moving to peninsula- advice on cities (Oakland, Redwood City: rentals, crime, houses)

[youngskelle]

We're moving from North Oakland to the Peninsula to shorten our work commute to Mt. View. We've lived in urban settings all our life with the exception or North Oakland. We're looking between Los Altos and San Carlos. Love having a main street with retail/restaurants not too far, need a good elementary school and preschool options ( have 2 kids), and would like to find a 3 bed house under $1.3M or we're up for renting. Advice? We've heard Mt. View and Redwood City are under rated and worth checking out vs. Palo Alto and Menlo Park which may not be attainable in the $1.3M range.

[hsw]

Would guess prices will continue to fall....5-10% layoff anncmts are daily among major SV tech cos.; most workers prob have 6-12mos of savings before houses go into "distress sale"...suspect prices in affluent SV suburbs will start to dramatically fall in late '09, as the meltdown starts to really hit the affluent...renting seems to make more sense than buying for most

PA and LosAltos tend to be more distinctively enjoyable towns vs others you cite....much higher education levels (and career accomplishments) among parents, leading to greater education focus among kids and schools

Los Altos tends to be a bit more uniformly affluent vs PA; PA has a more eclectic crowd of cash-poor Stanford grad students and faculty, as well as tech billionaires who work in MtnView, Cupertino, etc; and plenty of street crime from the various 101 crime corridors (would guess PA has more authentic street crime than SF's allegedly urban PacHts)....more of housing stock in PA is rentals, reflecting its college town ethos...

[sonarrat]

For once I agree 100% with hsw. The fact that Palo Alto isn't homogeneous is what gives it a lot of its appeal.. even the East Palo Alto influence is a mostly positive one. It keeps the social scene from getting stagnant and tired, as it keeps renewing itself with younger generations instead of slowly dying as the Prop 13 beneficiaries sit in their giant estates feeling proud of themselves. Yes, I'm looking at you, Woodside.

If I was accustomed to urban environments and had that kind of budget, I would make Palo Alto my first and only consideration. Your home will certainly be small there, 1500 sf or less. Unfortunately, it's take it or leave it.