Livermore, San Mateo, or SF Proper? (Los Angeles, San Diego: apartments, condos, houses)

[sponger42]

Hello all,

I'm evaluating job offers from companies in Livermore and San Mateo. I lived in Los Angeles for a few years and moved around a lot until I found the perfect beach town in Ventura, a 30-45 minute car commute (1 hr by bus or 1+hrs by train) from work.

Is there anywhere similar near San Francisco? I know Livermore is at least an hour inland, but what about San Mateo?

I can live with being up to a 45min commute by car from work.

For Livermore, I know it's pretty far inland. Are there any communities halfway between downtown SF and Livermore? Any reasonable mass transit options to be able to get to either within an hour of leaving home? What's Livermore like?

For San Mateo, are there any commuter lines to downtown SF? What about the beach communities? Any good surf spots near Half Moon Bay besides Mavericks? How long to get to SF from Half Moon Bay? How long from San Mateo? What's San Mateo like?

Thanks for the info.

[silverkris]

To help you as much as possible, it may be good to tell us:

1) are you single, married, have kids or not? Are schools for children a concern?

2) do you have a certain budget? This is pretty important because of the very high cost of living in the area, which you probably are aware of.

3) are there any specific amenities that you want? Cultural activities? Access to the beach? community? Nightlife?


You seem to be asking about proximity and access to San Francisco in any case---am I guessing you want to live in SF and commute to either San Mateo or Livermore? Livermore is pretty far inland and at least an hour away from SF. There is a BART station serving Livermore/Dublin that will take you to downtown SF, but my guess is that it will take you around an hour. Driving during commute hours will likely be even more depending on where you are in the city.

San Mateo is closer to San Francisco and there is a commuter rail line called CalTrain that takes you into SF, which will take about 30 minutes, depending on whether it's an express train. However, depending on where you want to go in SF, you will have to then take local bus or tram lines (MUNI), as the SF CalTrain terminus isn't all that convenient to places you want to go, unless you're a baseball fan of the SF Giants - their stadium is a few blocks from the station. It's also very accessible by driving either via 101 or 280...driving times depends on time of day - if you're going during off peak hours I'd say you can get into downtown in about 30-35 minutes, commute hours longer. San Mateo is a relatively older suburb, it's got some very nice areas, with a nice downtown with some good restaurants, and it's roughtly midway between SF and San Jose/Silicon Valley.

Half Moon Bay is a bit of a bear to get to from SF because of the 92 highway once you get off of I-280 westbound...it gets clogged up during commute hours.

[sonarrat]

The beachfront cities are very cold, gray and sleepy, with the exception of Santa Cruz which is much too far. The bayfront properties in places like Jack London Square (Oakland), Mission Bay, Marina (SF), Redwood Shores, Point Richmond, Sausalito, etc. are more desirable.

[sponger42]

Originally Posted by silverkris

To help you as much as possible, it may be good to tell us:

1) are you single, married, have kids or not? Are schools for children a concern?

2) do you have a certain budget? This is pretty important because of the very high cost of living in the area, which you probably are aware of.

3) are there any specific amenities that you want? Cultural activities? Access to the beach? community? Nightlife?

1) Married, planning on kids.

I am concerned with access to SF because one of us works in the Fashion industry--and I assume what there is will be near downtown--while the other will likely work in the aforementioned communities. The fashion work will probably end or greatly diminish after kids.

Schools are important, but they don't have to be the best. We both did fine in (certainly not top-tier) public school and think (more like hope) that it depends more on the parents motivating the kid than the quality of the school.

2) We should be able to afford to live in an area where a small house (2-3br, 1-2ba) costs between 300-500K.

3) All of the above. We'd love to live in Half Moon Bay (but I see housing is astronomical!) to be near the beach. Ventura was a little beach town which hosted cultural events almost every other weekend on main street. It also had nice cafes, cheap groceries, farmer's markets, thrift stores, boutiques, and some fun bars within easy walking distance. We'd like to find somewhere similar. Being 45 minutes out from SF should take care of nightlife beyond having a nice local watering hole (maybe with some screechy local bands on the weekend) nearby.

For San Mateo, I can probably give up living on the beach to be able to drive out and catch a morning session a few times a week. (We used to live in the San Fernando Valley and I'd drive out at 5AM to catch a pre-work session in Malibu, which was about 30mins away) I see that the 92 is pretty much the only option besides Broadmoor/Point Pedro to the north. You say it clogs up, which way does traffic flow? I'm guessing toward SF/San Mateo in the mornings and toward the ocean in the evenings? Or is it just gridlock both ways? Google maps claims 22 mins, what does traffic add, would you guess?

Say we lived up in Broadmoor and commuted to San Mateo (19 mins on the map.) Would that be going against SF inbound traffic in the mornings and against outbound traffic in the evenings? Maybe I'm dreaming. There's a lot of parks up there, possibly there's no houses--or even apartments--we can afford, like Malibu. Seems like the commuter lines in Broadmoor/Daly city are really good both to San Mateo and SF proper.

Dang, the more I look at Broadmoor/San Mateo/SF the more I like it. It's only 15 miles, which I used to do from North Hollywood to Canoga in an hour by bike (google's pessimistic at 1:30, 45mins by rail). How hilly is that area?

For Livermore, it's probably 1:30 one way to the beach, so that's more like once a week, I guess. Google tells me that Castro Valley has commuter rail to Livermore in 30mins and Downtown SF in 45 mins. Is that realistic? What are those communities like? Geographically, Livermore seems like my 2nd choice, but the work there is pretty tempting.

We both love San Francisco and are really excited about the chance to live nearby. We used to make the 6 hour drive a few times a year just for a chance to hang out on the peninsula.

[humboldtrat]

Go for San Mateo or surrounding area. San Francisco is about 40 minutes away by Caltrain commuter train System Map The beach at Half Moon Bay is about a 30 minute drive. I don't think getting a 3 bedroom house for $500K is going to happen. Small condos in the area go for that much.

Livermore is too far out and the commute on I-580 is terrible most of the time.

[OrangeSunset]

If you are planning to have kids I would stay in Livermore. It is a very family friendly area with good schools. Commuting to/from Livermore by car is not pretty. 580 gets busy on commuting hours. The ride to the BART station is about 15 minutes and it takes about one hour on the BART to get to SF. If you like the weather in LA I think you will appreciate the sunny skies of Livermore. SF is cold and gray most of the year. I used to live in San Diego and appreciate the weather in Livermore a great deal. I could not put up with the fog and the lukewarm temperature year round.

Anyway, here's what I had to say about Livermore in another post. Feel free to ask more specific questions. You should visit Livermore and see what you think before making a decision of where to live.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/san-f...nt-live-2.html

Also, with your budget you could get a pretty nice house in Livermore. Nothing huge but a nice 3 bedroom house for sure.

[OrangeSunset]

One more thing about live music in Livermore:
Downtown Livermore California - Thirsty Thursdays (http://www.livermoredowntown.com/events/event_pg/thirsty_thursdays/ - broken link)
(always a favorite!)

Livermore Wine Country Festival 2010 - Live Music (http://www.livermoredowntown.com/winecountryfestival/live_music/ - broken link)

Wente Presents "Discover the Wine, Discover the Music"
(we loved this one!)

I've never been to any of these (not my thing) so I can't comment but you can check them out for yourself.
Livermore, California Bars and Nightclubs

[sponger42]

Hm, thanks for the link. Livermore really doesn't sound appealing, but I guess we ought to visit before making any final decisions. We're not into the suburban wine culture at all. What about Castro Valley or Oakland, can anyone living in these places comment? It looks like I could take the BART in from CV and then bike to work from the station.

[jade408]

Castro Valley is also suburban. Schools are pretty good. Interestingly enough there are ranchers, cows and horses. Lots of 50s ranch homes and a few Americana diners and the like.

Oakland: great place to live, but as your kids get older the schools get worse. Somewhere around middle school many parents go for private school.

Oakland is pretty urban, and doesn't feel traditionally suburban in most parts of town. There are lots of main streets with restaurants/cafes/etc all over town. A varied mix of architecture as well. I like it a lot, but I realize schools are a concern -- but they have improved quite a bit and are on the right track.

If you have enough income, Piedmont could be a better choice (or you could save up and move there when your kids are older) It is a wealthy town surrounded by Oakland. (The surrounding Oakland neighborhoods tend to be a similar level of poshness)

I love living in Oakland. Close to everything, a good scene: restaurants and nightlife for people with varied interests and diverse friends. Definitely keep it on your list. It looks like you are a few years out from kids, 10 years from now who knows what'll happen.

Summer weather is in the low 70s. It is generally sunny. Sometimes there is fog, and it burns off by 10 or 11a. (FYI: Walnut Creek gets foggier in the winter than Oakland). Winter is very mild. Typically in the 50s for the high, 40s for the low. This past few weeks it has been 60s and 70s here. It is very easy to get to SF from most parts of town.

FYI: Caltrain does not run frequently and they have severe budget problems right now. Expect drastic service cuts.

[capoeira]

If you are into surfing check out the Linda Mar area of Pacifica. This area is much more sunny than the Northern part of Pacifica. It is a quick under 30 min drive to SF via Highway 1 and 280. It will soon have easy access to Half Moon Bay once the Devil's Slide tunnel is completed. There are probably some homes in the under 500K price category if you can tolerate a 1,000 sq. ft. home.

The Broadmoor area is in a heavy fog zone but it is convenient for commuters.

San Mateo is a great option and has one of the best downtowns on the peninsula. It is easy enough to get to Half Moon Bay on the 92 however the real traffic problem is on the weekends,especially any sunny weekend, when everybody on the peninsula wants to go to the beach.

Livermore will be ideal if you like very hot summer temps and want easy access to Target,Walmart and Home Depot (all conveniently located on Las Positas Rd).