Suburban house with yard on 165k salary?

[justinbro2002]

Here are homes in Hayward that hit some of your main requirements. Hayward is a blue collar town that has it's fair share of crime and less desirables but they area is experiencing gentrification with peoples priced out of the peninsula moving across the bridge.

Fixer near the San Mateo bridge -excellent location for commuters-
Friends of ours rented a home that is the same model as this one a few streets over. They are quaint homes with nice high ceilings and beams.

Move In Ready! 26353 HUNTWOOD AVE.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by Chuck5000

Little something out there called "taxes"

Does not seem wise for a young single person to buy a house in the Bay Area these days, unless he is older and anticipating a near term family. Or maybe has 4 dogs that he loves, or something like. He could rent well in the area on that salary, and not be tied down should the tech economy go south.

Great point. Unless he finds a place that has a room with a separate entrance that he could turn into a studio rental, to pay the taxes.


I still say that if he's willing to put up with a student lifestyle for just a few years, and rent a room in Berkeley, he could pull it off. He could pull together $300K in 3-4 years, and put a 50% deposit on a $600K house. By then, he'll be making more than he is now.


But, OP, the yards of tomorrow will not be the yards of today. In fact, the yards of today aren't at all what they once were. We all may be looking at yards consisting of bark chip landscaping, or gravel landscaping, and other desert-scaping, due to water constraints.

[shooting4life]

The op needs to give up on looking for a newer house, otherwise San Lorenzo is a nice area that is still affordable, safe and less than an hour from SF when taking Bart. Of course no night life or walk ability, both of those are so 2014 though.