Texas to East Bay (Oakland, Concord: to rent, how much, buying a home)

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by TheseGoTo11

For your budget can get a nice 2/maybe 3 BR SFH on the other side of the Caldecott Tunnel with better weather and less culture shock coming from Texas. I often need to escape SF/Oakland/Berkeley, and I'm a centrist Biden supporter. You'll also get more for your money and far fewer homeless etc.

Walnut Creek to Emeryville can be 45-50 mins in the morning, 30 during COVID but as long as you're not crossing the bridge the commute isn't too terrible.

You can also do a short term rental and then buy if you need to the down payment. Also helps narrow down on neighborhoods, which can vary here because it's not all recently built sprawl.

I agree, the bolded is true. And for commuting, one can take BART, which has shuttle service to Emeryville from one or two of its stations, IIRC. So one wouldn't have to drive and fight traffic. Though during non-pandemic times, BART is crowded during commute hours. It's anyone's guess what commuting by any means will be like after the pandemic.

[timtemtym]

Originally Posted by mje11even

We own a 3200 sq ft home in Texas in a nice area. We owe $200k and could sell it for $500k. We could probably gather up another $25k in cash.

We have spent the last 3 months living in a rented 1300 sqft basement in Utah to be close to our adult kids.

I have a weird question, but we are in a similar situation to yours. Are you leaving your house in Texas empty?

We're wondering what to do with our house in Texas since we don't want to sell it yet, but we are ready to head back to California in the next few months. Are you renting it out? or just having family check in on it?

I know it's a weird question! We're just not sure what to do with our oversized home in TX when we move back to California. We bought in TX last spring and it is just not a good fit for us anymore (and I grew up in TX).

[ccm123]

These are fair points and that’s been my experiences traveling to various parts of Texas. I think the OP will need to get accustomed to the housing size, age & price differences along with the weather differences (I found Houston to be very humid, for example) and sprawl, which is not common in this part of CA.

Originally Posted by roadwarrior101

I think you're right about this part but there are other things that feel differently. Due to Bay Area weather/topography, its much more conducive to outdoor living. People can exercise (hiking, biking, playing sports, etc.) outdoors year-round and its rarely inclement. I've seen pockets of this in Austin in the hill country, but in the summer months, people tend to stay indoors more. If you go somewhere like Dallas or Houston, its really flat, so on top of the weather, there just aren't that many places where you can go outside. You can go for walks or hang out at lakes, but its not the same as here.

Tying onto the above and the fact that in general, Texas is a lot more affordable, people stay indoors a lot more. Homes tend to be much larger with more square footage, more bedrooms and extra indoor amenities (media room, exercise room, etc.). Also, in general the housing stock by and large tends to be a lot newer. Here, people for the most part accept older/smaller places, due to cost and the fact they don't feel they need to live as much indoors. Often people will sacrifice square footage for more outdoor entertaining space, as an example.

I also find that Texas seems to have much more of a sunbelt sprawl feel. There are some nice downtown areas in the major cities, but outside of this, it seems to be mainly strip malls and not much in terms of walkable downtowns at the town level. You have manufactured downtown malls, such as Legacy in Plano and Domain in Austin (Santana Row is our equivalent), but less in terms of established, walkable downtowns. Many of the towns here are older, so the downtowns evolved along railroad corridors. I didn't see much of this in Texas (or other sunbelt cities for that matter).

[ccm123]

Unfortunately, I’m not super familiar with the northern end of Alameda County. It sounds like you are though.

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

That's what we're here for, though; to steer the OP away from the bad areas. A Berkeley and El Cerrito hills recommendation, for example, is foolproof. So is Alameda. Albany too, pretty much. Notice no one suggested Oakland except Rockridge. Can't go wrong there. The only other part of Oakland I'd recommend would be Montclair.

OP, in some of these hills areas, you may only see, at first, big multi-million $$ properties. Don't get discouraged; there are smaller, more modest properties among them. It just depends on what happens to be up for sale when you're looking.

Anyway, I think we've given you plenty of turf to cover in your search. Let us know if we can be of assistance.

[davdaven]

Emeryville is directly served by Amtrak (Capitol Corridor), so you could commute by train if you really want to venture further afield. Realistically, most people choose to drive (Emeryville traffic is bad) or take BART to MacArthur Station and connect to the free Emery Go-Round shuttle. Emery Go-Round has very good service to almost every part of the small city that is Emeryville. Emeryville is also served by regular AC Transit bus service, which includes Transbay buses to/from SF and various lines into Berkeley and Oakland.

The Bay Area has micro-climates and a variety of development patterns, so it would help to know what kind of weather and neighborhood ambiance you would like. Want it cool and ultra-liberal? Stick to Berkeley and Oakland. Want it cool but a little more traditionally liberal? Give El Cerrito or Alameda a try. Want it warmer and slightly more moderate? Cross through the Caldecott Tunnel and look at towns like Orinda, Lafayette, and Walnut Creek. The further away from Emeryville you go, the less walkable places tend to be. Don't bother with Albany, as it's a nice town but incredibly expensive because of the good school district. Even "more affordable" El Cerrito will have homes that cost around $1 million. And don't forget that Berkeley in particular might seem surprisingly affordable compared to the surrounding area, but you will pay dearly in extra tax assessments that get piled on there.

If you have a scooter or motorcycle, that may be a good commute option. I don't ride my 150cc scooter much now that I'm in Richmond, but I was on it all the time when I lived in Berkeley. Makes fighting traffic in places like Emeryville that much easier since you can lane split here in California. And if you end up very close to Emeryville, there's a decent bike lane network and you could ride an e-bike instead of driving or taking public transit.

[mje11even]

Originally Posted by timtemtym

I have a weird question, but we are in a similar situation to yours. Are you leaving your house in Texas empty?

We're wondering what to do with our house in Texas since we don't want to sell it yet, but we are ready to head back to California in the next few months. Are you renting it out? or just having family check in on it?

I know it's a weird question! We're just not sure what to do with our oversized home in TX when we move back to California. We bought in TX last spring and it is just not a good fit for us anymore (and I grew up in TX).

It's been empty with people checking on it, except that we had someone staying in it for a couple of weeks while their house was being worked on because of broken pipes. Not sure when we will sell, but will need to if we decide to buy in California.

[mje11even]

Thanks again for all of the responses.

I'm surprised that houses are going for so much more than what is listed. So if I think I want to spend a million on a home, do I look at homes listed for $800k? What about new construction homes - do they sell for the actual listed price or are there some hidden costs there as well?

[ccm123]

Homes sell for above asking, due to “bidding wars” in the Bay Area housing market. It’s a sellers market here.
Even new construction homes sell for over asking prices. I think you could “follow” and “track” some home sales online to see what the differences between the asking and actual sales prices are, to get an idea of the price range you should initially look for.

Originally Posted by mje11even

Thanks again for all of the responses.

I'm surprised that houses are going for so much more than what is listed. So if I think I want to spend a million on a home, do I look at homes listed for $800k? What about new construction homes - do they sell for the actual listed price or are there some hidden costs there as well?

[OaklandMom2]

Originally Posted by mje11even

Thanks again for all of the responses.

I'm surprised that houses are going for so much more than what is listed. So if I think I want to spend a million on a home, do I look at homes listed for $800k? What about new construction homes - do they sell for the actual listed price or are there some hidden costs there as well?

It's definitely a seller's market here in the East Bay. You are correct that with a $1M budget, you need to look at homes in the $800Ks or less. There are very few new construction homes that are single family homes, mostly townhomes and condos. If you want to be close to trails, Oakland hills and Berkeley hills are great areas but will be extremely difficult to find something for $1M or less. Try the Richmond hills area, might still be able to find something that's nice and under $1M.

[BayAreaResiding]

Originally Posted by mje11even

Thanks again for all of the responses.

I'm surprised that houses are going for so much more than what is listed. So if I think I want to spend a million on a home, do I look at homes listed for $800k? What about new construction homes - do they sell for the actual listed price or are there some hidden costs there as well?

I have not seen any new construction homes sell for less than 1 million. Most new construction homes in they Bay Area would easily be at least over 1.5 to 3 million dollars. Even new townhomes in the Bay sell for over 1.2 million.