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Old 05-20-2011, 08:47 PM
 
1 posts, read 2,060 times
Reputation: 10

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We (me, my wife, and two girls) are moving to the peninsula. I have a job in San Carlos. We need a 2-3 bedroom place to rent that's updated/modern, walkable to a downtown area, has washer/dryer in unit, near public transportation, and excellent elementary school. Needs to be $3,000 or less per month including utilities. Help! Everything I've found so far is either ugly, remote, or has bad schools.
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Old 05-20-2011, 10:07 PM
 
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
140 posts, read 435,857 times
Reputation: 135
Default Rent house instead of apartment

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dhbromley View Post
We (me, my wife, and two girls) are moving to the peninsula. I have a job in San Carlos. We need a 2-3 bedroom place to rent that's updated/modern, walkable to a downtown area, has washer/dryer in unit, near public transportation, and excellent elementary school. Needs to be $3,000 or less per month including utilities. Help! Everything I've found so far is either ugly, remote, or has bad schools.
Stop looking at apartments, and look at homes only. Apartments on the peninsula tend to be really ugly, turned sideways, squeezed onto residential lots, depressing, and poorly designed structures that don't conform with rest of neighborhood. You can get a house with 2 BR, plus bonus room (can use for 3rd bedroom often) for under $3000 in Burlingame, San Mateo, Millbrae, etc & these towns I recommend the most for schools, fun for kids, easy to walk around. But San Carlos and Belmont also have good schools too, but just don't have as interesting areas to walk around. Concentrate on renting a home if you can walking distance to a Caltrain stop. Fun for kids so you can all walk to train, go into the city. Best rental home deals tend to be near Caltrain anyway. Most advertise Craigslist.
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Old 05-21-2011, 04:35 AM
 
2,957 posts, read 6,459,464 times
Reputation: 1419
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jasmine658 View Post
Stop looking at apartments, and look at homes only. Apartments on the peninsula tend to be really ugly, turned sideways, squeezed onto residential lots, depressing, and poorly designed structures that don't conform with rest of neighborhood.


Where precisely do you have in mind with this description? There is so much diversity in structure type/layout/size/etc with apartments just in any one single Peninsula city alone that it would be impossible to make such a huge generalization, but I'm curious where specifically you were thinking of in saying this. Very odd assessment, and a huge generalization that doesn't even sum up a single Peninsula city IMO. Could you elaborate?

Saying the apartments in the Peninsula are a certain way is like saying, "fish tend to be medium sized, gray, and dwell in deep water." In other words, your description only applies to a VERY small percentage of apartments in any town that I can think of lol.
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Old 05-21-2011, 11:49 AM
 
Location: Northern California
3,721 posts, read 14,697,600 times
Reputation: 1962
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dhbromley View Post
We (me, my wife, and two girls) are moving to the peninsula. I have a job in San Carlos. We need a 2-3 bedroom place to rent that's updated/modern, walkable to a downtown area, has washer/dryer in unit, near public transportation, and excellent elementary school. Needs to be $3,000 or less per month including utilities. Help! Everything I've found so far is either ugly, remote, or has bad schools.
In San Carlos, there are plenty of apartments within walking distance of the downtown area, a library, park and public transit such as the Caltrain station. However, there are very few apartments with a third bedroom or with washer/dryer in the units anywhere in the area. Apartment buildings have a common laundry room. You would have to rent a house if you want all those things. San Carlos has very good schools.

The White Oaks Blog: A San Carlos Real Estate Blog by A San Carlos Realtor. has some info about San Carlos. You're missing San Carlos Hometown Days this weekend San Carlos Hometown Days
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Old 05-22-2011, 10:36 AM
 
Location: Central Bay Area, CA as of Jan 2010...but still a proud Texan from Houston!
7,484 posts, read 10,423,156 times
Reputation: 8955
I would try Redwood City! I have lived here for over a year and I love it! It is beautiful, clean, sunny and full of redwoods and flowers. It is close to the ocean, mountains, San Carlos, Palo Alto, SF, Oakland, San Jose. It is a great place to live and you can find a nice updated house to rent for that price easily!

Good Luck!
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Old 05-27-2011, 04:44 PM
 
Location: Sunnyvale, CA
6,288 posts, read 11,750,966 times
Reputation: 3369
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jasmine658 View Post
Apartments on the peninsula tend to be really ugly, turned sideways, squeezed onto residential lots, depressing, and poorly designed structures that don't conform with rest of neighborhood.
I'll second this. I was really disappointed in the apartments we looked at up and down the peninsula a couple months ago. Old, worn out things.
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Old 05-27-2011, 06:12 PM
 
Location: Somewhere out there.
10,510 posts, read 6,130,322 times
Reputation: 6562
Have you tried hotpads.com?
I live in England so obviously I'm an outsider in a big way and know nothing except that Burlingame and San Mateo have good schools, but we are thinking of moving into the area too so as well as buying I've also been looking at rental properties on the net.

Here are a couple of 2 bed houses under $3000 from the website.
Linden Avenue, Burlingame, CA | Powered by Postlets
815 Highland Ave, San Mateo, CA | Powered by Postlets

Hope this is of help.
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Old 05-30-2011, 06:40 PM
 
Location: A bit further north than before
1,651 posts, read 3,690,741 times
Reputation: 1465
Quote:
Originally Posted by jman650 View Post


Where precisely do you have in mind with this description? There is so much diversity in structure type/layout/size/etc with apartments just in any one single Peninsula city alone that it would be impossible to make such a huge generalization, but I'm curious where specifically you were thinking of in saying this. Very odd assessment, and a huge generalization that doesn't even sum up a single Peninsula city IMO. Could you elaborate?

Saying the apartments in the Peninsula are a certain way is like saying, "fish tend to be medium sized, gray, and dwell in deep water." In other words, your description only applies to a VERY small percentage of apartments in any town that I can think of lol.

There's definitely a "crappy Bay Area apartment building" style - 2 stories, completely rectangular, motel-style parking lot, outside metal staircases/cement balconies.

Welcome to my life
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Old 06-01-2011, 01:09 AM
 
57 posts, read 134,365 times
Reputation: 21
Quote:
Originally Posted by 80skeys View Post
I'll second this. I was really disappointed in the apartments we looked at up and down the peninsula a couple months ago. Old, worn out things.
I third this. Unless you rent in some overpriced upscale apt building with upscale overpriced rent.
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Old 06-01-2011, 10:33 PM
 
Location: Silicon Valley, CA
13,562 posts, read 10,316,598 times
Reputation: 8252
Quote:
Originally Posted by gone down south View Post
There's definitely a "crappy Bay Area apartment building" style - 2 stories, completely rectangular, motel-style parking lot, outside metal staircases/cement balconies.

Welcome to my life
Oh, there's a term for that style of apartment buildings - they're called "dingbats", and they're found not just in the Bay Area, but in Southern CA and in the Southwest.
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