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Old 06-23-2012, 08:57 PM
 
3 posts, read 4,110 times
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Would love your advice. My husband, 7 month old baby, and I are moving to the Bay Area. I will be working in San Mateo, right off of 92. My husband will be working in the northern part of San Francisco (in media gulch). We can't afford to pay more than $2000 a month in rent and we only have one car. Where can we live that is family friendly and commutable to both of our offices? (We are willing to cram ourselves into a one bedroom apartment if necessary)
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Old 06-23-2012, 10:08 PM
 
Location: Bay Area, California
49 posts, read 143,527 times
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San mateo is family friendly and you might be able to find a 2 bedroom for that price but it won't be easy. Last BART stop is in Millbrae so maybe over there would make more sense to you to make commute easier on your husband, you'd be able to drop him off at BART or maybe there is a shuttle service? I'm sure there is a bus that goes to the station at least. Commute from Millbrae to San Mateo shouldn't be too awful, under an hour should be doable, less if you go off peak, or take 280 instead of 101. Millbrae is pretty family friendly, but stay away from San Bruno. There is Caltrain that he can take from San Mateo or Burlingame if you live out of reach of BART, you might want to see what's walking distance form his work, BART or Caltrain. Also do you have pets? If you do it'll be much harder to find a place in your price range, you'll definitely be limited to a 1 bedroom.
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Old 06-24-2012, 01:26 PM
 
Location: SF Bay Area
2,203 posts, read 3,360,937 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lorinastreet View Post
Would love your advice. My husband, 7 month old baby, and I are moving to the Bay Area. I will be working in San Mateo, right off of 92. My husband will be working in the northern part of San Francisco (in media gulch). We can't afford to pay more than $2000 a month in rent and we only have one car. Where can we live that is family friendly and commutable to both of our offices? (We are willing to cram ourselves into a one bedroom apartment if necessary)
Numerous cities on the peninsula would work and you should be able to find a 2 bedroom for that price in a family friendly area. I would check out San Mateo, Belmont, Burlingame, Millbrae, and San Bruno. San Mateo and San Bruno have areas which are not as nice as others (primarily east side of El Camino, near 101) which you will want to avoid. San Bruno's Mills Park area is totally safe and family friendly (but the weather isn't as nice as further down on the peninsula). Millbrae is nice and has all safe areas, same with Burlingame.

And, fyi, it takes under 1/2 hour driving from Millbrae to San Mateo, taking either 101 or 280. From my Millbrae home to CSM it takes approx 17 minutes (taking 280), and to 3rd avenue (taking 101) approx 20 minutes. San Bruno & Millbrae have BART, and all the cities have Caltrain.
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Old 06-24-2012, 11:19 PM
 
10,920 posts, read 6,910,517 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by twins4lynn View Post

And, fyi, it takes under 1/2 hour driving from Millbrae to San Mateo, taking either 101 or 280. From my Millbrae home to CSM it takes approx 17 minutes (taking 280), and to 3rd avenue (taking 101) approx 20 minutes. San Bruno & Millbrae have BART, and all the cities have Caltrain.
Driving time seems about right, but it could be shorter depending on where in Milbrae you're going to and where in San Mateo you're coming from. From my apartment in downtown San Mateo, it never takes more than 10-15 minutes to get to the Milbrae BART station, driving on El Camino (a distance of about ~4.5 miles). I don't usually get on 101 since it's so close, and really doesn't save any time (plus, I tend to avoid 101 unless it's after 7PM in the evening).

However, if you're coming from the southern part of San Mateo and going to somewhere further north in Milbrae, I could see it taking a little longer. But, San Mateo to Milbrae should never take more than 20-30 minutes (max).

As for housing recommendations, I think San Mateo (outside of the areas east of 101) would work well. Going north from there, Burlingame, Milbrae, some parts of San Bruno could also work. And going south, Belmont, San Carlos could work (although, keep in mind, the further south you are, the further you are from SF). If I were in that situatuon, I'd rather live anywhere from San Mateo and points north, to keep the SF commute reasonable. If your husband is working in media gulch (the Mission? Potrero Hill?), then he could take BART From Milbrae.

Bedroom requirements weren't mentioned, but I'm assuming a 2BR is desired (because of the baby). As others have stated, $2000 will be difficult, but not impossible. A 1BR could easily be found in that range (and it'd probably be a pretty decent/nice 1BR for $2000).

Last edited by HockeyMac18; 06-24-2012 at 11:31 PM..
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Old 06-25-2012, 11:04 PM
 
Location: Bay Area, California
49 posts, read 143,527 times
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east of 101 in San Mateo is not as scary as everyone is making it seem, if you find something in your price range (it'd be a house, the apartments are tiny) I'd recommend at least checking it out.
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Old 08-05-2012, 11:49 AM
 
3 posts, read 4,110 times
Reputation: 11
Default Found a place

Hi everyone, Thanks for your advice. We ended up taking a place in the Excelsior district in San Francisco. The rent is $1900 a month, the place is 1100 square feet and has lot of natural light. I think that price for the amount of space we have is probably rare in this neighborhood, so we lucked out. This will allow my husband to commute to work by BART and MUNI within the city (total commute time 45 minutes), and I will have a car commute of about 30 minutes. We will eventually have to move out of the city, because the elementary school here is not that great, but this will work for the next couple of years until we (hopefully) start earning more money. Otherwise, we will have to leave the Bay Area before our kid enrolls in elementary school, because I don't want him going to a school with an academic performance index of less than 8.
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Old 08-05-2012, 02:03 PM
 
3,244 posts, read 6,300,862 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lorinastreet View Post
Otherwise, we will have to leave the Bay Area before our kid enrolls in elementary school, because I don't want him going to a school with an academic performance index of less than 8.
San Francisco has a lot of 8+ elementary schools. The problem is everybody wants to go to those schools and not everybody gets in. The best way to get into a highly rated SF school is to attend the pre-k program at that school. Also students who live in low scoring areas (like Excelsior) have a tie-breaker to give them priority at their first choice school.

San Francisco 8+ elementary schools
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