Where to live(rent): Young couple with 1 kid, job around 1 Market St. (San Francisco: rental car, real estate market)

[planet-ocean]

Hello guy,

I will be graduating from graduate school and start working in SF around One Market St, this June. My wife and I, together with our lovely 1-year old, will be relocating to the Bay area from Texas. I have been following this nice sub-forum for a few weeks now, and read tons of useful/interesting information, thanks to you all nice folks. Now I would love to seek wisdoms from you guys on my situation:

I would be making around $100K, and my wife will be staying home. I would guess my monthly take-home income is around $6000 (however, please correct me if I am wrong). So my renting budget would be around $2000, and I do need a 2BR, and some where to park my car.

I would very much like to hear suggestions from your guys about which part of bay area may be good choices for me. Here are my preferences, from most important to less important:

1. Safty (top priority)
2. Commute to work within 40min, however, the nearer the better, of course.
3. Good environment for kids, family activities, should I worry about school right now, since my son is only 15 months?
4. Chinese resturants, yeah, we love Chinese food, a LOT ;-)
5. Views, parks, water, etc.
6. Shopping convenience: grocery, malls, department stores, etc.

I do understand it's probably impossible to find a place satisfying all the preferences above within my budget. However, I would love to hear any advices or suggestions.

Thanks a lot :-)

[AADAD]

It might be tough to crack that market in the city.

[falcon4]

You will find plenty of places that satisfy your criteria #1, 3, 4,5 & 6. Plenty of chinese food everywhere in SF. Check out Paycheck Calculators | Online Payroll Calculators | Paycheck City to find out exactly what your take home salary would be. you can deduct things like 401k, etc from your paycheck and get an exact figure. SF's a great city for young couple's, young families and singles alike. Enjoy your move and stay.

[mayorhaggar]

You want the East Bay because you can get 2br's for $2000 or less in towns with good schools, and BART is very good for commuting to offices on Market. I would look at these towns:

Walnut Creek
Pleasant Hill
Lafayette
Orinda
Dublin
Pleasanton
Fremont

Lafayette and Orinda are the most expensive on the list but you might find some apartments that fit your budget. Walnut Creek would probably be your best shot and it's 35 minutes from the Embarcadero station on BART.

[uptown_urbanist]

can you get rid of the car? Parking is a big hassle in many areas, and a car will really eat into your budget with that income.

Also be prepared to have a VERY difficult time finding a place. The market is incredibly tight right now.

If you must keep the car, your best bet to both find something in your price range AND have (relatively) easier parking (plus lots of Chinese food, although that's everywhere in SF) in the actual city is probably the Outer Sunset or the Outer Richmond. Central Richmond has more going on and parking still isn't too bad, but there aren't a lot of 2-BRs under $2k, and the competition is extremely tight.

You may want to look to the East Bay. We're moving back to SF and have given up on finding a place in the city -- too many application fees for apartments that 100 other people are also applying to. That said, we'd move back to the Richmond in a minute if we could (although are also excited about the East Bay, and also like the relatively cheaper prices) and thought it was an ideal neighborhood for families and kids. Very family-friendly, and good schools for down the road (although you're not guaranteed to get your local school, but they've changed the system so that at least you have a better shot). When the fog has lifted you can get nice views of the GG Bridge (and DT, if on a hill), visit to China Beach (favorite beach ever!), go to Golden Gate Park, and enjoy a ton of activities for young kids. Check out the library storytimes and the toddler mornings at the Richmond Rec Center. (but again, be warned that the odds of finding a place are slim, but SOMEONE has to get an apartment, right?) Oh, and Chinese food galore.

I'm sure I'm missing some good SF neighborhood options, but I'm not familiar with some of the very south neighborhoods. Maybe they'd be a good match, too.

[AADAD]

Echo lose the car....or at least get squared away. SF is easy by any means. taxis in a pinch are cheaper than most big cities. garage minimum $200/mo gas insurance blah blah....to make it in SF you have to be smarter than the economy.

[uptown_urbanist]

Just wanted to add that if you got rid of the car, joined City CarShare or the equivalent for when you want to make big Target-type runs, you could perhaps put a little more towards rent. I'm a stay-at-home mother who lived happily without a car in the Richmond, so it can certainly be done. A car is nice, but it's a huge luxury if you want to live on the city on that budget. With CarShare options and rental car places there's no reason to have a car if you're not using it for work.

[mayorhaggar]

I would count out San Francisco because it's A) expensive B) super competitive to find a place now and C) hard to raise a kid because it's a very busy and crowded city and D) when the kids get older the schools in SF are really bad. That's why I recommended the burbs. If you really want a more urban experience but still want more kid-friendly and an easier real estate market than SF (usually) I'd look at Alameda and maybe Albany. The market is tighter anywhere now though, but especially in SF.

[Ceece]

Live in the 'burbs and keep the car. Chinese food is everywhere.

[thecooler]

I'd suggest Millbrae, you can take Bart or Caltrain to work, very safe, lots of shopping nearby (3 big grocery stores in Millbrae - malls and big box stores in nearby surrounding towns), TONS of chinese food.