Moving to the bay area (Oakland, San Mateo: real estate, rentals, condo)

[Britishlass]

Hi,
We are a British family, moving to San Fransisco early next year with my husbands work. We would love to move to Menlo Park, but it seems to be pretty expensive. (as does most of the bay area compared to London) Can anyone offer advice on an alternative nice area, closeby, which is equally as safe and commutable to San Fran by train? What would one expect to pay for a 3 bed house with a garden? We also need to be in a good school neighbourhood.
Also, are there any housing rental agents that we could register with to view rental properties online? (other than Craigs list)
Thanks
B

[mayorhaggar]

- what is your budget?
- exactly where in SF does your husband need to commute to?
- how long of a commute could he stand?

Menlo Park is a high-priced area in the middle of Silicon Valley which is one of the most expensive areas of the US. I would look at the East Bay which is cheaper and way better for commuting to downtown SF anyway.

Should be able to get a house in either Walnut Creek or Pleasanton for around $450,000 and up (somewhere nice in Silicon Valley or San Mateo County would be more like $900,000 to a million or so). I'm not sure what a 3br house would rent for but you can check craigslist and see. Both WC and P'ton are safe and have good public schools. They both have BART stations and BART goes straight to downtown SF, it is a 35 minute ride to downtown SF from WC and 45 minutes from Pleasanton. Also check out Pleasant Hill and Dublin. The Walnut Creek and Pleasanton areas get really hot in summer though, like 90's pretty much every day. If you can raise your budget a bit, check out Orinda and Lafayette which are a bit more expensive and are a bit more upscale and don't get as hot.

You can look into San Mateo County if you want but it's probably out of your budget. If you can deal with gray fog and year-round chilly weather then look into Pacifica and see if it fits your budget. Areas from Millbrae along 101 south to Redwood City are warmer and are generally nice suburban areas but the only way to get to SF is Caltrain which is a crappy way to get to downtown SF because its terminus station at 4th and King is over a mile from where most jobs are on Market Street, so you have to walk or ride an unreliable pokey light rail train. BUT if your husband's job is near the 4th and King station, Caltrain would be awesome.

The vast majority of Bay Area rentals are listed on craigslist which was founded in SF after all. There are property management companies that manage properties but they mostly list their listings on craigslist anyway. Best way to avoid scams on craigslist is to not agree to anything or pay anything unless you meet with someone and view the property. But maybe do some google searches for something like "Walnut Creek rental company" and see if there's any real estate companies in a town you're interested in that you could contact.

And in general I can't imagine that the Bay Area is any more expensive than much of the London area, when you factor in the exchange rate.

[Hemlock140]

Castro Valley is a nice quiet, safe area with lower rental prices than SF or Contra Costa County, and has a transit (BART) station that can get you to SF for work. We used to live there and liked it a lot, though I only commuted to Oakland.

Even closer is San Leandro, which does have some rough areas
but most is fine, you just have to check out the neighborhood first. Most of the rental agencies take your money to give access to listings that are often out of date. Your best option is to look at classifieds online in the local papers such as Oakland Tribune and Daily Review. I have no idea howmuch rents are in London, but SF and the Bay Area are right up there with the highest in the US. For 3edrooms with a yard I'd expect to pay $2,000/month in a less desirable area, $3,000+ in nicer areas.



Home - Inside Bay Area

[jade408]

Originally Posted by mayorhaggar

-
Should be able to get a house in either Walnut Creek or Pleasanton for around $450,000 and up (somewhere nice in Silicon Valley or San Mateo County would be more like $900,000 to a million or so).

You can probably find a condo or townhome in Pleasanton for 450-550k. Home prices are more like $600k.

The town next to Pleasanton, Dublin is about 10-20% cheaper with schools that are about 10% worse aka very good.

San Leandro is pretty hit and miss, the schools aren't great. I'd move next door for something in the Castro Valley school district or over the hill in Dublin, Pleasanton or San Ramon.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

What is your general district in London? I can give guidance of which areas here most resemble which ones there.

[scadi]

According to Renlingo.com you can find some pretty good rental housing for under $2000 a month. What's your budget?