Suburb Best Suited? (San Francisco, Petaluma, Sonoma: new home, neighborhoods, public schools)

[Malloric]

Real estate bubble happened, so shouldn't be a problem to find a 3,500-4,000 square foot house in Piedmont or the nicer parts of Oakland Hills. There won't be much selection, however. For something that size Mill Valley and the South Bay are probably mostly out of your price range or not going to be very nice. Danville/San Ramon would have the most selection. Pleasanton/Dublin/Livermore if you want newer construction. Commute hell though.

[lrmsd]

I second Mill Valley or Corte Madera; southern marin is a great quality of life in so many ways.....

[dmode]

I would also suggest Mill Valley and southern Marin county. Nice towns with some amazing views. However, Marin county is expensive. Your money will probably go further on Easy Bay cities. My boss bought a house in Danville for just over a million and said it was around 2000 sq ft. Danville/Pleasanton/San Ramon and Walnut Creek are nice suburbs on the East Bay. However, with $2.5 mn, I will also check out some peninsula towns - Los Altos, Los Gatos, Palo Alto, Menlo Park, San Mateo etc.

[sonarrat]

Originally Posted by oregonian19

The highest we can swing is about $2.25 million. But, if schools, the neighborhood, and houses are right, we have no problem living in a $750,000 house. No real need to be flashy or anything.

If it were my money, I'd be looking at Albany and Kensington, and the Berkeley Hills. Marin County is a bit insular and whitewashed for my tastes; Albany is much more interesting and in the middle of the action, but it's a nice safe suburb with good schools, too.

[jade408]

Originally Posted by sonarrat

If it were my money, I'd be looking at Albany and Kensington, and the Berkeley Hills. Marin County is a bit insular and whitewashed for my tastes; Albany is much more interesting and in the middle of the action, but it's a nice safe suburb with good schools, too.

OP: these places will put you in the same boat as everywhere else if you want 3000+ square feet. If you remove that from your list, you'll have more options. Lots of older and classic homes in these areas (looks a little like Piedmont, but Piedmont feels way more east coast than these 3 places. Oakland/Berkeley/Kensington/Albany all look the same. Similar housing stock and amenities.

[tetka_grunya]

in this price range you can look at many places on Peninsula too, including hillsborough and down south

[Ljubljana]

Originally Posted by oregonian19

My family will be moving down to the Bay Area later this year and we're scouting out areas that would best suit our family and our needs.

Things we're looking for (but in no particular order of preference):
-Affluent (IE median household income above $100,000 or so)
-Either newer homes (2003+) or older homes (Pre-1940)
-Maybe gated?
-Fantastic public schools
-Within an hour drive to San Francisco
-Decent shopping nearby
-Nearby parks

That's all I can think of right now that are in our criteria, but I'll mention if I can think of more. So, if any places you guys can think of fit all or most of these, it would be appreciated. Thanks!

Also would anybody be kind and answer me about Oakland Bay-area crime rate. I read on Net it is No1 in USA.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

My condolences.

[80skeys]

Originally Posted by oregonian19

My family will be moving down to the Bay Area later this year and we're scouting out areas that would best suit our family and our needs.

Things we're looking for (but in no particular order of preference):
-Affluent (IE median household income above $100,000 or so)

around here that's not affluent !

[DocGoldstein]

For your budget and expectations, I'd say Danville or San Ramon.

Lafayette also fits the bill. All three have fantastic schools. I think it's easier to get into the city from Lafayette than the other two IMO.