Relocating. Where would you live? (San Francisco, San Mateo: apartment, to rent, houses)

[nzdero]

Hi there
We're moving to the Bay Area and have a job lined up located in the Stanford Research Park. I'd love to know where you would live with a family needing good elementary and middle schools, safe neighborhood, within 1/2 hr commutable distance, and with rents below $3000/mth?
Would love to hear your advice. Thanks.

[humboldtrat]

Originally Posted by nzdero

Hi there
We're moving to the Bay Area and have a job lined up located in the Stanford Research Park. I'd love to know where you would live with a family needing good elementary and middle schools, safe neighborhood, within 1/2 hr commutable distance, and with rents below $3000/mth?
Would love to hear your advice. Thanks.

Are you looking for an apartment or renting a house? How many kids? $3K should be enough. Check out San Carlos, Redwood City or Mountain View. Palo Alto itself is expensive.

[nzdero]

Thanks for your reply. We're hoping to rent a house. We're coming from a small town in New Zealand so I'm looking for a quiet-ish neighborhood for the girls. 2 girls aged 8 and 11. And of course the dog.
I have been checking out Craigslist for houses and then looking at the local schools to see if they would be a good fit.
What about areas further south? Say Campbell or Cambrian (near 17 and 85). Are these more than a 30 min commute away from Stanford Research Park?

[Nell Plotts]

If you will be an employee of Stanford I suggest you contact your HR Representative to see if they have a housing bulletin board. There are some folks who would prefer you as a tenant.

To limit yourself to a 30 minute commute might be drawing too tight a radius, 45 is more practical. My daughter commutes from Los Altos to Sand Hill Road in just under 30 minutes when the traffic is good, as a example. The driving habits the Silicon Valley freeways are not dissimilar to what I remember on some of the twisting narrow roads on the North Island..

Redwood City and Mountain View would be good choices.

[peninsular]

I would also suggest checking out towns further north of what's been mentioned so far - Belmont, San Mateo and possibly Foster city. The big question here is whether being closer to San Francisco is an advantage or a disadvantage to you. If you are interested in going to the city, then these places are a better bet.