Friendly, safe neighborhood in Bay area (San Jose, San Francisco: apartments, rentals, crime)

[veggieheaven]

Hey everyone,

My partner and I are moving to the Bay area towards the end of the summer and are looking for help on where to start searching for a place. He's be commuting to Stanford, but is okay with an hour, hour and a half commute. Neither of us has ever been to the Bay area so we're a little overwhelmed with all the neighborhoods to choose from.

We're trying to stay under $1,800 for a 2 bedroom. A rental house with a backyard for a vegetable garden would be ideal. We've also got 3 cats so a tiny little efficiency just isn't gonna cut it. Other stuff we're hoping for: close to BART, low-crime area, friendly locals, close to parks/trails/etc, close to a natural food store or farmers market would be awesome.

Any suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks!

[beb0p]

Finding a house for $1,800 is within range but barely; at least in the nice areas. Most within that range are probably going to be apartments. But anyway, let's start with the closest locations to Stanford:

The area immediately surrounding Palo Alto is probably out of your range (except East Palo Alto, but don't live there). I'd suggest areas just outside of the expensive hoods - Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, San Jose, Fremont, Newark, Union City, Redwood City, Milpitas. You'll find that neighborhoods south of Mountain View tends to be a bit more affordable (and safe). I personally think Sunnyvale and S

Up north, the area between Palo Alto and San Francisco tends to be expensive, with pockets of affordable but less safe area. The exception being Daly City, Colma, Brisbane and South San Francisco; but they're a bit far from Stanford.

If you really want to push that 90 mins commute, try Pleasanton and Dublin. They're newer towns and some people like new.

Even within a town there may be good and bad areas, it's too much to get into them right now. Check them out and if you have questions about a particular location, ask here.

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[gone down south]

Why would you condemn yourself to 2-3 hours a day commuting? You're going to be exhausted and stressed and not be able to take advantage of the resources here.

[veggieheaven]

He'll only need to be on campus one day a week, so it won't be so bad. We'd like to be close enough to San Francisco so that it's not a hassle to go into the city.

[HockeyMac18]

Originally Posted by veggieheaven

He'll only need to be on campus one day a week, so it won't be so bad. We'd like to be close enough to San Francisco so that it's not a hassle to go into the city.

I'd recommend some of the penninsula cities (for close access to the city, near BART, more affordable than SF, still close to Stanford, mostly very safe). The ones that I would include would be (from north to south) South San Francisco, San Bruno, Milbrae, Burlingame, San Mateo, San Carlos, Redwood City.

Of these, South San Francisco and San Bruno are my least favorite, but they're still generally safe. A general rule is the more west, the better the area. Downtown Burlingame, San Mateo, and Redwood City are all pretty nice, and living near those puts you near Caltrain, and near nice and walkable downtowns. BART ends south of Milbrae, but Caltrain connects to BART in Milbrae. Caltrain is also an option for getting into the city, and if he's an employee at Stanford, he gets a free Caltrain pass (good perk).

The only concern I'd have is your ability to find a 2-bedroom for 1,800 (which, frankly, is pushing it for any area of the bay area these days...). But, there are definitely some (I see some on paddmapper, that's a good resource for mapping things out).

If you opt not to live in the peninsula between Stanford and the City, I'd recommend looking at some of the towns south of Palo Alto (Sunnyvale, Santa Clara) as these will be more affordable than Palo Alto and are just as safe (for the most part). Keep in mind, the further south you go, the further you are from SF (not sure how important being near the city is on your priority list).

I'd also look at some of the East Bay areas just on the other side of the Dumbarton bridge. Fremont and Newark in particular are pretty nice, near BART, and are not that far from Stanford (just across the bridge). There is even a public transit option (http://transportation.stanford.edu/a...it.shtml#lineu). You'll also find the east bay is more affordable, so your money will go further for housing. The downside is you have to cross a bridge to get to Stanford (but only once a week isn't bad), and you are a bit further from SF.

[mayorhaggar]

You're probably looking at having to get an apartment, maybe a townhouse around Fremont/Union City etc. Also landlords are really anti-pet here though the suburbs are easier than San Francisco for pets.

[humboldtrat]

I agree with the above about finding a place in towns such as Millbrae, Burlingame, San Mateo, Belmont, San Carlos or Redwood City. Caltrain stops in all these places and goes into San Francisco. www.caltrain.com/stations/systemmap.html

However, $1800 will be a tight squeeze and having three cats might be a deal breaker or require a hefty deposit.

[beb0p]

The Millbrae, Burlingame, San Mateo, Belmont, San Carlos or Redwood City market is very expensive and competitive. If there is a house for rent for $1,800 that is not in the ghetto, it's going to attract a bidding war. By all means look there but I think you'll have better luck in South San Francisco (not to be confused with San Francisco), San Bruno, Daly City, and Brisbane.

Also you may also want to consider living within San Francisco if that's where you want to be. But SF is very anti-pet and the affordable neighborhood tends to be in the foggy area and may be a bit sketchy.

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[veggieheaven]

Thanks for all the advice! Also, how soon in advance should we look to sign a lease? I'm used to living in college towns where all the leases start in August, but from what I can tell so far nothing is renting that far in advance. If I want a lease to start September 1st, are we better off looking for a place in August or May (the two months we'd be able to get out there to look for a place)?

[mayorhaggar]

Rentals move very fast in the Bay Area, especially in or near SF. You'll want to go to open house viewings about 2 weeks before you'd plan on moving in. A lot of places are already vacant and ready to be moved into the next day. It's not like other parts of the US where landlords spend a month showing a place while the previous tenants moved in, things move that fast. And you can't go see places and then ponder upon them for two weeks then go back and decide to take a place, because it will have already been taken on the day of the viewing by someone else. It's a bit more relaxed in suburban areas, but still more competitive than other parts of the US.