Help us please! Moving to San Mateo County (Fremont, Daly City: middle-class, to rent)
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Hello all, I would appreciate any feedback from those of you that already live there. My husband is a firefighter and is being transferred to San Mateo County. We need to start looking for a home to rent. The prices from what I can see are insane from what I'm used to paying down here in Palm Springs, CA. I have 5 people in my family. An 8 year old, a 5 year old and a 7 month old baby. No pets. I need a home over an apt, but can't afford to pay over $2,300 a month at the most! Can you guys recommend some other cities in the area that are still good safe areas that are cheaper? I will be attending Stanford University as well so it can't be more than a 30-40 min drive. I so appreciate your feedback! Thanks!
Hello all, I would appreciate any feedback from those of you that already live there. My husband is a firefighter and is being transferred to San Mateo County. We need to start looking for a home to rent. The prices from what I can see are insane from what I'm used to paying down here in Palm Springs, CA. I have 5 people in my family. An 8 year old, a 5 year old and a 7 month old baby. No pets. I need a home over an apt, but can't afford to pay over $2,300 a month at the most! Can you guys recommend some other cities in the area that are still good safe areas that are cheaper? I will be attending Stanford University as well so it can't be more than a 30-40 min drive. I so appreciate your feedback! Thanks!
Redwood City's probably the best choice price wise. there's plenty of housing for under $1000 a month although you'll likely be in a slightly rougher area. You really have to know where you're sending your kids to school though... there are some really struggling schools there. I personally would recommend North Star Academy for K-8 and Summit for 9-12, although Summit isn't as good.
I really appreciate your reply, are there any other cities in the area that aren't "rougher" as you put it, that have housing for under $2500 but not under $1000? Thanks so much.
That's a big family. Most of the people I know in your situation, including a good number of public employees, make the commute from Pleasanton or Walnut Creek so that their kids can be in better school districts than, say, east side Redwood City. The selection of 4-bedrooms anywhere on the peninsula for less than $2300 is currently 4.. one in a part of Daly City which gets frequent whiteout fog, three in East Palo Alto which should be avoided, and that's it.
Though nice cities, Pleasanton and especially Walnut Creek would be a very uncomfortable commute to the peninsula. Fremont is much cheaper and has some nice neighborhoods plus good schools. There are plenty of families here with three kids. Very reasonable commute to Stanford.
Early this year I moved out of a nice, but small, 1950s-era 3 bedroom 1 bathroom house in the mexican ghetto area of Redwood City, and I'd been paying $2400/month, no utilities included!
If you chose Redwood City, you really have to be careful. Redwood Shores is absolutely wonderful -- educated white & asian people that respect their community. The areas of RWC just to the East & West of El Camino Real (the main thoroughfare that runs thru San Mateo County) are mixed white & hispanic & I assure you, if you grew-up in at least a middle-class household where everyone graduated from high school at the minimum, you WILL have quality of life issues living in much of RWC:
Neighbors of questionable immigration status
Neighbors who cram 2 or 3 families into a single-family dwelling & illegally convert a garage into a bunkhouse for 5 or 10 'day laborers.' Because of this, many streets are effectively just one-lane, due to all the cars parked on both sides.
Neighbors who take no pride in their (rental) homes & thus litter.
Junker cars with loud exhausts & stereos driving by at 3AM & waking you up.
Hit & run traffic crashes caused by drunk, unlicensed drivers (I had two separate ones directly in front of my house in less than a year).
Living on a street where the majority of your neighbors use old bedsheets as curtains.
I got to deal with all of the above, while paying $2400/a month to live on the 300 block of Redwood Avenue. I had a 'police scanner' so I heard the police, fire & EMS calls -- that, and my own eyes & ears are what make me point the majority of the property & person crimes plus the quality of life issues on the uneducated hispanics that have taken over most of the city.
San Mateo has some nice areas & the crime problem hasn't gotten as out of hand as it has in Redwood City (yet) but living on "the Peninsula" is very expensive, even for a small old house in the ghetto. What many people do is live in the East Bay & commute. The drive can be long, but you'll get a bigger house in a nicer area for it.
Utahooligan, that's a lot worse than I ever saw in Redwood City. I lived further west just off Jefferson and Alameda. If it wasn't for the neighbors, some of which were actually belligerent enough to hang up and directly defy the landlord by turning up the party music when we complained, it would have been pretty nice. The problems we had were all noise related. People just felt so entitled and they wouldn't take any crap even from the people who provided their home. I couldn't stand it and left after 3 months.
Early this year I moved out of a nice, but small, 1950s-era 3 bedroom 1 bathroom house in the mexican ghetto area of Redwood City, and I'd been paying $2400/month, no utilities included!
If you chose Redwood City, you really have to be careful. Redwood Shores is absolutely wonderful -- educated white & asian people that respect their community. The areas of RWC just to the East & West of El Camino Real (the main thoroughfare that runs thru San Mateo County) are mixed white & hispanic & I assure you, if you grew-up in at least a middle-class household where everyone graduated from high school at the minimum, you WILL have quality of life issues living in much of RWC:
Neighbors of questionable immigration status
Neighbors who cram 2 or 3 families into a single-family dwelling & illegally convert a garage into a bunkhouse for 5 or 10 'day laborers.' Because of this, many streets are effectively just one-lane, due to all the cars parked on both sides.
Neighbors who take no pride in their (rental) homes & thus litter.
Junker cars with loud exhausts & stereos driving by at 3AM & waking you up.
Hit & run traffic crashes caused by drunk, unlicensed drivers (I had two separate ones directly in front of my house in less than a year).
Living on a street where the majority of your neighbors use old bedsheets as curtains.
I got to deal with all of the above, while paying $2400/a month to live on the 300 block of Redwood Avenue. I had a 'police scanner' so I heard the police, fire & EMS calls -- that, and my own eyes & ears are what make me point the majority of the property & person crimes plus the quality of life issues on the uneducated hispanics that have taken over most of the city.
San Mateo has some nice areas & the crime problem hasn't gotten as out of hand as it has in Redwood City (yet) but living on "the Peninsula" is very expensive, even for a small old house in the ghetto. What many people do is live in the East Bay & commute. The drive can be long, but you'll get a bigger house in a nicer area for it.
I've seen a few of your posts and you seem like a paranoid person, maybe you should move back to Utah. Police scanner? LOL are you serious?
I've seen a few of your posts and you seem like a paranoid person, maybe you should move back to Utah. Police scanner? LOL are you serious?
Here's a personal invitation: If you don't like any statements I make, try challenging me on some specifics. You'll notice that unlike you, I was able to articulate specific issues I observed while living in the area in question.
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