Working in Belmont (San Jose, San Francisco, San Mateo: apartment, to rent, house)

[stacyelaine]

My husband may be working in Belmont, where can a family with two young children live with a reasonable commute time. Someone mentioned Walnut Creek, is that too far away? Any help would be appreciated. It's very intimidating and confusing when you start to research options.

[sonarrat]

Belmont itself has great schools and is a fine town to live in. I was all set to move in there, and the only reason why I probably won't is because my old apartment building did a bang-up job of getting the building back up to code following a fire.

Walnut Creek to there would be an utter disaster.

[stacyelaine]

Is Belmont affordable?

[sonarrat]

No, but it isn't astronomical. I was looking at $1,240 for a junior 1-bedroom (i.e. converted studio), and 1-bedrooms start around $1,300. To rent a house, budget about $2,500-3,000 a month. That's pretty much the story anywhere with quality schools in the Bay Area.

[stacyelaine]

Any other options to consider, though. That still sounds steep to us - Coming from Lexington Ky.

[sonarrat]

The other option you have is to save some money in rent, and instead endure a terrible commute which costs you a lot of money in gas and possibly bridge tolls. Belmont is in kind of a tough place, because it's halfway between San Jose and San Francisco, and anywhere within an hour of either city carries a steep premium because of the job markets. Affordability is a real problem, and you really have to learn to watch out for your wallet to stay out of deep financial trouble.

[libbykt]

San Mateo or Redwood City should have reasonable rents if you cant afford Belmont, and depending on where your husband is working you may actually be closer to one of those towns. Belmont is a pretty small town. Would your kids share a bedroom, or do you need a 3 BR? What price range are you looking in? Are your kids school age?

[unomundo]

We live in Belmont and were lucky enough to get into a house under market value. While shopping, we rented in San Carlos and then looked in San Mateo and Redwood City. I agree that coming in from the East Bay would be awful. If we didn't get this house, I think we would have continued renting or stayed focused on SM and RWC. Good luck to you...

[stacyelaine]

Are there better areas in Belmont, San Mateo, or Redwood City? I'm really interested in a good school system. My daughter is in kindergarten and we have a 4 year old boy. She is currently in a Spanish Immersion school and I would love to continue that. Redwood City has a Spanish Immersion program. Is it considered a good school. San Jose has one and I think San Mateo has one, but I'm not sure.

[libbykt]

Pretty much anywhere in Belmont is fine. There is a little stretch that goes right alongside the freeway where I personally wouldn't want to live, but I have friends that have a very cute home and bought there because it was the only affordable way for them to get into the Belmont school district. There are a couple of neighborhoods in San Mateo and Redwood City that also feed into the Belmont School District- one that I can think of is Laurie Meadows in San Mateo, which is a good family neighborhood.

San Jose would be too far to commute to Belmont. Redwood City, I think most people will tell you that with a family you generally want to live west of 101, and preferably west of Alameda de las Pulgas. The only other area I would want to live in RWC is in Redwood Shores, partly because Redwood Shores is part of the Belmont School District, and partly because I just like the area.

I honestly wouldn't say that any of the schools are that much better than the others- Belmont/Redwood Shores and San Carlos I think score higher than San Mateo or Redwood City, but I haven't done a whole lot of research as my son isn't school age yet and I hope to not have to put him in the public school system in California at all.