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Old 08-03-2015, 01:12 PM
 
Location: Schaumburg, IL
5 posts, read 8,934 times
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I just accepted a job in the financial district, across the Transamerica bldg. Not sure if I should look to live in the Berkely, Emeryville, Novato area or should I look to move in the Mountain View, Foster City, San Mateo area. I'm a single woman, looking for a safe area and most direct commute to the financial district.
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Old 08-03-2015, 01:16 PM
 
Location: Silicon Valley, CA
13,563 posts, read 10,277,755 times
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First question: what's your budget?

That will probably determine whether you can afford or want to live in the city itself.
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Old 08-03-2015, 01:18 PM
 
540 posts, read 648,995 times
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Downtown/Uptown/North/Lakeshore Oakland
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Old 08-03-2015, 01:20 PM
 
Location: IN>Germany>ND>OH>TX>CA>Currently NoVa and a Vacation Lake House in PA
3,252 posts, read 4,275,411 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by silverkris View Post
First question: what's your budget?

That will probably determine whether you can afford or want to live in the city itself.
Budget along with climate you prefer, activities you enjoy, and tolerance for commuting among other things. In other words, you need to give us a lot more information for anyone here to help you. There are tons of "direct" commutes into the Financial District. How long would you prefer?
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Old 08-03-2015, 01:27 PM
 
Location: Palo Alto, CA
901 posts, read 1,160,430 times
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There are many differences in entertainment options among all the choices you listed. They are very different places. You could also try doing some searches here to see what people said about a given town.

I personally would choose San Mateo, but you want the most direct commute: that means either BART or a ferry. But really it's BART, because you'd have 10 minutes more walking with a ferry. Many of the towns you mention are Caltrain, which puts you a 25 minute walk or 15 minute muni ride and walk to Transamerica.

Only Berkeley, of the places you mention, has BART. Novato would be close to 90 minutes, more than double the amount of time of Berkeley; don't know why you chose that. Go to Bay Area Rapid Transit | bart.gov and you can plug in cities and get commute times.

You have some more focusing to do to create a new list.
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Old 08-03-2015, 01:50 PM
 
Location: State of Transition
102,062 posts, read 106,967,400 times
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North Berkeley, El Cerrito (bordering N Berkeley), Elmwood (=south Berkeley), Rockridge (N Oakland, bordering Elmwood). All close to BART stations, great neighborhoods, shopping walkable (except El Cerrito hills). Also the parts of Oakland listed earlier. All of those would be cheaper than living south of SF, or in SF.
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Old 08-03-2015, 02:09 PM
 
1,454 posts, read 1,930,389 times
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i work in the financial district and live in pacifica (love it!) - quick 5-10 minutes to Colma BART and 20 minute train ride.. living by the ocean is awesome
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Old 08-03-2015, 05:29 PM
 
Location: State of Transition
102,062 posts, read 106,967,400 times
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^^^ And then, there's Pacifica.
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Old 08-04-2015, 07:18 AM
 
Location: IN>Germany>ND>OH>TX>CA>Currently NoVa and a Vacation Lake House in PA
3,252 posts, read 4,275,411 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jribe View Post
i work in the financial district and live in pacifica (love it!) - quick 5-10 minutes to Colma BART and 20 minute train ride.. living by the ocean is awesome
I lived in Pacifica and really enjoyed it too, but in the end the prevalent fog and fact that everything I owned started to rust gave me pause. I ended up in East Bay and really preferred it due to the weather. Pacifica is a great little town though.
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Old 08-04-2015, 07:34 PM
 
1,454 posts, read 1,930,389 times
Reputation: 1254
Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert20170 View Post
I lived in Pacifica and really enjoyed it too, but in the end the prevalent fog and fact that everything I owned started to rust gave me pause. I ended up in East Bay and really preferred it due to the weather. Pacifica is a great little town though.
weirdly it hasn't really been foggy since i moved here (just about a month).. i must be good luck

to the OP- really does depend on the climate that you prefer; the coastal areas are going to be cooler (and usually more expensive) and there are certainly lots of nice places in east bay (walnut creek, orinda, danville, etc) but have been getting hotter in the last few years - if you're taking the BART the trains are generally more crowded as well, but again you could save at least $500 a month on rent.

let us know where you end up - good luck!
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