Relo questions (San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley: transplants, apartments, to rent)

[citylove101]

Sudden potential relo coming up for us to the Bay Area and thought this forum might answer a few questions I have:


a) If the the job is in Berkeley how realistic/awful/easy is a reverse commute from San Francisco during normal rush hour time via car? (I know that from San Fran BART is an option, but I always like having at least two ways to get to work.)


b) I've heard varying things about Alameda -- that it's a conservative, bland, outlier in the Bay Area overrun by military families and middle-America refugees, with a tough commute into either San Fran or Berkeley. Or that it's a pleasant refuge from Bay Area madness. Any truth to either one?


c) How is the downtown area of Oakland around Lake Meritt. Seem pretty, safe, walkable, and an easy trek to either Berkeley or San Fran -- with some nice apartments to boot. Is that accurate?


d) Someone else also recommended Albany, a town I've never heard of. I see where it is on the map. But what's it like? What's the vibe? And transportation options to the city?

e) Emereyville looks bland and suburban but with nice new apartments (Hey, we're New Yorkers!) and in shouting distance to both Berkeley and San Fran. Same question. What's the vibe there?

Consider that we're looking to rent ($3500 more or less) for 3 beds, but two if we have to. Berkeley prices seem high for what we'd get, but correct me if I'm wrong. The kids are college-age so schools aren't an issue. We like walkable and city-like more than suburban-like, but we can adjust if we have to.

All help appreciated.

[04kL4nD]

Albany is really suburban and family oriented, while Emeryville is big box stores, chain restaurants, and horrible, horrible traffic. Lake Merritt is the best choice of the aforementioned, but it's mostly apartments. Try looking in Trestle Glen or Glenview if you want a house.

[ccm123]

Alameda is a great city, a pleasant refuge from some of the Bay Area. It's centrally located, but somewhat isolated (no BART service, as an example). Albany is a nice town. Underrated, in my opinion.

[jade408]

Alameda is pretty family. They are conservative and small town for the bay area, but it is a nice place. If you have a family. Albany is pretty similar.

Alameda would be pretty congested to Berkeley only because you've gotta deal with the get off the island traffic, and co-mingle with the I'm going to SF traffic.

Emeryville has nice apartments, but that's about it.

There are loads of neighborhoods to consider in Oakland that would offer easy commutes to Berkeley.

SF to Berkeley is around 30 minutes, if you live close to the freeway, but most of the streets near the freeway are congested. And the most "San Francisco-y" neighborhoods are far from the freeway.

Lake Merritt like zones, like Adams Point, Grand Lake are all good. The areas closest to downtown, like roughly 14th and Jackson is a little transitional, and the pricing matches. Not like "I'm getting shot" transitional, more like "boy there are some really interesting characters out here, maybe I should put my iPhone away."

You can also expand to Piedmont Ave, Rockridge, Temescal, Cleveland Heights, Glenview, Trestle Glen. All reasonable walkable and easy to easy-ish to SF. Also many of those are an easy bike ride to most of Berkeley if you are that type and have direct (albeit slow) bus service.

Generally speaking, living east of 980/Telegraph and north of Lake Merritt is all good in Oakland. (There are transitional blocks here and there, but nothing too serious). Those areas are also the closest to Berkeley.

[artemis78]

I would probably look in Rockridge (definitely two bedrooms for that price point, maybe three--especially look in Lower Rockridge in the area zoned to Emerson Elementary, which is usually less costly than the areas zoned to the higher-performing schools) if your goals are walkable/city-like with equally easy access to SF and Berkeley and options for both driving and transit commutes. You can walk to BART and have good bus access to Berkeley, and the drive is pretty reasonable. The lake neighborhoods are nice but if you're commuting to downtown Berkeley or UC, can be a trek by car or transit (okay by bike in the flats, but once you get to Crocker/Glenview and into the hills, biking that route daily is much less fun).

Alameda and Albany are both lovely but very family-oriented, so probably not ideal if your kids are out of the house and you don't need to pay the premium for the schools. The Alameda naval air station closed in the mid-90s and most of the military housing closed then or shortly thereafter too; there is still some housing for Coast Guard families there, but definitely nothing like the presence of military families before the base closed. It's got a lot of SF transplants at this point, so far less conservative than it once was. If you like the Albany area, try areas of El Cerrito along the Albany border east of San Pablo Avenue--still walkable to BART and Solano Avenue but much less costly since you don't get Albany schools.

You might also check out North Berkeley and Westbrae/Northbrae, which are cute neighborhoods with small commercial areas that are walking distance to BART in most parts. Still very family-oriented, but plenty of empty nesters too. Good luck with the search!

[pch1013]

Originally Posted by citylove101

a) If the the job is in Berkeley how realistic/awful/easy is a reverse commute from San Francisco during normal rush hour time via car? (I know that from San Fran BART is an option, but I always like having at least two ways to get to work.)

I did the reverse commute from SF to Oakland for a while. The morning commute was fine, but the evening commute was almost always very congested -- not so much at the toll gates, but on the SF side of the bridge. It's mostly related to how the freeway is configured on the SF side, but also has to do with the fact that a lot of people head into SF for dining, entertainment, sporting events, etc. I ride a motorcycle, so it wasn't too bad for me, but I don't think I'd enjoy doing it in a car.

Fortunately I was living in SOMA at the time, and was thus fairly close to the freeway. If you end up in the Sunset or Richmond, you'd then have that extra amount of traffic to deal with, and from central SF onward you'd be commuting *with* traffic, not against it.

[citylove101]

Thanks all for the helpful replies.

We'll be in the area doing some preliminary house/neighborhood looking end of this month, just to be prepared if this thing does happen. Looks reasonable to concentrate in the several Oakland neighborhoods that have been mentioned: Piedmont Ave, Rockridge, Temescal, Cleveland Heights, Glenview, Trestle Glen, as well as around Lake Merritt.

North Berkeley, West and North Brae, and SF are likely to be second choices. Though I still sort of fantasize about living in the big city it may not be affordable nor practical. I imagine daily parking in San Fran, like Manhattan, is a b****.

Any other suggestions that would work for a Berkeley/San Francisco work axis will be appreciated.