Miraloma Park, San Francisco Real Estate & Homes for Sale
Miraloma Park is a large neighborhood of houses on the south and east slopes of Mount Davidson in San Francisco, under city rules through SF Planning. Most homes are late-1920s to 1950s one-story houses over garages, and parts of the hill carry mapped earthquake-induced landslide zones worth checking parcel by parcel.
Explore Miraloma Park, San Francisco real estate and homes for sale with this local guide. Contact Diamond to discuss your criteria and current property-search options.
| County | San Francisco (City and County) |
|---|---|
| Local government | City and County of San Francisco — SF Planning |
| Housing | Late-1920s–1950s one-story houses over garages; RH-1 and RH-1(D) |
| Hazards to check | Many small landslide zones on Mount Davidson, some on residential blocks |
| Getting around | 36 Teresita, 44 O’Shaughnessy, 52 buses; Forest Hill Muni Metro station |
| Local rules | Family and Senior Housing SUD (2–4 units, owner limits); small historic district |
Miraloma Park is the large neighborhood of houses on the south and east slopes of Mount Davidson, between Portola Drive and O’Shaughnessy Boulevard. It is subdistrict 4H in the MLS’s District 4 .
Most of those houses were built from the late 1920s into the 1950s on a master plan of one-story homes over garages. The neighborhood is newer, denser and generally on smaller lots than the residence parks to the west, and parts of the hill carry mapped landslide zones.
Miraloma Park homes for sale
Miraloma Park market report
A “City in Itself” on Mount Davidson
The Miraloma Park Improvement Club’s history describes a development promoted as a “City in Itself,” built from 1926 through the 1950s largely by the Meyer Brothers, with Theodore Meyer as president. The firm bought 350 home sites from the Sutro estate and assembled about 1,650 more from Wells Fargo & Company, which held the former Stanford Heights land once owned by Leland Stanford, and from individual owners. The total came to 208 acres.
The plan called for one-story houses over garages, each with its own design, on a suburban street layout. The club describes it as the largest plan of its kind in San Francisco at the time. Today it counts about 2,200 homes on the mountain.
The Improvement Club was incorporated in 1936 and has its clubhouse at 350 O’Shaughnessy Boulevard. It publishes neighborhood design guidelines and offers memberships; ask it, and read the title report, before assuming whether any recorded restrictions or approvals apply to a particular lot.
Streets and neighbors
Teresita Boulevard runs through the middle of the neighborhood, curving south and east from Portola Drive. Around it, the Assessor’s addresses run along Myra Way, Juanita Way, Rockdale Drive, Molimo Drive, Bella Vista Way, Los Palmos Drive, Marietta Drive, Del Vale Avenue, Stanford Heights Avenue, Foerster Street and many short courts and ways, including Agua, Isola, Reposa, Evelyn and Gaviota ways and El Sereno and Encline courts.
The summit of Mount Davidson rises on the neighborhood’s western side. Around the outside, the Assessor’s outlines put Forest Hill Extension to the northwest, Sherwood Forest to the west, Westwood Highlands and Sunnyside to the south, Glen Park to the east and Diamond Heights to the northeast, with Midtown Terrace beyond Portola Drive to the north.
The houses, by the numbers
Compare the particular property’s lot dimensions, permitted living area, construction history and ownership form using current records. Assessment classifications do not certify legal use or current listing availability.
On the steeper streets a downhill lot may drop away behind a house that looks modest from the sidewalk, while an uphill lot may put the front door well above the garage.
Landslide mapping on the hill
This is the hazard to understand here. Planning’s earthquake-induced landslide layer, which carries the state’s mapped zones, shows dozens of small polygons on and around Mount Davidson. Several fall on residential blocks, including the area around Los Palmos Drive, Stanford Heights Avenue, Bella Vista Way and the 700 block of Foerster Street; the area around Rockdale Drive, Myra Way and Agua Way; the summit itself; and the eastern slope toward O’Shaughnessy Boulevard.
The polygons are narrow, and many houses on those streets sit outside them, so check the exact parcel on the map. Planning’s liquefaction layer shows no mapped zone on the neighborhood’s residential blocks; the nearest polygon lies at the northern edge near Portola Drive. The club’s own history pages include a 1942 photograph of a slide, a reminder of why buyers ask.
A lot in a mapped zone must be disclosed at sale, and a buyer planning an addition will want engineering advice first. Our guide to geotechnical reports for hillside homes explains what to order, and the San Francisco hazard maps page shows how to look up a parcel.
Zoning, Portola Drive and a small historic district
In the Assessor’s zoning field, about 1,416 parcels are RH-1 (one-family) and 556 are RH-1(D) (one-family detached). Planning’s current map shows RH-1 with a 40//40-R-4 height district at the interior point we checked, inside the Family and Senior Housing Opportunity Special Use District. That SUD can allow two to four units on a qualifying lot, but only for an owner who has held the property for at least a year (five years if it already has two or more units) and only if no tenant-occupied unit is demolished, among other conditions in Planning Code Section 249.94.
Historic status is limited to one corner. Planning’s records show a Miraloma Park Historic District, eligible for the California Register, credited to the Meyer Brothers with a 1926 date, mapped as a narrow strip near Juanita Way and Marne Avenue at the northwest corner. A 2023 extension adds block 2980: 20 houses on Marne Avenue, Miraloma Drive and Juanita Way, all recorded as built in 1926. Elsewhere, the neighborhood is outside any mapped Register district.
Buses and the drive downtown
The 36 Teresita is named for the neighborhood’s main street, and per published route lists from 2022 it runs from Forest Hill station, a Muni Metro stop in the Twin Peaks Tunnel, to Valencia and Mission streets. The 44 O’Shaughnessy is named for the boulevard on the eastern edge and runs between Sixth Avenue at California Street and Hudson Avenue at Third Street, and the 52 Excelsior also starts at Forest Hill station. Check SFMTA for current routes and stops.
By car, Portola Drive on the northern edge and O’Shaughnessy Boulevard on the eastern edge are the main connections to the rest of the city.
Selling a home in Miraloma Park
Most buyers here are choosing among houses built on the same basic plan, so they compare what changed afterward: whether the garage level was finished, how the kitchen and baths were updated, how the rear yard steps down the hill and what the view is from the main floor.
- Ground-floor rooms: permits for any bedroom, bath or family room built into the garage level; unpermitted space is common in over-garage houses and is covered in our unwarranted units guide.
- Slope records: the parcel’s landslide-zone status, plus any geotechnical, drainage or retaining-wall reports.
- Systems: sewer lateral, foundation and electrical records for a house that is now 70 to 100 years old.
- City sale rules: the 3R report and the city’s other sale rules, summarized in our selling requirements guide.
Diamond may refer you to partners we work with, such as inspectors and engineers; you’re free to choose any provider. Recent 4H sales and prices are summarized in the market report on this page.
Permits, ADUs and remodels in Miraloma Park
San Francisco Planning reviews zoning questions, and the Department of Building Inspection (DBI) issues building permits. For any Miraloma Park house, start with Planning’s Property Information Map. It shows whether the lot is RH-1 or RH-1(D), its height district, whether it falls inside the Family and Senior Housing Opportunity Special Use District, and the permits on record.
Remodels here follow a familiar pattern. Many projects in a neighborhood of one-story houses over garages involve:
- The ground floor: adding a room or unit beside or behind the garage.
- Going up: adding a second story over the living floor.
- Steep lots: building down the slope at the back on downhill lots.
Each of these can raise different questions. A ground-floor room needs a permit trail to count as legal living space. A vertical addition usually needs Planning review as well as a DBI permit. On a parcel inside a mapped landslide zone, expect a geotechnical report as part of the permit; see our guide to geotechnical reports for hillside homes.
ADUs. San Francisco runs a state program and a local program, and they can’t be combined (SF Planning ADUs):
- State program: ministerial, with a 60-day review once an application is complete.
- Local program: reviewed by Planning first, with code waivers available for existing buildings.
A single-family house can also add a junior ADU of up to 500 square feet, with owner occupancy required if sanitation is shared with the main residence. ADUs generally can’t be sold separately, and they aren’t eligible for short-term rental.
The historic strip. The Miraloma Park Historic District mapped at the northwest corner is a California Register-eligible district, as described above. Ask Planning how its status affects review of exterior changes before you buy a house on those blocks.
For more on access, slope and site work, see the District 4 hillside access and site workbook.
Costs to plan for when buying in Miraloma Park
Transfer tax: San Francisco applies one tiered rate to the whole price, per $500 of value (SF transfer tax):
- $2.50 up to $250,000
- $3.40 above $250,000 and under $1 million
- $3.75 from $1 million to under $5 million
- $11.25 from $5 million to under $10 million
Higher tiers apply above $10 million. See our San Francisco transfer tax guide.
Property tax: the 1% general levy plus voter-approved bonds and the parcel taxes and special assessments listed by the Treasurer (SF Treasurer, secured property taxes; parcel taxes and special assessments). Expect a reassessable ownership change may produce a supplemental bill or refund (SF supplemental assessments). See our San Francisco property tax guide.
Records: the seller provides DBI’s 3R report, which shows a building’s authorized use and building permit history but not plumbing or electrical permits (SF 3R report). On a house with a finished ground floor, budget time to compare the 3R with what’s actually built.
Hillside work: on sloped lots, budget for a geotechnical review, plus retaining-wall or drainage repairs if the inspection finds them.
Luxury homes and estates in Miraloma Park
Miraloma Park was planned as a neighborhood of modest one-story houses, so its high end is defined by setting more than size. In planning terms, the upper end is the RH-1(D) detached house, a larger rebuilt or expanded home, or a view lot on the upper slopes of Mount Davidson.
On those properties, check these most carefully:
- Permits: confirm every expansion on the permit record.
- Landslide zones: check the parcel itself against the landslide mapping described above, using our San Francisco hazard maps guide.
- Hillside structure: have a professional assess drainage and retaining walls.
- Records and restrictions: read the Improvement Club’s design guidelines and the title report for any recorded restrictions.
- Insurance: price it before you remove contingencies; see insuring a high-value home.
Before you plan an addition on an RH-1(D) lot, ask Planning which yard and setback rules apply to the parcel, because the detached district’s standards differ from those of the RH-1 blocks nearby.
Some sellers prefer to test the market privately. Ask Diamond Real Estate Group which permitted private-marketing options fit your property, goals and the applicable MLS rules. Availability of any particular listing is not guaranteed. If a home is then marketed to the public, MLS rules apply. See San Francisco luxury homes and our private sales page. We can’t promise that any particular property will be available.
Add to the existing "Questions people ask" section:
Where can I find Miraloma Park homes for sale?
Current MLS listings for Miraloma Park, subdistrict 4H of District 4, appear at the top of this page. Because most homes here are similar houses over garages, buyers often widen the search to nearby District 4 neighborhoods such as Sherwood Forest, Westwood Highlands and Forest Hill Extension.
Can I add a unit to a Miraloma Park house?
Often, yes. A house can usually add an ADU or a junior ADU under the state or local program (SF Planning ADUs). On a qualifying lot inside the Family and Senior Housing Opportunity Special Use District, an owner may also be able to reach two to four units under the conditions described above. Confirm the lot on Planning’s Property Information Map.
Who issues building permits in Miraloma Park?
The Department of Building Inspection issues building permits, after any required Planning review. Planning’s Property Information Map shows the parcel’s zoning and permit history.
Sources for this section
- SF Planning, Property Information Map: https://sfplanninggis.org/pim/
- SF Planning, Accessory Dwelling Units: https://sfplanning.org/accessory-dwelling-units
- SF.gov, Transfer tax: https://www.sf.gov/transfer-tax
- SF Treasurer, Secured property taxes: https://sftreasurer.org/property/secured-property-taxes
- SF Treasurer, Parcel taxes and special assessments: https://sftreasurer.org/property/parcel-tax-exemptions-and-special-assessments
- SF.gov, Supplemental assessments: https://www.sf.gov/information–learn-about-supplemental-assessments
- SF.gov, 3R report: https://www.sf.gov/request3r
Questions people ask
Where is Miraloma Park?
On the south and east slopes of Mount Davidson, between Portola Drive on the north, O’Shaughnessy Boulevard on the east, and Sunnyside and Westwood Highlands on the south.
Who built Miraloma Park?
Mostly the Meyer Brothers, from 1926 into the 1950s, on a 208-acre master plan of one-story houses over garages, according to the Miraloma Park Improvement Club.
Is Miraloma Park in a landslide zone?
Parts of it. Planning’s map shows many small mapped landslide polygons on the mountain, including some on residential blocks. Most houses are outside them, but check the specific parcel.
Does Miraloma Park have an HOA?
It has the Miraloma Park Improvement Club, incorporated in 1936, which offers memberships and publishes design guidelines. Check the title report for any recorded restrictions on a particular lot.
Is Miraloma Park a historic district?
Only a small part. Planning has found a Miraloma Park Historic District and a 20-house 2023 extension eligible for the California Register, both near Marne Avenue and Juanita Way.
Which Muni lines serve Miraloma Park?
The 36 Teresita and 44 O’Shaughnessy are named for its main streets, and the 36 and 52 connect to Forest Hill station, per published route lists. Confirm current service with SFMTA.
Thinking about selling? A home valuation from us compares your house with Miraloma Park sales from the same era and slope, and our San Francisco selling page explains the listing process. The wider San Francisco guide covers other neighborhoods.
Sources & notes
- Miraloma Park Improvement Club: home page
- Miraloma Park Improvement Club: History
- DataSF / SF Assessor-Recorder: Assessor Historical Secured Property Tax Rolls, 2025 closed roll (parcel counts by class, build years, stories, median lot and building area, zoning codes, street and block listings and subdistrict extents for 4A, 4E, 4H, 4P, 4R and 4S; queried October 2026)
- San Francisco Planning: PlanningData map service (zoning, height and special use districts, landmarks, California Register historic districts, seismic hazard zones, FEMA flood zones, supervisor districts; queried October 2026)
- San Francisco Planning Code (via GoCodebook): Sec. 249.94, Family and Senior Housing Opportunity Special Use District
- San Francisco Planning: SF Family Zoning Plan
- Wikipedia: List of San Francisco Municipal Railway lines (route names and termini; page states service as of July 2022)
- SFMTA: K Ingleside route page
Last reviewed October 2026 by Matthew Martinez.
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