San Carlos

Clearfield Park is so much more than the industrial downtown of San Carlos — it’s a thriving residential community with a fast-paced, urban lifestyle. “Because it’s industrial, people think there’s less community. But you actually have a lot of old-school residents who can’t see themselves living anywhere else,” says Mariana Pappalardo, team lead of the Pappalardo Group at Compass, member of the prestigious Top Agent Network and longtime resident of San Carlos. Centered on a compact pocket of homes, some of which date to the late 1940s, Clearfield Park is both convenient for commuters and friendly to families. The combination of business and pleasure attracts a variety of buyers looking for an affordable entrance point to the City of Good Living, as San Carlos is known. Employment options are available both near and far, and public transportation makes it easy to reach top companies in Silicon Valley and San Francisco. During the week, students can attend some of the Bay Area’s most highly rated schools. And on the weekend, neighbors can meet at local restaurants for brunch on Laurel Street, go boutique shopping or explore the beautiful parks and mountains that pepper the San Francisco Peninsula. With average list prices between $1.1 million and $2 million, Clearfield Park represents “entry-level pricing for the whole city,” Pappalardo says, noting that it’s often hailed as one of the most affordable neighborhoods in San Carlos. Space can be limited, and most homes are less than 1,500 square feet, but there are few places that can compare to Clearfield Park’s convenience. Buyers will find both renovated original tract homes and contemporary shingled Craftsman builds, a dynamic mix that echoes the juxtaposition of new and old in the more industrial areas. Students are zoned for the San Carlos Elementary School District, in which all schools maintain grades of A on Niche. After attending kindergarten through fourth grade at Brittan Acres Elementary, students usually spend two years at Arroyo Elementary before joining their peers at Central Middle School in sixth grade. Students on the north side of the neighborhood may attend Carlmont High, which boasts a grade of A-plus on Niche and has a competitive biotechnology institute, while teens on the south side of town can participate in the IB Diploma Programme at A-rated Sequoia High. Surrounded by homes, Laureola Park is an island of greenery amid the concrete jungle. This nearly 3-acre park has a grassy baseball field, a basketball court and a playground with sunshades and cushioned turf. In summer, children can attend camps and classes in the on-site activity room. Bird watchers flock to the trails at nearby Bair Island State Marine Park, a marsh that plays an important role in the area’s ecosystem. Across El Camino Real, Burton Park hosts citywide events, welcomes local sports teams and provides paths for calm walks in the shade. And farther west, hikers can spend hours beneath the redwoods exploring the peaks and valleys in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Walkable Laurel Street is the culinary heart of San Carlos, packed with upscale steakhouses like Town and international stops such as Rangoon Ruby Burmese Cuisine. The street is almost always busy, whether it’s a weekly farmers market, an annual festival or just a Friday night dinner rush. Locals also love to visit Cuisinett Bistro and Market for healthy French-style fare, while Domenico Winery attracts wine lovers with its signature blends and family-run atmosphere. San Carlos Marketplace is packed with retailers such as Best Buy and PetSmart, and there’s a Lucky grocery store just a few blocks down the road. For 30 years, neighbors have gathered on Laurel Street in October for the San Carlos Art & Wine Faire, known as the premier fall festival on the Peninsula. Vendors also set up booths here for the city’s year-round Sunday farmers market, and the street really comes to life during the annual Hometown Days parade. With access to both SamTrans buses and Caltrain light rails, commuters enjoy quick trips to employment centers in San Francisco and Silicon Valley. Highway 101 offers direct routes up and down the coast, leading to key locations like the San Francisco International Airport less than 15 miles north.

El Sereno Corte, translated to “the serene court,” is a conveniently located Bay Area suburb anchored by an eclectic collection of high-value homes on flat, walkable streets that are unique to this quaint Silicon Valley section of South Bay. The walkability is highlighted by Laurel Street, the neighborhood’s convenient retail and dining corridor. Additional convenience is provided by proximity to major roadways and both San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. Residents also have access to a variety of nearby green spaces. Highly rated educational options for students in kindergarten through 12th grade, including a public elementary school located in the heart of the neighborhood, add to the established community’s appeal. Considered the cool part of San Carlos in the 1930s, developers split many of the initial housing lots to attract more homebuyers. As a result, many of the lots in the neighborhood today are smaller, generally no more than 5,000 square feet. However, El Sereno Corte has remained a popular residential destination. Price per square foot is relatively high, but homes have consistently held their value, and the neighborhood maintains the second-highest resell rate in the city. “San Carlos is hot overall,” says Jim Minkey, a real estate associate with Golden Gate Sotheby’s International Realty and longtime resident of the city. “And that particular area has always been coveted, which speaks to the durability of the neighborhood.” While some of the homes were built as far back as the late 1930s, most of the housing was built during a post-World War II construction boom. Small bungalow-style homes and mid-sized ranch homes are prominent. Garage space is at a premium, but the ranch homes often feature small garages, while larger contemporary multi-level homes typically include expanded garage space. Remodels and renovations of the established homes are common, and development continues to this day with homes featuring everything from the decorative facades of the Spanish Mediterranean style to the clean lines and imposing facades of modern-style homes built as recently as 2023. Prices range between $1 million and $3 million. The neighborhood is home to White Oaks Elementary, one of three A-rated public schools by Niche that students can attend. The elementary also received a 10-out-of-10 for its test scores from GreatSchools. Central Middle and Sequoia High schools also are A-rated. The high school is one of the few in the Bay Area that offers the International Baccalaureate program. It also features and array of electives, including courses in digital, industrial and performing arts. Residents do not need to leave the neighborhood to meet their retail and dining needs. Laurel Street, which bisects the community’s east side, features a unique collection of stores and restaurants. “It’s really become the center of town,” says Minkey, who adds, light-heartedly, “When I first moved here, it was just a lot of traditional retail shops, but now it’s a lot of high-end bars and hair salons.” Traditional stores remain, as residents can stock up on essentials at Trader Joe’s and pick up various sundries at the adjacent Walgreen’s. But the corridor also includes several furniture stores, clothing stores and even a saddle and tack shop that caters to horse lovers. The main draw, however, are the many eateries that populate Laurel Street. In fact, when the COVID pandemic forced many establishments to offer outdoor dining, Laurel Street was temporarily closed to vehicle traffic, allowing residents to enjoy a European-style town center. More than three years later, Laurel Street remains vehicle-free, making it the epicenter of walkability. Top dining destinations include Johnston’s Saltbox, a New American restaurant that serves highly rated from-scratch dishes, and Town, an established restaurant that combines the upscale and the quaint. “Town has become the grande dame of the peninsula,” says Minkey of the chic eatery located a few blocks outside the neighborhood in Howard Park. “It’s been popular for 20 years. It draws a big crowd all the time.” Easy access to recreation is another plus for prospective homebuyers. “You’re in close proximity to Burton Park, which is a nice community hub,” says Minkey. Burton Park is a contemporary green space where youth can compete on its baseball and soccer fields and other visitors can take advantage of additional amenities that include tennis courts, children’s playscapes and paved walking paths. Also located at the park is the San Carlos Youth Center, which offers a free drop-in afterschool program that utilizes a full-size gym, game room and staff-led activities to keep participants engaged. The neighborhood is surrounded by more rugged terrain that is highlighted by several open spaces and nature preserves for hiking and other outdoor recreation. Home values correlate to the neighborhood’s proximity not only to major roadways and the water, but also to Silicon Valley and its many tech jobs. The CalTrain commuter rail station is within walking distance of the neighborhood, and bus stops are located along State Route 82, also known as El Camino Real Highway, on the neighborhood’s east side. The heart of Silicon Valley is only 5 miles away and can be accessed by car directly from SR 82. The communities of Greater Silicon Valley also are easily accessible via U.S. Route 101, which is located less than a mile east of SR 82 and runs along San Francisco Bay. San Carlos is centrally located between San Francisco to the north and San Jose to the south. Both are roughly 25 miles away and can be accessed directly from Interstate 280, located about 5 miles west of the neighborhood. I-280 connects about 5 miles north of the neighborhood to State Route 92, which can be taken east over the bay or west to the Pacific Ocean. The oceanfront is less than 15 miles away.

A step out of a home in Howard Park is a step into a San Carlos community tailormade for strolls around the block — to take Fido out, to grab a bite to eat or to simply enjoy some fresh air. This area is a mostly flat respite in this hilly region, making it thoroughly walkable. Howard Park’s streets are lined with tree-shaped sidewalks that cut through a neighborhood full of well-kept midcentury homes and modern condos. “It has freeway access, it’s close to multiple. It’s extremely walkable. There are good schools,” says local Realtor Beverly Robinson of Veev Living. The houses that dot Howard Park’s streets represent an assortment of architectural styles, including Craftsman-style bungalows, Spanish-style homes with terracotta roofs and multistory contemporary-style houses. Homes in this neighborhood come with floor plans of 1,860 square feet on average and are arranged neatly on compact and well-manicured lawns. Properties in Howard Park stand on lots that are often around one-tenth of an acre. Many of the condo units in the neighborhood were built after the turn of the 20th century. Condos here tend to stretch anywhere from about 700 square feet to 1,400 square feet. Price tags for condos in the area usually range from about $800,000 to $1.5 million, while single-family homes in the neighborhood sell for $1.5 million to $3.8 million in most cases. One of the benefits of Howard Park’s walkability is that locals can reach multiple schools on foot. Kids in the area can start in the San Carlos School District, at Brittan Acres Elementary. Brittan Acres, which includes kindergarten to third grade, provides weekly sessions on STEAM topics to students at each grade level. Students then move on to Arroyo Upper Elementary for grades 4 and 5, which has a 4,000-square-foot on-site garden that serves as a hands-on learning space. Central Middle is next, for grades 6 to 8, a school with both a band and orchestra program. Howard Park students can attend Sequoia High in the Sequoia Union High School District for grades 9 to 12, where there’s a dedicated culinary arts program, digital arts academy and health career academy. Each public school students in the neighborhood can attend carries an A rating on Niche. Howard Park is also home to the private Arbor Bay School, a kindergarten to eighth-grade option for students with learning differences. Arbor Bay School is situated by Burton Park, the recreational centerpiece of the neighborhood. Dedicated in 1940, this 10-acre space is the oldest park in San Carlos. The park features a playground, multiple basketball, tennis and bocce ball courts, multiple athletic fields and a splash pad. “It’s very well-used and very well-maintained,” says Robinson, who has several years of real estate experience. City Hall Park, to the north, is a smaller option but one full of benches and shaded by trees, making it a nice spot to sit down for a bite to eat or to read a book. Laurel Street is one of Howard Park’s biggest assets. This thoroughfare, like the rest of the neighborhood, is a walkable stretch and it’s full of a wide range of restaurants and other businesses. PYLOS is among the popular picks here, a Greek restaurant whose gyro, souvlaki and pita wraps are well-liked. Adjacent San Carlos Avenue has its own array of eateries, like Molly O's Irish Pub & Restaurant and La Corneta Taqueria. “There’s a lot of great restaurants there,” says Robinson. Also, Laurel Street features Bianchini’s Market, a locally owned grocery known in part for its deli and produce sections. “The produce is top-notch; really good produce,” Robinson says. Many of Howard Park’s residents are within reasonable walking distance of the San Carlos stop on the Caltrain line. The commuter rail here can take locals from the Howard Park area to San Francisco in under 40 minutes. Drivers can take advantage of the neighborhood’s proximity to U.S. Route 101 to reach San Francisco, a 25-mile drive. Howard Park’s Eucalyptus Avenue transforms into “Christmas Tree Lane” each holiday season. Homeowners’ elaborate light displays here are a tradition that draws revelers from all over the area and that dates back more than 50 years, full of all manner of snowmen, blow-up Santa Clauses, ornaments, reindeer and much more. Eucalyptus Avenue residents are also known to go all out with their Halloween decorations.

With everything from barely updated early 20th-century homes to contemporary apartments slated for completion in 2024, Cordes is a snapshot of the past, present and future in San Carlos. In fact, it’s believed to be the site of the first home in the city, an adobe structure built in the early 1800s at the corner of present-day Magnolia Avenue and Cedar Street. “Cordes is an older but super strong community. It’s very welcoming and really caters toward families,” says Mariana Pappalardo, a real estate agent and team lead of the Pappalardo Group at Compass, as well as a member of the prestigious Top Agent Network. Having raised her own kids in San Carlos, Pappalardo says that access to top-tier schools is the biggest draw for buyers. “This is one of the few neighborhoods in the city zoned for Carlmont High, which is a huge benefit,” she says. Proximity to San Carlos’ culinary corridor of Laurel Street is also a plus, and Pappalardo says some residents may even be able to walk to the downtown area, “depending on if they live in the flats or the hills,” she says. Access to downtown also means access to major thoroughfares like Highway 101 and public transportation via Caltrain, which makes it easy to get to employment centers in San Francisco to the north and Silicon Valley to the south. Because many of the neighborhood’s original homes still stand, Cordes’ housing stock often features reduced square footage and eclectic style choices ranging from Pueblo Revival to modern minimalism. “Back then, San Carlos didn’t have the affluence that neighboring cities had. That’s why the homes are smaller,” Pappalardo says, noting that buyers do “remodel quite a bit.” But single-family homes aren’t the only structures to grace these hilly streets: Housing stock also includes renovated duplexes, luxury condos and high-rise apartments, some of which are still in construction. While hilltop homes with views of the Bay usually command higher prices close to $3 million, buyers can expect to find single-family options listed between $1.7 million and $2.6 million, while condos are generally priced under a million. Students can attend Arundel Elementary before moving on to Mariposa Upper Elementary in fourth grade and Tierra Linda Middle in sixth grade, all of which maintain grades of A on Niche. Many students will then attend Carlmont High, which boasts a grade of A-plus on Niche and offers a competitive Biotechnology Institute for teens interested in science careers. After a busy day at Arundel Elementary, kids often appreciate a trip to Arguello Park’s playground right next door. At more than 23 acres, Arguello is the largest park in the community and hosts local baseball and tennis matches. Natural trails also provide space for calm walks, while the neighboring Santa Cruz Mountains invite hikers looking for a challenge. Dogs and their owners also enjoy making new friends at City Hall Dog Park, where trainers can utilize on-site agility equipment. With proximity to downtown San Carlos, residents of Cordes enjoy easy access to some of the best shopping and dining options in the city. Walkable Laurel Street is the local culinary hub, with international cuisines ranging from Burmese to Georgian and everything in between. Across El Camino Real, the San Carlos Marketplace is a popular center for retail shopping, and there’s even a Lucky grocery store a few blocks away. Often dubbed the biggest fall festival on the San Francisco Peninsula, the San Carlos Art & Wine Faire has attracted visitors from all over the Bay Area for 30 years. Weekly farmers markets also bring a crowd to Laurel Street, as does the annual Hometown Days parade. From downtown San Carlos, residents can easily get to major employment centers like San Francisco and Silicon Valley via Caltrain, the local light rail. Highway 101 also provides a convenient route up the coast to the San Francisco International Airport, which is less than 15 miles away.