Are there still nice places to live in the SF Bay Area for $500K? With good air quality, quality of life. (Bell: new home, living)

[BurnInTheMil]

Originally Posted by ecsdude

What about Danville, Martinez, Hercules?

In the East Bay, near Albany, there are some 2bdrm/2ba condos going for $500K or so. The tall condo building in Emeryville (Pacific Park Plaza) even had 2bd/2ba condos for like $500-600K not too long ago.. but now I recently checked and they are $800Kish! Maybe I was looking at the 1bdrms and got confused because the last time I checked felt like only a year ago or so.

Danville, absolutely NOT. Danville is a really nice, rich area. Homes start around $700K. An easy way to tell, instead of just naming off more cities is just to use Zillow, Realtor.com, Trulia, etc... A little research would do you well

$500K in Martinez, you can find some places for that, but they will be small, and old

[sav858]

I wouldn't recommend Martinez (refineries) to someone concerned about air quality, or Tracy (Central Valley air) for that matter.

[BurnInTheMil]

Originally Posted by sav858

I wouldn't recommend Martinez (refineries) to someone concerned about air quality, or Tracy (Central Valley air) for that matter.

From an air quality standpoint, no

$500k budget standpoint, sure why not

[phantompilot]

No place in California has really good air quality except the remote parts of the state and perhaps the coastal stretches (if you're right on the coast, the main source of air pollution is what has blown over from Asia - which is actually significant).

That being said, the low cost areas of the Bay Area likely have the worst air quality.

[ecsdude]

Originally Posted by phantompilot

No place in California has really good air quality except the remote parts of the state and perhaps the coastal stretches (if you're right on the coast, the main source of air pollution is what has blown over from Asia - which is actually significant).

That being said, the low cost areas of the Bay Area likely have the worst air quality.

Where is considered to have the best air quality plus good weather and quality of life?

[BurnInTheMil]

Originally Posted by ecsdude

Where is considered to have the best air quality plus good weather and quality of life?

Redding & Eureka both have good air quality. Weather in Redding sucks in the summer, beyond miserable hot. Eureka is a coastal town, about 5-6 hours north of SF, good weather because it's right on the ocean.

[clongirl]

Originally Posted by ecsdude

Where is considered to have the best air quality plus good weather and quality of life?

The best areas for air quality would be coastal. The ocean breezes tend to blow all the pollution into the East Bay and into low, valley areas. I'm not sure what map that you've been looking at, but air quality tends to change day to day depending on the weather conditions. I know this because when the pollution is bad my asthma starts to bother me a lot. It was bad last year when we had the drought and it's bad in the summer when it's very hot and there's little breeze.

Of course finding something for 500k is another matter- You'd be looking at duplexes or condos. Maybe Daly City,Pacifica or San Bruno areas.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by Greg10556

Redding & Eureka both have good air quality. Weather in Redding sucks in the summer, beyond miserable hot. Eureka is a coastal town, about 5-6 hours north of SF, good weather because it's right on the ocean.

Eureka is cold and foggy in summer and very rainy in winter, doubt many consider that "good weather".

[BurnInTheMil]

Originally Posted by sav858

Eureka is cold and foggy in summer and very rainy in winter, doubt many consider that "good weather".

Didn't know people considered 60's-70's during the day cold... Because that's not cold

That's good weather to me, not for all but that's okay. Some people actually enjoy rain, but I guess if you've lived in the Bay Area forever, it's not a totally normal thing

[sav858]

Originally Posted by Greg10556

Didn't know people considered 60's-70's during the day cold... Because that's not cold

That's good weather to me, not for all but that's okay. Some people actually enjoy rain, but I guess if you've lived in the Bay Area forever, it's not a totally normal thing

70's? The warmest month has an average high of 64. And yes that is cold for summer. It rains 15-18 days a month in winter there, I doubt many people enjoy that much rain. Have you actually ever been there? Or spent more than one day there?