PLEASANTON opinions for young family (Concord, Livermore: low income, section 8, real estate)

[amsmith825]

Hi all!

My husband and I are 33 and 28 respectively, got married this year and plan to start a family in the near future. We are living in the Peninsula but will have enough money to buy a house (750-1 million price range) by March or so of 2013. We had originally looked at Danville, but are now considering Pleasanton as an option as well due to more affordable housing (if we can pay less than a million for a nice, 4 bedroom place that would be great!).

What are your thoughts on Pleasanton overall? What is the community like? Are people friendly? Are there many young families? How are the schools? Is there a lot to do in and around the area? Are there any areas of Pleasanton specifically with a great community feel or great views of open space? Any advice on Pleasanton (or surrounding areas if you prefer them- Walnut Creek and Danville are other considerations) would be SO helpful before we begin our official house search! Thanks in advance!

[0'Farrell]

The whole Tri Valley is the same thing. Good schools, low crime, similar vibes, affluent white people.

[jade408]

Originally Posted by 0'Farrell

The whole Tri Valley is the same thing. Good schools, low crime, similar vibes, affluent white people.

Basically. A few more asian people here and there. Dublin is the most diverse town in the Tri-Valley.

Good value for the Bay Area at least. Some places are a little snootier than others, but no different than Peninsula snootiness.

[amsmith825]

Ok- more specific insight would be great in regards to the questions I posted above. Thanks to the responders thus far

[ccm123]

Great schools, excellent family oriented lifestyle and downtown area. Only drawback is that it can get warm in the summer months, as all inner East Bay communities do. Real estate is in demand there and you should not have any issues to sell your property when the time comes.

Pleasanton is a lovely city and has that "Smalltown USA" and "Mayberry" feel to it.

[clongirl]

I didn't like Pleasanton at all when I lived there. But it might have just been me. It just didn't suit me or my family's lifestyle. It's a far more conservative town than I prefer and didn't feel like I was in any way part of the Bay Area (which was really important to me).

My kids did mostly fine, but many of the middle school kids were from very newly affluent families and seemed to carry the same sort of new money superiority complexes as the parents. There was a lot more overt snobbery and cliquishness within the schools and not particularly friendly or warm to newcomers. The schools look alright on paper but my oldest children didn't really love it either and were fine with moving.

[Think About It!]

Originally Posted by amsmith825

Hi all!


What are your thoughts on Pleasanton overall? What is the community like? Are people friendly? Are there many young families? How are the schools? Is there a lot to do in and around the area? Are there any areas of Pleasanton specifically with a great community feel or great views of open space? Any advice on Pleasanton (or surrounding areas if you prefer them- Walnut Creek and Danville are other considerations) would be SO helpful before we begin our official house search! Thanks in advance!

This has been answered a lot on this forum and most likely hasn't changed if you research the past few years on these issues.

Pleasanton is a great community. It is known for being a great place to raise a family. It is a safe quiet suburban type community with low crime and good schools. The schools get high ratings and there is not a low test scoring school in the city. I like the area around downtown and then north of downtown around Black Ave the most for me personally but there really isn't a bad area in town.

Personally, I like Pleasanton out of those options. The ease for commuting, shopping, downtown, good schools, low crime and "conservative" standards by bay area opinions are what I like about it. I would pick Danville next and Walnut Creek last. I like Walnut Creek but not as much as the other two. Pleasanton is bordered by Dublin and basically Livermore. Walnut Creek is bordered by Concord (which is questionable somewhat by 680 corridor standards) and Pleasanton Hill for the most part.

[aslowdodge]

I really don't know if Pleasanton is really any more affordable than Danville. A while back I looked at homes and it seemed like Pleasanton might have been a bit more expensive than Danville, but really it depends on the type of housing you are looking for. It's nice being at the crossroads of 680 and 580. The area is definitely upper middle class and I can see where there might be some snobby attitudes or kids with a skewed view on money and psessions,but really your kids would do fine if you teach them right and keep track of them. There's also lot's of great people here. Things are so busy that you might have to make the first move, but most everyone will be friendly enough if you make the effort to meet them.
This town is so family oriented I think it is a bit boring if you are single.

Tonight I ran into someone I hadn't seen in over 20 years. He lives in an apartment in Pleasanton. He's not highly paid and he used to live in San Lorenzo. I asked him about the sacrafice of paying more to live here and he said it was because of the schools and community. So there you go.

[justinbro2002]

There are nice 4 bedroom homes in your price range in Pleasanton. Pleasanton has the highest median household income of Alameda County at a $113,000 per year. But Danville has the highest median income per family in Contra Costa County at $143,000 per year. Pleasanton has a nice downtown and is a good place to raise a family some of the people who live there are a little snooty and snobbish. The schools are very good which is to be expected in a higher income area. The demographics of the area is experiancing a large shift because of the influx of Asian families (including East Indians) while still predomitly white like most of the trivalley that is changing. Danville however has good schools as well but the people there are very snobbish and snooty from my experience. If you decide to live in Pleasanton you might want to look for homes that are not near the Bart stations the city has/is building low income housing in that area as part of a settlement with the federal governement over the cities lack of afforable housing so that area will have the problems that go along with low income section 8 housing. The mall already has been inundated with undesirables because of the proximity to the bart station.

[amsmith825]

Thanks everyone for this great info! If anyone else has any other thoughts I'd love to hear them but I just wanted to say thank you to those that have commented!