Moving from SoCal to SF/Peninsula - Where to Live? Also Affordability (San Mateo: for sale, apartment)

[somaguy]

Hi All,

So my spouse and I are moving up to the bay area. I know the #1 tip is live close to your work but for us this will be tricky. I'm going to be working in Mountain View and it looks like she will be working in the city.

For us a 1 hour commute would be just about the ceiling and we'd both really like to be able to do public transport (rather than driving) for the commute. Otherwise, since we're both in our early/mid 20s we are looking for somewhere reasonably fun with dining and drinking options past 9pm. We've decided that we'll probably live between SF and MV (inclusive), but we have relatively little knowledge of the peninsula.

In the intermediate term we'd like to buy a place - we could swing a bit north of $1M but in this case we'd also be interested in the quality of schools. Are there areas with particularly good/bad reputations?

What areas are best for going out in the evening? What will the commute for us look like? And how reasonable would it be to get a 2-3br townhouse or (very small) single family house for the price range we can afford?

[ccm123]

Most cities on the Peninsula have good to excellent schools and are safe. Notable exception is East Palo Alto.

Good Downtown areas: Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Mateo.

North of 1M will buy a decent place, but be prepared for sticker shock, even coming from Southern California, as I lived there for about 20 years. The selection of properties for sale will be fewer here in the Bay Area and the sizes will be smaller (for a higher price) than what you are accustomed to in Southern California.

[mayorhaggar]

a) an hour commute is really normal in the Bay Area, and would be considered pretty good compared to a lot of people's daily grind.

b) San Mateo near its Caltrain station would be a good bet since it's between SF and MV. Probably your wife could just take Caltrain to SF, though if she works in downtown proper she'd have to figure a way to go the final mile between the Caltrain terminus station and where most offices are north of Market. You can take buses, light rail, walk, etc.

c) unless your office is next to the Mountain View Caltrain station (unlikely, since Silicon Valley is so suburban) you'll probably have to drive to work, especially if you have to work late. You'll want a car living in San Mateo County anyway since it's pretty suburban and spread out.

d) who the heck can afford a million dollar house in their early 20's? Kids these days...

[zitsky]

Originally Posted by mayorhaggar

d) who the heck can afford a million dollar house in their early 20's? Kids these days...

These "kids" might have a $5 million dollar net worth. Not very likely but you never know. And they didn't say they would buy right away. I bought my house in my 30's and had lived in an apartment for 6 years first.

OP, Mountain View is a nice place to live, reasonably active. One of you can make a sacrifice and take the train or drive into SF. I did that for 6 months from Mountain View in the 1990's before I got a job on the peninsula. San Mateo is another good option and more centrally located.

[MauiPartTimer]

Check out Millbrae. It'll be an easy BART ride into the city for your wife and not too bad a drive or Cal Train for you. Probably about a 30 minute commute for each of you.

[HockeyMac18]

Originally Posted by MauiPartTimer

Check out Millbrae. It'll be an easy BART ride into the city for your wife and not too bad a drive or Cal Train for you. Probably about a 30 minute commute for each of you.

Milbrae or San Mateo would be my recommendations.

[wooliemonster]

A 1M house in their 20s sounds like they have family help with a downpayment, or did well with a start-up. But it's not out of the question if they both have professional jobs. Perhaps a little young, but a 30-35 year old DINKy professional couple can achieve that if they save carefully. I've run the numbers many times myself

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Welcome to the mid Peninsula. That will be your sweet spot given the split commute.

[countofmc]

This is subjective, but I generally recommend to people that you live as close as possible to one spouse's workplace, instead of splitting the distance. Preferably the one that doesn't have as much work flexibility (such as potential for working from home). I think it's generally better that one spouse has a very short/ non-existent commute so that at least someone in the household has time for household chores, grocery shopping, running errands, etc.

So I'd say since your budget is large enough that you look into living in the city, or living in Mountain View.

[somaguy]

As a follow-up - we looked at a few areas on the peninsula. Candidates are Burlingame, Millbrae, San Mateo, and the south-east part of the city (SoMa, South Beach, etc). South city would be a ~1 hour commute for me (to MV) but my employer provides shuttles all over the bay so at least I won't have to drive. And my spouse will have a ~10 minute commute this way. So right now we're leaning towards living in the city for a year, and then moving out to the peninsula. We did like MV downtown when we visited but my spouse's commute would be brutal.

Originally Posted by zitsky

These "kids" might have a $5 million dollar net worth.

Haha, I wish! No, no start-up fortune, and no inheritance or family money either, unless you count the $10k college savings my parents gave me when I told them I'd pay for school myself. Just got lucky with being able to work an engineering job through college, and it turns out that if you continue to live like a student for a few years after graduating you can save a lot.