Europe to Oakland (San Leandro, Grass Valley: apartment, rentals, neighborhoods)

[jade408]

Originally Posted by Ultrarunner

All of the above plus there is Monclair Village too.

That is trickier. There is the bus, but BART isn't very close. It is walkable right in the immediate village area, but their aren't many rentals. Outside of that it isn't walkable or transit friendly.

[mayorhaggar]

I would look at Albany, Alameda and El Cerrito with that budget and wanting somewhere safe. None of them are super walkable though, unless you live near a shopping strip like Solano Ave in Albany.

Also I will be honest and say that $1300 for two people is really pretty low for the Bay Area if you want a great neighborhood, even for Oakland, and I think you will be limiting yourself in terms of places you can look at. That is $650 per person, which is what kids making $30,000 a year can just about afford. I don't know what kind of income you expect to make, but expect to pay at least $800 a month per person, to raise your budget to more like $1600. That would give you a lot more options and maybe put you in reach of Rockridge, which would be a perfect neighborhood for you.

THAT SAID, I would mainly look at the Lake Merritt area, mainly the area north of the lake centered around the major shopping strip of Grand Ave. (areas south or southeast of the lake tend to be pretty seedy) Lake Merritt for some reason has always had cheap apartments despite being near the lake (which is a GREAT urban park) and downtown (which has some really seedy blocks but also has a ton of new places to wine and dine)...something like this would be good, but you can probably find cheaper places:

Adams Point 1 bedroom! Close to Lake Merritt and Whole Foods!

There are some places less than $1300 in Rockridge but I imagine they are hard to get because there's so few apartments.

Light Filled Corner 1Bedroom/1 Bath Apartment in Rockridge

The Temescal is great, you're near Rockridge and it has its own BART station and a small strip of trendy restaurants on Telegraph. Mainly stay east of Telegraph and you'll be fine. The Macarthur BART station looks seedy but it's really not that bad. If you're in the Northern Temescal you could instead take an AC Transit bus to SF or maybe Rockridge BART if Macarthur really scares you.

[Ultrarunner]

Originally Posted by 0'Farrell

Because Oakland still has East and West Oakland.

Don't forget North and the Hills, Downtown and the Avenues

[Ultrarunner]

Originally Posted by jade408

That is trickier. There is the bus, but BART isn't very close. It is walkable right in the immediate village area, but their aren't many rentals. Outside of that it isn't walkable or transit friendly.

I thought of Montclair because European visitors have commented it reminds them of a small village... the mix of dining, retail and services...

[jade408]

Originally Posted by Ultrarunner

I thought of Montclair because European visitors have commented it reminds them of a small village... the mix of dining, retail and services...

I think that is true, but it is a more car dependent place that the others on the list. Really cute...but annoying if you don't plan to drive.

[oaklandyeah]

Hi all, thanks for all of your suggestions, much appreciated.

Originally Posted by Ultrarunner

Not sure exactly on the rents... the trend has been up with many priced out of San Francisco.

Just curious... where in Europe have you been living and how did you decide on the Bay Area for your next home?

I worked for a time in Europe and really enjoyed it...

We live in Britain right now, I am from SoCal and have been wanting to move back to the west coast. Husband is in tech so Bay Area makes perfect sense.

I think I would be happy in pretty much anywhere you have listed, but husband (while enthusiastic!) is in for some culture shock. He doesn't drive (hasn't needed to) and doesn't want to, which is fine. Therefore I am putting a lot of effort into the housing search. He'd love to live in SF itself, but that's out of reach for many people.

Although I like SF, I sort of feel we'd be overpaying to actually live there. We are pretty simple people, just like sitting over coffee and a bagel on weekend mornings and go to museums once in a awhile.

Our current city is really, really white, and it makes me uncomfortable coming from CA. I am looking forward to living in a more diverse city.

Originally Posted by mayorhaggar

Also I will be honest and say that $1300 for two people is really pretty low for the Bay Area if you want a great neighborhood, even for Oakland, and I think you will be limiting yourself in terms of places you can look at. That is $650 per person, which is what kids making $30,000 a year can just about afford. I don't know what kind of income you expect to make, but expect to pay at least $800 a month per person, to raise your budget to more like $1600. That would give you a lot more options and maybe put you in reach of Rockridge, which would be a perfect neighborhood for you.

We definitely can increase the budget, it's just about trade-offs really. I can probably transfer my job, which is a fair bit more than 30k, but not huge. Hubby is highly skilled in tech, so really we should be able to afford a fair amount. However he anticipates being in and out of employment with start-ups, maybe taking time off for his own projects, and also we won't have group health insurance for much of time. So there is at least $300/month on health. I would love to be able to live on just my salary and bank his, we currently live on just mine.

I am struggling to try to compare the budgets at the moment, because the costs break down so differently. Rent is equiv. $1300/month here, but renters also pay the property tax which is $200/month, anything you purchase is expensive, we use lots of gas/electric which is $160/month. Even the gym is embarrassingly expensive. In CA all of those go down except rent, but we have a car (insurance/registration/gas), need health insurance, and get a flight to the UK at least once a year. Oh, and also buy all our furniture (everything is furnished here).

I am glad to have all of this information, because it will help to show we can't have it all and not pay for it! So, maybe there needs to be an extra 5 minutes on the walk to the BART, or maybe we need to live in a less-cute area that is geographically convenient, or whatever. Most likely will be paying more...

Any suggestions on where to find rentals in Temescal/Rockridge that aren't on Craigslist?

[JuniperFruit]

Just FYI:
If he's in tech (I assume that means programming) with 5ish years of experience he should be somewhere in the 120-150k range at startups in the bay area.

[sutyotsuk]

I suggest you look at a crime map of Oakland. I lived there in the 90s; it's dangerous. It was a fun place to live, but I was able to buy a home in Phoenix, so I moved there. Now I don't have a mortgage or pay rent. It's a great feeling on the first.

I don't think your budget is high enough. You can't do that in the DC area, nowadays, for 1300 per month, and the Bay Area is even higher. A neighborhood in Oakland that isn't a car break-in (or worse) waiting to happen (the police won't even come out), will be 2 Dollars PSF per month in rent I would estimate.

[Nineties Flava]

Originally Posted by sutyotsuk

I suggest you look at a crime map of Oakland. I lived there in the 90s; it's dangerous. It was a fun place to live, but I was able to buy a home in Phoenix, so I moved there. Now I don't have a mortgage or pay rent. It's a great feeling on the first.

I don't think your budget is high enough. You can't do that in the DC area, nowadays, for 1300 per month, and the Bay Area is even higher. A neighborhood in Oakland that isn't a car break-in (or worse) waiting to happen (the police won't even come out), will be 2 Dollars PSF per month in rent I would estimate.

Not true at all. A 1 bedroom apartment runs around $900 in middle class neighborhoods in Oakland. Here's an example:

Cute 1 Bedroom in Laurel District

[Ultrarunner]

Originally Posted by Nineties Flava

Not true at all. A 1 bedroom apartment runs around $900 in middle class neighborhoods in Oakland. Here's an example:

Cute 1 Bedroom in Laurel District

I think Laurel/Dimond is too often overlooked...

The merchant area is always bustling and the rents are manageable compared to other areas.

I shop the small Safeway on Lincoln all the time since the one on High Closed years ago...

Also go to the market on the corner of 35th and MacArthur too...

I do have to say my friends in San Francisco make a lot of sacrifices to live there and they say it is worth it... that is until children enter the picture and then, almost everyone of them left the city...