Professional couple with a toddler moving to SF (San Jose, San Francisco: section 8, apartment complex)

[bushbler]

My husband has been offered a new job with a $32K increase, which puts him at $115K in SF East Bay. He is in construction and will be on a project that goes from Fremont to Milpitas.

We are giving the offer a serious thought, but are having a hard time finding a place to live (all our research is internet base). We have not visited yet.
We live in Northern Jersey, 45 min away from downtown Manhatten. We live in a suburb town, with a great elementary school, a nice high school, everyone knows every cop in town. We are within a 10 mile radius to two of the biggest malls in the USA. Great parks, no crime.

We are looking for something similar. We have a toddler who is gonna be in school soon enough, so a good school system is neccessary. We do not care about being in the middle of the club area, but would like a nice small town with plazas and restaurants. We do not need to be in SF, but somewhere close enough to have a nice dinner once in awhile. We are looking for a nice family neighbourhood, somewhere between SF and Milpitas, nice parks, no crime, shopping centers, middler to upper class. Also, somewhere that has businesses around so that I can find a job in accounting/finance.

I have been looking at apartment complexis that look great online and then you read reviews on yahoo and they are disney land for section 8. We are looking for either a 3 bedroom townhome or a big 3 bedroom apt.

My question is: What are some nice family oriented neighbourhoods in the area that we can visit during our visit in SF on 01/23/12?

[etoile_filante]

Try Pleasanton or Livermore, they are as you described, though no place has NO crime. Complex apartments are always going to have negative reviews, and most of them are not particularly charming places to be.

[Jasmine658]

We love Montclair Village in the East Bay, near the redwood groves, cute shops, friendly people. We were there this last weekend and love it.

The best schools are in Piedmont in east bay, or if willing to tunnel it, look into Danville & Walnut Creek areas too. One of our offices was in Walnut Creek, and took 45 minutes by BART from SF to Walnut Creek.

We also have friends that like the Albany & Kensington area schools in east bay.

[beb0p]

Since your husband's potential job site is in Fremont/Milpitas, I don't recommend you live too far north since 880 is a traffic nightmare during rush hour. How far are your husband willing to travel?

Piedmont and Walnut Creek have good schools but I think it's too far north. There are plenty of equal or better districts around the Bay Area. Believe it or not, one of the very best schools (Look up Mission San Jose HS) in Northern CA is right in Fremont; in the area that borders Sunol. But I heard the student body is crazy competitive and the academic is like a boot camp.

For good schools I suggest you check out:

North of Fremont - Pleasanton, Dublin, Castro Valley, San Ramon, and Danville.

West of Fremont - Cupertino, Saratoga, Palo Alto, Menlo Park.

South of Fremont - I've heard that parts of San Jose has good schools, you'll need to do more research on this one.

Unfortunately, the area along 880 close to Fremont are not known for their schools; that includes Milpitas, Union City, Newark, Hayward. But you never know, you may find something that the general public is not aware of.

P.S. all apartment reviews are generally negatives. I'd take them with a grain of salt.

[bushbler]

Yes, I have been thinking about Fremont as well, but read that its a really boring town. Boring could be good for me though . I have also heard good things about San Jose, but I felt like it is too far from San Francisco. Can anyone tell me specific neighbourhoods?

[jade408]

Originally Posted by bushbler

Yes, I have been thinking about Fremont as well, but read that its a really boring town. Boring could be good for me though . I have also heard good things about San Jose, but I felt like it is too far from San Francisco. Can anyone tell me specific neighbourhoods?

Willow Glen is really nice! There is a walkable main street area and cute houses. Probably one of the only areas of San Jose I'd live in.

[mayorhaggar]

I guess he's working on the BART extension? Dublin, Pleasanton and Livermore all have good schools and are very suburban. Fremont could work, definitely check it out. I dunno which areas around Eastern San Jose have good schools, I'd ask on the San Jose board if you're interested.

The cities of Alameda and Albany are the main somewhat urban parts of the Bay Area that have good schools that I recommend when this topic comes up, but they're really too far out for an easy commute to Milpitas, though just getting to Fremont might be ok but a bit rough with traffic. Walnut Creek is mainly suburban but does have a big outdoor mall in its downtown, but would probably be as bad or worse for getting to around Fremont.

[beb0p]

Originally Posted by bushbler

Yes, I have been thinking about Fremont as well, but read that its a really boring town. Boring could be good for me though . I have also heard good things about San Jose, but I felt like it is too far from San Francisco. Can anyone tell me specific neighbourhoods?

Having lived all around the Bay Area, let me tell you, they're ALL boring towns! That's why singles live in San Francisco and commute down to the Silicon Valley. But don't tell the soccer moms and dads in Silicon Valley that I said that.

Plus, the towns are so small and so close together that it really makes little difference when you drive. From Fremont, in ten minutes drive (assuming no traffic jam), you can be in San Jose or Palo Alto.

[Jasmine658]

I went and checked out Fremont one day house hunting (my husband works in Palo Alto, and said Fremont had buses over so it was on our list to look at), and I will say this: I didn't move to SF area to live in area that felt almost exactly like where I grew up - Dallas, TX, and the drive to SF and back to Fremont just to have dinner in the "city" would not be a consideration. It would have to be a weekend trip. I thought about it when I finally reached the bay bridge after a ho-hummer of a boring drive for an hour one night after day in Fremont, and told my husband - NEVER! Won't consider living there - too far from SF, and not close to anything of interest - like museums, beach, etc.

Another thought is to look into Castro Valley - heard some good things about that area, not too far from Fremont.

One thing we do like in the Fremont area, though, is in Newark - the Silliman Recreation Center has one of best pools in the bay area, and we do make the drive there once in a while just for the pool.

[bushbler]

Ok, I am really confused. Fremont is only 37 miles from San Fran. I live in NY area now and we live about 27 miles away from the city. And let me tell you....that Washington Bridge can have some traffic. But we make it to the city every couple of months or so. Why do I need a weekend trip to make it to SF? Anybody, any help...I do not want to be to far from Fremont since I don't want my husband on the road all the time. His benifit...his work schedule allows him to travel at non peak hours...On the road at 4:45 am and back from work round 3:30 pm.