About Redwood City

Redwood City is a community of just over 75,000 people, it's a center of high-tech industry, and it's the mid-point of the beautiful San Francisco Peninsula.  Known for its great climate and profound sense of community, Redwood City is devoted to preserving its rich history, maintaining today's quality of life, and carefully planning its future.

Through its miles of San Francisco Bay shoreline, its neighborhoods and charming downtown, its shopping areas and attractions, and its rolling hillsides, Redwood City is a community that offers great variety in housing, employment, recreation, entertainment, education, and City services.

Redwood City is the third-most populous city in San Mateo County.  It is the County seat and many government buildings are located downtown.  It is the only city in the County with a port.  It handles cement and recycled steel.

In 1959, Redwood City annexed over 4,000 acres and later drew up plans for a neighborhood that was called Redwood Shores.  Development sputtered through the Sixties, got rolling slowly in the Seventies and blossomed in the 1980s.  In this section, east of Highway 101, along the Bay shore, you'll find a mix of sleek office buildings, apartments, condos and single homes, a fair number of the last ascending into four bedrooms.  Many of the homes back up to lagoons that are flushed by waters from the Bay.  There is also  a more modern and more congenial street and park system.

Old suburbs are often diverse suburbs.  Cottages and two-bedroom homes make for easy moveups to people getting out of the cities or coming into the country.  Over the past two decades, the Peninsula has become not only more ethnically diverse but also more socially diverse, a different mix of high, low and middle income.

This has prompted the schools to restructure programs to meet the different needs of the children.  Redwood City Elementary has changed all of its schools into 'magnet' institutions, offering enriched programs to draw the kids out of their neighborhoods and into a better ethnic mix.  The theory is that middle-class kids will attend schools in the poorer neighborhoods if the schools offer something special: extra math, or science, etc.  The program is voluntary.  If parents want the local neighborhood school, the choice is honored.  Elementary school rankings bounce all over, very low to very high.

Redwood City counts about nine parks, eight playgrounds, a movie complex, 20 public tennis courts, miniature golf, a roller-skating rink, and ice-skating rink, two municipal swimming pools, three libraries, several marinas and a yacht club.

In recent years, a great deal has been overhauled or rebuilt and a large shopping complex with a Barnes and Noble bookstore, a jumbo supermarket and restaurant were added.  There is a new city hall.

There are three unincorporated neighborhoods, Selby, Emerald Lake and Fair Oaks which add to the housing choices.

Redwood City Market Snapshot (last 90 days)

Market Statistics San Mateo Thursday, September 09, 2010 7:20 PM

San Mateo County # of Listings AVG Price AVG $/SQFT AVG DOM Active 1,569 $1,438,520 $549 88 Sold (90 days) 941 $979,135 $491 87 REDWOOD CITY (RC) # of Listings AVG Price AVG $/SQFT AVG DOM Active 182 $902,577 $510 79 Sold (90 days) 109 $885,659 $480 85 Central Park Etc. # of Listings AVG Price AVG $/SQFT AVG DOM Active 36 $666,081 $479 86 Sold (90 days) 25 $738,712 $497 77 Clifford Heights Etc. # of Listings AVG Price AVG $/SQFT AVG DOM Active 5 $1,084,200 $633 150 Sold (90 days) 0 $0 $0 0 Cordilleras Heights Etc. # of Listings AVG Price AVG $/SQFT AVG DOM Active 39 $1,260,995 $561 102 Sold (90 days) 18 $1,231,688 $498 78 Farm Hills Estates Etc. # of Listings AVG Price AVG $/SQFT AVG DOM Active 17 $1,150,111 $515 68 Sold (90 days) 17 $1,128,081 $537 102 High School Acres Etc. # of Listings AVG Price AVG $/SQFT AVG DOM Active 28 $1,107,969 $525 76 Sold (90 days) 18 $1,041,916 $526 78 Horgan Ranch Etc. # of Listings AVG Price AVG $/SQFT AVG DOM Active 24 $850,179 $583 47 Sold (90 days) 11 $889,727 $490 75 Lenolt Etc. # of Listings AVG Price AVG $/SQFT AVG DOM Active 6 $591,150 $495 105 Sold (90 days) 4 $469,875 $462 70