Really dislike the suburbs, help! (San Jose, San Francisco: apartments, lofts, houses)

[debbie421]

I have a great job opportunity in Silicon Valley, but I really really dislike the suburbs. My husband and I are in our mid 30's, do NOT have children, and love the city life. I know one option is to live in San Francisco and commute, but I might like a long commute even less than I like suburbs. Are there any communities in Silicon Valley that don't have a suburb feel? Thanks in advance!

[mayorhaggar]

Places that usually come up when people ask similar questions here:

- downtown Mountain View
- downtown Palo Alto
- downtown San Jose
- live in SF in the Potrero Hill/SOMA/Dogpatch area near Caltrain and take the train to work
- live somewhere else in SF and either drive or take a commuter shuttle to work, would take 45-60 minutes each way depending on traffic and where your job is in SV

[llowllevellowll]

Originally Posted by debbie421

I have a great job opportunity in Silicon Valley, but I really really dislike the suburbs. My husband and I are in our mid 30's, do NOT have children, and love the city life. I know one option is to live in San Francisco and commute, but I might like a long commute even less than I like suburbs. Are there any communities in Silicon Valley that don't have a suburb feel? Thanks in advance!

I like the East Bay more than I like the peninsula but I still enjoy some of the Peninsula suburbs. Broadway / Burlingame / Hillsborough is probably our favorite. Depending on your budget, there are some gorgeous, gorgeous houses between 280 and El Camino Real.

My wife and I (mid-20's) are different types of people, though, I'm sure. We enjoy a quiet area with trees, a nice home, within biking or short drive distance to a cafe, a bookstore, a grocery store, and Target lol We like to be within 20-30 minutes of a major city but prefer a quiet life most of the week.

Good luck.

[jade408]

I agree with Parti, but the commute to SV would be horrible from the non-suburban east bay communities. For urban life in SV your choices are minimal to non-existant.

I do like the Willow Glen section of San Jose. Although it is mostly homes and apartments (no urban style lofts) you are walkable to a ton of shops/restaurants and amenities. Neighborhood stores, not tons of strip malls. So that may work out ok. Unless you want nightlife.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by debbie421

I have a great job opportunity in Silicon Valley, but I really really dislike the suburbs. My husband and I are in our mid 30's, do NOT have children, and love the city life. I know one option is to live in San Francisco and commute, but I might like a long commute even less than I like suburbs. Are there any communities in Silicon Valley that don't have a suburb feel? Thanks in advance!

What about Los Gatos? It's pricey but only about 12 miles from San Jose.

[sjnative]

"city life", "suburb feel". I'm not trying to be difficult but if you could be a bit more specific about what you want and what you don't that would help or else we'll be suggesting this or that based on our assumptions of what you want.

Do you want night life? Shopping? Walkability and public trans to where you want to go? Just the verticality and density of the construction of a city?

There is night life in the south bay's downtown cores, eps San Jose and Los Gatos, but it won't compare to SF or Oakland. Think about it, though- do you need to have access to it every day of the week, or just Fri/Sat? There is plenty of shopping in the south bay, at least with mall stores and major brands found in Valley Fair. I don't know about boutiques. You'll find some walkability in the downtown cores, but outside of them is the vastness of suburban sprawl. Public trans is OK, but not that good as you're still moving around in the vastness of suburbia and you'll almost always want to get around in a car instead.

...what is it in particular that you want?

[mdwstrnkid]

I work in Silicon Valley (in Palo Alto) and live in San Francisco (Pac Heights). The commute, while not ideal, isn't awful - I've been doing it for a couple of years and don't have any plans to change it in the near future.. How long of a commute can you tolerate? What type of neighborhood do you want to live in? What is your housing budget?

[grapico]

Bay area has a lot of walkable burbs actually... Probably the best imho in the country. I wouldn't get stuck in the burbs mentality there, it is different and lots of diversity in the burbs... also the burbs might be much closer in than a burb of say Chicago or NYC or ... b/c SF is only like 40 something square miles while the latter are over 200-300 square miles in just city limits.

Also Bay Area CSA is 7.5Mil while SF only comprises ~800K of that.

I am in Chicago for at least the next few years of late 20s/early 30s... but might wind up back in the SF or NYC burbs for mid 30s-on going, I prefer them both over Chicago burb areas for family type settling down stuff...

I prefer Chicago for now for the affordable city life...

[debbie421]

Thanks for the responses. By suburb feel, I mean strip malls, cookie cutter neighborhoods with lots of children, and chains. Chains like Applebees, Bed Bath and Beyond, etc, etc. I don't really care about nightlife, but I do want restaurants that stay open later than 9:00pm.

I think I'd be OK with a commute of less than an hour, one way. What's the best area of San Francisco to live in if I were to commute? We won't buy, but rent. I'd think we'd be fine with $2500-$3000 a month in rent, but would want that to include things like off street parking and in home laundry.

[mdwstrnkid]

Originally Posted by debbie421

I think I'd be OK with a commute of less than an hour, one way. What's the best area of San Francisco to live in if I were to commute? We won't buy, but rent. I'd think we'd be fine with $2500-$3000 a month in rent, but would want that to include things like off street parking and in home laundry.

Where will you be working? My commute to work is usually a bit less than an hour in the mornings and around an hour in the evening going from Pac Heights to Palo Alto. Many units in the neighborhood have both off-street parking and in-unit laundry, but you might need to pay more for a nicer place ($3000-3500/month).