Where to live for young Indian family close to San Francisco downtown? (Oakland: for rent, elementary schools)

[denvermomof3]

Originally Posted by 04kL4nD

The OP initially stated wanting a commute time under 30 mins. It's about a 50 min BART ride from Fremont to SF, plus whatever time it'll take to get to the BART station. Sure it beats actually having to drive to the city, but it's not quick or all that convenient.

yep my hubby work in SF and we live in Fremont. the commute time is average around an hour for him even if he take caltrain/bart or go by his own car .
i would suggest OP to keep looking since once you move its difficult to move out if you have kids going to school

[timsi]

Originally Posted by Seige

Did you end up moving? I would love to hear on the neighborhood you chosed and how its been living there for you.

My husband's actually arriving in 2nd week in Feb and will stay in the top chosen suburbs for a week each.
Yes - we do owe this forum thread a final post with what we ended up deciding on

[timsi]

Originally Posted by treedroppings

QUOTE:
3. Coming from Delhi, we are not really huge fans of 'super quiet' neighbourhoods and love a little bit of buzz around. In our recent visit, we saw Sunset District, San Mateo and San Jose and they appeared too quiet although, to be fair, we didn’t spend a lot of time in any of those... just an hour or so. //unquote


haha there is a part of East San Jose by Evergreen High School with a huge Indian community including a 'Sudwara' Sikh temple, and a nice secluded 'town circle' thingie 2miles away from the temple with shops.
There is also 'Little Saigon' with some cafes not far away. Then there is the Oakridge Mall area in SSan Jose with the 'buzz' ! Haven't lived there, but looks noisy and well lit!!

thanks.. we will definitely look at it.
btw..i think you mean Gurdwara, not Sudwara ;-)

[timsi]

Originally Posted by denvermomof3

yep my hubby work in SF and we live in Fremont. the commute time is average around an hour for him even if he take caltrain/bart or go by his own car .
i would suggest OP to keep looking since once you move its difficult to move out if you have kids going to school

yes and hence the long long thread we do want to get it right first time..

[neeraj.arora]

Did you come to finalization of preferred location. I am exactly in same situation like you. I landed in SFO yesterday from Delhi and looking for a location as per your requirement list. Your experience will be great help if you can share.

[timsi]

Hi Neeraj, Welcome to the Bay! you will love it here.

So far, I have lived in 3 different locations.

[timsi]

WEEK 1 - Mission District
I wanted to be closer to work in the first week. It was a good experience living here - 5 mins BART ride into the city and there's a BART every 4-5mins. It's a foodies paradise - tonnes of awesome restaurants & bars. Dolores park is great. It can be unsafe in pockets but nothing to be too alarmed about. Gyms here are always crowded though. It isn't the best for families with young kids but there are pockets of it which are great that way.. especially between Valencia and Dolores. You will be paying a lot here for a 2 bed/2 bath though. Tonnes of people buzz all the time - which can be annoying too sometimes, especially weekends. No Indians though.
Location/proximity to downtown 10/10
Transit 10/10
Family Friendly 4/10
Walk Friendly 7/10
Indian Population 0/10
Bang for buck 5/10
Overall 5/10

[timsi]

WEEK 2 - Rockridge
Loved it! 20 mins BART ride into the city and the frequency is a BART every 5-15mins. For restaurants & bars, it's like mini-Mission District - it has restaurants, cafes, bars and good mature crowd at those places. The weather here is good - it's bright.
There's no big gym within walking distance but if you have a car, there's a lot within a 5 mile radius.
It's completely safe here. There's also a 24hr Safeway & CVS if you need.
This area IMV will give you the best bang for your buck - it has everything (except an Indian crowd).
If you want to live in East Bay, you will NOT go wrong with this area.
Berkeley is also nearby and there's buzz aplenty there too. I just dont see myself living in Berkeley itself though - too much uni crowd for my liking.

Location/proximity to downtown 7/10
Transit 8/10
Family Friendly 10/10
Walk Friendly 10/10
Indian Population 0/10
Bang for buck 10/10
Overall 9/10

[timsi]

I've just been in the peninsula for 2 days ..so stay tuned.

[timsi]

WEEK 3+ - Millbrae
Nice town but doesnt have too much going on. Plenty of good schools. Any family that's targeting one of the top high schools (Mills High) will want to live here.
I thought this town had a different kind of a buzz - vehicular buzz. You could hear cars all the time but there weren't too many people. That's thanks to the proximity to the airport perhaps. There's also a tonne of hotels here - which is not a plus IMV.
The biggest advantage of this town is the schools High school & onwards and that the Caltrain & Bart are right at one place.. so you have options.
It also has a fair few restaurants but majority of them are Asian restaurants. Majority of crowd here is also Asian.
You'll live here for the schools and if you're going to have a lot to do in the Peninsula area.
3-35 min BART ride into the city and frequency is 15mins or more.
Not many bars here - i think one and not many restaurants I'll personally go to ..unless you like Taco Bell, Burger King and the likes. Has good gyms - the 24hr fitness super sport here is great, open round the clock and has basement parking.
Walgreens and a humongous safeway right next to each other.
The area is super expensive - that's because of the schools and the apartments get taken pretty quickly, despite the ridiculous rent and you wont normally stand a chance without Credit in the states.. which is pretty lame fact be told.

Location/proximity to downtown 4/10
Transit 6/10
Family Friendly 10/10
Walk Friendly 8/10
Indian Population 1/10
Bang for buck 4/10
Overall 6/10