Moving from Perth Australia to San Fran (San Francisco: real estate, rentals)

[Nero357]

Hi,

My husband (US citizen) and I are contemplating moving to the US in the coming year. We've never visited San Fran but we'd like to give it a go making it our home.

What are the job prospects like esp with the current economy? Housing? Transport? Multicultural? Crime? School?

Its a big decision to make such a move and I would like to weigh things out before I make the final decision.

[packet]

Housing in SF itself has not changed much in the past year. To buy a place, prices are down maybe 5-10% in the city. Outside the city, housing prices have been dropping like a stone. Rentals had been going up for a while but look like they're stabilizing and maybe dropping from what I've seen.

Inside the city your options for public transport are basically limited to bus or light rail. If you live outside the city you may be able to take either BART or Caltrain in to the city.

It is a multicultural city, although there are pockets of individual nationalities that vary by the neighborhood.

Crime is always a sticking point. There are a few sections of the city that have seen crime go up recently. SF has the crime maps online though, so you can check out how safe a particular area is yourself (Sfgov.org | San Francisco Police Department: SFPD CrimeMAPS (http://www.sfgov.org/site/police_index.asp?id=23813 - broken link)).

I don't have kids, so I couldn't tell you what the schools are like personally. From what I've heard, there are a couple decent public schools, but on the whole they're pretty terrible. Private school options are all over the city depending on the age of your kids.

[Jonotastic]

I lived in Gold Coast, Australia as well as San Francisco. I loved living in the city, however there a few things you need to know. 1- Cost of living will be much higher than in Perth, especially rent or real estate. 2-Public Schools are not very good in San Francisco, so you should look into private or live outside of the city. 3-San Francisco would be most similar to Sydney in Australia, it's urban, walkable, big, many restaurants, many shops, many bars, many clubs, many homeless people. The first thing you need to figure out is if you can afford it or not. How much do you make a year? What is your budget on buying a house or renting? If this isn't a problem, I can give you a more detailed answer.

[tennis368fan]

Originally Posted by Jonotastic

I lived in Gold Coast, Australia as well as San Francisco. I loved living in the city, however there a few things you need to know. 1- Cost of living will be much higher than in Perth, especially rent or real estate. 2-Public Schools are not very good in San Francisco, so you should look into private or live outside of the city. 3-San Francisco would be most similar to Sydney in Australia, it's urban, walkable, big, many restaurants, many shops, many bars, many clubs, many homeless people. The first thing you need to figure out is if you can afford it or not. How much do you make a year? What is your budget on buying a house or renting? If this isn't a problem, I can give you a more detailed answer.

Lowell High School is in San Francisco, and it is among the top schools in the state.

It is hard to get in, though.

Several San Francisco high schools are quite good by Bay Area standards. Many of the suburban high schools score approximately at the same tier.