Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > California > San Francisco - Oakland
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 10-22-2007, 02:01 AM
 
101 posts, read 302,565 times
Reputation: 149

Advertisements

My husband, kids and I just moved to the Peninsula area (Millbrae rental) in July. We're saving to buy a house in 10-12 months. So far, we like areas of Burlingame, especially Easton Addition. But the lot sizes are pretty small. So we think Hillsborough may be a possibility. However, Hillsborough just seems so residential and obsessed with schools. I'm not necessarily a soccer mom. I'm more artsy and having lived in NYC for years, I still crave culture and activity, shops, life. And Hillsborough doesn't seem to offer that.

I'm also not sure I'll 'fit in' in Hillsborough. I just came from a party in a Hillsborough, multi-million dollar home and met a few people I have nothing in common with. Please tell me people are more diverse down there?! It seems like a good investment to buy there because it's a buyer's market. We consider buying something under 2 million (there are a couple places) and then fixing it up over time. How realistic is that?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 10-22-2007, 04:26 AM
 
Location: In the Redwoods
30,286 posts, read 51,725,105 times
Reputation: 23653
I grew up between Hillsborough (where I went to school) and Burlingame, in San Mateo Park... and unfortunately, Hillsborough is everything you observed - no real diversity (aside from upper-class Caucasian & Asian), fairly snobby, and chock-full of soccer moms! It's a beautiful town, and I certainly wouldn't complain about having a home there; but if you're looking for something with more diversity & down-to-earth people, Hillsborough is probably not the place. And considering the outrageous prices there, you really would get a "fixer-upper" for $2M.

As for Burlingame, it's a really cute little town, and definitely has more of a neighborly feel to it. The prices are still very high, but not QUITE as bad as Hillsborough, and they have a really cute downtown on Burlingame Ave. - unlike Hillsborough, which doesn't have one single commercial business (it's actually an ordinance). My only issue with Burlingame is the extreme yuppiness that's taken over. I grew up around yuppies, including most of my family, so that's not necessarily a BAD thing... but it's changed the town a bit, and turned Burlingame Ave. from charming to "chic." And considering you mentioned not being a "soccer mom," this might be annoying to you after a while. It really is a nice place to live and raise children, though, so I would still highly recommend it.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-22-2007, 04:28 AM
 
Location: In the Redwoods
30,286 posts, read 51,725,105 times
Reputation: 23653
P.S. Hillsborough only has private schools, aside from Crocker Elementary... so if your kids are going to public, they'll be assigned to either a San Mateo or Burlingame school (depending on your exact location, I believe). They have good schools like Aragon and Burlingame High, Burlingame Intermediate, etc.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-22-2007, 12:21 PM
 
Location: San Jose, CA
7,688 posts, read 29,048,141 times
Reputation: 3629
Here's the thing about Hillsborough: there are no townhouses, no apartments, and if you want to build a new home there, it is required to be a 2500 square foot single-family home on a half-acre lot. (Anything smaller than that was grandfathered in.) We're talking arch-conservative, stuck-up, NIMBY hell. As an artistic type - stick with Burlingame.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-22-2007, 02:18 PM
 
Location: Metropolis
4,324 posts, read 5,069,715 times
Reputation: 2934
Hillsborough to me is basically a large residential extension of Burlingame whom where so snobby they needed to be exclusive only to the super rich and not just merely rich, thus cutting themselves away.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-22-2007, 06:50 PM
 
101 posts, read 302,565 times
Reputation: 149
Quote:
Originally Posted by gizmo980 View Post
P.S. Hillsborough only has private schools, aside from Crocker Elementary... so if your kids are going to public, they'll be assigned to either a San Mateo or Burlingame school (depending on your exact location, I believe). They have good schools like Aragon and Burlingame High, Burlingame Intermediate, etc.
I think Hillsborough has public elementary schools but not a highschool. Our daughter is in Kindergarten at Spring Valley right now. We also have a 2 and a half year old and a 2 month old. So school is definitely one of the things that attracts us to Hillsborough. Another thing is the lot size. If God blesses us, then in a year we can afford a 2 million home and remodel it slowly. But for about 1.6 million in Burlingame you can buy something that may not need any work. It's just insane that I'm writing these numbers for a home. I feel like such a dork. So many parts of the country are falling into foreclosure and here we're looking at million dollar tear downs. But that's what we have to deal with.

Some of you mentioned what I suspected, that there's a lack of diversity in Hillsborough. I'm used to snobs - we lived in the UES of NYC. But atleast there people had a creative blend of high and low culture. Designer clothes with a mohawk. One thing that's indearing so far is the small town quality that even Hillsborough people have. At the party I saw a double for Nancy Reagan and an old guy in leather pants, pink shirt and a cowboy hat. That made my day. There is a little quirkiness here. Like people who are living in a bubble.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-23-2007, 06:01 PM
 
Location: Foster City, CA
48 posts, read 260,420 times
Reputation: 19
Default Hillsborough has great public schools but consider San Mateo

Quote:
Originally Posted by gizmo980 View Post
P.S. Hillsborough only has private schools, aside from Crocker Elementary... so if your kids are going to public, they'll be assigned to either a San Mateo or Burlingame school (depending on your exact location, I believe). They have good schools like Aragon and Burlingame High, Burlingame Intermediate, etc.
Wrong, wrong, wrong Gizmo980. Hillsborough has 3 public elementary schools; South, West and North school plus Crocker Intermediate. There is no public high school there and the kids can choose between any of the San Mateo Union High School District schools; San Mateo, Burlingame, Aragon plus the others, but those are the usual high schools for them.

Now, if you want a little more diversity consider San Mateo and Baywood, Aragon or those areas near to it. San Mateo is not quite so yuppiefied as Burlingame, the lots a bigger than Easton Edition (where they are all 6000 sq. foot lots) and it is a larger city. Burlingame has fine schools but the population is very upscale. If you want more info go to my blog, Home Page - San Mateo Real Estate - Foster City Real Estate - San Mateo Homes - Burlingame Real Estate.

Last edited by Peninsula gal; 10-23-2007 at 06:03 PM.. Reason: hit return and it published before I was finished!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-29-2007, 12:55 AM
 
1 posts, read 12,663 times
Reputation: 10
Default Burlingame Hills Home

[quote=saimamom;1795111]My husband, kids and I just moved to the Peninsula area (Millbrae rental) in July. We're saving to buy a house in 10-12 months. So far, we like areas of Burlingame, especially Easton Addition. But the lot sizes are pretty small.

Moderator cut: No advertising here - please post on classifieds!
Lin

Franklin Elementary (Students: 286; Location: 2385 Trousdale Dr.; Grades: K-5; Our rating: 96)

OUR LADY OF ANGELS ELEM SCHOOL (Students: 321; Location: 1328 CABRILLO AVENUE; Grades: KG - 8)

Last edited by gizmo980; 10-29-2007 at 04:58 AM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-29-2007, 04:57 AM
 
Location: In the Redwoods
30,286 posts, read 51,725,105 times
Reputation: 23653
Quote:
Originally Posted by Peninsula gal View Post
Wrong, wrong, wrong Gizmo980. Hillsborough has 3 public elementary schools; South, West and North school plus Crocker Intermediate. There is no public high school there and the kids can choose between any of the San Mateo Union High School District schools; San Mateo, Burlingame, Aragon plus the others, but those are the usual high schools for them.
Isn't that what I said?? I said there was a public elementary school (Crocker & I thought there might be another 1 or 2), but no public high schools... obviously you and the OP misunderstood me!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-29-2007, 02:34 PM
 
101 posts, read 302,565 times
Reputation: 149
Crocker is a Middle school.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > California > San Francisco - Oakland
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top