Considering moving to San Francisco (Santa Rosa, Pacifica: house, living in, bus)

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by ConsideringSanFran

San Francisco would be the best fit since it is the biggest city,

Might be the best fit, but certainly not the biggest city in the Bay Area...there's a place to the south that claims that title.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by bigdumbgod

Might be the best fit, but certainly not the biggest city in the Bay Area...there's a place to the south that claims that title.

I think it shocks a lot of people San Jose has a larger population than San Francisco. SF feels like it's the biggest city in the Bay Area though lol.

[mayorhaggar]

Originally Posted by ConsideringSanFran

Cool, thanks for the tips, sounds like its mostly better than what I was expecting. I am a little stunned at the 250-400 parking pass thing though. I could BUY a car for that kind of monthly payment. Is going carless in San Francisco viable? How is the bus system? I can afford the parking, but I am not exactly thrilled about the prospect of throwing away that much cash every month.

Are there any other areas in the bay that might be worth considering for someone like me? (Ie san jose, mountain view, oakland, etc). I have kind of been assuming that San Francisco would be the best fit since it is the biggest city, but I don't really know that much about the rest of the bay area.

Thanks again for all the advice!

You can easily go carless in SF and you'll save a ton of money but you won't be able to get out of SF easily. You can take BART some places but by and large the Bay Area outside of SF is very suburban and centered around cars. In SF Muni is alright but pokey whether you take the buses or light rail. BART is a lot better but there's only one BART line running through the city.

If you don't want to pay the $200-300 a month for a parking space you can always park on the street, plenty of people do it (otherwise it wouldn't take so long to find a space). It's free though in a lot of areas you need a permit, also it's often hard to find spaces and there is always the threat of break-ins.

Outside of SF, I would not look at Oakland and the East Bay if you are commuting to Silicon Valley, the commute would be pretty long. Oakland and Berkeley are neat and it's much easier to find parking though.

A lot of the little suburbs up and down the Peninsula between Silicon Valley and SF have downtown areas that are walkable with shops and restaurants and so on. Not as walkable and dense and urban as SF but your commute would be a lot better.

[Eastsidermom]

I am getting worried about the weather as I read through these postings. We are going to be moving from Manhattan high rise upper east side- would like a similar neighborhood and high rise if possible but warm and sunny and safe. Any suggestions? Also easy mass transit to UCSF med campus would be a real plus.

[Radical347]

Originally Posted by mayorhaggar

They're liberal but not really in your face about it.

Yes they are

[mayorhaggar]

Originally Posted by Eastsidermom

I am getting worried about the weather as I read through these postings. We are going to be moving from Manhattan high rise upper east side- would like a similar neighborhood and high rise if possible but warm and sunny and safe. Any suggestions? Also easy mass transit to UCSF med campus would be a real plus.

There aren't very many high rise buildings in SF. There are some new ones with luxury apartments that are mainly around the eastern end of SOMA. There are a lot of restaurants and shops and there's a Safeway in the area but it is a very new area so it doesn't have a lot of character yet. Weather is sunnier there but anywhere in SF is pretty windy and chilly during the summer, but at least you won't have to deal with the NYC winters. From SOMA you can take the N-Judah to UCSF's main medical campus, also UCSF has a campus at Mission Bay just south of SOMA I think.

If you want really warmer weather then look at the Peninsula or East Bay, though it's more houses with some apartment buildings. Somewhere like Walnut Creek it's 80's to 90's in the summer with a lot of 100F days. Oakland and Berkeley are more like in the low 70's in summer when it's 60 in SF. The Peninsula is more in the upper 70's and 80's, it's not as hot as around Walnut Creek.

[frogmanatbac]

Is it possible to work in SF and then commute to a more rural situation?
Possibly more of a farming community?

[mdwstrnkid]

Originally Posted by Eastsidermom

I am getting worried about the weather as I read through these postings. We are going to be moving from Manhattan high rise upper east side- would like a similar neighborhood and high rise if possible but warm and sunny and safe. Any suggestions? Also easy mass transit to UCSF med campus would be a real plus.

To which UCSF campus are you referring? The main ones are Mission Bay, Parnassus Heights, Mount Zion, and Laurel Heights.

[mayorhaggar]

Originally Posted by frogmanatbac

Is it possible to work in SF and then commute to a more rural situation?
Possibly more of a farming community?

Why would you want to do that?

I dunno, there are farming areas in Marin, Napa, Sonoma, Santa Cruz, etc etc. It would take a while to get to some of those places, at least an hour by car.

[frogmanatbac]

Originally Posted by mayorhaggar

Why would you want to do that?

I dunno, there are farming areas in Marin, Napa, Sonoma, Santa Cruz, etc etc. It would take a while to get to some of those places, at least an hour by car.

There is a great job posted in SF, but we have a lifestyle that is not conducive to city-living. Essentially, we like rural living as much as you probably like city-living.

How far out could you get with the mass transit before jumping in your car?