What's San Lorenzo Like? (Hayward, Berkeley: crime rate, buying a home, neighborhoods)

[blagger]

San Lorenzo seems like it has a good location and decent climate. Houses seem cheap too, at least by bay area standards. So, I'm wondering what the catch is? Is it just a boring bedroom community, or is there a lot of crime there? Schools aren't an issue. I'm just looking for a relatively quiet and safe place to live.

[NorCal Dude]

Since schools are not an issue your next issue would be the crime. Some violent and a lot of property crime.

[sonarrat]

It's a mid-grade, well mixed suburb built around the old Hesperian Blvd. Nicer than the bordering areas of Hayward and more charming, but no one will confuse it with Berkeley or Albany.

[tennis368fan]

According to Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed San Lorenzo's crime rates, both violent and property crime rates, are in line with the US average. I would consider San Lorenzo to be a safe place to live. However, street smarts would not hurt while walking out on Hesperian at night and on portions of collector roads, like Hacienda, in neighborhoods east of Hesperian, as that is where the freeway and railroad are.

Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed

According to the same data, San Lorenzo has a much lower crime rate than San Leandro, and even lower than western and central Castro Valley (94546), but not Palomares Hills (eastern Castro Valley, 94552).
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed


Because San Lorenzo is not an incorporated city and does not have defined city limits, it is sometimes lumped together with less-desirable neighbors Ashland and Cherryland for the purposes of demographic calculations, using the shared zip code 94580; Ashland and Cherryland are unincorporated areas with higher crime rates.

Even well-known websites like Neighborhood Scout and Trulia will misrepresent the boundaries of San Lorenzo proper to include parts of Ashland, and/or Cherryland, making San Lorenzo's crime rate seem much higher than it really is.

As a general rule of thumb, San Lorenzo proper consists of neighborhoods with normally-named main roads and street names that begin with "Via", "Paseo", or "Corte". Also included are a cluster of newer homes northwest of Grant School, the neighborhood bounded by the streets Hacienda/880/Bartlett/Hesperian, and the Skywest-Clubhouse Drive townhomes. However, since the latter two neighborhoods are close to Hayward and the airport, it is probably best to stay with Via/Paseo/Corte neighborhoods.

Some streets are lined with large mature trees, like the portion of Paseo del Campo north of Grant Avenue. The more desirable neighborhoods, which are the ones zoned to better schools, are west of Hesperian Boulevard. Even though public school performance does not matter now as you might not have to use them, buying a home zoned to a better school can make it easier to sell later on as the home would also be appealing to families with school-aged children.

Finally, the livability of a home or a block can vary depending on the neighbors. If you are sensitive to noise and level of maintenance of neighboring homes, then take notice of the neighboring properties surrounding the one that you are looking at. Are the families quiet? Do they own loud vehicles? Are the homes maintained? These are all factors to take into account when shopping for a home.