes here date from 1959 to 60.) This is more of a homeowner location, than a renter area.

Most homes along Ardith typically sell for between $740K to $950K these days. (Though one recently sold for $550K--I assume due to foreclosure or some similar circumstance.)

Ardith skirts the western end of OIS (Orinda Intermediate School) though there is no access to the school from this end, Ardith being on a hill that overlooks the school. It functions as a bit as a connector between Ivy and Coral which encircle the school.

The location of Ardith makes it ideal for families who like a nice quiet area with relatively low levels of traffic (though both Ivy and Coral fill up at school arrival and dismissal times).

For commuters, Ardith is far enough where you will probably have to drive to the BART station or brave the 10 minutes of traffic to the freeways.

Orinda schools however are superb and crime is virtually non-existent in the Lamorinda area, with basically one murder in 10 years. It is basically everything you could ask for in suburban living. And you are right next to Berkeley if you want to drop down to attend the theater, see a movie, go hiking or whatever else you might want to do.

Of course, you have to be able to afford it, otherwise you will be working all the time and never have any opportunity to do any of those things, which has unfortunately been my experience of Orinda.

Came here to Homestead to take a look at 3-bedroom condo that was the cheapest I could find in Walnut Creek even though at $1900 that is still way out of my current price range. At 950 ft. it is still pretty small, but it had a nice kitchen and was in a nice apartment--well-situated for kids.

As to the rest of Homestead, it is pretty typical of this eastern part of Walnut Creek, situated off Ygnacio Valley Road in between the downtown area and Muir Hospital where my kids were born. It is a suburban street with not just apartments but homes as well. In fact, this is the same street that you take off Ygnacio to head back to an elementary school that my kid attended one summer, Indian Valley. (It is a nice little school nestled up against the hills in quiet spot.)

Homestead itself is mostly made up of nice big Ranch style homes--the kind of homes Mr. Brady would have been happy to have designed. Homestead is unfortunately a bit of a connector between different parts of Walnut Creek for those people who don’t want to use Ygnacio, which means that you get a lot of traffic at certain times of day. It is nowhere near as bad as Ygnacio, but it is not the kind of street where your kids can run out into the street to grab a ball or anything like that.

That said, I certainly wouldn’t mind living. Nice apartments and houses, close but not too close to Downtown Walnut Creek and not too far from BART. Not too bad for commuting to anywhere in the East Bay or the City and rents which though higher than I can currently afford, are worlds lower than the Lamorinda Area where I currently am staying.

Eureka Lane is little more than an alleyway that stretches north off Monument Blvd. for about a block. This is at the part of Monument Blvd. which is packed with apartment dwellers. I came by here to check out some apartments--about the cheapest that you can find for a 3-bedroom to the east of the Contra Costas. On our way over we were greated by a gentleman urinating on the side of a building, which was not altogether surprising given the rundown feel of this part of Monument.

We were not so happy to have found Eureka Lane itself. The apartments here also had the same rundown feel which is part and parcel with this part of the neighborhood. The apartment itself on the inside was not too bad, fairly big and clean but frankly I just don’t feel comfortable having kids in this part of Concord. If I were by myself, I might chance it for the low rent, but then again, I wouldn’t need a 3-bedroom without kids.

I can’t get crime stats mapped in Concord, but I assume this is probably one of the higher crime areas. I also know that the schools around here are not that good--at least in terms of test scores. I guess I would simply steer people away from this section of Monument and the streets that come just off of it.

In addition, even the apartment I looked at, coming in at $1500 was bit over what I would like to pay when I am ready to relocate.

Ahhh! The memories of college life. I used to know this Southside Street well back when I was a Golden Bear myself. It has been a long time but when I came by here to take a look at this studio, it brought back the memories.

Ellsworth, despite getting some foot traffic from Cal students heading to and from campus is relatively quiet for a Southside Street. It has St. Mark’s Episcopal Church right on the corner with Bancroft and a parking garage right next to it.

Most of the rest of Ellsworth is made up of older apartments filled with Cal student who love being less than 10 minutes from class.

The other upside is that you are right by Telegraph and pretty close to Shattuck as well, so there is no limit to stores, restaurants and cultural events that you can take part in if you have the time. It is an outstanding spot for UC students--especially undergrads. Graduate students or those not involved with the campus might not quite enjoy the this busy spot quite as much.

Rents here tend to be fairly affordable (around $1000 for studios and one-bedrooms) but there are a lot of drawbacks, including higher crime and all of the spill over from weekend revelers. If you like being in the middle of or very close to the action all the time, you will probably like living here--but if you want to get away from it every so often, this may be too close for comfort.

Oh yeah, parking is pretty awful around here as well. You need to either pay for monthly parking to park for any extended period on the streets and even then you will have a hard time finding a parking place.

Overall I would not have minded living here 20 years ago. But given the size of the apartments and the fact that I have kids, I don’t think it works anymore for my purposes.

Kenwal Road in the Mid-Clayton Valley neighborhood of Concord is a nice residential street filled with the kind of 1970’s style Ranch homes that I remember from my youth in the San Fernando Valley near Los Angeles. Kenwal Road, which runs parallel to Ygnacio Valley Road just after it comes over the hill by Cal State East Bay, is filled mostly with Ranch style homes.

On its western end, Kenwal runs up right against the green hills and makes you feel like you are at the edge of a populated area (though this is only an illusion since you have the really high density areas of Concord just on the other side of the hill). The Ranch homes that you will find here date from the early 60’s and the most recent ones that have sold have gone for around $325,000.

Along the eastern end of Kenwall there are a number of condos. Like most condos they are fairly small, but are nicely kept and have their own covered parking, which is always nice for rainy days when you don’t necessarily want to get soaked walking from your car. These condos run about $150,000.

Many of these are also up for rent. I came here to look at one of them. It was a one-bedroom for about $1150/month, which is not too bad.

The schools around here are mostly above average, such as Silverwood Elementary and Clayton Valley High which both have APIs of 7--solidly above average. The only school that brings things down a bit is Pine Hollow Middle School, whose API is only 5--dead average.

There are shops and supermarkets here as well so you don’t have to drive anywhere to get to those. Most people, however commute west along Ygnacio Valley Road and that can be a pretty hectic commute since you pick up a lot of the Kirker Pass commuters coming in from Pittsburg.

Overall though, this is a pretty good street--quiet enough to raise kids but not so expensive that you won’t be able to afford to send them to college if you work hard.

J Street in Martinez is barely a street at all. It is little more than a stub of a street--a glorified cul-de-sac, the kind of street you are likely to pass (as we did) thinking it is just the parking lot of one of the strip malls on Alhambra Avenue.

Hidden at the end of this little drive is an apartment complex with a very woody feel to it. I came here to look at it and the facilities a few days ago. It is actually fairly nice. This is a relatively big complex with 3 stories and balconies and a pool.

The location is pretty nice, just a little ways to the north of Highway 4. It is not the prettiest of spots with some fairly drab looking strip malls right by this section of Alhambra but it is perfectly situated for those who need to jump on the 4 for the commute to work or to head down to the Lamorinda area.

With relatively low crime and good schools this is not too bad of spot to live.

It is no doubt that Concord mostly gets a bad wrap. It is overcrowded and somewhat dirty and poorly kept in spots and often doesn’t feel like the best of cities. There are certainly parts of Concord where most people would not feel safe living. But Concord is a big sprawling city and it is not uniformly one way. Let’s not paint with too broad a brush.

If you follow Ygnacio Valley Blvd. east, for example, into the Mid-Clayton Valley neighborhood, you get a very different sense of Concord. This eastern neighborhood feels pretty much like one those typical 1970’s kind of neighborhoods that many of us Gen-Xers remember from our formative years.

The Mid-Clayton Valley neighborhood is a nice mix of apartments and Ranch styles homes (of the late 50’s and 60’s variety, not the older, smaller kind that are rather dreary). The streets with Ranch homes are actually fairly well-maintained and aren’t showing the signs of age that other similar Concord neighborhoods have been showing.

Along the main roads that border Ygnacio Valley Blvd. (Treat, Clayton and Ygnacio Valley) you get most of the apartments. These are pretty average places though well-run and clean. There are some newer ones just being built. Prices run between $900 and $1250 for one-bedrooms and $1250 to $1600 for 2-bedrooms.

Clayton Road is the main drag in terms of supermarkets and strip malls. These are nice spacious shopping areas with plenty of parking and that wide-open suburban feel that you don’t always get in Concord. (Nothing gets the blood pressure up quite like hunting for a parking spot in a crowded, overrun supermarket parking lot just after work.)

As to the homes here, as I mentioned they are mostly Ranch homes on fairly quiet streets of the kind I associate with my childhood in the San Fernando Valley down south. (Not like it is now, but as it was in the 1970’s.) The median price for a single-family home is around $400,000. In the last year homes have sold from between $200 and $750 thousand, though most go from between $300,000 and $550,000.

What about crime and schools--the usual drawbacks of Concord?

Crime, as I have stated before, is about average for most of Concord and though I don’t have any hard stats to go on (Concord doesn’t get picked up by the crime reporting databases I have found), I would be willing to bet that this is one of the lower crime areas in Concord.

As to schools, they are a bit of a mixed bag. The northwestern end of Mid-Clayton Valley is served by El Dorado Middle School, for example, which has an API of 3--solidly below average. On the other hand the southern end of the neighborhood is served by Sherwood Elementary and Clayton Valley both with API’s of 7--solidly above average. There are also some middling schools that serve the neighborhood overall. Put simply, however, I would say that if you have kids, try to stick to the southern end for the better school experience.

As to commuting, it will take you a bit longer than from areas farther to the west. That said, it is nowhere near as bad as Antioch or Pittsburg.

Overall, I would say this is one of the better neighborhoods in Concord.

I’ve recently developed an even greater appreciation for Martinez. Perhaps it is because of my imminent divorce and the new financially strapped situation in which I find myself. Finding a place to live in the Bay Area where you still feel relatively safe while not paying a gazillion dollars in rent is actually fairly difficult. I actually have no idea how people manage it.

Martinez is one possibility. I came to see an apartment here on F street the other day. This was not a huge apartment but it was well kept, newer, and in very nicely kept facility. In addition, it was right at the end of F Street, where it runs up against the hills.

Now this is in the part of Martinez that is north of Highway 4, which is generally considered the less desirable area of Martinez. It is right by Alhambra High School which is not the north end of the street (you can see the pool right from the sidewalk.)

The homes in this location are usually pretty old. This is certainly the case on the rest of F Street. You get a ton of homes dating from the pre-WWII period. They do look their age. These are homes with wooden panels and walk-up steps and tiny front yards. You get your share of white picket fences as well.

By Alhambra Avenue, there is a lot of traffic (Alhambra is the main artery north-south in this part of Martinez). This is also where you find a Safeway supermarket and the other sort of amenities that you would expect along the main drag of a location.

That is also where you will find the Martinez Adult School facility. Martinez Adult Education has been around for almost a century, having been created by workers at the local Chevron plant way back when. It offers mostly vocational training for adults including subjects like Microsoft Office, BIM and career counseling. There are also GED classes and some personal enrichment classes like photography.

Although homes get a little ramshackle in spots, this is actually not too bad of a place to live.

Came here to Adelaide Street to look at an apartment. This is just a one block street running from Clayton to Laguna in the Ellis Lake neighborhood. If you know this area, you know that it is pretty much all apartment buildings right around here.

The apartment that I looked at was for less than $900 for a one-bedroom, which is pretty good for this area where most one-bedrooms are slightly higher (around $1000 mostly).

Why the lower price?

These are much older apartments--very worn looking and with a very stacked up feel. You just feel squeezed together with your neighbors.

The other drawbacks of Adelaide Street are the poor schools and the fear of crime. As to the schools Meadow Homes Elementary with an API of 3 is pretty typical. Though not bottom basement, it is definitely on the weaker side in terms of education.

The upside of this area is that you are right by the downtown area of Concord where you can go to the movieplex or grab a nice bite to eat at the Spaghetti Factory. There are also a ton of shops, Water World and lots of those kinds of places all around.

Overall, I would recommend this area for singles just getting going with their lives.

Walters Way is one of those apartment packed streets that you can find throughout much of the Detroit Ave. vicinity of Concord. The apartments here are mostly of the boxy, flat kind which offer little more than a carport and a roof over your head as draws. You can however find some pretty good deals here. That is definitely what drew me here. I came across a listing for a 2-bedroom apartment for under $1000/month.

Other than what I have mentioned already, why is it so inexpensive?

Probably because it is just off Monument Blvd. close to the spot where it is pretty unappealing. A lot of it may also have to do with there just being too many of these ugly apartments all pushed up against each other. It does make you feel a little bit sardine-like.

There is also the problem of the poor local schools and the perception that crime is high in Concord. (In fact, it is just even with the national average, which though higher than most surrounding areas like Walnut Creek, is nowhere near as high as Pittsburg or Richmond.)

Overall, however, if you are just looking for a cheap place to live while you working on building your career or work through a difficult spot in your life, you could call Walters Way home.

Came to Pope Street in St. Helena over the weekend to celebrate my birthday. My sister-in-law’s family has a mobile home in the park here. This is a senior mobile home park where retirees come to enjoy the beauty of Wine Country in their golden years. The mobile homes are quite big and have nicely sized backyards.

Pope Street comes right off of Main Street in St. Helena, which many tourists mistakenly believe is Napa’s cute little downtown. From Pope Street you are within walking distance of all the shops and restaurants of this location.

Pope Street is mostly, however, not made up of mobile home parks but of attractive older homes, apartments and duplexes. Most of these are clearly half a century old. You will even find a dark red barn with a rusty old sheet metal roof as you round the bend over the stone bridge that fords the Napa River.

The nicest homes on Pope are on the eastern side of the bridge. This is also where you will find Napa Valley College, one of the local community colleges in the Napa Valley.

Pope dead ends over another bridge at Silverado Trail Rd., a popular backcountry shortcut that locals take to avoid the weekend and summer tourist traffic. (Shhh! Don’t tell anyone.)

Homes on and around Pope sell for around 3 quarters of a million dollars while condos going for under half.

As to schools and crime, it is about what you would expect: low crime and strong schools. (Most schools have API’s of 8 around here--solidly above average.)

Of course, if you are not retired, I’m not sure the commute from here would work for most people unless they happen to live in the area.

Robinson Street is right past the point where Alhambra turns and makes its final straight away towards the Downtown Martinez area. If you are familiar with Martinez you know that you don’t really want to live downtown by the courthouse unless you like the hassles of city living. (Homeless folks and crime.)

So Robinson is in a sort of middle ground between those sections of Martinez. It is a relatively quiet street with lots of older homes. It is in itself pretty peaceful though some of its cross streets do carry traffic up and back to the Amtrak station and courthouse so you get some speedsters on those avenues.

On the far eastern end of Robinson there is a cluster of boxy apartment buildings which are fairly unappealing. The nicest spot on Robinson is on the western end however, where Robinson curves north and climbs a bit. The homes here, though older, are very nice.

Rents around here can be as low as $1000 for a 2-bedroom.

The schools are pretty good in Martinez as well, most solidly above average and though there is a bit of crime it is mostly contained in the downtown area.

The drawback, of course, is the proximity of Robinson to the downtown area.
Overall though a pretty good spot to take a chance on.

Tempe Court is a short cul-de-sac right across the street from the Diablo Valley College. I came here the other day to take a look at one of the apartments that make up this location. I used to live in this neighborhood back when I was a student at Diablo Valley College. The apartments here are very similar.

These apartments are in that faux Mission style that is so popular in California. They have tan colored walls and dark red roofs, trimmings and balconies. The street is pretty quiet though there is a lot of student foot traffic--especially during weekdays; afternoons and weekends it is very peaceful.

You can get a one-bedroom here for about $1000/month, which is somewhat on the low end for this location.

If you are a DVC student this is, of course, the ideal location. You can literally be on campus in 5 minutes. You are also very close to the Sun Valley Mall and all the entertainment options that an 80’s style mall of that kind has to offer.

This is actually a pretty good spot to live if you are single or a student, though not perhaps as ideal for a soon-to-be divorced geezer like myself.

Oak Road in Walnut Creek runs parallel to Highway 680. It is mostly made up of apartment buildings and condominium complexes, although on its northern end it smacks up against a bunch of office buildings that take advantage of the nearby Pleasant Hill BART station. Central Garden Pet is one of the companies that has its headquarters here.

On its southern end, Oak Road becomes N. Civic Drive, one of the main arteries that drops into Downtown Walnut Creek.

The condos and apartments here are of the newer variety--probably from the 80’s and up to the present I would guess--and do not have that ugly boxy look that many apartments from earlier on do. In fact this is an attractive, though fairly busy, street with trees lining it--nice for a Sunday walk or for an early morning run. Because of the proximity of BART, you are perfectly situated for commuting to and from work without even having to have a vehicle.

Crime is low and the schools are strong, so it is just about what you want in a place like this.

What’s the price-tag for living here?

A typical one-bedroom runs around $1500. (A 3-bedroom around $2000) So perhaps on the slightly more expensive side as far as Walnut Creek goes.

Clayton Valley Highland is the neighborhood that crops up just to the east of the Cal State East Bay Concord campus. Although like much of Concord, it is filled with 50’s era Ranch Style homes, this neighborhood feels a lot more like Clayton than Concord, which basically means that this neighborhood just seems to be more nicely maintained than a lot of neighborhood to the west which have a bit of rundown look to them.

Here the lawns are green and bushes well-trimmed. You just sense that people own their homes here and are here to stay. Which is not to say that the entire neighborhood is like that. Down by Ygnacio Valley Road, you will find some apartment complexes. These apartments are not of the ugly boxy variety but of the kind where there are little hut-like buildings attached to one another and with the covered parking right behind the homes so that you never have to walk too far.

The median home price here in Clayton Valley Highland is $350,000 with prices ranging from around $200,000 to $600,000 on the high end (rarely breaking $600K). Condos here are, of course, much cheaper averaging around $130,000 and never selling for more than $200,000.

Schools here are strong, crime is low and you are far enough away from the metropolitan places that it feels relatively tranquil without seeming like you are in the boonies. For commuting purposes it is much better than the auto commute from Pittsburg though BART is fairly far so if you have to go into the city it will take a bit more doing.

Overall this is pretty great neighborhood, especially if you consider it relative to the rest of Concord.

Clayton Road is a major artery bisecting Concord from the Downtown area to the southeast where the city of Clayton itself is located. Clayton Road is the kind of three lane road that is almost a freeway and that gets packed bumper to bumper during rush hour as people flow into the more affluent sections of Contra Costa County.

You are pretty far out here on the far eastern portion of Concord, which of course means you will get your share of traffic when departing from here. It is also far enough out however where you do get some newer construction. I came here to see an apartment the other day that was brand new, and because the complex is still under construction it was going for under a $1000 for a one-bedroom, pretty nice even if it was only about 600 ft.

This section of Clayton Road is actually packed with condos and apartments. Recently condos around here have sold for less than $100K.

There are also a couple of churches and a funeral parlor along this stretch.

Unfortunately the schools around here tend to still be on the weaker side as they are throughout most of Concord. I can’t tell what crime is like around here but it does not have the look of a high crime area.

Overall it is an okay spot.

Pomona Avenue is a curving suburban street in the Mountain View neighborhood of Martinez. The Mountain View neighborhood is in the northern section of Martinez, but it along the elevated section before you get near the courthouse.

Along Pomona Avenue, you find mainly older homes and duplexes dating to before WWII I believe. It seems like a fairly quiet street. I came here to see about a duplex this weekend. It was fairly inexpensive--less than $900--perhaps because it is not too far from the Chevron Refinery or to the Downtown area. It may also be because it was fairly small and old like most houses in this neighborhood. It didn’t seem like a bad neighborhood however.

Homes in this neighborhood sell for around $200K. These prices seem low to me compared to other places in the Bay Area where similar homes could sell for nearly twice as much. I would especially say this when you take into consideration that the schools here are fairly strong and crime is relatively low. If I were single with only one kid, I could definitely see myself taking one of these places. It is only the size that holds me back now.

The only other issue might be the commute and the boredom. Martinez is not too far out of the way so long as you are headed into the rest of Contra Costa County and the East Bay but any farther than SF and it might take a bit of a toll--no pun intended.

Overall it is not too bad a street.

Laguna Street in the Ellis Lake neighborhood of Concord is one of those streets you would never expect to find there and would never find unless you happened to have some business on this street. Ellis Lake--which is little more than a swamp really--is right on the southern end of Laguna Street.

Laguna is filled with apartments, some nice some a bit on the boxy side. Because they are in Concord, these pads are actually fairly affordable. You can actually find one for under $1000 here where the same apartment might go for 2 or 3 hundred dollars more just a few miles south in Walnut Creek.

The location is also nice because you are fairly close to the nicest part of Concord where you can go to stores and catch a movie. If the schools were stronger around here, this might actually be an okay spot for single parents as well.

It is definitely a good spot for commuters who go to work in Walnut Creek and not too bad for those that work in the city and take BART there.

II will definitely have to keep an eye out for the right unit for me.

Riley Court is a short lane just off of Meadow Lane in the Meadow Home neighborhood in Concord. It is close to Monument Blvd. The apartments that crowd Riley Court are not very appealing. They are very boxy and have a heavy concrete look to them that is more than a little oppressive. It feels like a place where you go just to have four walls and a roof over your head rather than anywhere most people would call home.

Rents here are fairly inexpensive to match the subpar conditions. You can get a one-bedroom here for $1000, which still seems sort of high to me for what you are getting.

This is also not a very attractive part of Concord--has a very urban sort of rundown look to it.

Schools around here are not very good either, so although this place might be okay for singles just getting by, it would not be an ideal place for kids.

The upside of the location is that you will have less time in traffic than if you lived over in Pittsburg or Antioch. It is also probably a little safer around here than in those locations which are somewhat notorious at this point for their gang and crime problems.

Came to see a one bedroom here on Village Ct. Village Court is little more than a parking lot just off Mt. Diablo Blvd. in Walnut Creek. It is basically a driveway filled with parking spaces on both sides.

On the south side, there are a couple of office buildings. On the north side are some very boxy looking apartment-buildings. Inside of one is the apartment that I looked over. The apartment here was very small but under $1000, which is on the lower side for Walnut Creek.

This a great single’s pad however, being located within walking distance of Walnut Creek’s main shopping and entertainment. You can literally be on Main Street in five minutes without ever getting in your car. In addition, you have the supermarket within walking distance as well. The BART is also within walking distance though it is a little bit more of trek.

The Ironhorse Trail--a popular place for joggers and bikers--also winds by right next door, the wash its constant companion.

The main drawback is that the apartments and the parking lot feel of Village Court do not make for the most attractive of looks. They are not very inspiring.

But if you are just starting out, with you first job and ready to get going in the world, that is probably inspiration enough.

Detroit Avenue in the Ellis Lake neighborhood of Concord is basically apartment city, with just one complex after another squeezed in between Monument and Willow Pass. The apartments get progressively nicer and more expensive as you get away from Monument Blvd. It is possible however to find a one-bedroom here for about $1000/month.

This actually a pretty good location. Close enough to downtown Concord to go to a movie or get a bite to eat and also pretty close to public transportation.

The usual problems keep this a relatively low rent area--namely the average crime rates and poor schools. In addition, there is also the problem of high density. This is simply an overcrowded area with tons of occupants living stacked on top of each other.

Overall, however the affordability of Detroit Avenue makes this a good spot for singles and those just embarking on their life path.

Meadow Lane is what Oak Grove Road turns into north of Monument Blvd. Meadow Lane is made up of a mix of apartment buildings and older Ranch style homes. The apartments are mostly of the shoebox variety though there are also some in the 1980’s bungalow style. Because these are so close to Monument Blvd. Rents here are fairly low and it is possible to find a one-bedroom for $950/month.

You will also find a small trailer park here as well.

The farther you get from Monument Blvd., the more Ranch Style homes you find on Meadow Lane. These homes sell for between $200k to $300k.

Unfortunately you still do get the usual problems with this section of Concord--namely bad schools and a touch of crime. I believe the crime worry is probably overrated but the schools do have low test scores, which suggests that there may be a lot of time spent on discipline and other sorts of issues that impede learning.

On the other hand, the low cost of housing and the location do have its advantages. It is definitely easier to commute from here than from Pittsburg or Antioch.

Overall, a bit of a mixed bag as far as a place to live.

The Ygnacio Valley neighborhood of Concord stretches in a L curve formed by the railroad tracks on its southern and eastern end. It covers much of Oak Grove and some of Monument Blvd. It goes from 4-Corners to Bancroft.

The neighborhood is mostly residential though it has an industrial section on its north eastern end. The residential section of Ygnacio Valley--especially on the southwestern end--is mostly made up Ranch Style homes on straight leafy streets. These are nicely kept middle class homes of the kind that you can find throughout California. They are the homes that once made up the middle class dream before uniform Contemporary style homes took over those dreams.

The median home price here is $350,000 for a single family home, with prices rising to about $500,000 on the southern end but no further.

On the northeastern end, closer to Monument Blvd., there are a number of boxy apartment complexes on relatively leafy streets. They are sort of middle of road: neither particularly inspiring nor particularly depressing.

Most of the northeastern end is made up of warehouses and businesses. Companies who have addresses here are Ale Industries (a beer maker), Techrestore (a Mac repair shop), Moose Metal (a metals welding place) and East Bay Machine (a sheet metal welder). There is also a Costco and a home supply shop up by Monument.

One of the organizations that calls Ygnacio Valley home is Books for Barrios, a non-profit that gathers English language books and sends them to schools in remote areas of the Philippines.
As you can tell by the businesses that reside here, these are mostly mid-level businesses that provide the necessary infrastructure for other businesses to thrive. These businesses however are the economic life force of this area.

This section of Ygnacio Valley is not particularly attractive but it is important for the economy.

As to crime and schools? Crime is average and schools are mostly poor--at least in terms of public schools. There are some private school options like nearby Carondolet, but these are, of course, more expensive.

Overall, Ygnacio Valley is one of the nicer neighborhoods in Concord.

Sierra Court in Concord is a short S-curved lane to the south of Monument Blvd., the main artery that cuts through Concord. On its western end, Sierra Drive is mostly made up of apartment buildings of the shoebox shaped variety. Sierra is fairly leafy however, which keeps these from seeming rather oppressive like they sometimes do in other locations.

On the eastern end of Sierra Drive as it curves to the south for a block, the street is mostly made up of single family homes--Contemporary style homes for the most part. Just to the east past a hedge is an industrial section of Concord filled with warehouses and businesses.

If this were a lane in another city, such as just to the south in Walnut Creek you could add a good $300 to rent just because of the change in zip code. Because, however, it is in Concord--which has a negative reputation--you can rent a one-bedroom apartment here for around $1000.

Homes around here also sell for far less. A 4-bedroom here recently sold for $330,000 and a condo went for $95,000.

What do you give up for the cheaper rents and lower home prices?

Crime could be a factor, but it is hard to say since I can’t find crime data that is neighborhood specific for Concord. I do know however that overall crime in Concord is about even with the national average.

Schools are the other factor. Schools here have API’s on the lower end of the spectrum with the local elementary having an API of 4 and the Oak Grove Middle School having one of 2. (That is out of 10.) So that is a big drawback if you are going to send you kids to public school here.

There are several upsides to living here however. One has to do with commute times. As compared with Pittsburg and Antioch, commutes from Concord to Walnut Creek, Oakland and San Francisco are far shorter and much more manageable.

That proximity also means that it is much easier to go out to relatively nice places and to live at a higher standard of living than you might otherwise be able to. Overall, this is a pretty nice spot--a bit of a steal perhaps.

Reliez Valley Road is basically a country road that stretches up from the Lafayette Hills around Briones Park into Martinez. The section of it that is in Martinez is very rural in feel with empty rolling Contra Costa hills on both sides and horse ranches. In fact, the Briones Horse Center is located here.

If you like feeling like you are way out into the country or being close to nature, while still being just a 15 minute drive away from the comforts and conveniences of an urban center, then you will definitely like it here.

I recently came up here to check out a bit of shack that was up for rent for a thousand bucks per month. It wasn’t much of a place but I kind of liked the idea of living up here in the boondocks.

Overall, it is kind of a nice place to get away from it all, but not too far away.

Geary Road is one of the main arteries that runs west-east up in Walnut Creek. It is a good way to head up to Taylor Road which is a back road up into Lafayette, the route locals use when Highway 680 is backed up. It also meets up with Pleasant Hill Road which takes you north into Martinez and is also an alternate route for those who don’t want to brave the 4-680-24 highway traffic.

Geary goes from North Main Street to Pleasant Hill Road and is mostly a suburban street with lots of residences on it. There are also, as throughout the outskirts of Walnut Creek, a number of apartments along Geary. There is a also one church and 4 or 5 day care centers.

The newest apartments are by North Main Street, as you might expect. They are of the boxy, multi-colored variety that have become so popular recently. As you go farther to the west you get more residences mostly along cul-de-sacs and spin-off streets but you also get a number of slightly older apartment complexes of various kinds.

There is a also a little shopping strip with a Starbucks and a Lunardi’s Supermarket right where Geary meets up with Pleasant Hill Road.

This is actually a great location for apartment living because you get the nice Walnut Creek schools attended by the children of the affluent residents in the suburban outskirts of W.C. (thus increasing support for the school) but still have fairly affordable apartments. I checked out a couple of 1-bedrooms here recently that were going for below $1200--a very nice price for this location.

It is also safe, close to BART, the entertainment locales of Walnut Creek and back roads into Lafayette, Martinez and the rest of Contra Costa County. Briones Park with its trails is nearby and the Lafayette Reservoir is not that far, so you definitely have a lot of recreational options.

In a nutshell, I would love to live here.

C Street is a short 4 block street located just north of Alhambra High School (by the football field) and just to the south of the Contra Costa Regional Medical Center. That, of course, makes it the perfect street for nurses with high school age kids, if they want to be within walking distance of their whole lives.

My interest in C Street has to do with a recent listing for a one-bedroom here. The street is not at all typical of the kind street you would expect to find a little apartment building. It actually looks like there are just a few houses and it ends, but actually most of these homes appear to be duplexes and in few spots they are actually small apartment with maybe a half dozen units. They look a bit rundown and shabby, but overall seem serviceable. A unit has just come on the market for $950, for a relatively spacious one-bedroom so prices seem more than affordable.

C Street also stretches a little ways to the east of Alhambra.

Overall, Martinez has relatively good schools and mostly low crime. What crime there is here is mostly small time stuff, domestic violence, stolen radios from cars--the kind of thing that happens virtually everywhere.

This isn’t a bad spot for starting a commute either. You have the Amtrak Station in the downtown area and Highway 4 just to the south. I don’t know if I would recommend it, but it seems passable.

Shell Avenue in Martinez leads, as you might expect given the name, right into one of the many chemical plants that make up much of Martinez. These plants look like a tangle of pipes and domes to the uneducated eye--like mine. At night the towers spit out flames and white smokey emissions.

It is because of these plants that people hesitate to live in Martinez, fearing a chemical spill like the one that happened in Richmond last year. The spills, however, are not very common and rarely cause people feel sick.

As you head south of the chemical plant/refinery along Shell Avenue, you find a number of homes dating from around WWII. These are smaller wood paneled homes with stoops and small front yards. They are in various states of repair--it is the kind of place you could use to film an Eisenhower Era period piece.

As you get farther from the plant, however, the homes get slightly newer and more uniformly well-kept. As you get past Pine Street (which takes you down to Highway 4 and away either back towards Concord or in the direction of Richmond) there is a mostly undeveloped hill that separates this section of Shell Avenue from the final section made up of older pre-War homes before it dead ends on Alhambra right by the High School. On the mostly undeveloped hill there is an apartment building, where--no doubt because of the proximity of the chemical plant--you can get a 2-bedroom apartment for $1150.

As to the homes along Shell, they range from $150k to about $400k roughly corresponding to the distance of the home from the plant. The benefits of living on Shell is that you are relatively close to Highway 4 and so you are commute ready. Also because Martinez is generally overlooked when people are looking for a place to live, it is relatively more affordable--especially north of Highway 4 where there are greater chemical worries.

Martinez also has strong schools with Alhambra holding an API of 8, Martinez Junior High a 7, and John Muir Elementary a solid 6. Crime is relatively low and the area has a definite middle class feel throughout.

Overall, I think that a home here, especially a rental, is probably a steal.

Cleaveland Road runs north south parallel to Contra Costa Blvd. from Woodsworth to Astrid, which curve into Cleaveland and look, from an aerial point of view like a “C” with monument slipping into the middle. Just to the east of Cleaveland are the stores and restaurants of Crescent Plaza in Pleasant Hill. (This is where the Century 16 Pleasant Hill and the Borders Books among other things are located.)

Cleaveland is largely made up of apartment buildings. Some are actually quite nice like at the corner with Astrid where there is large, brand new complex in a Mediterranean style. More typically however, the apartments here are of the more boxy variety though with grassy tree shades interstitial walkways in-between buildings. (They most likely date from the 80’s or 90’s.)

These apartments are about as affordable as it gets in a location like this. You can get a one bedroom here for under $1200 (that is with garbage and water included). A pretty good deal.

Cleaveland also has an assisted living community on its southern end. This is a very attractive facility which actively helps seniors with dementia and other challenges live out the rest of their lives in relative comfort and peace.

Cleaveland itself is a wide lane with room for sidewalk parking on both sides.

There is also a good, old fashioned park at the northern end of the Cleaveland.

And, of course, you have all the stores and restaurants of Crescent Plaza within walking distance of most of what you need.