moving to SF from NYC (San Francisco, Oakland: rent, crime, house)

[vieira4ever]

help!! can anybody suggest a place to live?? please

my wife and I have lived in NYC for a few years now and following the birth of our first child are looking to get out of here.

I've never been to CA but she's been to San Francisco several times and loves it, she says it is the only place in USA that I will like other than NYC (I'm from Ireland)

Basically we're looking for somewhere affordable ($1100 for a 2bed) in a safe area with good schools, nice people etc.

I'm a bartender and she works in marketing.

My interests are soccer/outdoors/bars and hers are stage theater/restaurants/music

Thanks a lot

[gizmo980]

I'm sorry, but the "wants" you've listed aren't possible in San Francisco!! A two-bedroom that costs $1100 will undoubtedly be in a bad neighborhood, tiny, or in very poor shape. I only pay $900 for my place, but I'm in a high-crime suburb 30 miles south of the city. I just did a quick search on SF craigslist, and only found TWO results under $1100 - one was in the worst neighborhood (Bayview), and the other was an in-law unit (attached to someone's home & usually very small). Sorry to be so negative, but that's the unfortunate truth in the Bay Area... coming from New York, this shouldn't be too shocking for you, but I think we have fewer low-rent options here.

Sounds like you want to live in the actual city, but could you do the suburbs? There are some slightly more affordable options outside the city, especially if you head to the East Bay... you won't be in a "desirable" neighborhood, but generally this would be safer than bad parts of SF (unless you're in East Oakland ). Berkeley is a very cool & hip town, just across the bay from San Francisco... I found 6 listings under $1200 there, but only 2 under $1100. My suggestion is to look into 1-bedrooms instead, otherwise you'll have to increase your budget or go outside of SF. Some towns to consider would be San Mateo, Burlingame, Pacifica, Berkeley, Lake Merritt part of Oakland (maybe certain other parts too?), and some neighborhoods in Daly City or South San Francisco. Check craigslist for listings, and you can compare the costs in different areas... feel free to ask me about the towns you find!

[gizmo980]

P.S. Your wife is right... despite it's negatives, San Francisco is a great city!!! I suggest trying to come out for a visit soon, to see everything for yourself. Weather isn't the best right now, but I'm sure you'd still enjoy it!

[Peninsula gal]

You're from Ireland. You'll love San Francisco weather. You will not love the cost of living. Look outside of San Francisco, either around Walnut Creek/Martinez/Concord -- the weather is warmer in the summer and colder in winter; or south of San Francisco, Redwood City, South San Francisco, etc. I just looked on Craigslist.com for Peninsula rents under $1200 for 2 bdr. and they are there and in some decent areas. Did the same for east bay and there are places. Forget San Francisco though, rents are like mid-town Manhattan.

[parklifemedia]

I lived in San Francisco for 8 years got bored and moved to the death trap known as Beverly Hills. San Francisco is underated, it's a great city if you stay in the proper areas. The suburbs of San Francisco are fairly boring, but if you're idea of fun is nature you may like Marin. The best areas in SF are Nob Hill not to be confused by (lower nob hill,) Pacific Heights, The Marina, Russian Hill, Polk Gulch, Soma, and Noe Valley.

[blurstar]

With your rent budget, you will be looking at an area called East Bay. This is a stretch on the east side of SF bay, from Richmond in the north to Milpitas in the south.

There are some bad neighborhoods in this stretch, but there are some OK neighborhoods too. I think Union City, Newark are pretty clean and safe. In the mid section Alameda is OK (rent is just a tab higher than your budget). Further north El Cerritos is pretty quiet too.

Night life is not as colorful as in the City, but you can always go into the city to party, then go back to your East Bay home.

You can't rent a house with that budget in those neighborhoods; it will be an apt.

[vieira4ever]

thank you, everybody for your help. having researched san francisco a little more in the last few days i've come up with a few different ideas. I've found that a 1 bedroom apt in san fran is a lot bigger than a 1 bedroom apt in new york, thats a generalisation of course but for the most part i think it's true. Therefore i think we will be getting just a 1 bedroom rather than a 2 bedroom as origionally planned.

the areas that have interested me most are alameda, concord and walnut creek. perhaps some of you may be able to shed some more light on these spots? are they boring? are they safe? how long is commute?

I would really appreciate also if somebody could tell me about the bar/bartending scene there. somebody told me it is very hard to break into, even if you have good experience elsewhere and can pay really poorly to begin with.

thank you

[blurstar]

Concord and Walnut Creek are next to each other. They are somewhat white and upscale towns. WC has more business activities; while Concord is largely a bedroom community. These two cities are about 45 minutes drive into SF.

By comparison, Alameda is 15 minutes from SF and more diverse. It is mainly a bedroom community too. The city has tried very hard to maintain a small-town atmosphere and there are lots of mom and pop shops, including several local bars.

Certainly, none of these cities has a night life that can rival SF (although I think there are more pretty women in bars in WC and Concord). For fun or employment in bars, your best chance is SF. From this perspective Alameda will make commute much easier. There is a direct bus into SF.

I don't know about the bar tending business but I have heard the same thing you said, that bartenders don't make a lot of money.

[Dara]

Hello IRISH.. I'm 2nd generation Irish. My grand Dad was from Sligo, and my grandmother from Fermanagh. I've visited New York. Like NYC, SF has things close together. And .. A huge bar scene. I may add, it also has an Irish Cultural Center, which is a home base for irish americans like myself, OR.. for yourself. Do run a search on the irish cultural center of SF. It should pop up in a search engine.
Bars are plentiful there. You can even run a search on those, too.. I can share with you one's I can recall, Johnny Foley's its downtown SF. Huge trendy irish place. Do a pub crawl online, where they give descriptions etc. The irish community center is great about helping their own. You'll get alot of referrals and people in the know.
There 's culture there, over the bar scene, too... your wife will find lots of things in the world of theatre etc, and the like there too. Lots of things in many areas, many cultures to please there which is nice.
There's an irish bar close by where I used to live, called the "Dubliner" and the owner who's from Ireland, also has another 2nd dubliner, downtown I believe.
There's also another one, in the 'Richmond district" called "Ireland's 32" And, a long time ago, there was O'Shea's... however your own searches should help you find things like this.
I don't envy anyone relocating and not knowing areas, its hard its really a huge job and scary.. best of luck and joy to those out there in their pursuits! It can be frightening! So glad we have forums like this wonderful site to hang onto! People are wonderfully helpful..