Comparing SF & Marin's #1 Neighborhood: Presidio Heights vs Belvedere

Presidio Heights versus Belvedere, the most expensive neighborhood in San Francisco versus the most expensive neighborhood in Marin County. In this video, I'm going to put these neighborhoods head to head in 10 different categories to decide once and for all which one is better and why. What's up everyone? This is Austin Klar, your lawyer turned real estate agent in San Francisco and Marin County. Whether you want to live near downtown San Francisco or you want to live across the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County, chances are you've probably heard of Presidio Heights and Belvedere. And if you haven't, I'm going to break each of them down in this video. And if you have heard of them, you can go along with me, see which categories you agree with me on, disagree with me on, and let me know what you think. So let's get started. First category, views. One of the best perks of living in either of these neighborhoods is the view. Both neighborhoods, depending on where you live, overlook the San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and from Belvedere, you get the San Francisco skyline versus from San Francisco, you get the Marin Headlands. In my opinion, the San Francisco skyline view is better than the Marin Headlands view. So I think Belvedere edges this one out, but only a little bit. Category number 2 is safety, and there's pretty much no crime in either location. But if you want to get really technical about it, Belvedere is technically a safer place to live. This is especially when you start to consider the broader conditions that are plaguing certain parts of San Francisco. No, Presidio Heights is not really impacted by any of these. It's far away from all the places that you, you know, hear about and see in the news. But if you have some sort of stigma against the broader San Francisco, then maybe you'd prefer Belvedere, but you're really going to be safe in either neighborhood. So for me personally, it's a toss-up, but if you want to get technical about it on a per capita basis, Belvedere is technically the safer neighborhood, so it's going to edge out Presidio Heights on that category as well. Category number 3, quality of life. And for me, Presidio Heights takes this one. In Presidio Heights, you get the benefit of living in a very luxurious, very peaceful suburban enclave in an otherwise very urban environment. So, you know, you're close to all the great food and shopping of San Francisco, which is one of the best reasons to live in San Francisco. But you also get to have some peace and quiet and retreat from that when you want. Whereas in Belvedere, you know, there's not really that many great restaurants or shops around. You need to leave Belvedere to get to any meaningful dining or restaurant scenes. And, you know, to get that Michelin-starred food or a really wide variety of food, you need to leave most of Marin altogether. Also, from a lifestyle standpoint, there's a lot more, you know, cultural and other activities to do, you know, if you're living in Presidio Heights in San Francisco than there is in Belvedere. If you like museums, if you like music, film, there's a lot more access to that in Presidio Heights and in San Francisco more broadly than in Belvedere or even in Marin County more broadly. So Presidio Heights takes that category for me. Category number 4 are the streets. The streets are way more navigable in Presidio Heights than in Belvedere. Depending on which part of Belvedere you in, you might be in a flat area like Belvedere Lagoon, for example. But if you're on Belvedere Island, the streets are extremely narrow, extremely windy. You can't see around turns, you have to pull over to let cars pass. It's sort of like a one-way road that they're using as a two-way road. Very inconvenient and frustrating to drive on. Whereas in Presidio Heights, the streets are, you know, very wide, largely flat in the east-west direction, a little bit hilly in the north-to-south direction, but nowhere near as hilly as what you get in Belvedere. So— for me, I think the streets are so much more peaceful and easier to drive on in Presidio Heights than Belvedere. So navigability of streets, Presidio Heights wins. Another point, Belvedere is also kind of a one-way in, one-way out road. You can only take one road to get in and out of there, whereas Presidio Heights, there are multiple ways to enter and exit that neighborhood. So, you know, it never really gets backed up, never a lot of traffic there, super easy. Next category is food and shopping, and this one isn't even close. Presidio Heights wins hands down. You've got so much great food, whether it's street food or Michelin Michelin-starred restaurants within a short walk or a very short drive from Presidio Heights. You've got great restaurants and shops on Sacramento Street, Fillmore Street, Chestnut Street, Union Street, Hyde Street, all of these within 10 minutes drive or a short walk away. Whereas in Belvedere, you have, you know, downtown Tiburon, which is very cute and has some really great restaurants. But other than that, it's pretty much it. So you need to leave the area to, you know, really enjoy anything meaningful from a food and shopping standpoint. In San Francisco, you also have a lot of very high-end shopping, like in Union Square, pretty much any big-name brand that you could want, department stores, furniture stores, whatever, it's there. Uh, in Belvedere, you don't really have that. You can go to places like the Marin Country Mart or the Town Center or Village in Cuarta Madera to get a lot of big-name brand stuff, but it's not even close comparison-wise to what you get in Union Square and the rest of San Francisco. So for me, from a food and shopping standpoint, no comparison. Presidio Heights all day. Next category, outdoor amenities. And for me, Presidio Heights barely edges out Belvedere here. It's a pretty close one. Belvedere has easy access to the best outdoor amenities in Marin County. Um, also it has beautiful walking trails, trails all along the water. And if you live along West Shore Road, or if you live on the Belvedere Lagoon, you actually have direct water access from your yard, which you definitely cannot get in Presidio Heights. Plus, you have access to places like Mount Tam with great hiking and biking trails. The problem with Belvedere is that, you know, other than the, you know, waterfront trails, which are gorgeous, you have to leave Belvedere to get to most of those places. Sometimes it can be, you know, 20-30 minute drive away to get to some of these parks that I'm talking about. Whereas in Presidio Heights, you know, you're within a very short walk or a very short drive to some of the best parks, not just in SF but in the country, like Golden Gate Park and the Presidio. You've also got Alta Plaza Park, Lafayette Park, Marina Green, Crissy Field. There are so many different outdoor spaces and different parks pretty close to where you're living in Presidio Heights. Super easy to get to. You can pretty much walk to any of them if you really wanted to in about 20 minutes or less. So for me, because, you know, the parks are A) great and B) like really easy to access from Presidio Heights, I think Presidio Heights edges out Belvedere here. But this one is really close. You know, you definitely argue either way. Next category is weather, and Belvedere is going to take this one hands down. You know, Marin County overall has way better weather than San Francisco, and Belvedere itself, no exception to that. The weather in Belvedere is incredible, perfect weather almost all year round, which is great because you really want to enjoy, you know, those backyard spaces overlooking the San Francisco Bay and those waterfront properties. Great when you have sunny weather. Not going to get that as much in Presidio Heights. Presidio Heights is, you know, kind of a moderate weather zone for San Francisco. It's not in the fog zone like the Sunset is, but it's not, you know, in like the hotter zones like Noe Valley and Glen Park. It's sort of a middle-of-the-road area. You are definitely going to get some cold fronts, some fog zones, but pretty moderate generally speaking. But overall, weather is definitely going to be better more often in Belvedere than in Presidio Heights, so Belvedere wins that category. Next category is architecture. Belvedere is kind of a mix of mid-century modern, super hyper-modern, and some more traditional homes depending on, you know, what part of Belvedere you're talking about, whereas Presidio Heights, on the other hand, consists of almost entirely historic century-old Victorian, Edwardian, gorgeous traditional historic homes. And you know me personally, that's much more my style than mid-century modern and hyper-modern. I like, you know, very old-school historic homes that have been tastefully updated over time, but still maintain that historic charm on the outside. And that is exactly what Presidio Heights is all about. So, you know, this one's obviously going to come down to subjective, you know, personal style. I live in a house that was built in the 1860s. It's an Italianate Victorian. Like, that's just my personal preference. But if your preference leans towards mid-century modern or they're super hyper modern, then you're going to go Belvedere over Presidio Heights, but I go Presidio Heights. Next one is value, and Belvedere wins this one. At the very high end, Belvedere can be way more expensive than Presidio Heights, you know, sometimes, you know, $3,000, $4,000 a square foot. You almost never see that in Presidio Heights, but on the middle to lower end, Belvedere has better value. Not only do you get homes for a lower price per foot, you also get larger lots, and you have water views, and you have water access, which you don't you get in Presidio Heights. So to put it in perspective, median price per foot, uh, in Belvedere, about $1,620 a foot, $5 million, whereas in Presidio Heights, about $1,700 a foot and about $7.2 million. So definitely more expensive in Presidio Heights on a, you know, median basis and on a per-foot basis. So on the middle end, Belvedere offers more value, especially when you consider the difference in lot size. The average lot size in Belvedere, over 11,000 square feet versus about 5,000 square feet in Presidio Heights. So you know, more than 2x the lot for less dollars per foot. More value in Belvedere. Last category for me is proximity to the airport. I love to travel. I used to travel for work a lot. You know, I don't have to do that anymore in real estate, but when I was a lawyer, it was nonstop. So, you know, if you have a job where you have to travel for work or you just really like to travel a lot, proximity to the airport is going to be a huge deal. San Francisco is way closer to SFO. If you live in Belvedere, you want to go international, you have to go all the way through Marin, across the Golden Gate Bridge, and then through San Francisco to get to SFO. So it's a lot more inconvenient living in Belvedere if you need to travel or want to travel. Imagine coming home from a long work trip and then having to drive like an hour, hour 15 minutes to get to your house from the airport versus about 30 minutes. It makes a huge difference. Definitely could take a toll mentally on you after a long week away. So for me, Presidio Heights is winning this one. It's a big reason why I love living in San Francisco. So the final score, Belvedere 4, Presidio Heights 6. Belvedere took it with views, safety, weather, and value. Presidio Heights took the other 6 categories, but that's just my preference. I think Presidio Heights has an incredible blend of the architecture and the food, walkability, all the things that I love about living in San Francisco. But that's just me. Let me know what you think in the comments. And if you made it to this point in the video, chances are you're looking for a new place to live in San Francisco or Marin County. I moved to the Bay Area over a decade ago to work as a lawyer at one of the biggest law firms in the world where I represented C-suite executives in Fortune 500 companies in state and federal courts all across the country in multibillion-dollar cases. And now I represent buyers and sellers in one of the most important decisions of their lives, their homes. So if you're thinking about relocating or want more information about the market, definitely reach out to me. My contact information is in the description below. You can call me, email me, text me. I included a link where you can set up a call with me directly. And if you want to learn more about what it's like living in San Francisco or Marin County, make sure to subscribe to my channel for more videos just like this. And if you enjoyed this video comparing parts of Marin to San Francisco, then you should take a look at another video I did, which talks about why people are looking to Marin County to find their forever home versus San Francisco. I'll link that in the description as well. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next video.