Millbrae Villa

Millbrae Villa is one of those attractive older neighborhoods with stately vintage homes. Many of homes here date back to the Great Depression, making it one of the oldest neighborhoods in Millbrae.

Except for the occasional outlier (such as a recent foreclosed home sold at auction for $400 K), home prices in Millbrae Villa range from $800 k to $1.25 million, with the median home going for around $945 K. Home sizes accord to a certain extend with prices, with the less expensive homes offering about 1500 feet of space while the more expensive homes usual offer well over 2000 ft.

Most streets tend to offer large front yards (though a bit flat and squarish) leading to older walk-up style homes, many adopting the Spanish revival style featuring red-tiled roofs and adobe walls.

And as the other reviewer noted, the homes do become nicer as you head to the northern end. On the southern end of the neighborhood, the homes are smaller, the streets narrower and the front yards smaller and squarer. These are smaller bungalow style homes—the tiny walk-ups that were popular in semi-urban settings during the 30’s and 40’s.

The other really nice thing about this neighborhood is that you are close enough to everything that you really don’t need a car on a daily basis. You could walk to the BART/CalTrain station (or SFO for that matter) and take those virtually anywhere in the Bay. You are also close enough to the supermarket and virtually all other basic necessities to do that as well.

And since you are right by the Downtown area, you also have a number of restaurant choices within walking distance.

Overall this is a really great neighborhood, though it is unfortunately way too expensive for most people. The usual Peninsula problem.

Nestled next to downtown Millbrae, Millbrae Villa is split between two social classes: lower middle-class and upper middle-class. Geographically speaking, it is bounded by Magnolia Avenue to the east, Milbrae Avenue to the south, El Paeo to the west and Landsdale Avenue to the north. If you travel one block northeast, you’ll hit a strip of restaurants and food chains that include a Mervyn’s and Trader Joe’s. And it’s most notable appeal is its close proximity to the San Francisco International Airport

Millbrae Villa’s residential blocks are laid out in a sort of graph-like graph formation. Towards the southern half, you’ll find a busier neighborhood with short, thin and stumpy properties. Here, yards are shallow, with very few homes having a garage, let alone a decent sized driveway. As a result, cars are always lining the street making it difficult to find parking during peek hours. If you travel a couple blocks north, the neighborhood look a little bit more polished. In fact, it’s almost as if you leaped into a different social class. It provides wide, tree lined streets, nicer homes and more charming suburban aesthetics. It’s almost the picture of a family-friendly neighborhood. Yet both areas are great locations for those working within downtown Millbrae.

For commuters, the Millbrae Caltrain and Bart Station are within walking distance to the west. The area boasts an enormous parking garage for the populated area of Millbrae. Towards the neighborhood’s easterly limits, you’ll come to downtown Millbrae (El Camino Real and Broadway). The area is host to everything small-town commercial. This includes small shops, gritty business parks, mid-rise hotels/apartment buildings and everything in between.