affordable living around Greenbrae (Oakland, Orange: real estate, apartment complex, rental market)

[ikoswife]

I am looking at a job in Greenbrae, but i believe the rental units are out of my budget for now. I'm looking for a house/townhome for around $4000 or less that is in a good school district since i have kids. I was looking at Navoto, but kept seeing different reviews online for it. Are there other areas that are affordable that people live in that work in Greenbrae?

[Chuck5000]

I used to track the Marin rental market closely, but haven't in about a year. However 4000/month is a solid number, I am sure you could find a 2 bedroom-something in most towns in the county that is decent. If you want 4+ bedrooms, OK, that might be low.

Novato and San Rafael are going to be the places where you get most bang for your buck. I know San Rafael better; there are some less-desirable areas, but as a renter, shouldn't be a problem if you can hit 4k/mo.

On the other hand, if you're coming from outside the Bay Area and are moving in on a shoestring margin, I wouldn't do it. I think it's not worth moving here *with a family* unless you have a safe margin that allows savings, i.e. a job(s) providing household income over 275k, unless maybe it's in the east bay,, where in my opinion you could get by for maybe 225k. Note that I said, "get by." One doesn't have even a lower end luxury lifestyle in the Bay Area unless they have a household income of closer to 400k.

[Excited2Move]

I'm fairly new to the area still. I'm in an apartment complex, and paying about $5k-ish for a 3-bed. For about $4k I think you could get a 2-bed in the area and be in a 10/10 or 9/10 school district (Corte Madera or Tiburon). I also think $225-250k total income would be feasible depending on how many kids and other financial commitments you have.

Overall it's more expensive for me to live here than my previous stomping ground (Orange County, CA) but well worth it!

Good luck!

[Netflix]

Novato is the closest place to Greenbrae thats "affordable". Your going to hit traffic commuting down to San Rafael. Nothing south of Novato is affordable and even Novato is not affordable but its less overpriced than everything south of Novato. $4,000 will get you a 2 bed apartment but not a house, unless you're in Novato. You really need to be here in person for a week and go see properties for rent and the volume of people your competing with before you can truly understand how horrendous the housing situation is here. Oh, don't rent at the Bon Air apartments in Greenbrae, or rather see their yelp reviews before you rent.

[ikoswife]

i just came back from a work trip out there.. the rental prices were crazy. They ended up telling me that most of the people that work in Greenbrae live in Petulma CA? But with the traffic that seemed like a horrible drive every day!

[Netflix]

Originally Posted by ikoswife

i just came back from a work trip out there.. the rental prices were crazy. They ended up telling me that most of the people that work in Greenbrae live in Petulma CA? But with the traffic that seemed like a horrible drive every day!

I know someone who lives in Petaluma and it takes her an hour and 50 mins to get to San Rafael. She leaves the house at 5am to avoid the traffic. I looked into moving to Petaluma recently. Its not for me so I would not recommend it. I know nothing about the schools or the city/area itself.

Yep, crazy prices, massive competition for housing (to rent or buy), traffic gridlock outside of 10am-2pm or 8pm-5:30am. People routinely paying 30%-40% over list for houses in Berkeley and Oakland. Its really hard to understand how bad it is here until you spend time looking at real estate in person. Unless you're absolutely compelled to be here, willing to pay for it while making some compromises, its not just worth it. If you're not rich I think you need at least a $350,000 annual income. $200,000 for sure does not cut it. Ending rant now.

[ikoswife]

That was my thinking too... its crazy the pricesof homes and traffic there

[Chuck5000]

Originally Posted by Netflix

I know someone who lives in Petaluma and it takes her an hour and 50 mins to get to San Rafael. She leaves the house at 5am to avoid the traffic. I looked into moving to Petaluma recently. Its not for me so I would not recommend it. I know nothing about the schools or the city/area itself.

Yep, crazy prices, massive competition for housing (to rent or buy), traffic gridlock outside of 10am-2pm or 8pm-5:30am. People routinely paying 30%-40% over list for houses in Berkeley and Oakland. Its really hard to understand how bad it is here until you spend time looking at real estate in person. Unless you're absolutely compelled to be here, willing to pay for it while making some compromises, its not just worth it. If you're not rich I think you need at least a $350,000 annual income. $200,000 for sure does not cut it. Ending rant now.

You're correct, and it's important to rant, so people know how bad it is, which can at least plant the seeds of some kind of start to a solution. At least publicly everyone is now talking about that there is a crisis the region.

BTW, I think Petaluma is really nice. But 110 minutes to get to San Rafael is a cosmic joke. I wouldn't do that commute for 400k per year. Time is more valuable than extra money if you have children.