Orinda vs Piedmont vs Larkspur for city family looking for great schools and a no-car commute to Ferry Bldg (bike okay) (San Francisco: rent, house)

[davdaven]

Have you looked into Albany or Alameda? I think they will be much more to your liking; they are older, established cities with good schools, good bike/pedestrian facilities, and large traditional shopping districts. In the Lamorinda area, only Lafayette could meet your wants, and even then only if you live very close to downtown. If you don't like the Lamorinda area, you probably won't like Larkspur (or adjacent Corte Madera) either, as they are even smaller than Lafayette. I would advise against Piedmont, as it is very residential (not particularly walkable) and you would have to travel to Oakland for anything and everything (including some of the most crowded grocery stores and congested freeways in the entire Bay Area).

[clongirl]

Downtown Lafayette IS walkable...perhaps you missed the main street entirely? There's a Whole Foods, Trader Joe's CVS, Walgreens, restaurants/stores, Safeway, several Starbucks/Peet's---now even a Philz coffee. Walnut Creek's Target is an exit or two away from Lafayette also-literally 5 minutes away.

Although, I'm unable to walk because I live in the hilly parts with windy roads, the majority of the downtown area and all of the housing surrounding the area is walkable. Many kids here walk to school along a bikeway/pedestrian trail that runs through many parts of the town.

Moraga is very walkable with sidewalks, but few shops/commerical areas--very quiet town. Orinda has more of a walkable downtown and cool shops, but sleepier than Lafayette. Also, I find their downtown weird because the freeway cuts through two sides of their downtown.

The schools in each of the towns are excellent---some of the best in the state, and I'm fairly sure that one can still choose/apply any of the schools depending on different factors (like if school doesn't offer German, and your child wants to learn German, will allow an intradistrict transfer),so there are many kids attending Moraga's or Orinda's high school but live in Lafayette---and vice versa.

[_mizzar]

Originally Posted by capoeira

What about Lowell High in SF? Its a public magnet school that is one of the best high schools in California.

Lowell is also the most requested school in the SF public system and uses a lottery to choose what 1% of applicants to accept, which is too risky to depend on for us.

Originally Posted by likealady

Why not just move out of SF when the kiddos get closer to high school age? Or put them through private school at that point?

We don't want the children to have to switch school systems part way through and make all new connections if we can help it.

[_mizzar]

Originally Posted by aslowdodge

Did you actually walk in Lafayette? The Main Street is several blocks long with business and just a few minutes away from Walnut Creek with a lot of shopping. Larkspur is much less walkable imho. School in in Lafayette are very good.

Thanks for the mention! We'll give Lafayette another look. We mostly saw Orinda and Moraga.

[ssmaster]

Originally Posted by _mizzar

Lowell is also the most requested school in the SF public system and uses a lottery to choose what 1% of applicants to accept, which is too risky to depend on for us.



We don't want the children to have to switch school systems part way through and make all new connections if we can help it.

This is very reasonable
Staying in SAn Francisco and being dependent on public schools is a gamble.
I don't understand the folks saying stay in SF.
3 kids in private schools is very expensive

[ssmaster]

Originally Posted by davdaven

Have you looked into Albany or Alameda? I think they will be much more to your liking; they are older, established cities with good schools, good bike/pedestrian facilities, and large traditional shopping districts. In the Lamorinda area, only Lafayette could meet your wants, and even then only if you live very close to downtown. If you don't like the Lamorinda area, you probably won't like Larkspur (or adjacent Corte Madera) either, as they are even smaller than Lafayette. I would advise against Piedmont, as it is very residential (not particularly walkable) and you would have to travel to Oakland for anything and everything (including some of the most crowded grocery stores and congested freeways in the entire Bay Area).

The housing stock in Albany is not very good for a family of 5.
Of the 13 homes for sale only 2 are above 1600 square feet. Cheek and jowl with 3 kids and later when they are teenagers ? Not fun

[likealady]

Originally Posted by ssmaster

Private high school for 3 kids can easily run from $45k to $120k+ a year.

Ok, and? Lots of people pay it because they can't stand the idea of junior going to *screams* public school. Idk what her rent/mortgage cost is like right now, but $1.5mil + for a good school district vs cost for private school 10 yrs from now. I saved enough for a house downpayment in 5 years.

She's asking a bit much for a car-less walkable area in the burbs imo, especially with 3 kids in tow. I don't get the connections thing unless you're moving out of the Bay Area but that's her choice.

I also think she should consider Alameda but it doesn't have the same prestige as Lamorinda or Piedmont.

[ssmaster]

Originally Posted by likealady

Ok, and? Lots of people pay it because they can't stand the idea of junior going to *screams* public school. Idk what her rent/mortgage cost is like right now, but $1.5mil + for a good school district vs cost for private school 10 yrs from now. I saved enough for a house downpayment in 5 years.

She's asking a bit much for a car-less walkable area in the burbs imo, especially with 3 kids in tow. I don't get the connections thing unless you're moving out of the Bay Area but that's her choice.

I also think she should consider Alameda but it doesn't have the same prestige as Lamorinda or Piedmont.

lots of people don't pay it SF has the lowest percentage of children in the nation
SAN Francisco has a notorious lotto system if you don't get into a good elementary school your kid could end up going to crappy school with kids whose parents are named little joker and mac 10 this is why SAN Francisco has the lowest children per capita of any city in the nation. Most parents don't like the odds. Very few people can afford to buy a nice home and pay for private school in SAN Francisco and if $1.5 million is the budget that's not the price point for paying $30k each per year for 3 kids



If the op has Mortgage interest tax deduction vs 90k per year Non deductible tuition for 3 kids then buying in a good school district is the cost effective move. Personally I would pay for private school but the low percentage of children in SAN Francisco indicate it's not the prudent choice

NYC has higher housing prices and more per capita kids because if you buy a nice place in park slope your assigned to a good local school

[davdaven]

Originally Posted by ssmaster

The housing stock in Albany is not very good for a family of 5.
Of the 13 homes for sale only 2 are above 1600 square feet. Cheek and jowl with 3 kids and later when they are teenagers ? Not fun

Zillow only has 4 houses in Albany listed period. Of those 4, 2 of them have 4 bedrooms. One is listed at $998K, and the other is listed at $1.38 million.

[ssmaster]

Originally Posted by davdaven

Zillow only has 4 houses in Albany listed period. Of those 4, 2 of them have 4 bedrooms. One is listed at $998K, and the other is listed at $1.38 million.

I did not have the filter limited to single family homes.
Only one of those 4 bedrooms homes is above 1600 square feet.
4 bedrooms in 1560 sq feet is tight