Midwest to SF - Where to live 100k+ (Oakland, Hayward: apartment, renting)

[jade408]

Originally Posted by artemis78

BART or the Transbay buses are both good options from central areas of Oakland, and the commute is actually shorter to SOMA than from many parts of San Francisco (and certainly shorter than biking the same distance would be, even if you could do it). A $200 transportation stipend will cover the cost of either BART or the Transbay bus, which both run around $150 a month (your office is about equidistant from BART and the Transbay Terminal; for bus, you get a monthly pass for that cost that also covers all local East Bay bus service, which is handy, and for BART, you pay per trip--about $7 a day RT). You can now take bikes on BART or the bus (though the buses can only carry two). Many BART stations also have secure bike parking (lockers or bike stations).

If you like having the second bedroom and want parking, the East Bay is your best bet at that price point, but I'd probably stay open to 1BR places too, just in case you find something in a neighborhood you prefer that would work. You could check out Grand Lake (bus), Rockridge (BART, but would need to do 1BR for that price), Adams Point (bus or BART, but make sure includes parking spot as street parking is tough), or Piedmont Avenue (bus or BART depending on which end), depending on what kind of neighborhood vibe you want--all are relatively quiet but still popular with young professionals. AC Transit runs the Transbay buses and you can check their website to see where the stops are--the Transbay buses are lettered instead of numbered.

Good tips. These areas are safe with young professionals. Rockridge skews towards kids and couples though. All these areas are close to each other. Uptown us good if you want to live in a more urban area. It is downtown so you will see sketchy characters but violent crime is super rare. I am (as a single female) fine walking most blocks at night, biking is ok, walking in a pair or waiting for the bus in a pair is fine too. There are a few blocks I wouldn't want to hang out alone at night and clearly that is true in every city. But they just have the wrong foot traffic to sketchy person ratio. Temescal is fine east if telegraph. Basically anywhere above MacArthur to the Berkeley border is ok east of telegraph.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Check out Alameda. Nice town, safe, lots of Victorians - very pretty, has a beach, walkable, has a farmer's market, and lots of transportation options to SF: express bus, shuttle to BART, and a ferry.

Transportation | City of Alameda

And options in your price range for 2 bdrm:

SF bay area apts/housing for rent classifieds - craigslist

[jade408]

Originally Posted by NoMoreSnowForMe

Check out Alameda. Nice town, safe, lots of Victorians - very pretty, has a beach, walkable, has a farmer's market, and lots of transportation options to SF: express bus, shuttle to BART, and a ferry.

Transportation | City of Alameda

And options in your price range for 2 bdrm:

SF bay area apts/housing for rent classifieds - craigslist

Not very single friendly. It's like couples and kids over there. Pleasant place to live but...

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Originally Posted by jade408

Not very single friendly. It's like couples and kids over there. Pleasant place to live but...

The OP said "quieter, safer place to live" in his price range with reasonable commute. Hard to find affordable, single-happening, quiet, safe with reasonable commute to SF. There's gonna have to be a compromise. If "quieter and safer" in that price range is the priority, Alameda would serve well.

And Oakland is just a hop and a skip away for single-seeking, etc., as is Berkeley.

Here's meetups for Alameda (within 2 miles):

http://www.meetup.com/find/?allMeetu...2&sort=default

Alameda doesn't look hopeless for a single. And with a car, the whole Bay Area is there.

[04kL4nD]

Jack London Square is on the quieter/safer side, while still being pretty urban. OP might want to look there before Alameda- it's much more walkable and closer to places like Uptown and Old Oakland.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Originally Posted by 04kL4nD

Jack London Square is on the quieter/safer side, while still being pretty urban. OP might want to look there before Alameda- it's much more walkable and closer to places like Uptown and Old Oakland.

OP, lots of controversy about the safety of Jack London Square on this forum. Do your homework on what you consider "safe."

Shootings in the nightclubs in Jack London Square along with an increase in car break-ins come to mind.

I would personally feel much safer in Alameda. Some would rather compromise a bit on safety for a more exciting environment. You'd have to make that call. I am suggesting that in whatever neighborhood you consider moving to, that you research crime for that neighborhood, and if you're comfortable with that amount/type of crime.

[04kL4nD]

Not really. If you're a 'stats' person, you'd easily see that JLS has much better crime stats than other areas of Oakland. You're actually more likely to get mugged or have your car broken into by Lake Merritt than JLS. This is mostly because of the close proximity to the OPD HQ, BART police HQ at Lake Merritt BART, and the fact that many apartment/condo complexes near JLS have private security. I've lived here for over a year and had ZERO issues with crime.

OP, NoMoreSnowForMe doesn't even live in the Bay Area anymore, but seems to have some weird anti-Oakland agenda going on. Alameda is certainly nice, but not exactly a happening place for singles.

[jade408]

Originally Posted by NoMoreSnowForMe

OP, lots of controversy about the safety of Jack London Square on this forum. Do your homework on what you consider "safe."

Shootings in the nightclubs in Jack London Square along with an increase in car break-ins come to mind.

I would personally feel much safer in Alameda. Some would rather compromise a bit on safety for a more exciting environment. You'd have to make that call. I am suggesting that in whatever neighborhood you consider moving to, that you research crime for that neighborhood, and if you're comfortable with that amount/type of crime.

Besides the fact those nightclubs that had the shootings closed? Those incidents were on a 3-5 year timeline. Not particularly often. I can recall about 5 shootings near Jack London Square over the past 18 years...

I wouldn't want to park on the street overnight east of Oak, but the buildings having secured parking. In terms of walking around at night and stuff? Jack London is fine, and really safe for an urban area downtown in a city of any size.

Uptown could potentially be a little noisy, but it isn't bad. Piedmont Ave, Rockridge and most of Grand Lake are super quiet, safe, and close to entertainment. Piedmont Ave and Grand Lake are full of younger singles.

I lived in Alameda when I was younger, back then it really wasn't very fun for singles. Now it is better, but still not great. You just won't have the opportunity to meet many people there, and you'll spend most of your time leaving anyway.

[Larry Siegel]

Originally Posted by baweaver

What's the general opinion of Inner Sunset, ignoring the naming irony? I've heard Glenn Park as well. I'll take a look into the ones you all have mentioned too.

Inner Sunset is beautiful, but almost as expensive as the places you've been looking. I don't know Glen Park very well.

I would consider Oakland and BART. The parts of Oakland that are established middle-class areas with good BART access are Rockridge, Piedmont, Temescal, to some extent Lake Merritt. Rockridge is the best of them and you can afford it.

[NorCalLover]

Originally Posted by baweaver

What's the general opinion of Inner Sunset, ignoring the naming irony? I've heard Glenn Park as well. I'll take a look into the ones you all have mentioned too.

The Inner Sunset and Glen Park are both nice but would be out of your price range for a 2-bedroom. Your best options for a two-bed in your price range in SF would be the Outer Sunset, Outer Richmond, and Outer Mission. Keep in mind that all these areas have very pokey transit downtown - if you're right by a BART station in Oakland it's a faster commute, especially the Sunset and Richmond. You might prefer biking from these locations since you mentioned bike commuting in another post.

If you are open to a 1-br the Inner Sunset could be nice - a little longer of a commute downtown but is quieter while still having a lot of younger singles. I like Glen Park alot, it's peaceful and an easy commute to the Mission and downtown on BART, but it does skew older and has more couples and families. It's also harder to find apartments in Glen Park, there are mostly houses. You might also want to consider the area by USF (lots of singles and younger people due to the University), the Inner Richmond, and if you get lucky enough to find a place in your price range, you might also like one of the neighborhoods North of downtown like Russian Hill.