In this video, real‑estate professional Austin Klar, a former lawyer now active in the San Francisco and Marin markets, presents an overview of three distinct waterfront neighborhoods in Marin County: Belvedere Lagoon, Paradise Cay in Tiburon, and Belmarin Keys in Novato. For each community he describes the physical setting (man‑made lagoons, bay access, wetlands), typical home sizes (2,500‑4,000 sq ft), lot dimensions, lifestyle amenities (swimming, paddle‑boarding, boating, nearby shopping and dining), commuting options to San Francisco (ferry, car travel times), and recent market data (average sale price and price per square foot over the last six months). He contrasts the exclusivity and high price of Belvedere Lagoon ($7.4 M average, $2,300 / sq ft) with the more moderately priced Paradise Cay ($3 M, $1,250 / sq ft) and the comparatively affordable Belmarin Keys ($1.6 M, $750 / sq ft). Throughout, Klar emphasizes his personal availability for prospective buyers and encourages viewers to subscribe for more market updates.
Chapters
Marin County is known for its incredible weather, and there's no better way for residents to enjoy that than living in a waterfront community. And in this video, I'm going to break down 3 great waterfront communities in Marin, including what life is like in each of them and how much homes cost there. 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 market, definitely reach out to me. My contact information is in the description below. I will personally answer 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 great waterfront communities in Marin County, so let's dive right in. The first one on the list is the Belvedere Lagoon. The Belvedere Lagoon is a man-made lagoon next to Richardson Bay and the San Francisco Bay in Belvedere, Marin County. The lagoon is owned and maintained by the Belvedere Lagoon Property Owners Association, and it's not accessible by boat from the surrounding bays. The 66-acre Lagoon community is one of the most sought-after and most exclusive communities, not just in Marin County, but all of California. Most homes on the lagoon were built in the mid-1900s, 1950s, 1960s. They all have direct water access from their backyards. On any given day, you will find residents swimming there, paddleboarding, kayaking, all in the lagoon, or just lounging around on their back decks or in their backyards, taking in the weather and the beautiful views of Belvedere Island or the bay, or just like walking along the waterfront. It's super easy to commute from there to San Francisco from the lagoon by ferry. The Tiburon ferry stop is just a couple minutes away from the community toward downtown Tiburon. If you wanted to drive to the city, it's probably about 25 minutes without traffic, so it's not too bad. And even though there's not a lot to do in Belvedere itself from a shopping or dining perspective, for example, you are right next to the very quaint like shopping and dining village of nearby Tiburon, and you're not a far drive from from the rest of the communities in Southern Marin, like Mill Valley or Sausalito, that have a ton to do. These waterfront homes aren't, you know, super large by Marin standards, 2,500 to 4,000 square feet, but from a price per foot standpoint, they are among the most expensive in all of Marin, some of them selling for $3,500, $4,000 a foot. In the last 6 months, homes there sold on average for $7.4 million, or about $2,300 per square foot. So it is definitely not cheap, definitely not affordable. It is super, super expensive., but the community there is truly one of the best in all of California. Next up is Paradise Cay, which is another waterfront community, except this one is in Tiburon. Paradise Cay was also built in the mid-1900s, and this is on the eastern side of Tiburon. There are 225 homes in the neighborhood, and unlike the Belvedere Lagoon, homes in Paradise Cay actually have access to the larger bay. So you can house large boats there, some, you know, 50 feet or longer, depending on how big the private boat dock is for the house., and you can actually take the boat out. So this is probably the most ideal neighborhood for residents who like to sail and want to live in Tiburon. The Paradise Cay area was one of the last landfills allowed in all of San Francisco Bay. So homes there are built along strips of land jutting out into strips of water that are connected to the broader bay. There's a mix of single-story and two-story homes in the area, but most of them are single-story. Homes and lots there are very similar in profile, I'd say, to those on the Belvedere Lagoon. They aren't the largest homes in Marin, but they can, you know, get sizable between 2,500 and 4,000 square feet. You're not really going to find the 5,000 to 7,000 square foot mansions on half acres or full acre lots like you would in Kentfield or Ross. Most of these are smaller parcels between, you know, 6,000 and 8,000 square feet. The weather in Paradise Cay is immaculate year-round. I'd say there's less swimming and paddleboarding activity there than in the Belvedere Lagoon. The water's a little bit more rocky comparatively just because it's connected to the bay itself, but it's still very pleasant and calm. The main downside of living in Paradise Cay, I'd say, is it's a little bit off the beaten path. You have to take a series of windy roads through Tiburon to get to or from there to go to downtown or to get out of Tiburon altogether because it's on the backside of Tiburon. So, you know, you're about 7 to 10 minutes-ish away from downtown, which honestly not the end of the world, but it's just— Yeah. A little farther away than some would prefer. For example, if you're living in the Belvedere Lagoon, you might be 1 or even 2 minutes away from the nearest grocery store and nearest restaurants, but it's going to be 7 to 10 minutes if you live in Paradise Cay. And because of its location a little bit farther out, homes there tend to be less expensive than the Belvedere Lagoon, for example, but by no means are homes in Paradise Cay cheap. In the last 6 months, homes there sold for an average of about $3 million or 1,050 $250 a foot, so less than half of what a price per foot is for a Belvedere Lagoon home. Last up is Belmarin Keys out in Novato. The Belmarin Keys neighborhood is a waterfront community bound by tidal wetlands, Novato Creek, and farmland. The community surrounds two man-made lagoons, each over 100 acres large, and open to the Novato Creek via locks that provide owners access to the San Pablo Bay. It is the farthest north of the communities in this video, and it is by far the largest with about 700 homes. There are some small townhome complexes in the area, but aside from those, each home has a backyard with water access to one of the lagoons or the creek. The neighborhood is pretty far north into Marin. It is farthest away from San Francisco of any of the communities discussed in this video, and the weather is way warmer there by comparison, sometimes getting well into the 90s or even hundreds on some days. For commuting purposes, it can sometimes take an hour to get there from San Francisco depending on traffic, but it's not as if you're in a desert up there. You're close to you know, the Pacheco Plaza shopping center, not a far drive from downtown Novato, which has like a lot of great restaurants and bars. You're really close to great destinations like Napa and Sonoma compared to where you would be in Tiburon or Belvedere, for example. So, um, Novato is great for, you know, weekend getaways up north. Now, because it is further from the city and the other amenities of Marin, homes there tend to be a lot less expensive. Homes there average about $1.6 million or $750 a foot, so a fairly sizable amount less than homes in Paradise Cay or Belvedere. Well, there you have it. That's the scoop on 3 great waterfront communities in Marin County. If you're thinking about relocating or want more information about any of these areas or any other areas in the San Francisco or Marin County 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.
