Advice on where to live in SF Bay are (young couple)

[Ruth4Truth]

Alameda, and also Albany, which had a pet-friendly apt. complex, and Fremont/Newark/Union City (also on the Bay) are your best bets for do-able rents. You can also try El Cerrito. All but Alameda have BART. Alameda, as you probably discovered, has yacht clubs for sailing, but so does the Berkeley Marina, which Albany is near. Albany and Alameda are the most walkable. Fremont has a sailing club, but it's only for sailing on one of the lakes in its Central Park. They don't have Bay sailing.

[Scorpion3510]

Originally Posted by NoMoreSnowForMe

You might have the best luck in Concord. It's a safe, blue collar suburb next to Walnut Creek, and also on the BART line. It might be your best bet as far as finding a rental in a safe area that will accept a large dog.

But, whatever you read about Alameda that was negative was nuts, in my opinion. Alameda is my favorite town in the East Bay area. It's safe, and quaint and walkable and a decent commute to SF, and close to Oakland for the amenities, without the Oakland problems.

Concord seems very very far away. It appears it's at least 50 minutes on BART and that's not taking into consideration to/from travel time to the BART station itself. Unfortunately I think it's out of the running.

I should have been clearer. I didn't mean that Alameda itself had bad reviews but rather many of the apartment complexes that fit our criteria did. Though, we were able to find two complexes that had good reviews and took large dogs (I'm so happy I didn't get a so called "restricted breed" when I was younger). We are also looking at the possibility from renting from individual owners who may not have a blanket pet prohibition.

On paper, Alameda looks like exactly what we are looking for. However, there are always intangible things about why someone does/doesn't like an area, street, ect. I suppose the true test will be visiting these places and judging for ourselves what works and what doesn't.

That being said, I very much appreciate all the comments we have been receiving from all of you. It's helping whittle the vast area that is the Bay area.

[Ultrarunner]

The Bay Area is vast place with many options...

I live in what is always described as a "Bad" area... East Oakland and have never had any problems... just to put that out there.

If I were to pick a location for you it would be Pleasant Hill... safe area, BART to the city... many people take Pleasant Hill BART to the city every day... also thousands of acres of hiking... Briones, Mount Diablo for starters... Pleasant Hill also has a busy shopping district and is just minutes from Downtown Walnut Creek...

Other locations might be Castro Valley and/or Dublin... unless you like the urban/younger vibe of Berkeley?

I'm guessing finding a suitable rental with a dog to be the biggest challenge...

Try to spend some time scoping out the areas of interest... and rents vary greatly... I just rented a two bedroom in a duplex in the Laurel/Dimond district for $1500... not everyplace is 2k...

The biggest crime problems seem to be auto related... just about everyone I know in SF, Oakland, San Leandro, Berkeley, etc. has had a window popped... it has happened to me twice in San Leandro and Mom had her car stolen in Castro Valley a few weeks ago.. not nearly as much of a problem in the outlying areas EXCEPT at BART stations!

[ServoMiff]

Originally Posted by sav858

They just aren't as overly dramatic about taking BART as you. Plus some know how to get around some of the overcrowding issues and get a seat such as riding upstream and catching an empty train coming out of the Concord maintenance yard for stations like WC and Pleasant Hill.

I agree that in some locations there are some tricks, and I don't look at it as being overly dramatic - I think of it as attempting to paint a realistic expectation of what someone new to the Bay Area might experience. Upstreaming and waiting for empty trains can cost you time if you have a job where you can't afford flexibility in the commute, and don't really work in some locations. I've seen some incredibly long lines and standing room only on the trains at the Dublin/Pleasanton station in the mornings. Some people try to upstream from Castro and West Dublin but still end up standing.

I wish someone had told us about the overcrowding on BART when we first moved here, because we wouldn't have chosen Walnut Creek. My wife was miserable going from there to across from AT&T Park every day.

As with anything, it takes a little getting used to - but as I've said before, moving to the Bay Area from virtually anywhere else will almost always require you to make sacrifices. Some people can handle that commute, some people prefer sitting in their car by themselves for 2 hours to drive 30 miles. We got lucky - we moved into the city from WC and actually SAVED money on rent. We made additional sacrifices to do so, but we prioritized a more peaceful (for me - I have a reverse commute on BART from the city out to Dublin/Pleasanton) and shorter (for her) commute over some of the amenities in an apartment building that we had in WC.