Moving from London to San Francisco - advice needed please - sorry for long post (Los Angeles: renting, houses)

[Smonica4]

Hi everybody,

We are a young couple (28/34) with a one year old boy and we are looking to move to San Francisco.

My husband is flying there next week and I will follow on at the end of the month with the baby. So hopefully he will be able to make necessary accommodation arrangements, etc.

We currently live in the greater London area (Bromley) and it is really nice here. We are within walking distance of 3 train stations but best of all within 5 minutes walk from our house we have a big shopping centre with all the shops you need as well as a leisure centre, 3 playgrounds for kids and lots of activities for kids - very family friendly. And of course only 20 minutes away from central London by train or car which is really convenient. Of course houses here are not cheap but we bought ours back in 2006 for a good price so we are pretty ok.

So why do I want to move to San Francisco? Many reasons, but the main one has to be the weather, I can not bear the idea of yet another winter without sun - the grey cloudy days here can go on forever from October/November and of course at that time it also starts getting dark at 4pm which is really depressing. I need sunlight. The other reason is that my little boy is an outdoor type (how do I know if he is only 1? - believe he wants to be outside climbing things, almost like 3 years old do, all the time) and therefore I want to make sure he is able to explore this side of him as best as he can. And finally we are both obsessed with the sea. We love the sea, every weekend we drive two hours just to go to the seaside - no swimming here - but the sea is so peaceful that it really makes us happy.

So the advice I would kindly appreciate you guys gave is the following:
Nicest and safest areas to live in San Francisco with kids hopefully with similar facilities for kids as I have here in bromley within 30 -45 minutes of the sea and San Francisco (up to an hour of San Francisco).we are used to public transport and cars so commuting shouldn't be a problem. I have done some research and some people here on the forums have advised other people of th
E following areas - Noe valley (which I think may be a bit central for me) and Santa Rosa. But I don't know much about any of the areas as it will be my first time to San Francisco - I have only been to most of the east coast not west.

We will initially be renting out to see if I like the area and then in one year time we may buy depending on the market. We will both be working from home this year so we will have sometime to investigate, I just need to have an idea of where we should start looking.

Thank you all for your help in advance.

Kind regards

Monica

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Smonica4

So why do I want to move to San Francisco? Many reasons, but the main one has to be the weather, I can not bear the idea of yet another winter without sun - the grey cloudy days here can go on forever from October/November and of course at that time it also starts getting dark at 4pm which is really depressing. I need sunlight.

Hi, Monica. Welcome aboard.

If the above is what you're looking for you might as well stay put. Mark Twain had it right when he allegedly wrote," The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco!"

[gone down south]

SF and London have very similar weather. Don't get fooled by the preconceptions of "California" you've got from movies and TV - you're thinking of Southern California. San Francisco is cloudy and foggy for a good portion of the year.

If you're looking for regular sun, you need to go at least midway down the Peninsula (Redwood City or south) or over in the East Bay, both of which will negate your need to be in an urban core.

[Gurbie]

Originally Posted by gone down south

SF and London have very similar weather. Don't get fooled by the preconceptions of "California" you've got from movies and TV - you're thinking of Southern California. San Francisco is cloudy and foggy for a good portion of the year.

If you're looking for regular sun, you need to go at least midway down the Peninsula (Redwood City or south) or over in the East Bay, both of which will negate your need to be in an urban core.

These posters have a point. I do think overall, SF's weather is probably better than London's, but for a REAL change, come take a look further down the coast. If you can afford to live in SF, you can afford to live anywhere. Try beach cities in Santa Barabara, Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange, or San Diego counties. We have the ocean down here too, and you can actually swim in it if you want to!

[Smonica4]

Thanks for your replies guys. I was kind of hoping the weather in San Francisco to be better than here . I don't know about Southern California I have this pre-conceived idea that it is very superficial and everything is far away with no public transportation at all. I think I probably identify myself more with San Francisco than I would with Southern California. But if the weather is the same as in the uk I suppose I have to have a look at Southern California it just really feels like a big touristic destination to me - somewhere where I would go on holidays but not necessarily live - if you know what I mean.

Do you know of any nice towns in southern California with the San Francisco feel?

Thanks once again.

Monica

[MovingAloha]

San Francisco is beautiful but the overall climatic conditions may not be much different from London. If at all possible, head south to San Diego that is where the weather you yearn for exist. SD is also quite beautiful with great beaches. Good luck on your move.

[mayorhaggar]

The Peninsula and San Jose are sunnier and warmer than SF in the summer. When it's 60F to 70F in SF and Oakland in the summer, it will be more like 75 to 80 on the Peninsula. I think in Marin it is similar. Also if you go further into the East Bay it gets warmer. When it's 70 in SF it's often 90 to 100F in Walnut Creek.

In winter I think it will be milder than London anywhere in the Bay Area, but be warned that winter is the rainy season here which can be a bit miserable, though not much more so than say October in Scotland. In SF it rarely gets below 45F in winter, but it can get colder especially at night in places like Santa Rosa and can get to around 30 and if there's a big cold snap maybe even around 20. It very rarely snows here but sometimes there's a cold snap and it dusts a bit on the hills. Overall very mild compared to anywhere in the Midwestern or Northeastern US.

As for places to live, maybe look at the East Bay and Peninsula. Noe Valley is nice if you can afford it but I think you should visit SF and decide if you want to live in the city or out in the suburbs. SF is not big and sprawling like London, it is only 49 square miles and SF is quite different from the suburbs, it is much denser and noisier and busy, it's like comparing central London to its outer parts.

[04kL4nD]

Don't move to the city proper if you dislike the weather in London.

It was sunny and clear at my house when I left this morning in Oakland. It's cold, dark, and foggy here in the city less than 20 miles away.

SF is great, but unless you live in SOMA or parts of the Mission, you will not be happy about the weather.

[clongirl]

Moving out of what you've described as a very nice life for your family life solely due to the gray weather seems like a HUGE gamble, imo.

I understand, believe me- I used to live in Ireland (and I remember well the summers that never happened!), but San Francisco won't suit your requirements for great weather and great amenities for your son. In all honesty, it's sadly not very child friendly in so many ways.

If you must have sun, then further inland or further south of San Francisco is your best bet. You didn't mention if you are legally able via work visas or if you have green cards for moving over, but also important to note.

Keep in mind that there's always cheap flights to Spain, Portugal, and the South of France in bad weather months. Consider that you might miss this if you leave Europe.

[Curmudgeon]

You might consider Santa Cruz and environs on Monterey Bay. It's a beautiful area overall (Santa Cruz, Capitola, Aptos, Moss Landing, Monterey, Pebble Beach, Pacific Grove, Carmel by the Sea) and just a hop-skip-'n a-jump to the nature wonderland known as Big Sur.