Where to live? (Working near Foster City) (San Jose, San Francisco: apartment complexes, rentals)

[NigelChristine]

Hi all,

My girlfriend and I are moving to San Francisco from the U.K and we need some advice on where to live. We are moving in July and am staying in a service apartment for the first month but will need to find somewhere from August onwards. Any advice will be very much appreciated.

My girlfriend will be working close to Dolphin Park near San Carlos airport and I will be working from home. Ideally we would want to live close to the City but will have to bear in mind where she will be working. She would rather not have to travel more than an hour to work everyday from door to door and she will be relying solely on public transport. We are looking to spend around $2,500 on rent but can go a bit higher.

I've been searching online for apartment complexes which has a gym and other amenities and found a place called Ashton apartments south of Bayview and just west of the Candlestick stadium. Initially the place seemed ideal to our needs as it's not too far from the Caltrain station in Little Hollywood but after researching further it showed that it's not too far from Hunter's point and Bayview... the two places everyone seems to say to avoid on the internet.

If we were to choose a place in the city, in your opinion, will it be too far for my girlfriend to travel into work? My girlfriend suggested Pacific Heights but i'm concerned that it might be too far for her to travel into work and during rush hour in the morning, just getting to the Caltrain station may be troublesome. I did initially focus my search around SOMA but I fear even that might be too far for her door to door. Can anyone suggest a good district to live bearing everything in mind?

Many thanks for reading! I look forward to hearing from any of you.

Nigel

[mayorhaggar]

Yeah you do not want to live in the Hunter's Point/Bayview area...really just cross out pretty much anything south of Bernal Heights and East of Mission Street in the SE corner of the city. There are some exceptions in terms of the niceness and safety of that area but the Caltrain stations in SF south of 22nd St. Station are all in sketchy industrial areas anyway.

You could live in the eastern Potrero Hill/Dogpatch area and she can walk to the 22nd Street Caltrain station, most trains going south stop there. There are some new condos there (I don't know if they do rentals) for tech yuppies who work in Silicon Valley but otherwise the area is mostly older housing and not new complexes. Should be able to find at least a decent 1br for under $2500, possibly a 2br.

The area near the 4th and King terminus station has a lot of new buildings but I don't know how many of them do rentals or what the prices are like, I know the condos are pretty expensive though. Finding a place that has a gym inside might be hard on $2500 but maybe you can find a 1br near 4th and King with those kinds of amenities. The rest of SOMA is mostly older buildings and kind of seedy while the area near 4th and King is kind of sterile to me but you might like it. Otherwise you are not going to find many apartment "complexes" in SF, that is more of a suburban thing, SF is mostly small buildings with around 3 to 10 units run by individual landlords.

[humboldtrat]

The Caltrain station is a couple of miles from Foster City/Redwood Shores.

There are lots of newer apartment buildings and condos with gyms in Foster City and Redwood Shores and it's only about 40 minutes to San Francisco. The rent is also probably cheaper there than in San Francisco.

[mayorhaggar]

Yes make sure she has transit from the San Carlos station to her job, maybe a work shuttle, otherwise she'd have to take a bike or something like that. If you are interested in housing down closer to Foster City you can also ask on the San Jose board.

[capoeira]

Originally Posted by NigelChristine

She would rather not have to travel more than an hour to work everyday from door to door and she will be relying solely on public transport.

Relying soley on public transit is a problem in an area poorly served by public transit like her work area. From the Caltrain she will have the choice of walking two miles,waiting for the once per hour bus that goes to that area or hopefully her company has a shuttle from Caltrain. If she misses the 8:05 am bus from Caltrain she will wait over 1 hour for the next one.

I suggest living in downtown San Carlos unless she has guaranteed shuttle service from the Caltrain station.

http://www.samtrans.com/pdf/Schedule...0_02-13-11.pdf