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Old 01-17-2013, 12:09 PM
 
Location: NoVA
28 posts, read 41,481 times
Reputation: 80

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Hi everyone,

I’m a CA native who’s planning to relocate to the East Bay from the East Coast. Hubby & I are hoping to buy and looking in Lafayette/Orinda, Walnut Creek, Piedmont/Oakland and Alameda. However, as some recent threads have pointed out there’s just not much inventory right now and we thought maybe we should expand our search to the Peninsula. We’re familiar with SF & the East Bay. (He currently lives and works in SOMA part-time and I’m a Cal grad.) However, we are not very familiar with the Peninsula.

So, if you already live/enjoy the East Bay I’m wondering if there are places in the Peninsula (or other places in the Bay Area, for that matter) that you also really like that might offer a similar vibe and provide easy access to SF (either via Bart or Caltrain) that you’d recommend? I really love the East Bay but figured I might be overlooking places in the rest of the Bay Area that we might be just as happy with.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!
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Old 01-17-2013, 12:20 PM
 
Location: Bay Area
3,981 posts, read 8,957,905 times
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If I had to choose a few cities on the Peninsula to live, I'd look into Burlingame, San Mateo,San Carlos, Foster City, Menlo Park, and of course if I were SUPER WEALTHY, Los Altos, Woodside, Palo Alto. Obviously, it all depends on what kind of commute you can tolerate and whether you are planning on taking public transportation. They are all very nice places- some much pricier and unfortunately I'm not very confident that the inventory will be much better over there with what I've been reading lately.
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Old 01-17-2013, 12:27 PM
 
Location: San Francisco
1,472 posts, read 3,534,612 times
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San Carlos is my favorite on the Peninsula. Very nice little city in a pretty convenient spot.
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Old 01-17-2013, 12:36 PM
 
Location: SF Bay Area
18,965 posts, read 32,465,029 times
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The Peninsula will be more expensive for what you get in comparison to the East Bay and possibly even tighter inventory FYI. Still worth looking at I suppose but you won't get as much for your money.
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Old 01-17-2013, 12:47 PM
 
Location: Oakland, CA
28,226 posts, read 36,728,449 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sav858 View Post
The Peninsula will be more expensive for what you get in comparison to the East Bay and possibly even tighter inventory FYI. Still worth looking at I suppose but you won't get as much for your money.
Agreed. Also depends on what you like about the east bay too.

Peninsula is less walkable. So there are only a few areas that would compare to Alameda or Berkeley in terms of transit access and walkability.

As for LAfayette/Orinda/Walnut Creek? Well then it is pretty similar.

You might want to consider Fremont/Pleasanton/San Ramon/Dublin.
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Old 01-17-2013, 12:52 PM
 
Location: NoVA
28 posts, read 41,481 times
Reputation: 80
Quote:
Originally Posted by sav858 View Post
The Peninsula will be more expensive for what you get in comparison to the East Bay and possibly even tighter inventory FYI. Still worth looking at I suppose but you won't get as much for your money.
Ahh. I actually thought the Peninsula might be more reasonable perhaps because we'd have to rely on Caltrain in some parts rather than Bart so good to know!


Thanks for the feedback so far! I will add

Burlingame
San Mateo
San Carlos
Foster City
Menlo Park

I telecommute so commute is only an issue for my husband who'd like to keep his commute under 1 hr. His plan is to park at a Bart/Caltrain station and then take public transportation into the city.
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Old 01-17-2013, 01:08 PM
 
Location: NoVA
28 posts, read 41,481 times
Reputation: 80
Quote:
Originally Posted by jade408 View Post
Agreed. Also depends on what you like about the east bay too.

Peninsula is less walkable. So there are only a few areas that would compare to Alameda or Berkeley in terms of transit access and walkability.

As for LAfayette/Orinda/Walnut Creek? Well then it is pretty similar.

You might want to consider Fremont/Pleasanton/San Ramon/Dublin.
Good point. I moved from the East Bay about 10 yrs ago but at the time I thought it was a fairly laid-back place and I liked having great restaurants/nightlife and nature trails/beaches nearby and also the proximity to SF and being able to hop on BART/bus and get to the city under 45mins. I'm in my early 30s with kids now so the nightlife isn't a factor but would still like to take advantage of the other things. I'll check out the commute times on the places you just mentioned. Thanks!
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Old 01-17-2013, 01:12 PM
 
Location: San Francisco
622 posts, read 1,142,928 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sav858 View Post
The Peninsula will be more expensive for what you get in comparison to the East Bay and possibly even tighter inventory FYI. Still worth looking at I suppose but you won't get as much for your money.
Yeah, I'm East Bay biased and I now live in the city. I just think if I had to stay in the Bay Area and was looking to buy, the East Bay would be my first choice.

I agree that it seems like you get more for your money and, I think, a better lifestyle in that the cities in the East Bay have better walk scores than in the Peninsula.
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Old 01-17-2013, 02:00 PM
 
Location: Northern California
3,721 posts, read 14,681,662 times
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I would check out Burlingame, San Mateo, Belmont, San Carlos, Foster City, the Redwood Shores part of Redwood City and most of Redwood City. I like San Carlos the best out of the other towns - just my bias. All except Belmont, Foster City and Redwood Shores have nice walkable downtowns near Caltrain stations with shops, restaurants that seems to be active into the early evenings. Both Redwood City and San Mateo have multiplex theaters in the downtown area.

The peninsula is also closer to the beach and the Santa Cruz mountains with many parks.
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Old 01-17-2013, 02:27 PM
 
Location: SF Bay Area
18,965 posts, read 32,465,029 times
Reputation: 13615
Quote:
Originally Posted by lillypie View Post
Good point. I moved from the East Bay about 10 yrs ago but at the time I thought it was a fairly laid-back place and I liked having great restaurants/nightlife and nature trails/beaches nearby and also the proximity to SF and being able to hop on BART/bus and get to the city under 45mins. I'm in my early 30s with kids now so the nightlife isn't a factor but would still like to take advantage of the other things. I'll check out the commute times on the places you just mentioned. Thanks!
BART is better than Caltrain, outside of commute hours Caltrain is not nearly as frequent as BART. So if you plan on going into the City on weekends or outside of commute hours BART is superior to Caltrain plus it's station locations are more central and convenient.
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