recommended medium cost family-oriented area in the Bay Area? (San Francisco: RV park, foreclosures)

[nyasiandudeinnj]

My wife is facing the possibilities of her job relocating to San Francisco. Therefore, we're looking for a medium cost of living area in the Bay Area. I saw a posting by someone in another thread who listed cities and areas to avoid, which was awesome.

For Example:

Richmond - avoid, crime-ridden, gangland, school system stinks.
East Oakland - avoid, crime-ridden, gangland,school system stinks.
West Oakland - avoid, crime-ridden, gangland,school system stinks.
Palo Alto - expensive, school system is great, but avoid the East side.
etc
.
.
.
.

Can we continue with this type of list of towns/cities/areas, short recommendation and description, whether or not it's family-friendly with a medium cost of living and a decent school system?

[gizmo980]

Originally Posted by nyasiandudeinnj

Palo Alto - expensive, school system is great, but avoid the East side.

Just to correct one thing... East Palo Alto is a separate city, in a different county than Palo Alto (former is San Mateo county, latter is Santa Clara). Most, if not all, of PALO ALTO is just fine!

Can we continue with this type of list of towns/cities/areas, short recommendation and description, whether or not it's family-friendly with a medium cost of living and a decent school system?

I'm not sure what you consider "medium" cost of living, but here are some towns that come to mind...

Burlingame: Fairly high realty overall, but you might find something do-able - good schools (BIS, BHS, etc.), low crime, easy commute to San Francisco, great weather!
Foster City: Nice, safe, family-friendly town, built on & around the water... doesn't really have it's own school system, but they would attend good schools in Burlingame or San Mateo.
San Mateo (west side): I grew up here, in San Mateo Park, and it's a great place to raise a family! Just stay west of El Camino Real, and know that prices get higher as you go up into the hills. Schools are very good in SM, including SM High, Aragon High, Hillsdale High, Bayside Elementary, Borel Middle, etc.
Menlo Park: Has a small area that isn't so nice, over by highway 101 between Redwood City & East Palo Alto... otherwise it's a very nice town, and I believe they'd attend the excellent Palo Alto schools or Menlo-Atherton (not sure, though).
Alameda: Don't know much about it, but I know people who live there & speak highly of it - supposedly very safe and clean, with an easy commute to SF.
Walnut Creek, Pleasanton, and Dublin: Quiet suburban towns in the East Bay, with a combination of good and bad school districts (ask others for specifics)... definitely cheaper than the Peninsula or city, and your wife could ride BART to work.

[sonarrat]

Redwood City: Has some good areas and bad areas. Emerald Hills and Edgewood areas are very lovely, and the area south of Woodside Road has the same character as Atherton without quite the same sticker shock. The flatter Roosevelt neighborhood, between McGarvey and Hudson and between Jefferson and Woodside, has a distinctive middle-America flavor that is very unusual for the Bay Area. The 'bad' areas are generally, but not exclusively, east of El Camino Real, especially around Middlefield and Woodside. It's more like East Palo Alto there.

[TwinMom06]

The East Bay: Pleasant Hill, Walnut Creek, San Ramon, Pleasanton, and Dublin have lots of family oriented neighborhoods where you can buy a decent 3-BR house in a good school district for $1.2 million or less. Neighboring towns of Orinda, Lafayette, Alamo, and Danville are a little more expensive. Out of those cities, Orinda/Lafayette and San Ramon probably has the best school districts and next is Walnut Creek, but depends upon which neighborhood since there are 4 possible school districts you could be assigned to.

[tennis368fan]

Castro Valley is on the BART line (20-30mins to SF), has many families, good schools, and less expensive homes. Homes on the MLS, including a few of many foreclosures, range from 299K(foreclosure) 368K(owner) for a small home, to 440K(owner) for 1,500 sq ft. The lots are usually able to accomodate renovation for more bedrooms. I recommend this city for people search for a affordable home closer to the City.

Keep in mind that in this market owners are possibly in financial distress. This means that both foreclosures and typical MLS homes may require a little maintenance, so both should be considered. Some foreclosures can even be in better positions than homes sold by the owner.

Albany has good schools also, but is more expensive.

Alameda is good for families with children as long as you stay on the side of Union Street with Alameda High School, and has transportation to SF via ferry, commuter bus, and carpool. BART is in nearby Oakland in Lake Merritt and Fruitvale, which has the most parking. It is more expensive compared to Castro Valley.

Also, check my past threads. Anything that I did not mention can be found and read. You may be able to find links to the CDE and school scores.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/5911896-post10.html
http://www.city-data.com/forum/5864191-post3.html
http://www.city-data.com/forum/5387785-post3.html
http://www.city-data.com/forum/san-f...cking-out.html
http://www.city-data.com/forum/5284323-post20.html

[hsw]

Need to be more specific...

"Medium" priced means little...put some nos. in as a guideline for rentals or buying

"Good" schools mean little....can easily figure out which schools are "good" from no. of National Merit Scholars and no. of kids who gain entry to leading colleges, like Stanford or Harvard, etc....rest of pseudo-stats is meaningless drivel...

Major aspect of schools is really safety...are there lots of poor kids in the "free" public schools who are more interested in developing their violent criminal skills on fellow, more affluent students, rather than learning to read/count? For ex., PaloAlto has academically excellent public schools, but most affluent in SF region prefer to live in hills West of PA and to pay for private schools for physical safety of their kids, even though many pvt schools are academically weak....

[robert(bob)]

i am looking for the cheapest rv park for seniors on fix income of less than 900 dollars a month this is our only income so electric is inculded a must can anyone out there help me out? 55plus rv park i know there one s out there for sr's. email me at [email]constitutionnow@gmail.com[/email] thank you and have a nice day