Coming from Brooklyn, where should I live in East Bay? (Oakland: condo, buying a house)

[BKLala]

We are a couple in our mid-thirties with a baby planning a move to the East Bay. Husband will be working downtown SF and I will be looking for a job. We have lived in Manhattan and more recently Brooklyn for the past 10 years. Obviously the East Bay will be totally different from Brooklyn, but what we love about our current neighborhood and hope to find out in CA is the strong sense of community, lots of families and young children, walkability, good schools, independent small businesses and restaurants.

We are mainly looking for someplace safe, with good schools (private is an option), and ideally a neighborhood where we can walk to some things or the least a short drive to somewhere walkable with shops, restaurants, parks, etc. We would love to keep the commute to SF as short as possible.

House budget - roughly 1 mil.

Some neighborhoods I've heard good things about but don't know a lot about are Piedmont, Elmwood, Claremont, Rockridge, Montclair, Crocker Highlands. Thoughts on any of these places (or others that might fit the bill) are most appreciated!

Thank you,
L

[ttocs99]

Walnut Creek is a good choice as well. Great schools, great stores and restaurants, the downtown area is big, but very walkable. 35 minute train ride (BART= Bay Area Rapid Transit) to SF. And I'm sure you could find an incredible house/condo for your housing budget. Walnut Creek is a very family friendly place as well. I moved from NYC (Queens) to Walnut Creek back in 1999 and lived there until 2006 when I moved back to NYC (not by choice). I plan on moving back there some day, I loved every minute I lived there.

My Uncle, who is from NYC, but has lived in California, NJ and now Pennsylvania, loves Walnut Creek, he said it's like a nicer Greenwich Village, without the filth. My Dad who lives in Queens loves Walnut Creek as well.

[Obamadon1]

Originally Posted by BKLala

Some neighborhoods I've heard good things about but don't know a lot about are Piedmont, Elmwood, Claremont, Rockridge, Montclair, Crocker Highlands. Thoughts on any of these places (or others that might fit the bill) are most appreciated!

All very nice with plentiful options for 1 mil. Rockridge is the most walkable of that bunch and close to BART/bus/restaurants/stores etc.

$1.1 mil upper rockridge - 5917 MARGARIDO Dr, Oakland, CA 94618 | MLS# 40629863 | Redfin

[04kL4nD]

Oakland.

[Obamadon1]

There have been a lot of places on the market in Rockridge recently but I don't see anything now. Another upper rockridge - 231 CROSS Rd, Oakland, CA 94618 | MLS# 40630954 | Redfin

[BayAreaHillbilly]

RE: Piedmont, Elmwood, Claremont, Rockridge, Montclair, Crocker Highlands.

In your budget range I would also not rule out places even north of these in lower reaches the Berkeley Hills proper, where it is still walkable to (upper) Shattuck and Solano Avenues. Forget the suggestions of living on the East side of the tunnel. Those areas are the anti-Brooklyn. Think Westchester, Rocklin, parts of Northern NJ, etc.

[llowllevellowll]

All good options. My personal favorite tends to be Trestle Glen and Crocker Highlands for their proximity to Grand Lake Theatre, Lake Merritt, et. al, but I do like Piedmont Ave and Rockridge's commercial strip more than Grand Ave, and Lakeshore Ave's. Rockridge gets a boost because of its proximity to BART but its commercial district is rather sleepy. With your budget, you really can't go wrong.

The caveat to Oakland is for high school, you'll want to go private.

[Cabound1]

I lived in Park Slope for many years. The closest you'll get to that in the east bay is Rockridge. Anything east of the Caldecott will seem like Westchester to you.

[18Montclair]

Rockridge sounds like a perfect fit, Trestle Glen and Crocker Highlands too.

[mayorhaggar]

Definitely Rockridge. But if you want to be in a good school district, Albany and Alameda are pretty much the only dense-ish Bay Area suburbs with good schools--think streetcar suburbs--sort of walkable but not as much as SF or Brooklyn or Oakland. Some people say Oakland's elementary schools are actually ok these days but they may not be up to your standards, I'd do research and see if they would be ok for your family. If not, think about whether you want to invest in buying a house in Oakland and then plan to move in 5-6 years when your kid is older, or if you want to settle more permanently somewhere like Albany or somewhere even more suburban with top schools.

Also Walnut Creek is way more suburban than Oakland or Brooklyn.