Advice on SF Move - places to live outside the city (San Francisco: for sale, apartments)

[socalTOnorcal]

All,

Would love some quick advice. Am looking at a potential move to your wonderful parts from SoCal, and though I know San Francisco decently well within city confines, have not seen too much outside the city.

1) For a couple who values proximity to the city, safety and good hanging out options (cafe's/restaurants not necessarily clubs) and good healthy eating shops, what places should we visit when scouting to look at to live in?

-Sausalito?
-Marin County?
-Oakland? What are the safest, nicest areas there?

2) Where else around the city would you recommend checking out to get a feel for? We are coming from the Santa Monica area to compare feel, and prefer an area with better weather/views/neighborhood if possible.

3) In regard to SF itself, what are the neighborhoods these days that are the best to live in for overall quality of life? Marina, Russian Hill, etc? Is the Presidio livable without being super rich, would one want to even spend the time checking it out to live there?

Truly appreciate all your advice.

4) Finally, what should we look at that's just a beautiful thing to see outside of the city of SF proper, i.e. Sausalito? Something close within 20-30 minutes.

Thank you

[ccm123]

Sausalito is a great place to visit. Santa Monica is a nice place (I attended UCLA and often went to 3rd Street Promenade).

Big question: what's your budget?

[twins4lynn]

Originally Posted by socalTOnorcal

1) For a couple who values proximity to the city, safety and good hanging out options (cafe's/restaurants not necessarily clubs) and good healthy eating shops, what places should we visit when scouting to look at to live in?

Take a look at Burlingame (on the peninsula). Two great downtowns, lots of cafe's and restaurants. Overall, a very nice place to live .

[ttocs99]

I love Sausalito, would definitely live there is I had the funds.

[socalTOnorcal]

Thanks all - so looks like Burlingame and Sausalito as potential places to look at to live, and even just to visit Sausalito is nice.

Any other parts, to look at to live or even just to visit on the next trip? Bear in mind we've never checked out anything outside of SF proper, so appreciate any input.

[pch1013]

Check out Alameda. It has a pleasant, walkable "downtown" area and is quite flat -- rather like Santa Monica, but without the hordes of homeless people; Alameda is renowned for being safe.

In SF, the Presidio itself is actually not really a high-rent district, or at least not all of it is. However, the surrounding residential neighborhoods definitely are. The problem with the Presidio is transportation; you really need a car or motorcycle/scooter if you want to live there. The weather's often lousy there compared to the rest of the city too, if that's an issue.

On the other hand, it's great if you're into cycling or other outdoorsy stuff. And the views are spectacular.

If you're looking for a nice, relatively quiet, and sort of "villagey" area within SF, check out West Portal, Glen Park, Bernal Heights, or (if money is no object) Cole Valley/Ashbury Heights. All are close enough to the "action" without actually being in it.

[kgbnsf]

I would echo checking out Alameda too. With two ferry terminals, Trasnbay busses and near BART, it offers easy access to SF. And, it's a really nice island with many victorian houses and a decent downtown area with nice shops and restaurants. Also, check out Oakland. There are many nice areas in Oakland, stay up in the hills. While you lose the nice neighborhood feel that Alameda offers, the views are really nice up there. It's worth taking a drive up there.

Good luck.

[jade408]

Originally Posted by kgbnsf

Also, check out Oakland. There are many nice areas in Oakland, stay up in the hills. While you lose the nice neighborhood feel that Alameda offers, the views are really nice up there. It's worth taking a drive up there.

Good luck.

The "hills" aren't particularly walkable. If walkable is a key amenity for you then your best bets are Temescal, Piedmont Ave, Grand Lake, Adams Point, and Cleveland Heights for more "apartment like places"

Rockridge for walkable + single family homes (there are apartments, but not a ton).

Mostly single family homes and relatively walkable to "hipper" areas: Trestle Glen, Crocker Highlands.

Residential with a nearby "main street:" Montclair, Dimond, Laurel, Glenview

These are your best bets in terms of access to amenities. There are other neighborhoods, in the "Hills" but you need to drive everywhere and the commercial isn't that close or varied.

All of these areas are really safe to pretty safe.

But if you narrow down to home type and budget we could be a lot more helpful

[socalTOnorcal]

Thanks everyone for tips to date. So looking to visit in a few weeks and check out the following towns-neighborhoods:

OUTSIDE SF Proper
- Burlingame
- Alameda
- Sausalito
- South Marin County
- Walnut Creek

INSIDE SF Proper
- Marina
- Cole Valley
- Ashbury Heights
- Pac Heights
- Bernal Heights
- Presidio
- Richmond

Some questions, knowing that the above all vary.
- What's a good price range to keep in mind for a good 2br apt. in those towns (rough range would be awesome to know)

- More importantly, how the hell does someone find an apt. in SF? In LA, you drive around the neighborhood you want and see plenty of signs or go to westsiderentals.com. What's the trick in SF?

- If we want to keep our cars, or at least one car (truck), do we have a prayer of a chance of doing so in SF proper or do we have to live outside the city?

If you can help knock a neighborhood or two off the list that would help as well. 30's couple here, want to be in an area that's as safe as possible, either walking distance to a good cluster of local shops/restaurants or quick drive with easy parking. Would be good to be close to healthy grocery options without going broke either. Maybe a $3k budget for rent. What do you guys think? Will be working inside the city, are any of the outer towns to difficult to commute in from?

Thank you so much - I know this is a lot of info but this is hard to do when you're miles away.

[twins4lynn]

Originally Posted by socalTOnorcal

Some questions, knowing that the above all vary.
- What's a good price range to keep in mind for a good 2br apt. in those towns (rough range would be awesome to know)

- More importantly, how the hell does someone find an apt. in SF? In LA, you drive around the neighborhood you want and see plenty of signs or go to westsiderentals.com. What's the trick in SF?

- If we want to keep our cars, or at least one car (truck), do we have a prayer of a chance of doing so in SF proper or do we have to live outside the city?

For rental information see craigslist: SF bay area classifieds for jobs, apartments, personals, for sale, services, community, and events . FYI on the SFBay page, at the top, pen = peninsula (where Burlingame is located), nby = northbay (marin), etc.

Regarding cars in SF, it depends upon where you live.