New costs of the east Bay (San Jose, Oakland: homes, neighborhoods, go bankrupt)

[Torcastle]

Hi everyone,
I have wanted to move to the SF Bay area for many years, but have been put off by the costs of housing in particular. It seems prices are really coming down in parts of the east Bay, like San Leandro and Hayward. Now, I have spent most of my time in San Jose and it's immediate area when I've been there, and only visited SF. So I don't know what are "decent" places to live in the east Bay area except by some online research. I'm mid-30s, married, white, well-educated with a background of working in both higher education (administration) and in marketing. My wife works in healthcare. We are not "keeping up with the Joneses" types... the Joneses can go ahead and go bankrupt trying to play that game.

What might be some decent areas to live where housing is becoming more reasonable? If we could have reasonably easy access to BART that would be preferable. We're open to ideas at this point, so any suggestions are welcome.

Thank you!

[kraigk1]

Originally Posted by Torcastle

Hi everyone,
I have wanted to move to the SF Bay area for many years, but have been put off by the costs of housing in particular. It seems prices are really coming down in parts of the east Bay, like San Leandro and Hayward. Now, I have spent most of my time in San Jose and it's immediate area when I've been there, and only visited SF. So I don't know what are "decent" places to live in the east Bay area except by some online research. I'm mid-30s, married, white, well-educated with a background of working in both higher education (administration) and in marketing. My wife works in healthcare. We are not "keeping up with the Joneses" types... the Joneses can go ahead and go bankrupt trying to play that game.

What might be some decent areas to live where housing is becoming more reasonable? If we could have reasonably easy access to BART that would be preferable. We're open to ideas at this point, so any suggestions are welcome.

Thank you!

Try www.stonebrae.com . I was in a similar situation and bought there recently.. Awesome hidden neighborhood. About 12-15 minutes from the BART.

[Ultrarunner]

Castro Valley, Dublin and Pleasant Hill are worth a look...

[Torcastle]

Thank you for the suggestions. Any others would be greatly appreciated. Also, if something elsewhere in the overall Bay area seems like a fit for what I described, we would certainly consider those as well.

[Taboo2]

Originally Posted by Ultrarunner

Castro Valley, Dublin and Pleasant Hill are worth a look...

San Lorenzo is ok as well. Not as good as Castro Valley Dublin, but not as bad as Hayward, San Leandro.

[bellalunatic]

Albany, should you wish to partake in the great public schools system...(aw, sheesh now I sound like my grandmother!)
Berkeley might be good for you.
or Rockridge in Oakland.
As to wether the prices are in your range I don't know since you didn't mention specifics.
Personally I've always felt a bit of that "keeping up with the joneses" thing gets worse as you get further inland into the East Bay, but maybe that's just me.

[alohakat]

Define "where housing is becoming reasonable" and we can help you more. What price points are you considering? Otherwise you can look at a Bart station map and check surrounding neighborhoods to that.

I disagree about the "keeping up with joneses gets worse as you get further inland".....I happen to love it further inland, and the prices are lower inland. Pleasant Hill is a good suggestion, Dublin is mostly a bit higher priced. You may even like Martinez: "The November 2008 median home price in Martinez CA was $440,000 for single family detached homes" per one website, that also quotes Pleasant Hills at 518k (probably a match for Castro Valley prices) and Dublin's at 655k. From Martinez you could head through Pleasant Hill and Lafayette surface streets to depart from the Lafayette Bart, but plan on arriving there by 7 am I believe to find parking or maybe a touch earlier, someone can advise that.

[jaynetarzana]

Originally Posted by bellalunatic

Albany, should you wish to partake in the great public schools system...(aw, sheesh now I sound like my grandmother!)

We are considering Albany too and it is nice to hear people talk about the great schools there.