How is Hercules / Pinole? (Oakland, Berkeley: apartment, crime, home)

[CalAlumnus2012]

My partner and I have been living and working in Berkeley for a while, and although we love it here our apartment is getting going to be too small for our future family, and we can't afford to live in a bigger home here. We've been thinking of moving to Hercules / Pinole for our future family of 5. Is crime decently high like in Richmond? How are the schools we want decent schools for out children. Our budget is $650-750k for something 3-4 bedrooms and 2,000 square feet.

I was considering El Cerrito, but it has recently gotten really expensive suddenly. I think schools are a little better there although it shares the same district with Pinole / Hercules so I'm not sure.

[davdaven]

El Cerrito, Richmond, Pinole, and Hercules are all in the WCCUSD, which has been experiencing some serious budget mismanagement issues. Schools in El Cerrito and Pinole generally have a better reputation, but none of them are immune to the district's problems. Check the East Bay Times/Mercury News for some coverage on various issues.

WCCUSD has transfer opportunities, so not all is lost. The market has been so fierce that even Richmond Annex, which gets some of the same school assignments as El Cerrito, has become surprisingly expensive. But then again West County is still cheaper than anything else touching the Bay. A friend of mine shopped for a home in 2019 and decided to extend her search from Richmond Annex to Pinole in an attempt to get better prices. I shopped for a home in 2018, and since location was important to me, opted to look into all the nooks and crannies of Richmond.

I ended up in Park Plaza, which is a little rougher than the Annex or El Cerrito but much closer in than Hercules and Pinole. I've been there a year so far, and I find it safer than my old 'hood near North Berkeley BART Station. Richmond has its good and bad pockets, just like Oakland, but I recommend looking into it to see what you like. I got a 4/1 Craftsman on a large lot that would have cost triple in Berkeley. Sure my local school is not the best, but my S.O. speaks Mandarin and we're considering the dual language immersion school in East Richmond Heights when the time comes. Plus there are private and charter schools to consider, which I'm pretty sure will cost less than the $1 million savings you get from not buying in Berkeley.

If you decide to look into Richmond, let me know and I can give you some pointers. Or you can search for some of my old posts that discuss Richmond.

[smashystyle]

I grew up in this area and really liked it, although it was many years ago now. I still have relatives in the area. It's quite safe, much more so than Richmond (although Richmond itself is safer than it was in the past). The weather is great, there is good access to open space, the bay, and trails, as well as lots of neighborhoods that kids can wander freely around--if anyone does that any more. The population is pretty diverse. The schools aren't very highly-rated, although this is largely a function of demographics including sharing a district with cities that have many lower-income and English-learner students. They did just build a nice, new high school in Pinole.

Aside from concerns you may have with school ratings/test scores, the biggest negative with this area is that it is a difficult commute down 80 to SF/Oak and basically impossible to SV. There are express buses from Hercules and Hilltop to SF and you can drive to Del Norte BART. It's also somewhat bland suburbia, without as many independent shops and restaurants as somewhere like Berkeley.