Why Everyone in San Francisco Loves This #1 Neighborhood (West Portal)

One of the most under-the-radar neighborhoods in San Francisco is transforming into one of the most desirable, buzziest neighborhoods to live. With a perfect blend of urban and suburban living, a short commute to downtown San Francisco, and access to great amenities and food, this hidden gem is rising the ranks of one of the most sought-after places for people to set down roots in the city. And the craziest part of it all, the average cost of a single-family home in the area is in line with the city average, but I bet you it won't stay stay that way for long. This is Austin Klar, your lawyer-turned-real estate agent in San Francisco, and I'm talking about the West Portal neighborhood. And in this video, I'm going to break down why this neighborhood is getting so much more attention over the past several years, from its location perfectly situated out of the hustle and bustle of San Francisco without sacrificing the easy commute to downtown and the commercial hubs of the city, to the incredible new food offerings opening in the area, bringing a ton of new residents and tourists to the area, to the stunning architecture and access to all the great amenities. And of course, I'll walk you through how much it costs to live in the area, and you'll see exactly why it's such a bargain compared to other neighborhoods in San Francisco with similar characteristics. So let's get right to it and discuss the first reason West Portal is generating so much buzz: the location. West Portal is a very small enclave on the southwestern side of the city, bordered by three fairly major transit corridors in San Francisco: Highway 1 to the west, Terrible Street to the north, and Portola Drive to the south and east. It's an awesome location for starters because of the great amenities that are nearby, and I'm going to walk you through those later in this video. But another reason the location West Portal is becoming increasingly popular is because of how easy it is to commute to downtown San Francisco as well as to the South Bay. West Portal actually gets its name because the neighborhood marks the western entrance of the Twin Peaks Tunnel, which was an engineering marvel back when it opened in 1918 and fundamentally transformed this part of SF, converting what was at the time uninhabitable sand dunes into one of the city's most desirable residential areas by connecting it directly to downtown SF. The entire community was developed around the West Portal Muni Station, which serves as the western terminus for 3 major transit lines in the city. And when you hop on any one of these light rail lines into the Twin Peaks Tunnel, you can be in downtown San Francisco in about 20 minutes. I helped clients get into a house in West Portal recently, and a big factor for them was commutability. One of them works at Google, another in finance, so being able to get to downtown and to the South Bay was very important to them. They initially had their sights set on other more well-known neighborhoods for commutability. They were living in a condo in Hayes Valley at the time and wanted to make sure they weren't sacrificing too much on the commute standpoint. West Portal wasn't initially on the list of neighborhoods that they were looking into, but when they figured out how connected it was to downtown, it quickly jumped the ranks of their list, especially when you consider the price point of homes in West Portal compared to some of the other neighborhoods that they were looking at. And I'm going to talk more about prices in a few minutes. In addition to an easy commute downtown, you're also relatively close to the 280 highway, so you can get to the South Bay and SFO very easily. You can get to those places without having to battle as much city traffic compared to, say, neighborhoods, you know, further in Central or Northern San Francisco, Cole Valley, Pac Heights, Russian Hill, Marina, those places. And if you want to drive to any of these places instead of taking Muni, it's actually a lot easier in my opinion to own a car in West Portal. Uh, one, because a lot of the homes there have garages, but second of that, parking on the street is a little bit easier than in other similar neighborhoods, or at least neighborhoods that share similar characteristics like Russian Hill or Noe Valley. So the specific location is a commuter's dream. And with so many people moving back to the city because companies are adopting more hybrid in-office schedules or bringing people back to the office full-time, and there's a huge influx of new jobs coming to the city, especially tech jobs, this area is going to get even more popular. By the way, if you wanna learn more about which neighborhoods are great, if you need to commute, or if you're a foodie, or you want nightlife or views or walkability, or if you wanna learn more about current events in San Francisco, new developments, and all things about San Francisco real estate, make sure to subscribe to my channel because I make videos about that stuff every single week. And if you ever have questions about how what's going on in the city is impacting our local real estate market, what it means for you, or if you're having trouble figuring out exactly the right neighborhood to live in, reach out to me. I was a lawyer at one of the biggest law firms in the world before getting into real estate, and I've helped numerous people relocate to San Francisco from all over the country. I'd be happy to be a resource for you. My contact info is in the description below. Reach out anytime. Now back to the reasons West Portal is starting to shed its hidden gem status. And my second reason is the food. If you had asked me 2 or 3 years ago which neighborhoods would top my list of foodie destinations in the city, West Portal probably would not been on my list, but that's starting to change, and it's a big reason why so many people are wanting to move there. The main commercial corridor of the neighborhood is West Portal Avenue, all centered around that MUNU line I mentioned earlier. And on and directly off of West Portal Avenue is a blend of old-school staples and brand new, like, impossible to get into restaurants with a ton of variety. George's Donuts and Merry Mint, which serves traditional sandwiches and salads along some of the most sought-after fried-to-order donut holes in the city. You've got Elena's Mexican Restaurant, which is easily one of the hardest reservations to get in the city. It's got a huge menu, great drinks, and it's definitely a scene. If you aren't lucky enough to grab a reservation, they do allow walk-ups. Just be prepared to wait a little while. The owners of Elena's also own Little Original Joe's in West Portal. If you haven't heard of it, Original Joe's is an old-school Italian staple in North Beach, and Little Original Joe's in West Portal is a spin-off of that restaurant. It's less of a traditional restaurant, more of a grab-and-go type place, but they do have some outdoor seating if you want to order at the counter and eat there. It's also got an awesome marketplace where you can go buy like premade food from the restaurant or some great ingredients to make awesome food at your house. You've got Submarine Center in West Portal, which has been making some awesome sandwiches since the 1960s. If you go there, expect a line out the door. You've got Snow Bliss Cafe, which is sort of an Asian fusion type place, mixes a ton of different Asian varieties. And there's so much more, from Peruvian food, Korean food, Indian food, American food, you name it, you can find it in West Portal. And it's also close to other great food neighborhoods, in particular the Inner Sunset, which is only a few minutes north of West Portal. So you might be a little bit farther away from where a lot of like the Michelin star restaurants are in Soma or near downtown, for example, but you are so close to so many great food options. You're probably not going to need to leave the area to get what you want. So it checks the box on commute, it definitely checks the box on food. Another reason so many people are wanting to move there these days, the amenities. There's definitely no shortage of parks in and around West Portal. Within West Portal is West Portal Park and Playground, perfect place for kids and adults. It's a nearly 2-acre park with a playground, ground, picnic area, tennis court, athletic field. There's an off-leash dog park there. And just south of the neighborhood, you have one of San Francisco's most treasured parks, Stern Grove. It has a beautiful eucalyptus-lined canyon with a ton of open green space, and it's been hosting free concerts every year for almost a century. And if you're craving even more outdoor space, just west of Stern Grove is Pine Lake Park. You've also got Lake Merced Park, which is home to TPC Harding, which is an awesome golf course. They play a ton of professional events there every year. So if you like golf, it's actually a great neighborhood to be in and a lot less expensive than the neighborhoods immediately surrounding Presidio, where another golf course is in San Francisco. If you're really into nature, immediately east of West Portal is Mount Davidson. Mount Davidson is the highest natural point in SF, so the views there are insane, and they have a great network of hiking and walking trails. There are also a ton of other little parks in the area: Carl Larsson Park, McCoppin Square Park, Hawk Hill, Golden Gate Heights Park. The list goes on. You're also not far from Ocean Beach on the west side of San Francisco. If you want to surf or light a bonfire. Parks aside, you're also really close to Stonestown Galleria. It's a huge mall next to San Francisco State University with a ton of shopping, a massive new Whole Foods, and a lot of other food options on top of what you already get on West Portal Avenue. The mall is actually the site of one of the largest redevelopment projects going on in SF right now. Brookfield Properties is converting the parking lot space around the mall into a gigantic new mixed-use community. Thousands of new homes, a town square that's going to be perfect for farmers markets and outdoor events. There's going to be new parks there. All All of that is going to be within a few minutes walk or drive of West Portal. The project is still going through the planning process, so it's definitely years in the making, and in total it's going to take a couple decades to complete, but there's going to be great things opening along the way. So an incredible opportunity to get into West Portal before all that stuff is built. The next reason West Portal is rising on people's list of places to move: the architecture. The area doesn't really have a lot of condos. There are some inhouses that were converted into multi-unit properties, like small multi-unit buildings, in particular closer to West Portal Avenue., but there really aren't many mid-rise or high-rise condo buildings there like you see in a lot of other neighborhoods in SF. Instead, it's dominated by single-family homes, and that makes it really charming. The majority of homes were built in the early 1900s, you know, up to the 1950s. Majority of them basically after that West Portal Tunnel, that Twin Peaks Tunnel, really took off. Walking the streets of West Portal, the thing that you notice immediately is the architectural diversity of the houses in the area. Mediterranean and Spanish Colonial Revival styles dominate in the area, like stucco exteriors, red clay tile roofs, elegant arched doorways and windows that bring a little bit of European charm to the area. You also get Tudor-style homes, some classic San Francisco row houses. But one thing I love about West Portal is that some of the houses have more space between them than you'd find in denser neighborhoods. You actually have detached homes here. Size-wise, most West Portal homes are between like 1,500 and 2,500 square feet. They're not like these giant mansions that you get in like Pacific Heights, Presidio Heights, and parts of like Russian Hill, for example. But they are plenty large enough to grow a family in. Lot sizes in West Portal are pretty in line with city average, about 2,500 to 3,000 square feet. So they're not massive, but plenty of space to have true backyards, driveways, you know, front yard setbacks, just giving it a really kind of suburban feel in an otherwise urban area. And the last reason this neighborhood is rising the ranks of places people want to live home prices. Although if these trends continue, probably not going to be a plus of the neighborhood for that much longer. With all the incredible amenities and characteristics of the area, you'd think that prices here were well above city average for single-family homes, but they're not. The average home in SF over the past year sold for a little over $1,000 a foot, $1,033 per square foot. In West Portal, it's about $1,050 a foot. So despite being ideally located for a commute with great parks, great food, good-sized lots, it's not significantly more expensive than your average home in San San Francisco. One of the principal reasons for that is the weather. It is on that west side of San Francisco, which is, you know, the cold fog zone of the city. So you've got those cold and fog fronts coming in from the Pacific Ocean hitting West Portal. So it does trend, you know, gloomier on more days in the area than certain other neighborhoods in the city, in the central part of the city or the eastern part of the city. Notwithstanding the weather, I do think that the, you know, pricing trend of being relatively in line with city average is not going to remain that way for long as more and more people want to move to the area. Just an example, the clients that I talked about who, you know, got a place in West Portal, 10 months after they moved in, they went to refinance their loan and the appraised value came back 10% higher than what they purchased it for less than a year ago. And that was a year ago when the overall San Francisco market was weaker than it is today. We've made a lot of progress, especially with our new mayor on crime, homelessness, office vacancies. We have a lot more people returning to office. Both the condo and single-family home markets are up year over year, and that wasn't happening at that time. So the value today is probably even more than what praised for about a year ago. Another reason why I think it's going to continue appreciating is because we don't have a lot of inventory in West Portal. Less than 2 dozen single-family homes sold in West Portal over the past 2 years. So we have a lot of people wanting to move there, but not a lot of homes coming to market because it is a really desirable place to live. So without that increased trading volume, you're going to see a lot more competition in the area that'll probably drive home prices up. Well, there you have it. Those are the 5 main reasons why West Portal is going from a hidden gem neighborhood to one of the most sought-after neighborhoods in the city for people looking buy a home. If you're thinking about purchasing a home in West Portal or any other neighborhood in San Francisco and want to understand how the changes we're seeing citywide are impacting our local real estate market, reach out to me. I've lived in San Francisco for over a decade and I've helped numerous people relocate here from all over the country. I'd be happy to be a resource for you. I'll put my contact info in the description below. Reach out anytime. And if you like videos about different neighborhoods in SF, the SF lifestyle, —current events, new developments, and all things San Francisco real estate, make sure to subscribe to my channel because I make videos about that stuff every single week. And if you want to learn more about that Stonestown redevelopment project that I mentioned, I've got a separate video all about it. I'll link that in the description below as well. Go check it out. I hope you enjoyed the video, and I'll see you in the next one.