Any nice, affordable neighborhoods less than an hour from SSF? (San Jose: 2013, rental)

[Mobou]

Hi
My husband's going to be working in SSF soon, so we were thinking of living in San Mateo, but rents seem to have skyrocketed since we last looked and now I'm not sure we can afford it, or the areas around it. (We have a top budget of $3500 for a 3 bedroom house.)
Now I'm not sure where to go, Penninsula seems too pricey, East Bay too far. Ideally I'd like a walkable downtown and good schools, somewhere like Alameda, but I know that would be a long commute. Is Fremont too far south? Would Castro Valley be ok?

[modernist1]

How about SSF, San Bruno, Brisbane?

[Mobou]

Going by what I've read online SSF is foggy, industrial and the schools aren't great. Doesn't SB get a lot of air traffic noise?
Hadn't really considered SB or Brisbane as I haven't seen many houses for rent in those areas, so don't know what schools are like there.
Is this a slow time of year for rental properties?

[twins4lynn]

Agree with the others, you will have more luck finding a home in your price range in SSF, San Bruno, Brisbane, and adding to the mix -possibly Pacifica. All of the areas can be foggy. A random house for rent in other peninsula areas will pop up now and then, like this 3 br in Belmont for $3500 2409 Cipriani - 3bd/1ba/2car garage/Oversized backyard/Tons of Storage .

Here is a list of peninsula schools and there API's. 800+ are considered good schools. API County List of Schools

SSF isn't really "industrial" anymore. There were - from the late 1800's through the depression and up through the 1950's, but now it's mainly residential and it's "industrial" areas are office parks, hotels, the yacht harbor, and biotech. They have a few warehouses on the east side of SSF, but that's about it.

[modernist1]

Don't know about the schools. Anywhere you move is a trade off - long commute - weather etc. Some of San Bruno has serious aircraft noise (the part nearer the flight path) - but by no means all. SSF is pretty residential. Millbrae might be worth considering, however I think it's a bit more expensive.

[Mobou]

I agree about everything being a trade off. For a short commute, we had focussed on the north penninsula, but the areas we like there, San Mateo, Millbrae, San Carlos, have just become too expensive - San Bruno, SSF, we just don't think are for us.

So if a short commute looks out of the question, we need to look at places we'd like to live that are further away. What are the commuting times for places like Alameda or Piedmont in the East Bay, or what about down below Palo Alto - San Jose, or Santa Clara?

[modernist1]

Can't help you with the commute times - I live in San Francisco - don't have a car.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

You start on Craigslist with the town you work in, your rental budget, and see what comes up. Commuting is a bear, so the smart thing to do is start looking close to where you will work. Then, you widen your search from there.

You can check commute times with Google maps.

You can check schools on greatschools.com or is it .org?

For you to say the areas that are being suggested to you are "not for you," when you haven't been here and have never seen them, is well...your choice.

Where do you live now? Think of a town that would be really crazy to commute from to where you live now. Then, imagine someone asking you if they should live there and commute to your town. You say, that would be nuts, why don't you just live in my town? And the person says, your town is not for me.

Does the word insulting come to mind, even?

But, hey, don't listen to the people who actually live here. And by all means continue to ask the same questions countless others have asked, but expect a different answer.

Heck, why don't you just ask the employer to simply move the company to somewhere more convenient/affordable?

[Mobou]

I wouldn't be insulted if someone didn't think where I live is for them, why would I? People are different and want and like different things.

My husband has been to the office in SSF, several times, and stayed in San Mateo, which is why we were looking there in the first place and why we know SSF is not for us. And, yes, it is our choice.

I have checked commute times on Google but was hoping to hear the experiences of people doing the commute daily and what kind of delays and hold ups there might be and if they consider it worth it to live where they live.

But if you don't want to answer my questions, or don't know the answer, there's no need to be rude, NoMoreSnowForMe

[comingbacktocali]

Originally Posted by Mobou

Going by what I've read online SSF is foggy, industrial and the schools aren't great. Doesn't SB get a lot of air traffic noise?
Hadn't really considered SB or Brisbane as I haven't seen many houses for rent in those areas, so don't know what schools are like there.
Is this a slow time of year for rental properties?

we just bought a house in brisbane. i'm not even living in it yet but we did a lot of research of the area bc we wanted to be close to SSF. we toured the brisbane schools and were very happy with them. some (maybe 1, i can't remember) elementary schools in SB were also acceptable to us. there is a huge rental shortage in brisbane. you would have to be really on top of things to get one. however, it is like a little village there. i know we will be very happy there.