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Old 07-26-2009, 03:06 PM
 
28 posts, read 75,536 times
Reputation: 11

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My DH is considering a job in SF, eastern part of downtown. Looks like Mission district on Mapquest. We have one child left at home almost 10 yrs old. Schools are most important. We love SF, but we are not sure what would be the best area to live. My DH does not mind commuting. I have read some great information here, but would love to hear all the latest. I have read about ferrying in, BART, trains. What are peoples' experiences with these? I have read great things about Walnut Creek, Alameda. Someone else mentioned north of SF. Then I heard about Belmont and San Carlos to the south. It is scary moving across the country. Here is what we are looking for. Thanks so much.

1. Rent (first year or so) $3000-ish I guess.
2. Good schools (all the way up preferably)
3. Low crime
4. No preference as far as urban/suburban
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Old 07-26-2009, 03:49 PM
 
Location: Northern California
3,721 posts, read 14,694,312 times
Reputation: 1962
Quote:
Originally Posted by dallastxgirl View Post
My DH is considering a job in SF, eastern part of downtown. Looks like Mission district on Mapquest. We have one child left at home almost 10 yrs old. Schools are most important. We love SF, but we are not sure what would be the best area to live. My DH does not mind commuting. I have read some great information here, but would love to hear all the latest. I have read about ferrying in, BART, trains. What are peoples' experiences with these? I have read great things about Walnut Creek, Alameda. Someone else mentioned north of SF. Then I heard about Belmont and San Carlos to the south. It is scary moving across the country. Here is what we are looking for. Thanks so much.

1. Rent (first year or so) $3000-ish I guess.
2. Good schools (all the way up preferably)
3. Low crime
4. No preference as far as urban/suburban
Go with Belmont, San Carlos, San Mateo or Burlingame. Nice and safe suburban areas with good schools and there is no bay to cross, no tolls to pay. Traffic on just about all bridges can be a slow crawl and BART is getting to be expensive. There is a commuter train from all these towns to San Francisco caltrain.com - home. $3k for rent is high - expect to pay less.
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Old 07-26-2009, 05:19 PM
hsw
 
2,144 posts, read 7,146,931 times
Reputation: 1540
Palo Alto is an easy "cheap" choice for families; Stanford's presence nearby entails both many rental houses (priced for poor grad students and young faculty) and an intellectual culture not seen in typical cities/suburbs

Many families who can choose to both live and work in SF are rather affluent, as tolerable newer housing (w/modern suburban tech, amenities, garages and space) and private schools are fairly costly in SF itself

Public schools generally suck anywhere in CA (or in US for that matter); but some of best public schools in US are in Palo Alto...measure public schools by % of kids who enter top 5 colleges

CA is home of car culture; some of world's fastest urban commutes are on SF Peninsula; door-to-door drive from Palo Alto to SF's FinDt is ~35mins, even in rush hr traffic (many SF yuppies do the daily drive in reverse from SF to PA, MenloPark or other SiliconValley suburbs)
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Old 07-26-2009, 05:27 PM
 
Location: Sierra Vista, AZ
17,531 posts, read 24,643,068 times
Reputation: 9980
Quote:
Originally Posted by dallastxgirl View Post
My DH is considering a job in SF, eastern part of downtown. Looks like Mission district on Mapquest. We have one child left at home almost 10 yrs old. Schools are most important. We love SF, but we are not sure what would be the best area to live. My DH does not mind commuting. I have read some great information here, but would love to hear all the latest. I have read about ferrying in, BART, trains. What are peoples' experiences with these? I have read great things about Walnut Creek, Alameda. Someone else mentioned north of SF. Then I heard about Belmont and San Carlos to the south. It is scary moving across the country. Here is what we are looking for. Thanks so much.

1. Rent (first year or so) $3000-ish I guess.
2. Good schools (all the way up preferably)
3. Low crime
4. No preference as far as urban/suburban
I rented a 2,000 Sq Ft 2 bdrm for $2200 in OUTER RICHMOND DISTRICT OF SAN FRANCISCO and took the bus downtown. The 38 Bus runs every 15 minutes It worked out really good. kept my car in the garage for weeks at a time. Schools are good, lowest crime in the Bay Area. The majority of the population is Chinese but there are a lot of Russians too.
It's the section of the city west of the Golden Gate and North of the Park out to the Ocean. Commonly called the Avenues from 2nd -48th(at the Ocean)
If I could have afforded a house there I'd still be living there.
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Old 07-29-2009, 06:02 PM
 
Location: SF Bay Area
13,520 posts, read 22,057,115 times
Reputation: 20234
San Carlos and Belmont are great places to raise a family. For Belmont, public schools are great through highschool. For San Carlos, I'd move before my children reach highschool age.
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Old 07-29-2009, 07:18 PM
 
Location: Bay Area
3,981 posts, read 8,966,774 times
Reputation: 4728
Quote:
Originally Posted by hsw View Post
Palo Alto is an easy "cheap" choice for families; Stanford's presence nearby entails both many rental houses (priced for poor grad students and young faculty) and an intellectual culture not seen in typical cities/suburbs

Many families who can choose to both live and work in SF are rather affluent, as tolerable newer housing (w/modern suburban tech, amenities, garages and space) and private schools are fairly costly in SF itself

Public schools generally suck anywhere in CA (or in US for that matter); but some of best public schools in US are in Palo Alto...measure public schools by % of kids who enter top 5 colleges

CA is home of car culture; some of world's fastest urban commutes are on SF Peninsula; door-to-door drive from Palo Alto to SF's FinDt is ~35mins, even in rush hr traffic (many SF yuppies do the daily drive in reverse from SF to PA, MenloPark or other SiliconValley suburbs)
No, Palo Alto is not "cheap". It's actually one of the wealthiest communities in Northern Cal. Don't bother with this useless advice (and it's not anywhere within commuting distance to SF either). (This guy tends to obsess about big words, ultra wealthy financiers/hedge fund/sophisticated elite educated snobs/tech gurus that have undiagnosed Asperger's syndrome).

Anyway, in addition to some of the other towns mentioned in the South Bay (San Carlos, Belmont, Burlingame) .. also look into parts of the East Bay (Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga, Walnut Creek). All good choices and you get a little more for your money for rentals imo. It's a little warmer on this side of the Bay but this may or may not be a factor for you.

The schools are great and if you intend on staying long term, your child will actually get the choice to attend any of the high schools in the area. The public transportation (BART) will get your husband into the City in about 20-30 minutes.
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