City similar to Walnut Creek w/ <1 hr commute to SFO (Concord: real estate, townhome)

[eagle06]

I'd previously looked at the Bay area for a job and like cities similar to Walnut Creek, Lamorinda, Pleasant Hill, etc for the weather and smaller town feel. Now I may be getting a job out of SFO. The commute to these cities may be a little too far.

Any suggestions for cities with a similar feel to those mentioned but within an hour from SFO. Public transportation may be an option as well.

Coming from Denver we'd prefer sun over fog which is why i was looking inland initially.

Budget will be a little tight at first so we'd need a 2 bedroom (could do 1) apt or townhome for <$1500.

Thanks for the tips.

[alamo andrea]

Hey Eagle! No kids? Try Pleasant Hill or Concord, both have commercial areas, if not full downtowns like Walnut Creek, and the rents (and property values) are much lower. Another area to try might be Martinez, it has a quaint downtown area and lower cost housing.

[mayorhaggar]

The eastern side of San Mateo County (next to the Bay and not the Pacific) is pretty warm and sunny most of the year, like high 70's and low 80's I think. So you could look somewhere like Millbrae, Burlingame, San Bruno, San Mateo, etc. It's expensive so $1500 for a 2br might be hard, a 1br might be more doable.

[eagle06]

Wouldn't Pleasant Hill, Concord, and Martinez be more than a 1 hr commute with traffic? If not then I guess I can still consider all the areas I previously mentioned.

[rascal-c]

Alamo Andrea is a real estate agent who, based on my experience reading these threads, only recommends neighborhoods in the areas where she sells homes. So take it with a grain of salt.

[eagle06]

That's what I figured. Do you agree that those areas would be more than a 1hr commute?

[cardinal2007]

I've never been to those cities in the East Bay, so I can't be certain of the atmosphere you're looking for, but to the best of what I can gather, either Burlingame, parts of San Mateo, Belmont or San Carlos probably have what you're looking for. I would probably avoid Foster City, as it has more of a traditional suburban feel, rather than the other cities which were small towns that were swallowed by the suburbs as suburbs spread in the peninsula in the 1960s and 1970s.

Personally I would visit these places to see what they are like, Belmont doesn't really have a downtown, but being mostly in the hills doesn't have the tract housing feel of other places, San Mateo and San Carlos have nice downtowns, San Mateo being larger than San Carlos, but perhaps some places in San Mateo could be a turn off, like the way El Camino is 6 lanes for much of the stretch in San Mateo it can make it feel more like a large suburb than a small town. It is a little tough to describe the look and feel of these towns, so visiting the areas would probably be better. If you're looking for 1970s and 1980s and newer tract housing that is more common in the outer East Bay, that, on the other hand would be tougher in those cities, and you would probably want Foster City or Redwood Shores. You would probably not want to move any more north than Millbrae if you want to avoid the fog, personally for me even Millbrae can be an issue in terms of fog, but for some it wouldn't.

[cardinal2007]

Originally Posted by eagle06

That's what I figured. Do you agree that those areas would be more than a 1hr commute?

On BART it is 68 minutes from Walnut Creek to SFO, Google maps says it is 40 minutes without traffic, 70 with traffic, the times are longer for Pleasant Hill and even longer for Martinez. I've never driven that way during rush hour, what time of day would you be commuting?

[clongirl]

I would definitely look towards the South Bay/Peninsula over the East Bay. There are many cities that aren't shrouded in fog all the time-- a little more inland, like San Mateo, Belmont, Burlingame, Millbrae, Foster City, San Carlos, etc. It would take over an hour on the BART (and even more if you're driving) to SFO every day.

[jade408]

Originally Posted by eagle06

Wouldn't Pleasant Hill, Concord, and Martinez be more than a 1 hr commute with traffic? If not then I guess I can still consider all the areas I previously mentioned.

Yes these places are all further than Walnut Creek, and WC is 45 minutes without traffic to SFO. But you could take BART, and that would be about 1:15 to the airport, less than an hour to downtown SF.

Pleasant Hill = suburbia, less posh than Walnut Creek . Concord = suburbia, less posh than P-Hill (middle class and working class, lots more Mexicans than the rest of the 680 corridor). Haven't spent any time in Martinez other than being stranded by Amtrak. The downtown looks like a western town. You can take BART, but I have no other ideas on what it is like.