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)
 
Old 12-27-2006, 10:54 AM
 
3 posts, read 19,669 times
Reputation: 12

Advertisements

Can you give me any advice on areas around or in San Mateo? My husband, I and my 10 month old son will be moving there quickly as my husband was just transfered there and will begin work immediately.

Any advice on commutes from east bay or peninsula towns?

Thanks
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 12-27-2006, 03:12 PM
 
1 posts, read 7,581 times
Reputation: 10
Welcome to the Bay Area. What struck us when we moved here 6 years ago was the shear beauty of the area. That sediment still holds true for us.

With that being said - I hope your move to San Mateo included a very large pay bump because it is a tough go here with some very expensive home prices. What shocked us wasn't just the price of homes - but the value of the home - (what you get for the money.) We bought a 1600SF, 3 bedroom home in Pleasant Hill (east bay) for $500K in 2002. Nothing special - no upgrades - a pool - but nothing to write home about. Now our home is about $700K (+) - but we wouldn't be able to afford the mortgage at that price. Our salaries haven't risen high enough to afford us the freedom to "upgrade" our quality of life - with a bigger house, bigger lot, and better school systems.

I worked in Redwood City - so I know the San Mateo area well enough - but I'm no expert. It is very nice, up and down the *****ula - with the more expensive homes being - located on the higher side - "up the hill" and the lesser expensive homes being located on the flat part - along Hwy 101.

There are some great towns to look at:
Burlingame - close to the airport
Belmont
San Mateo
San Carlos
Redwood City
Woodside
Palo Alto
Portola Valley

If you want advise on the east bay - Walnut Creek - Layfayette - Danville - San Ramon - etc. let me know because these are the town to which we are looking to upgrade. Commutes from these towns would be about 45 min to 1hr., so beware.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-28-2006, 05:33 AM
 
Location: In the Redwoods
30,286 posts, read 51,833,691 times
Reputation: 23660
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flandog View Post
Welcome to the Bay Area. What struck us when we moved here 6 years ago was the shear beauty of the area. That sediment still holds true for us.
My family has been here for 23 years, and the beauty still amazes me on a regular basis. We have a running joke in our family, because when we first moved here, my dad always said "What a view!" (when passing certain spots)... now we repeat that whenever we drive past nice views, which is quite often in the Bay Area. He also has a catch phrase for the great weather - "You don't get this in New York!"

Quote:
I worked in Redwood City - so I know the San Mateo area well enough - but I'm no expert. It is very nice, up and down the *****ula - with the more expensive homes being
I'm sorry, but that's too funny (the censored part)... I can only guess what the typo was, LOL!

Last edited by gizmo980; 12-28-2006 at 05:46 AM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-28-2006, 05:35 AM
 
Location: In the Redwoods
30,286 posts, read 51,833,691 times
Reputation: 23660
P.S. To "movingnow", you can read my response on your other thread...
Moving to Bay Area
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-29-2006, 08:27 PM
 
3 posts, read 19,669 times
Reputation: 12
Default Good Info

Thanks for the info on the bay area. We're looking to spend about $2000ish on a 3 bedroom rental...if that's even possible. Any reccomendations on where to look at rental listings other than craigs list and the paper.
Are there any areas to stay away from on the peninsula?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-31-2006, 05:06 AM
 
Location: In the Redwoods
30,286 posts, read 51,833,691 times
Reputation: 23660
Quote:
Originally Posted by movingnow View Post
Thanks for the info on the bay area. We're looking to spend about $2000ish on a 3 bedroom rental...if that's even possible. Any reccomendations on where to look at rental listings other than craigs list and the paper.
Are there any areas to stay away from on the peninsula?
Did you get a chance to read my post on your other thread? You might be able to find something in that price range, depending on exactly what you want. Are you hoping to rent a detached home? I would suggest Foster City, Burlingame or San Mateo hills first. Those towns have good schools, if you're there long enough to take advantage, and they're safe in most parts. To get more specific... in Burlingame, the best parts are around Burlingame Ave., Ralston Ave., and west of El Camino around Trousdale Dr. (the hills). San Mateo is nice around Alameda de las Pulgas, and "above" Hillsdale mall. Foster City is basically safe all around, and they have some gorgeous condos and townhouses - might be too pricey, though. Millbrae could be an option, though I don't know it well enough to offer details... Redwood Shores is another good area (but possibly above your price range), and San Carlos & Belmont are nice on the west sides.

As for sources, I do think that craigslist is the best! And SFGate is a site that's affiliated with our newspapers, which has classifieds from around the Bay Area. These are really the only decent local resources... you can check the general ones (like rent-net & apartments . com), but they usually just have the expensive & large complexes. You can also try contacting our local realtors, like Re/Max or Coldwell Banker, since they often have rental services.

Finally, places to avoid... definitely don't move to my neighborhood, East Palo Alto, which is crime-central of the Peninsula! Also avoid east San Mateo and east Redwood City (dividing line is usually El Camino Real for our cities), and most of Daly City, Colma, Brisbane, South San Francisco and San Bruno. The latter 5 do have some nice areas, but you'll pay a high price for them! Anything "cheap" in those towns are probably in dangerous neighborhoods. East Bay cities also have many sketchy parts, and it would be a bad commute to San Mateo. The south Peninsula has a lot of nice options, like Sunnyvale, Mtn. View, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Cupertino, etc... but once again, the commute might really suck. Anyway, sorry for the long essay - hope this helps!

Last edited by gizmo980; 12-31-2006 at 05:23 AM..
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. The time now is 06:19 PM.

© 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