Fairfax, Oakland or Albany? (San Francisco, Berkeley: rental, condos, houses)

[iconoclastic]

I am moving to SF area for school- finishing a doctorate so I will be both busy and broke.
Commute time is a concern as well as what neighborhoods, schools etc are safe...I am a single mom with one child in elementary school.
My options are minimal considering...but I would still hope to enjoy some diversity, space (not in SF metro) and maybe spend less than half my time in traffic. It would be great to use public transportation-
We also really like to take Kung Fu, African dance, Capoeira...etc

Any suggestions for a place that could be a reasonable community for a few years?

Thanx for your help!

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Well, all three places you've listed are in the "SF Metro."

But based on your likely lifestyle, schools, and, the key "It would be great to use public transportation" your only real choice is Albany.

Fairfax - you are going to either have to do the GG Bridge or take a ferry to get into the City.

Oakland - schools are not so great.

BTW - Albany is a great place, in general. If I had to move back to the East Bay it would be high on my list. To get into the City either take El Cerrito Plaza BART or the bus.

[artemis78]

Are you commuting to San Francisco, or somewhere else? If it's to SF, I'd take Fairfax off the list (except *maybe* if your commute is very near the GG Bridge).

I'd look in Albany near El Cerrito Plaza BART station; that's probably the best bang for the buck. There's a lot of rental housing and a lot of smaller homes and condos, which would be fine for a family of two. (Albany is only affordable---relatively!---because it's built out and the houses tend to be small bungalows.) You're close enough to Oakland and Berkeley to get to things like capoeira fairly easily. It's not the world's most diverse city, but definitely moreso than Fairfax (which is 90%+ white).

The challenge with Oakland is that the areas with good schools have relatively little rental housing available, and the homes are typically bigger (good schools = higher income neighborhoods = higher rents and large more expensive homes). They also tend to be less transit-accessible, except for the Transbay bus to the Financial District. Rockridge is the exception (BART station + great elementary schools) but rents are pretty high there.

The other place that comes to mind is Alameda, which could be worth considering depending on where you're commuting to.