Moving to Greenbrae Marin County California? Here's What Its Like Living There

If you're looking for quick access to the best shopping and restaurants in Marin County without sacrificing access to Southern Marin and the city of San Francisco, then the town of Greenbrae might be a great option for you. And in this video, I'm gonna break down all things Greenbrae, including what it's like to live there and how much Greenbrae homes cost. What's up everyone? This is Austin Klar, your lawyer turned real estate agent and real estate developer in San Francisco and Marin County. I've been a Bay Area resident for over a decade, giving me in-depth firsthand knowledge of what it's like to live and work there. If you're thinking about relocating or want more information about the real estate markets there, definitely reach out to me. My contact information is in the description below. I will personally answer every call, every email, every text, and I'd be more than happy to help you. And if you like videos just like this, please subscribe to my channel and don't forget to click the bell so you're alerted every single time I post a video. All right, so this video is all about the town of Greenbrae in Marin County. Greenbrae is a small community in the center of Marin, just north of Larkspur, east of Kentfield, and south of San Rafael. Part of Greenbrae is unincorporated, meaning it's not part of an official city. Instead, it's a town governed by the County of Marin. And then the other part of Greenbrae is incorporated and is part of the City of Larkspur, so it's going to be governed by the City of Larkspur. Why does that matter? Well, let's say you want to do renovations on your home, for example. You know, depending on what part of Greenbrae you're living in, you need to get approval either from the County of Marin for those renovations or from the City of Larkspur. There are also different authorities that, you know, maintain the roads and maintain the sewers and other systems and infrastructure. Depending on what part of Greenbrae you're in, is it the City of Larkspur or is it the County of Marin? From a day-to-day living perspective, you know, what part of Greenbrae you're going to be in, is it unincorporated versus Larkspur, not going to make much of a practical difference, but something to know, especially if you're thinking about doing any renovations to your home or might do renovations to your home at some point in the future. Commuting to San Francisco from Greenbrae is really easy. The Golden Gate Bridge is 10 or so minutes away depending on where in Greenbrae you live. You know, driving to downtown San Francisco from Greenbrae takes about a half an hour without traffic. And if you don't want to drive, the Larkspur Ferry is really close. It's the same exit on the freeway, just going in the other direction to get to Larkspur Landing where the ferry is. The benefit of taking the ferry is that you don't have to pay the bridge toll., and you don't have to pay for parking when you're in the city. You will have to pay a ferry toll, but it's definitely gonna be less expensive than paying a bridge toll plus parking in the city, which can sometimes be, you know, $30 to $40 a day. And depending on what area you live in Greenbrae, you might have to contend with traffic on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, which is one of the busiest streets in all of Marin. But for the most part, Greenbrae is far enough south in Marin that you can avoid a good chunk of, you know, the worst parts of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard. One of the best things about Greenbrae is that the weather is pretty much perfect all year round. It's a very Mediterranean climate. It's perfect for outdoor recreation, and there's a lot of that in and around Greenbrae. The area is great for biking, jogging, hiking. Parts of Greenbrae are very flat, so super easy to like walk your dog or walk with family or go on a jog. There are hills surrounding the community and a number of parks in the area. Rowing and boating are pretty popular along Larkspur Landing and communities near Corte Madera Creek, which is where like a lot of kayaking and paddleboarding happens too. Mount Tam is basically the backdrop of the town, which offers a ton of hiking and biking options with incredible views of the entire Bay Area. Throughout the year, the Marin Country Mart, which is down the street from Greenbrae, hosts a farmer's market every Saturday and a food truck meetup every Sunday. So there really is a lot of things to do, you know, outside in and around Greenbrae. It's also super close to a ton of great food and shopping. You've got Larkspur Landing, which I think has the best high-end shopping in Marin. Great food like Farm Shop, Rustic Bakery. There's a Shake Shack. They've got a Souvla coming there, which is, you know, great fast casual Mediterranean spot. They have them all over San Francisco. The Bonaire Center is in Greenbrae. It's a large outdoor shopping center with a lot of food options. Gott's Roadside is probably my favorite spot there, but there's a Molly Stone's, there's a Pete's, there's Jamba Juice, there's a whole bunch of different shops and restaurants there. You're also really close by to the great things to do in San Rafael, Larkspur, San Anselmo, all the neighboring towns immediately surrounding Greenbrae, each of which offer, you know, their own downtowns, their own, you know, historic charm, their own shopping, their own dining, their own activities. Greenbrae is also just 40 minutes away from Sonoma, so it's really easy to get out of town for a day or a weekend and go up to wine country. Greenbrae is a mix of single-family homes and condos, and there are a lot of different sort of architectural styles and enclaves in Greenbrae itself. There are a mix of homes in the flats, there are hillside homes, and then there are like waterfront townhomes and condos. There are a good number of condos along Corte Madera Creek, so living there you have really easy access to the water-based activities I mentioned, and it's also really peaceful with, you know, views of your home of the water. Homes in the flats of Greenbrae are on pretty quiet, well-manicured streets that are pretty easily navigable. The lots in Greenbrae, they're not massive like they are in Ross or Kentfield, for example, but still offer a lot of outdoor space, certainly more than you're gonna get, you know, say in San Francisco. A lot of them are set back from the street, so you have, you know, good-sized front lawns, and a lot of them have great backyards with views of Mount Tam or the rolling hills of the rest of Marin. Now, a lot of the homes in Greenbrae are on the smaller side. You're not going to find a ton of homes that are, you know, over 4,000, 5,000 square feet like you would in some other neighborhoods in Marin, like Ross and Kentfield and Belvedere. Many of these neighborhoods were built up in like the 1950s and 1960s, so, you know, a lot of mid-century style, a lot of single-level ranch-style homes, some two-story homes, you know, 3 to 4 bedrooms, 2,000 to 2,500 square feet is more typical. Some smaller, some larger, but overall they're going to be sort of in that range most likely. And then you have some homes in Greenbrae that are built up into the hills, so, you know, the downside of those is, you You know, you might have a little bit more of a drive from the main road, Sir Francis Drake, to get up there. The roads do start to get a little bit narrower as you get up there, certainly navigable, but just more narrow than in the flats of Greenbrae. But the upside is you get really great views from up there, and there's a lot more privacy. Since the community was largely developed in the '40s, '50s, and '60s, there's a mix of homes that have been modernized and homes that really haven't been touched since they were built. So there are a lot of opportunities for redevelopment in the area, and there's an increasing number of new homes homes there. So really great opportunities to buy fixer properties. Greenbrae is actually one of the best areas to get really good value in Marin. It's not that far north into Marin, like, you know, San Anselmo or San Rafael or even Novato, and it's got easy access to a lot of different amenities that other areas of Marin have as well that tend to be actually more expensive than Greenbrae. So I think Greenbrae actually offers some pretty good value, relatively speaking. By no means am I implying that Greenbrae homes are, you know, all affordable housing. They're still very expensive, but just generally speaking and relatively speaking, there is good value to be found in Greenbrae. 18 homes have sold in Greenbrae over the last 6 months prior to me filming this video in September of 2023, and they've sold for an average of about $2.3 million and spent just 18 days on the market. And that's compared to about $2.2 million in the rest of Marin with homes spending about 27 days on the market. Now, as I mentioned, there are a lot of condos in Greenbrae as well. 21 have sold in the last 6 months for an average of about $927,000, and they've spent about 37 days on the market. If you compare that to the rest of Marin, condos have sold for about $820,000 and spent about 49 days on the market. So you can see for both single-family homes, uh, and condos, homes are a little bit more expensive than average in Greenbrae, but not overly so. And compared to other neighborhoods in the general vicinity of Greenbrae, they're actually relatively less expensive. Well, there you have it. That's the scoop on Greenbrae. If you're thinking about relocating or want more information about Greenbrae, or about any other area in the Marin County or San Francisco real estate markets, definitely reach out to me. My contact information's in the description below. I will personally answer every call, every email, every text, and I'd be more than happy to help you. And if you like videos just like this, please subscribe to my channel and don't forget to click the bell so you're alerted every single time I post a video.