Fresh Out of College, Need Help Moving to the West Coast!!! (San Francisco: apartment complexes, rental)

[Haruu]

Hello Everyone,

I will be a new college graduate very soon and will be starting work in Santa Clara area this coming Summer

I will be moving from the east coast and I am completely new to the west coast. So, I wanted to get some help/advice from everyone who is more knowledgeable about the area in finding a place to live.

I am looking for a place (1br/1b) that is:

-Close to work (Located in Santa Clara) that can cut my commute time.
-Accessible to basic amenities (Groceries, shopping, entertainment, gym, public transportation, etc).
-Safe in general.
-Priced around $1500/month for rent (Can go for little higher if necessary) and have shorter lease term.
-A friendly community with younger crowd.
-In an easily accessible location for parks and trails (For running, biking, hiking, and other outdoors activities).

I also plan on purchasing a car once I settle down a bit with moving, but I am not sure whether I should rent a car or not until I do so. How is the public transportation in the area?

Any inputs/advice are welcome.

Thank you~

[ccm123]

You would likely need to increase your rental budget a bit, as rents have been moving up lately. But, the following cities in the South Bay are pretty safe and convenient:

1/ Sunnyvale
2/ Mountain View
3/ Santa Clara
4/ Milpitas

Public transportation is so-so, it would be more efficient to buy and use a car to get around.

[texasdreamin]

Santa Clara is a very nice, small town city. As ccm123 stated, you may have to increase your rental budget or downgrade to a studio apt. If I were you, I would google earth the address of the job where you will be working and then take a "drive" through the area. You would be able to locate apartment complexes and see the distance from them to your job and then make some inquiries as to cost. Good luck.

[gone down south]

The issue is going to be that anywhere remotely near your work is going to be a fairly boring suburb. There are small downtowns all up and down the area, but the biggest is maybe 6 or 7 blocks and most are barely 4 blocks long and shut down early.

You're going to want to go to San Francisco for any kind of energy and young crowds. The question is do you want to sacrifice 2+ hours every day commuting, or live close to work and spend those 2+ hours going up to the City on weekends.

[bigdumbgod]

The area around Santa Clara University has some youthful energy for the obvious reasons (Neto's actually ain't a bad live music venue/bar, right across the street from Franklin Square). Got Earthquakes games, too + The Hut. SF is a 45-minute drive up 280, which is quite nice, or Santa Clara has an ever-expanding train station that has a CalTrain that will take you up to the City.

[zitsky]

Originally Posted by gone down south

The issue is going to be that anywhere remotely near your work is going to be a fairly boring suburb. There are small downtowns all up and down the area, but the biggest is maybe 6 or 7 blocks and most are barely 4 blocks long and shut down early.

You're going to want to go to San Francisco for any kind of energy and young crowds. The question is do you want to sacrifice 2+ hours every day commuting, or live close to work and spend those 2+ hours going up to the City on weekends.

That's generally but not completely true. Yes, I'd recommend SF if you really want nightlife. However, you have places like Mountain View where a lot of Google employees live. Downtown is pretty vibrant and has lots of restaurants and a few clubs/bars.

OP, there is some public transit but I'd still recommend a cheap car.

[Radical347]

Anywhere near work will fit most of your criteria except a younger crowd. As others have said you may need to increase your budget, but in Santa Clara you may be able to find a 1br for that if you look around a bit. Mountain View may have what you're looking for but it is a bit more expensive. I wouldn't recommend SF unless you want to pay 3k rent and//or get roommates.

[pacifist]

I'd suggest Sunnyvale (somewhere near El Camino) but I doubt you'd find one for $1.5K.
I used hotpads and craigslist for my searches.

[scot925]

Santa Clara is a good place. I used to live there.

You may be able to find a place for cheaper if you are willing to share an apartment / house with someone else. Get some friends to be your roommate!

[Haruu]

Thanks for all the replies everyone!

Per you guys' suggestion, I have been focusing my search around the South Bay area. However, I am having a difficult time finding the price range I was hoping for. As I plan on purchasing a vehicle soon after my move, I would prefer to find a more affordable price range for rent to give myself a bit of a buffer.

Even though I stated that I would like to be closer to the younger crowd and the city, if moving farther away could save me a considerable amount I wouldn't mind finding a place farther away. Also, I figure it will be more likely I'll spend less if I lived farther from the city And I would definitely pick spending extra time driving out to the city on weekends over having a long commute to work everyday.

So, I've been browsing through the forum and found some posts stating that East Bay could offer me something with lower price range. Is that true? If so, which cities/towns are recommended?

Also, will a salary of 80k in the Bay area allow me to have chance to save up a little?