Relocating to San Ramon (San Francisco, Oakland: big house, neighborhood, subdivisions)

[ericcartman]

Hi there!

I am currently in the process of relocating to San Ramon and am lost about which city to live in. Some details abt myself:

-Work will be based in San Ramon
-Prefer to be close to silicon valley (company might change office in future, and I don't feel like moving again in an year)
-Preferably not too far from SF
-Willing to commute upto 30 to 45 min (one way)
-Budget: Flexible

I am single, end of 20s, originally from Europe, so I'd prefer a multi-cultural city (not Ghetto - no Berkley, Emeryville or Oakland). San Ramon, Dublin and Pleasanton look great, but they are a bit too far from silicon valley, from SF and are a bit too quite for me. Also, BART is not very convenient though there is a Dublin station. I'd love to live in SF, but am scared of the long/rough commute to San Ramon (and with BART from SF, I'd be 10 miles off from my work if I get down at the last station).

I was looking at San Mateo, Foster City, San Bruno and also Milpitas, but commute and weather are two factors which are keeping me concerned. I know my criteria sound ridiculous, but is there a city (east bay or south bay) with proximity to SF, silicon valley and San Ramon with nice weather (warm, sunny, no fog) ? I'm considering easy bay as well as south bay cities which fulfill these criteria.

Thanks in advance!

[ericcartman]

Quick Clarification: with Silicon Valley, I mean Palo Alto, Sunny Vale, Redwood city and Mountain view region

[Ceece]

Do you want to be closer to San Francisco or Silicon Valley? San Ramon is actually central to both and with the BART train to SF in Pleasanton it's painless. If you go across the bay to, say, San Mateo you might be slightly physically closer SF and SV but then you would also be far from San Ramon.

Your choice is to pick one and live close to it, or be equally far from everything.

[mayorhaggar]

Much of Berkeley is actually really quite nice, and same goes for Oakland, it just depends on the neighborhood. Seems like you want a gentrified, upscale, safe sort of urban place--Rockridge in Oakland would probably be up your alley but it is expensive to live there.

San Ramon is fairly remote compared to the rest of the Bay Area because it is tucked behind the hills, so it would be hard to commute there, Rockridge might be doable though. Orinda, Lafayette and Moraga are just north and are fairly ritzy suburban areas but might be too rural and suburban for you. Danville and San Ramon and Pleasanton are as far as I can tell a lot of big houses in subdivisions.

Downtown Fremont actually is somewhat urban, you might want to look around there, and it's not too far from SR. Mountain View and Palo Alto are more so but they are further.

Most of the Bay Area outside of SF is suburban, and the newer suburbs are generally more spread out and suburban while the older suburbs, especially on the Peninsula, often have a central downtown area which is usually nice to shop at and go to restaurants etc.