Anyone know Northridge Coop Homes in the Bayview? (real estate, HOA)

[California Vagabond]

I visited this nearly invisible neighborhood while trying to decide where to move in the Bay Area, almost picked a place in it and now thought I'd introduce it to the City Data community. I don't own a house here, and have no connection to the developer; my life will be unchanged if they prosper or go Chapter 11.

I'm just curious how visitors to this forum will respond. If you respond at all.

Northridge Cooperative Homes is the name of the development, an agglomeration of a couple of hundred homes around Whitney Young Circle and Hilltop Park in the Bayview. I was damn near shocked by how nice the houses here were, and so was at least one real estate professional (although he specializes in properties further south on the peninsula). The development is only a few blocks from La Salle and 3rd, but is nothing at all like what I expect of Bay View housing. I talked to one resident, and she had nothing but good things to say about where she lives.

(For a sample, look up Whitney Young Circle and Richards, 94124, in Google Maps, invoke 'Street View,' and then use your mouse to scroll south up the hill.)

Crimemapping indicates that the six month crime record is significantly lower here than on other blocks nearby (although higher than in other parts of the city). Many of the homes have been artfully designed to be both attractive and burglar resistant. And you can get much, much, much more for your dollar -- in modern housing, mind you -- than you can elsewhere in S.F.

One downside: a $100 a month HOA fee, even though these are private homes.

If you know this neighborhood, please share! I'll bet most San Franciscans aren't familiar with it. Maybe it's much worse than I think, and I'm lucky I didn't move into it. (I occasionally wish I had.) OTOH, maybe it's something of a 'find.'

[mayorhaggar]

I don't care what "deal" I'm getting, I ain't living somewhere like the Bayview. Life is too short to prioritize owning property over feeling like you're living in a decent and comfortable area. And I don't care if my block feels safe if the area outside of it is crappy, I don't want to live in a bunker. But that's just me.

[Nineties Flava]

Trust me, you would not be insulated from anything by living two blocks up the street from the HP projects. And btw that's not Bayview, that's Hunters Point. The only area in Bayview I would look in is above Newhall Street south of Palou (which is actually a fairly big area).

I mostly agree with mayor though, living in BVHP is not worth braving through the depressing atmosphere.

[California Vagabond]

So I gather you think I should banish my 'occasionally wished I'd moved there' feelings.

Thanks for the responses. I don't know the area at all well -- even mixed up Bayview and Hunters Point, as Nineties Flava pointed out -- which is why I was curious to learn what others think.

It does strike me as kind of a shame. The folks running that complex are doing their jobs, and if an area is ever going to be rehabilitated, it's going to need successful projects like that one. But applauding from a distance and committing one's life and nest egg to live in a place are two different things.