Young family moving to Bay Area - Cities to consider (100% teleworking) (Hayward: condos, crimes)

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by aslowdodge

You are absolutely right.
The last hurricane did a lot of damage as my places were right on the beach.
I will probably never own in a hurricane susceptible beach area again.
I enjoyed them and rented them out, but I will just rent someone else's beach house in the future.
Galveston is to Houston like what Santa Cruz is to the Bay Area .
It's a lot of fun and there are lots of things to do.
Insurance was a killer. About 7k per house. You needed fire, wind ,and flood. 3 policies.

So for that Galveston house, $7K for property tax and $7K for disaster insurance. Dang, that's $14K. Wow.

[gizmo980]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Wow, that must be some library budget!

The library system I work for (here in the Bay Area) has a $4M budget JUST for books/materials - and a decent amount of that goes to foreign language materials, with most of it being spent on Spanish, Mandarin, Vietnamese, and the top few Indian languages. So yes, California library budgets are generally strong AND supportive of our diverse community.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by gizmo980

The library system I work for (here in the Bay Area) has a $4M budget JUST for books/materials - and a decent amount of that goes to foreign language materials, with most of it being spent on Spanish, Mandarin, Vietnamese, and the top few Indian languages. So yes, California library budgets are generally strong AND supportive of our diverse community.

And people say the state gov't budge has been tight? (Until recent announcements) I remember when some libraries were forced to close, others--to cut back on hours, state parks severely limited their hours, and so on.

[SFBayBoomer]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

And people say the state gov't budge has been tight? (Until recent announcements) I remember when some libraries were forced to close, others--to cut back on hours, state parks severely limited their hours, and so on.

Some cities are doing well and are contributing funds to keeping libraries located in their cities open even if the libraries are part of county systems. The counties are involved, too.

[candalf]

If your wife is going to commute to Fremont, your only options are Union City, Newark or Milpitas. Maybe Northern parts of San Jose. You *definitely* won't get a home for 550k there but you *might* get lucky with a *small* townhome. Fremont is better than those 3 but probably outside your budget.

Hayward is overall a depressed city. You can find a nice pocket but you will bump into depressed-ness wherever you go. Castro Valley might be a bit too far for a mother with young children, but a decent place. Same with Pleasanton. All the other cities you mention entail an insane commute to Fremont and probably not worth discussing.

Now everyone has their reasons, but given that most of your income comes from remote work, it does not seem like Bay Area is the optimal place to live in. All places discussed are generic American suburbia, plentiful in all 50 states. If you just want warm dry climate with access to nature, why not consider Sacramento, Albuquerque, Reno, Northern Arizona etc? I am sure there are children for your wife to teach there. Anyways, good luck with whatever you do!

[Novatoman]

For someone with family who can work remote and make over $100K, today, I would highly recommend to buy property outside of CA but come and visit CA often, if you in love with it (like I am

We were in the same boat few years back and we chosen to leave CA and move to Boise, ID for few reasons:
1) Very clean, modern, well kept area, in general (Boise, Eagle, Meridian)
2) Safe
3) Area has very affordable housing and services. You can buy/build really nice modern house (in size and quality) for under $500K, and pay it off quickly.
4) It has 4 seasons (with mild winters in comparison to East Coast) but it is mostly sunny throughout a year (unlike PNW cities)
5) Few nice school districts with good budget for things
6) Area is not overpopulated (entire state is only 1,7 Million). You can always find parking here
7) Close to CA by air -1,5 hour direct flight to SFO, OAK or SJC for a weekend City 'fix'
8) Hiking, fishing, and other outdoorsy opportunities are countless.
9) Family centric

Hope this helps anyone who is considering the move.
Good luck!

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by Novatoman

For someone with family who can work remote and make over $100K, today, I would highly recommend to buy property outside of CA but come and visit CA often, if you in love with it (like I am

We were in the same boat few years back and we chosen to leave CA and move to Boise, ID for few reasons:
1) Very clean, modern, well kept area, in general (Boise, Eagle, Meridian)
2) Safe
3) Area has very affordable housing and services. You can buy/build really nice modern house (in size and quality) for under $500K, and pay it off quickly.
4) It has 4 seasons (with mild winters in comparison to East Coast) but it is mostly sunny throughout a year (unlike PNW cities)
5) Few nice school districts with good budget for things
6) Area is not overpopulated (entire state is only 1,7 Million). You can always find parking here
7) Close to CA by air -1,5 hour direct flight to SFO, OAK or SJC for a weekend City 'fix'
8) Hiking, fishing, and other outdoorsy opportunities are countless.
9) Family centric

Hope this helps anyone who is considering the move.
Good luck!

And I bet the meters downtown don't cost $2/hr. or more, nor do the driving tickets cost hundreds of $$! Don't forget to take the kids on a vacation through the redwoods, at some point! Ck out the north coast.

[Novatoman]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

And I bet the meters downtown don't cost $2/hr. or more, nor do the driving tickets cost hundreds of $$! Don't forget to take the kids on a vacation through the redwoods, at some point! Ck out the north coast.

Thank you R4T!

I am here all the time (because of work)
Forgot to mention. Downtown parking in Boise is free

P.S> Another alternative to Boise is Denver area (suburbs). Same thing, but less water, more dry and more crime. Good, otherwise. Denver is a nice, large, city!

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by Novatoman

Thank you R4T!

I am here all the time (because of work)
Forgot to mention. Downtown parking in Boise is free

P.S> Another alternative to Boise is Denver area (suburbs). Same thing, but less water, more dry and more crime. Good, otherwise. Denver is a nice, large, city!

Denver's really not in the summer. What are the summer temps in Boise?

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by Novatoman

For someone with family who can work remote and make over $100K, today, I would highly recommend to buy property outside of CA but come and visit CA often, if you in love with it (like I am

We were in the same boat few years back and we chosen to leave CA and move to Boise, ID for few reasons:
1) Very clean, modern, well kept area, in general (Boise, Eagle, Meridian)
2) Safe
3) Area has very affordable housing and services. You can buy/build really nice modern house (in size and quality) for under $500K, and pay it off quickly.
4) It has 4 seasons (with mild winters in comparison to East Coast) but it is mostly sunny throughout a year (unlike PNW cities)
5) Few nice school districts with good budget for things
6) Area is not overpopulated (entire state is only 1,7 Million). You can always find parking here
7) Close to CA by air -1,5 hour direct flight to SFO, OAK or SJC for a weekend City 'fix'
8) Hiking, fishing, and other outdoorsy opportunities are countless.
9) Family centric

Hope this helps anyone who is considering the move.
Good luck!

Yeah, I used to visit Boise regularly in an earlier job to see Micron Technology (one of the biggest employers in the region). Nice, compact area, not too busy. Lot of these folks love to hunt and fish.