Concord- Great, flawed and affordable
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8/2/2018
Some of these reviews are clearly from parts of Concord that is either in low income or more urban. As such it can result in more crime and some questionable people.
Also, some of these people who reviewed are from Walnut Creek or Pleasant Hill, from experience are bunch of SNOBS just because they live in that area which quite frankly Pleasant Hill is just a bunch of track homes. Walnut Creek and the whole California is ridiculously overpriced. So for hard working people Concord and the likes can still provide a piece of American Dream. How racist can you be suspecting people of color as illegal because they don’t fit your white privilege mold. Yet when they need to buy their toilet paper they go to our Costco.
Here is the run down in Concord, like any other city there’s the bad and the good.
Pros: Can still buy a decent house albeit more from the 50s/60s at $600-$650k. Sometimes even under $600k.
There’s public transportation. Bart is Bart. It’s fickle. It can run on time or sometimes not. But it’s there to lessen the stress of commute. 40 min rush hour to SF.
Without Traffic- to SF (1 hr); to Emeryville (40 min); to San Rafael (1 hr); to Benicia (30 min); to Napa (56 min); to Livermore (1 hr); to Palo Alto (1.30 hr). Again without Traffic.
30-35% of housing are rental apartments. Good for those who can’t afford the city especially for young millenials and those who don’t have down payment. 20% down won’t even get you places nowadays. Prices varies depending in amenities but this is Bay Area with median rent of $2600 a month.
Shopping/Amenities: there’s lots! Aside from the Sun Valley Mall, there’s small mom/pops store still standing. There’s the big corporation like Kmart, Safeway and tons of restaurants. There’s the new Veranda shopping center. Two big movie theaters. Pacheco which is about 10-15 min depending where from Concord has Target and other franchise stores. There’s also two big Asian markets where I’ve noticed many white people shop now unlike years ago when they would turn up their noses at such stores. You will also see many families walking around weekends at the Clayton Road area to dine because the suburbs is just blocks away.
There’s many parks, swimming pools (Water-world), hiking, etc.
Police force- I see them around. Haven’t had any bad experience with them. So I can’t comment.
Like any cities, you have the public facilities, library, etc. Decent but nothing to write about.
Schools- compare to upscale neighborhoods yes, Concord really need to step up. But compare to areas like Richmond, Hercules, Pinole, Pittsburg, the Education is better. Mt. Diablo tried to be accommodating to special needs students which is more than I can say to West Contra Costa Unified School District. Berkeley for all it’s worth don’t really have a good track record when it comes to schools and children with special needs. Berkeley is dipping in its public system. There’s more lawsuits against Oakland and Berkeley schools.
Areas: great neighborhood-Cowell, Turtle Creek, Limeridge, some part of Meinert/Bancroft, Bailey Rd/Concord Blvd has some rural quiet pockets.
Not so nice neighborhood- Low income housing is around Monument Blvd bear Costco. The areas near Port Chicago leaves much to be desired, there’s an area there with plenty of redneck. Clayton Ca near Concord is a prime real estate but from experience lots of dumb rednecks who’s never heard of tofu.
However, compare to other cities, the “bad” neighborhood is actually still better.
Cons: from/to freeway can be a chore. It can take up to 15-20 minutes to drive thru downtownto hop on the freeway. Which can be good too. Because plenty of burglaries happen to homes near freeway access. Criminals can just hop out of there.
Weather- it can get really hot or extremely cold. It is the midlands. Wild fire is guaranteed very fire season. Lots of dry rolling hills.
Traffic within city limits- it’s not so bad, during commute the streets aren’t that congested. If it does it just adds 10-15 min of commute time.
Freeway traffic- with the time I mentioned above that’s WITHOUT traffic. Brace yourself it will be a long drive.
Schools: Mt Diablo School District is so big that they can be stretched out trying to accommodate everyone. But it’s still better than SF or West Contra Costa District.
Housing: expensive. In order to be able to afford any place to live anywhere in the Bay Area you have to be making minimum $50 per hour and you can only eat Ramen on the weekends.
People: so far I haven’t encountered any assholes lately except those from the uppity Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill and Alamo Area.
Drivers: there’s the occasional jerk commuter so watch out for their driving.
There you go. That’s my take on Concord. Like any place it’s up to you to drive around and see what fits. But with California being so expensive, take a look at your budget and what amenities you want.
Len | Concord, CA