Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > California > San Francisco - Oakland
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 09-05-2017, 12:13 AM
 
15 posts, read 22,879 times
Reputation: 20

Advertisements

We just moved from NY metro area to San Ramon, House rent is $1000 more expensive here. That is something everything will know before their move.
You will realize the following are more expensive after the move, haircut 1.5x, school donations 3x, no school bus for children, Soccer classes 2x, music class 1.5x, food is 1x, gas 1.25x. We dropped the idea of buying a house. We might after we move out of the state. We are however fully happy with the weather, adventure trips, outdoor activities and the schools. You win some and you loose some.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 09-23-2017, 01:54 PM
 
Location: close to home
6,203 posts, read 3,506,567 times
Reputation: 4761
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oakformonday View Post
Keep in mind the culture here is slower and people are less genuine. It will be hard to make friend out here. Everyone will be your friend at first but they are not serious. It is hard to describe but that is one thing that I dislike about the Bay Area. I generally blow off anyone that is from here. Since there are people from all over the world it is not hard to ignore the locals.
well said and why i can't wait to leave and go BACK to the east coast....
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-25-2017, 02:52 PM
 
Location: New York
1,186 posts, read 956,706 times
Reputation: 2970
I'm reading this thread with interest because we're in a similar situation to the OP, looking to take a job in SFO in the next 6 months or so.

The difference is that we'd be working in either the SFO downtown/financial district or Palo Alto/Mountain View area, so probably commuting in either way. We don't have kids so local schools aren't a concern.

Our home-buying experience in NY was awful, time consuming and lost a lot of offers, but sounds like the competition in the Bay Area is way worse! Good to know.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-25-2017, 07:15 PM
 
Location: SW King County, WA
6,401 posts, read 8,230,936 times
Reputation: 6570
Yeah, it's worse. Less inventory, more artificial controls on the market, higher bidding wars. At least you've gotten used to it in NYC, but it's not going to be any more fun. LOL
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-11-2017, 10:36 AM
 
15 posts, read 22,879 times
Reputation: 20
Home buying experience will be far worse than NY/NJ. There are no contingencies allowed in the agreement. Listing price is just a hogwash. You will not be able to weigh in against comp homes. Cash purchases are normal. Houses get sold in 1-2 days. This is the ultimate sellers market. Even if you move further from desired location there is no remarkable difference in prices. Still stratospheric prices. At least NY had NJ and CT for a compromise. There are no similar options due to unviable public transport and roadways.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-15-2017, 10:34 PM
 
2,333 posts, read 1,476,087 times
Reputation: 922
I currently live in Daly City. It's one of the most affordable areas here, but I hesitate to recommend it. I assume at that salary you are used to a certain standard of living. Daly City/Pacifica/San Bruno will likely not meet it. That's just my opinion, being of about the same income level as yours (and DINKs at that). For example, when you spend $1.5m in the NYC 'burbs, you expect a great school and/or great commute and/or large house. You will probably only get 1 out of 3 in the cities I mentioned so you'll have to prioritize.

I've been plotting my move back to NY (Westchester), where you can get a much better standard of living than you can here. Unless you've been living here forever and you're used to it, it can be very demoralizing to work so hard to make that salary, spend $1.5m on a 1600 sq ft home and still not get a great commute or great schools at the end of the day.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-17-2017, 01:49 PM
 
Location: New York
1,186 posts, read 956,706 times
Reputation: 2970
Quote:
Originally Posted by BicoastalAnn View Post
I currently live in Daly City. It's one of the most affordable areas here, but I hesitate to recommend it. I assume at that salary you are used to a certain standard of living. Daly City/Pacifica/San Bruno will likely not meet it. That's just my opinion, being of about the same income level as yours (and DINKs at that). For example, when you spend $1.5m in the NYC 'burbs, you expect a great school and/or great commute and/or large house. You will probably only get 1 out of 3 in the cities I mentioned so you'll have to prioritize.

I've been plotting my move back to NY (Westchester), where you can get a much better standard of living than you can here. Unless you've been living here forever and you're used to it, it can be very demoralizing to work so hard to make that salary, spend $1.5m on a 1600 sq ft home and still not get a great commute or great schools at the end of the day.
Thanks for the input! Honestly, at this point I think we jumped into the home ownership thing wayy to early for our age and just where we are in life right now (no kids, want job/location flexibility, etc). Yeah, we got the comparably larger home in Westchester, but so much outlay is going to pay the astronomical taxes (upwards of $20k/annually) in addition to the added commute time and expense as well. Honestly, while renting is definitely a sunk cost, there's a huge benefit in terms of flexibility especially when it comes to NYC and the Bay area. We are faced with a similar dilemma, because renting our home is challenging - most young professionals want to live *in* the city, whereas if we were to purchase in Manhattan, the same price we paid for our current home would get us like a 600sq ft 1BD in a decent part of the city.

So yeah, at the end of the day there are so many trade-offs. However, given our desire to remain flexible and change jobs/locations, etc I think that home ownership may not have been the right decision for us. If we move to the Bay Area in the next year or so, we'll likely go with renting and try to get a feel for the region first.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-18-2017, 12:46 PM
 
2,333 posts, read 1,476,087 times
Reputation: 922
Quote:
Originally Posted by vladlensky View Post
Thanks for the input! Honestly, at this point I think we jumped into the home ownership thing wayy to early for our age and just where we are in life right now (no kids, want job/location flexibility, etc). Yeah, we got the comparably larger home in Westchester, but so much outlay is going to pay the astronomical taxes (upwards of $20k/annually) in addition to the added commute time and expense as well. Honestly, while renting is definitely a sunk cost, there's a huge benefit in terms of flexibility especially when it comes to NYC and the Bay area. We are faced with a similar dilemma, because renting our home is challenging - most young professionals want to live *in* the city, whereas if we were to purchase in Manhattan, the same price we paid for our current home would get us like a 600sq ft 1BD in a decent part of the city.

So yeah, at the end of the day there are so many trade-offs. However, given our desire to remain flexible and change jobs/locations, etc I think that home ownership may not have been the right decision for us. If we move to the Bay Area in the next year or so, we'll likely go with renting and try to get a feel for the region first.
Yeah, all valid trade-offs. I've lived in 5 different metro areas in just the past 5 years, so I certainly get the flexibility part! The situation is a littttttle better for renters here... the prices seem to be declining slightly year over year (not sure why). If you don't have kids, then I definitely recommend renting in the city. One, there's a good chance you can get a rent controlled place. Two, you'll at least get that city experience for your money... it's not that much cheaper in the 'burbs anyway.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-18-2017, 07:52 PM
 
Location: Knoxville, TN
176 posts, read 217,152 times
Reputation: 265
Quote:
Originally Posted by capoeira View Post
San Bruno has two really good elementary schools in the western corner of the city by Skyline Blvd.

Portola Elementary in San Bruno , CA - ranking, school information, ratings, test scores, test results

John Muir Elementary in San Bruno , CA - ranking, school information, ratings, test scores, test results

The rest of the San Bruno schools are average. Pacifica elementary schools range from 7 to 9. I suggest arranging school visits if possible so you know what you are getting into.

Here are the school ratings for San Mateo County.

California School Ratings, school profiles, test scores - San Mateo County

Some of the nicest looking homes in that area are some newer homes by Skyline College like this one.

https://www.trulia.com/property/3167...ifica-CA-94044

Park Pacifica is one of the nicest areas of Pacifica but even a million buys very little there.

https://www.trulia.com/property/6856...ifica-CA-94044

As you can see these prices are around double the suburban NYC area. Compare to a place with extremely excellent schools in a NJ suburb close to NYC.

https://www.trulia.com/property/3276...gston-NJ-07039
Yes, but lower property taxes, no?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-23-2017, 02:31 PM
 
Location: New York
1,186 posts, read 956,706 times
Reputation: 2970
Quote:
Originally Posted by BicoastalAnn View Post
Yeah, all valid trade-offs. I've lived in 5 different metro areas in just the past 5 years, so I certainly get the flexibility part! The situation is a littttttle better for renters here... the prices seem to be declining slightly year over year (not sure why). If you don't have kids, then I definitely recommend renting in the city. One, there's a good chance you can get a rent controlled place. Two, you'll at least get that city experience for your money... it's not that much cheaper in the 'burbs anyway.
Makes sense for sure! I'm sure we're going to end up with some weird situation where one of us is working in the city and the other is having to commute out to the suburbs somewhere. My experience in consulting around Palo Alto/Mountain View was that the drive can be harrowing, didn't get a chance to try BART, but was driving from Newark every day which took about 45-1hr each morning. And while I got a pretty decent feel for the suburbs (Sunnyvale, Newark, Santa Clara, North Bay, etc etc) I haven't had much chance to explore the city. My random Zillowing so far has showed lower rental prices (on average) in the outlying areas; however it looks like most of the housing stock is duplexes. I was pretty happy to see the sq footage was, on average, similar to what we had in NJ for a similar price. So, assuming I'm not completely deluding myself, I think we could make it work as renters for at least a year or two to get a better feel for the area.

Anyway, thanks for the helpful feedback! I really appreciate it. I try to contribute to the Westchester forum in a similar way, because it can be really hard to get an idea of an area unless you've had a chance to live there and understand the various challenges!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > California > San Francisco - Oakland
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top