Help Please! (San Jose, San Francisco, Fremont: rent, houses, neighborhood)

[lpl512]

My family and I are moving to the San Francisco area from Plano, TX (a suburb of Dallas). We don't even know where to start looking!

Here is a general idea of our family:
- Hubby works in the city (and will work downtown in SF too)
- I'm a stay-at-home mom with one toddler and expecting baby #2
- We loved the city life pre-kids, but now we enjoy the suburban lifestyle

Here is what we are looking for:
- Suburban community
- Great Public Schools
- Reasonable commute to SF (by car or train - we are flexible. Hubby currently rides the DART train to work)
- Family friendly areas (lots of kids, other SAHM for me to connect with, etc.)

I just want to know which communities are a good fit, and more importantly - where are the best public schools?

Home prices aren't too important right now, as we will most likely rent the first year to really get to know the area. But out of curiosity - what should we expect to pay for a single family home? Are there any opportunities to build in a new neighborhood in the area?

Thanks everyone!

[humboldtrat]

Check out the east bay - places such as Pleasanton, Dublin, San Ramon. It's all totally middle to upper middle class suburbia. BART connects this area to SF BART - Stations & Schedules, Maps & Directions.

I think you will find housing prices a bit more than what you have in Texas. Plan on spending about $700K for a decent house. I'm not aware of any housing projects in the area. The housing market has slowed down considerably in CA in the last 2 years and builders are having a hard time selling homes that were recently built.

[lpl512]

Thank you so much! I will check out these areas!

The houses are MUCH more expensive than I'm used to - but I'm looking forward to a new adventure!

[tennis368fan]

Try the Travis Unified School District area in the outskirts of Fairfield and Vacaville. MUCH less expensive, and near Capitol Corridor Train service in Fairfield. The schools are good for the price. Single-family homes start in the low 200K's (1000 square feet), but the largest homes (around 4000 square feet) are no more than the low 500K's. I would list some examples on this post/thread, but the forum does not allow me to without penalty.

If your children are still young and will be in elementary and middle school for a while, Mountain House is affordable and has great elementary and middle schools. Commutes can be done by carpooling or by commuter bus to BART at the Dublin/Pleasanton BART Station.

The best public schools are in certain parts of the affluent Marin County, Albany, the Lamorinda area, the Tri-Valley, San Francisco-Lowell High, Fremont-Mission San Jose, and certain ones in the South Bay and the Peninsula (Silicon Valley). However, decent family homes in these areas easily run up into the millions.

I would suggest Benicia, but the homes there are probably expensive also, but not as much. There is also Davis, with top-notch schools, but that is where it starts to get too far from San Francisco even by train.

One thing that I should also note is that the Bay Area is very demographically diverse. For example, the 2000 U.S. census states that less than half of the population of the San Francisco Bay Area Metropolitan Region is European-American and that close to a third of the population is foreign born. This contrasts with the almost eighty-percent European-American population in Plano, and the almost seventy-percent in the entire Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Region.

[tennis368fan]

You can also look in Mountain House for large, affordable homes with good schools. They have commuter buses that take residents to BART to San Francisco.

Do what is comfortable for your family. Is it a smaller home with a shorter commute that looks appealing, or a longer commute for a larger home? You should weigh your options as there is much to be had in the San Francisco Bay Area.