Need advice on commuting from SF to San Mateo (San Jose: middle-class, lease)

[YoungAccountant]

Hi,

I am currently renting a room from a Chinese family in San Mateo (I also work in San Mateo), and my lease will expire in September. I spoke to several to my co-works who live in the City, and they told me the commute isn't too bad.

I only moved to the Bay Area for less than a month, so I have no clue about living in the city, or where to live. I am planning to getting a studio in San Francisco, just wondering if anyone can give me some tips on where and how to start look. I have a car, and my budget is around $1,100.

Thanks!

[jman650]

Originally Posted by YoungAccountant

Hi,

I am currently renting a room from a Chinese family in San Mateo (I also work in San Mateo), and my lease will expire in September. I spoke to several to my co-works who live in the City, and they told me the commute isn't too bad.

I only moved to the Bay Area for less than a month, so I have no clue about living in the city, or where to live. I am planning to getting a studio in San Francisco, just wondering if anyone can give me some tips on where and how to start look. I have a car, and my budget is around $1,100.

Thanks!

I have no clue why you would even consider increasing your commute if you already work in San Mateo and your budget is that limited, but this is not a very good idea at all. If you want to live in the City and you have a car, you will need to find a place that has guaranteed parking or else you will have some serious problems. And with your budget, that will not be easy to come by at all in any type of desirable neighborhood.

Personally I would keep looking around the San Mateo area, or at most in San Bruno, SSF or Daly City. Depending on how much space you'll want, in SF your options will likely be limited to maybe an in-law in the Sunset or Excelsior/Ingleside/Crocker-Amazon areas for example, and then you'll have to deal with the parking nightmares and getting tickets for street cleaning, etc. unless you find one of the rare spots that have extra driveway parking for you or something. I seriously advise against this.

Your budget will still afford you something okay in the San Mateo area (assuming you're only looking for a studio?) and as long as you avoid certain less-than-desirable neighborhoods in San Mateo (Shoreview, North Shoreview, North Central) or cities that immediately surround it you shouldn't have to worry about your car or parking for the most part. And if you're interested in accessing the City, San Mateo is only 15 minutes down the road from it, so it makes for a much more comfortable situation. Especially with a limited budget.

[mayorhaggar]

Studios in SF in decent areas are mostly about $1000-1300, with most probably around $1100 and up, but you definitely see some for as much as $2000. You will see some for under $1000 in crappy areas like the Tenderloin. Sometimes you'll see cheap ones out in the Sunset for like $900 but the Sunset is boring and it would probably be an in-law situation.

If you lived with roommates it would be more like $700-1000 a month, maybe look into that if you really want to live in SF, finding good roommates can be hard but it can be a good way to meet people, though it can also be pretty competitive. I just don't think you'll find a lot of studios for $1100 or under, if you can do $1200 I think you'll find more.

Also it is hard to park in SF especially east of Twin Peaks, it's easier in the Sunset and Richmond District areas. You can park for free on the street but you'll need a city sticker (it's not that much) but you'll spend a lot of time looking for spaces especially somewhere like the Mission. Somewhere like Glen Park is easier, but Nob Hill or other areas in the NE corner of the city are impossible. You can rent a private space for like $200 a month but that is a lot to have to spend if you're on a small budget.

[80skeys]

Don't forget to budget for a parking space.

[YoungAccountant]

How about the following cities/towns: Daly City, Colmas, South San Francisco, San Bruno, and Millbrae.

Basically I am looking for towns/cities close to Bart since I go to San Francisco every weekend.

My friends told me to stay away from San Bruno and South San Francisco.

[Utahooligan]

Originally Posted by YoungAccountant

How about the following cities/towns: Daly City, Colmas, South San Francisco, San Bruno, and Millbrae.

Basically I am looking for towns/cities close to Bart since I go to San Francisco every weekend.

My friends told me to stay away from San Bruno and South San Francisco.

If you're living in San Mateo right now, what's stopping you from leaving work early one day, driving into SF, and then getting on 101 or 280 & heading S during rush hour, so you see what the commute is like first-hand?

Also, you live close enough to the other communities that you're asking about -- for example, San Bruno & SSF, to where you should be able to drive around & explore them on your own & formulate your own impressions, rather than have a bunch of strangers here tell you what to do.

People's frame of references are different. As a single white upper middle-class guy, I might say "Stay away from Daly City -- too dirty & minimal fun socializing!" Yet a married, middle-class Filipino who just left Manila 2 years ago might say "Daly City is a great place to live & raise a family!"


Ride BART/print out a BART station map to see where the stations are, spend a couple hours on Craigslist finding potential housing candidates in the cities that have BART stations, then get in your car with a map and go look at the potential homes near the BART stations, drive around the area & see for yourself what the communities are like.

It'd be different if you were on the East Coast & needing to relocate soon to the Bay Area, but you don't have that excuse for not simply taking the initiative to get in your car & go exploring.

[Utahooligan]

Two bones I will throw you is that the closer you get to San Francisco, especially if on high-ground like Daly City, SSF, Pacifica etc. is that you're more likely to be in the SF micro-climate -- potential for fog/rain/cold throughout the year, despite it being warm & sunny just a few miles away to the South.

When looking at a potential home around there, also keep in-mind that you could be under the arrival/departure flight path for SFO.

One SUMMER day I left my home in San Mateo where it was sunny & in the mid-70s & went to Sweeney Ridge in San Bruno for a hike. The fog rolled-in, visibility went down to about 10' & my only navigational frame of reference was the loud 747s just departing SFO for Asia.

[mayorhaggar]

I wouldn't especially call the northern tip of San Mateo County ghetto, SSF has some rough industrial spots I guess though, but otherwise places like Daly City and San Bruno are just kind of slightly dingy middle class areas that are expensive because they're convenient to SF and Silicon Valley. Millbrae is a bit more upper middle class I think, it's also where you start getting warmer and less foggy/windy weather, anywhere to the north or northwest will be more like SF weather, further south is more and more like warm San Jose weather.

[NYC809]

Not to hijack this thread but I may be looking at a job in San Mateo and would like to live in the city.

I'm looking for at least a 1 bedroom, with parking and quick access to the highway. Budget is $3K/month.

[FrenchKissed]

I lived in SF and commuted to work in San Mateo (just south of 92 on El Camino Real) and it was pretty easy. I had to be at work at 7AM, so I may have missed the worst of it. I also went by CalTrain, which was pretty nice for public transportation.

I think SSF and San Bruno are fine, but then I lived in the Lower Haight for 6 years, so maybe my standards aren't that high.