Family relocating from Boca Raton, FL. need advise on neighborhoods in SF (Oakland: apartment) - San Francisco - Oakland - California (CA) - City-Data Forum

jbianca · 09-19-2010, 12:39 PM

my husband and i would like to relocate our family (two kids 4yrs & 2yrs) to SF and i would like to find a neighborhood in the city that is safe, convenient, near the water, and that i can get around with or without a car. I have a friend who currently lives in the marina district and loves her neighborhood. that being said..she is in her late 20's, single, and has the easy breezy life

i would like a neighborhood that feels young and hip (my husband and i are only 30), but also has a fair share of families and private or public preschools and elementary schools nearby so i can walk my kids there. we want three bedrooms and our price range is 2400-3000 a month. i have been looking on craiglist and have been finding lots of places that look great..but i don't really know where/what neighborhoods they are in... i would appreciate any suggestions. thank you!

mayorhaggar · 09-19-2010, 06:55 PM

Not many people in SF have kids who aren't poor or rich, I guess the public schools usually scare a lot of people off once their kids reach kindergarten age, plus the city is pretty busy and noisy and some parents don't like that so much.

Anyway the Marina would probably work, it's a bit of a mix of yuppie frat/sorority types and old money types. Maybe Lower Pacific Heights too. The main middle class areas where people have kids are the Richmond and Sunset. Basically the further out west you go the less walkable it is in terms of restaurants and grocery stores being nearby. The Inner Richmond and Inner Sunset have a lot of restaurants and shops and are nice areas. As for schools I really don't know, I guess some schools are good and others are really bad and I think you have to enter a lottery rather than just going to schools that are near your home. Some middle class parents make it work but like I said a lot of them move out to the suburbs for the better schools. If you're doing private schools then it just depends on where they are if you want them within walking distance.

The suburbs have better schools, sunnier weather, more stuff to do outside (parks, etc) and housing is a bit cheaper depending on each suburb, but your commute will be longer and most of the suburban Bay Area is definitely not walkable though some areas are.

18Montclair · 09-19-2010, 10:36 PM

Much of SF "feels hip". Even most family oriented areas. I would recommend Cole Valley, Ashbury Heights, Parnassas Heights and definitely Noe Valley. As far as being near water, most areas are relatively close to water and even more offer very nice views of water.

mayorhaggar · 09-19-2010, 10:47 PM

Oh yeah definitely Noe Valley fits the bill. Stroller city.

18Montclair · 09-19-2010, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mayorhaggar

Oh yeah definitely Noe Valley fits the bill. Stroller city.

This is one of those instances where I would prefer Crocker Highlands, Trestle Glen or Montclair but thats me. The consumate Oaklander. Even in Paris Ive been strolling around town in my long sleeve Oaklandish T-shirts...LOL

jbianca · 09-20-2010, 08:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mayorhaggar

Not many people in SF have kids who aren't poor or rich, I guess the public schools usually scare a lot of people off once their kids reach kindergarten age, plus the city is pretty busy and noisy and some parents don't like that so much.

Anyway the Marina would probably work, it's a bit of a mix of yuppie frat/sorority types and old money types. Maybe Lower Pacific Heights too. The main middle class areas where people have kids are the Richmond and Sunset. Basically the further out west you go the less walkable it is in terms of restaurants and grocery stores being nearby. The Inner Richmond and Inner Sunset have a lot of restaurants and shops and are nice areas. As for schools I really don't know, I guess some schools are good and others are really bad and I think you have to enter a lottery rather than just going to schools that are near your home. Some middle class parents make it work but like I said a lot of them move out to the suburbs for the better schools. If you're doing private schools then it just depends on where they are if you want them within walking distance.

The suburbs have better schools, sunnier weather, more stuff to do outside (parks, etc) and housing is a bit cheaper depending on each suburb, but your commute will be longer and most of the suburban Bay Area is definitely not walkable though some areas are.

thank you for your insight.. as i did further research of flats. i found that around $3800 would get our family a cute place that we'd like.. however, i ended up speaking with my friend and she told me about the school lottery. my children are preschool age so public school wouldn't be issue for at least another year. however, she did tell me she heard that good preschools fill up a year in advance. while my husband and i do love SF the facts about the schools, preschools, and lack there of families is starting to make the city less appealing! (we also only visited without our children) we know that moving away from family will be a burden in itself which we're fine with.. but i wouldn't want to move to a place without family that is terribly difficult to live there with small children. my friend did mention neighborhoods outside of SF such as: adameda, milly valley, corta madera, san rafeal, orianda, layfette..

mayorhaggar · 09-20-2010, 10:05 AM

Yeah the suburbs generally have better schools and don't make you do the lotteries. Marin County (where San Rafael and Mill Valley are) is really expensive and also it's kind of hard to get to SF compared with other parts of the Bay Area.

Walnut Creek, Moraga, Orinda and Lafayette always come up here as being nice places to live and having good schools. They are really hot in the summer though because they are blocked off from the cool bay air. Alameda is cooler but I don't think the schools are as good. Piedmont has good schools and is close to the bay and cooler but I think is kind of expensive.

Anyway it might be good to get an apartment in SF for a year and get more used to the Bay Area as a whole, then when you need to get your kids into school you'd have a better idea of what suburb would be good to move to if you decide to do that.

Doggz3 · 09-24-2010, 03:30 PM

Do give Mill Valley a try. It is just a hop and skip over the bridge to the marina district and you could get a nice 3/2 bedroom house with a yard for $3,800/mo. The schools are strong.

jade408 · 09-24-2010, 07:20 PM

Considering you hope to get around w/o a car, the number of suitable suburbs decreases significantly, tough choices. You should also consider Albany, good schools. And it is a mini-suburb next to Berkeley that has a great main street shopping area.

I think Alameda is pretty walkable, although it is suburban. IT is only maybe 3 mi across the enire island. ANd the schools are pretty good (not as good as upper echelon suburbs though). Hands down, Alameda is my favorite bay area suburb: good weather, convenient to SF, Oakland and Berkeley. And has a mix of chains and local stuff. And it is really cute with victorian homes and tree-lined streets.

uptown_urbanist · 09-25-2010, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbianca

my husband and i would like to relocate our family (two kids 4yrs & 2yrs) to SF and i would like to find a neighborhood in the city that is safe, convenient, near the water, and that i can get around with or without a car. I have a friend who currently lives in the marina district and loves her neighborhood. that being said..she is in her late 20's, single, and has the easy breezy life

i would like a neighborhood that feels young and hip (my husband and i are only 30), but also has a fair share of families and private or public preschools and elementary schools nearby so i can walk my kids there. we want three bedrooms and our price range is 2400-3000 a month. i have been looking on craiglist and have been finding lots of places that look great..but i don't really know where/what neighborhoods they are in... i would appreciate any suggestions. thank you!

We were in your position a few years ago and ended up in the central Richmond; we LOVED it there, and would probably still be there if the city wasn't so expensive. We could walk to Golden Gate Park, to the beach (China Beach in Seacliff is great with kids), to all the stores on Clement and Geary, etc. There are a lot of very nice playgrounds (Argonne was our favorite), it's very livable without a car, and there are LOTS of families. I wouldn't say it feels hip, although there are hip elements. The outer Richmond is cheaper but a lot quieter and would be easier with a car, so I'd focus more on the inner richmond. There's a bus on Park Presidio that brings you straight over to the Marina, too, so you'd have easy access to go see your friend there. It's an interesting blend of people; heavily Chinese and Russian, but not exclusively, and a HUGE number of restaurants of all kinds, many of them very family-friendly.

We considered Noe Valley, but it was more expensive, seemed a bit too yuppie for our tastes, and we liked being closer to both GGP and to the water. It is kid-central, though.

We also considered Alameda, and ultimately if we'd stayed in the area I think we'd have ended up there, at least if we'd decided to buy. It's much more affordable (well, by SF standards), although it would have been a bigger hassle as a non-driver. We liked the warmer weather (the Richmond gets really foggy), the proximity to the water, and the beautiful Victorian houses.