Moving family to bay area, home area advice needed thank you (Oakland: real estate market, 2014)

[gianttama]

Totally new to the forum, any advice would be much appreciated.

Currently considering moving to bay area with wife and 3 year old. Wife will be making low 6 figures while I'm not legally to work. Not going to include figures like her bonuses or if I'm going to have income by reselling stuff online to oversea. So this is based on worse case scenario with wife's single income.

We own our place in Canada and could sell it, be debt free, and have maybe 500k USD for a down payment. We are looking for advices on where to avoid and suggestions on where we could possibly look into for a single home house.

Wife will work in emeryville, we will bring our two cars, ideally looking for a 3 bed 2 bath with garage, and not too crazy far from her work.

Any suggestion would be much appreciated.

[BurnInTheMil]

Originally Posted by gianttama

Totally new to the forum, any advice would be much appreciated.

Currently considering moving to bay area with wife and 3 year old. Wife will be making low 6 figures while I'm not legally to work. Not going to include figures like her bonuses or if I'm going to have income by reselling stuff online to oversea. So this is based on worse case scenario with wife's single income.

We own our place in Canada and could sell it, be debt free, and have maybe 500k USD for a down payment. We are looking for advices on where to avoid and suggestions on where we could possibly look into for a single home house.

Wife will work in emeryville, we will bring our two cars, ideally looking for a 3 bed 2 bath with garage, and not too crazy far from her work.

Any suggestion would be much appreciated.

If you’re wanting to put that 500K down, you’re going to be in good shape. Emeryville is a sketchy area, so I would definitely look at the surrounding areas.

Obviously need a safe area & family friendly. Is there anything specific amenity wise you’d like close by? (Restaurants, shopping, parks, etc...)?

[evening sun]

rent before buying.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by evening sun

rent before buying.

Really? With Bay Area rents the way they are, wouldn't that be a waste of money?

Start looking at RE listings online, to familiarize yourself with the market, OP. Brace yourself for the worst, lol. (There may not be much inventory right now, as it's winter. The mkt will open up toward spring.) Look at Albany, look at southeast Richmond, in the hills bordering El Cerrito, especially. Prices are a little better, there. Richmond has its issues, but east Richmond doesn't share those. The area's been underpriced relatively speaking, though it's been "discovered", and prices are rising, but still somewhat of a bargain, in a relative Bay Area sort of way. I don't know how the schools are there; maybe someone else could help you with that. Also be aware that prices tend to bid up, all over the Bay Area, so take the listed prices only as a starting point. Take a look around El Cerrito, as well. These areas will be a relatively easy commute to Emeryville.

[Oakformonday]

I would suggest Orinda. I don't know much about it intimately but it is on the other side of the hills from E-ville, family friendly, low crime, your wife could take a train and then a free shuttle to work (or drive), etc... Only issue is there is nothing available under 1 million. You'd have to be comfortable spending $1.5 million for a 70's house. If you look at real estate sites, look at the sold price. The asking prices are intentionally low to create bidding wars. Good luck.

[aslowdodge]

Originally Posted by evening sun

rent before buying.

I have to agree. If you are moving to an area you are totally unfamiliar with renting is a wise decision. When I moved cross country to Atlanta I made several week long trips,to explore and look at houses.
I thought I had it all planned out. Things changed and ideas did too. I was going to live cheap and buy a house cash in a so so Area. I wound up renting instead of buying.
I rented in an area totally different than I thought. I grew to really like the area and bought a house here plus I wound up buying a house way nicer than originally planned. Renting for two years really allowed me to get the know the areas and neighborhoods.
Even in a hot market like the Bay Area I would still rent. Yes the houses may get more expensive in a year, but if you buy the wrong house it's a really expensive mistake.

[BurnInTheMil]

If it were me, and I was debt free moving to an area like this, I would definitely be looking “best bang for your buck”.

Going somewhere like Pleasant Hill would be my move. More affordable, safe, good schools, and still decently close to most things needed, as well as BART. With Walnut Creek next door, plenty to do, eat, and etc... Single family homes can be found for for $600K +

[gianttama]

Thank you all. We don't care about restaurants or shopping, we don't mind having to drive to shop.

Top priority is safety and school, parks would be a bonus. Is there anywhere we should definitely avoid? How about south of emeryville, any area we could look into? Won't be able to afford any of the elite are or 2 million dollar homes with a single income and don't want to over-committ with unknown income from my side, would like to play it safe especially with a young kid.

Thanks

[TR95]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Really? With Bay Area rents the way they are, wouldn't that be a waste of money?

Start looking at RE listings online, to familiarize yourself with the market, OP. Brace yourself for the worst, lol. (There may not be much inventory right now, as it's winter. The mkt will open up toward spring.) Look at Albany, look at southeast Richmond, in the hills bordering El Cerrito, especially. Prices are a little better, there. Richmond has its issues, but east Richmond doesn't share those. The area's been underpriced relatively speaking, though it's been "discovered", and prices are rising, but still somewhat of a bargain, in a relative Bay Area sort of way. I don't know how the schools are there; maybe someone else could help you with that. Also be aware that prices tend to bid up, all over the Bay Area, so take the listed prices only as a starting point. Take a look around El Cerrito, as well. These areas will be a relatively easy commute to Emeryville.

Agree with Ruth. Albany/berkeley houses tend to sell $200k+ over list price. El Cerrito/Richmond at list or a little over, sometimes below. Richmond Annex is a good area I hear. Also, as someone mentioned look into Orinda. There's also Moraga, which surprisingly when I look in Redfin, there's a number of houses that you can get for around $1M. Take a look at Redfin for sold prices and look at what the houses sold for to give you an idea of pricing in any particular area. Surprisingly in Moraga here was not that large a difference.

A realtor will help once you nail down an area. Be prepared for agents not wanting to waste time with you though. That seemed to be really prevalent when we moved over three years ago. Went through two agents in one month before we found one that would be responsive. I think the problem is there are so many buyers that are in denial about having to bid way over that they end up bidding and losing many many times. Just couldn't believe that we ran into so many people at open houses in 2014 that were complaining they've lost bids for more than a year and still looking. Just ignorant of the pricing and real estate market in CA I guess.

Best of luck. There's also areas in Oakland that could work too.

[evening sun]

Originally Posted by aslowdodge

I have to agree. If you are moving to an area you are totally unfamiliar with renting is a wise decision. When I moved cross country to Atlanta I made several week long trips,to explore and look at houses.
I thought I had it all planned out. Things changed and ideas did too. I was going to live cheap and buy a house cash in a so so Area. I wound up renting instead of buying.
I rented in an area totally different than I thought. I grew to really like the area and bought a house here plus I wound up buying a house way nicer than originally planned. Renting for two years really allowed me to get the know the areas and neighborhoods.
Even in a hot market like the Bay Area I would still rent. Yes the houses may get more expensive in a year, but if you buy the wrong house it's a really expensive mistake.

I still think renting is the way to go, for a new area. They might not like the Bay Area, it is not for everyone. Not everybody will be happy in the Bay Area, especailly with a young family, they may be moving on, to a different state after a while, so they do not need to be tied to a house. renting gives them a chance to find out more about different areas.