Cimpler Blog

Burlingame is one of the most desirable locations in Northern California. It is #3 to be exact, right after San Francisco (SF) and Palo Alto (PA). The city was named after Anson Burlingame, a former minister to China (Burlingame in Kansas was also named after Anson Burlingame). Incidentally, one of the heroic 9/11 pilots Charles Frank Burlingame III, whose plain crashed to the Pentagon, was Anson's decendant. While SF and PA are quite obvious (SF is probably one of the most desirable cities in the US and PA – a host city to the Stanford University and numerous tech companies), popularity of Burlingame requires some explanation.

Before I do it, let me clarify that the Burlingame zip code – 94010. There is a city and town with the same zip code, Burlingame and Hillsborough, respectively. There is more than zip code that connects these two cities, however. According to a local hearsay – Burlingame was conceived as a “service city” for Hillsborough. However, the truth (according to the Hillsborough town website) is that Hillsborough was created as some of early Burlingame inhabitants were not willling to pay taxes to build sidewalks and light streets. so, they decide to seeceed and incorporated hillsborough. And this is how it stayed until today as Hillsborough is the town with very few services a “services-less” City. Click on the following link to read more about the City’s early history. Hillsborough is a city of beautiful and expensive homes with no shops, no high school, no sidewalks and its streets are not lighted at night (for the most part).

Burlingame has a little bit of everything, beautiful homes priced from $800k-$900k for a 2 bedrooms, 1 bath to, $2.4M (median price is approx. $1.4 - $1.5 M at the moment), 2 nice downtown centers, one around Burlingame Ave. – Primrose Ave.) and another around Broadway - with an abundance of wonderful shops, great restaurants (yes – this city is alive in the evening) and a few clubs providing entertainment - for some too much and for some not enough till late at night - and very good schools, both public and private (several elementary schools, Burlingame Intermediate, Burlingame High School and Mercy High School to mention some of them). You can find more about Burlingame schools by clicking on the following link.

Another important secret to Burlingame popularity is its location at the Northern San Francisco Peninsula, 5 min away from the San Francisco Airport and 20 min from San Francisco. The traffic, for the most of the time, is not an obstacle on the way to San Francisco. You don’t have to drive to get to the City, you can take either Caltrain or BART trains (the latter from the neighboring city – Millbrae). To San Jose is only 30 min drive, but this is quite often not the case as Expressway 101 is quite notorious for its traffic. The 280 provides a more scenic, but longer commute alternative.

Here are a few views of Burlingame, its typical homes, points of interests, and of course it’s Kohl Mansion. If you are visiting – there is a plenty of hotels to choose from. Click on the directory of the Burlingame Chamber of Commerce to find out one which suits you.

If you are interested in homes currently on the market, there are 30 houses in Burlingame in the price range from $849k to $2.395 M as of December 29, and 32 houses in Hillsborough in the price range from $1.650 M to $28.5 M (even if you don’t want to buy the latter one, you might want to see it! It is a new listing - of December 11). To search for Burlingame and Hillsborough listings click HERE and then on Home Search (at the menu on the left side of the page).

To look at Burlingame statistics click HERE.

Contact me if you have any questions.