Suburbs (San Jose, San Francisco, Sacramento: affordable apartments, foreclosures, for rent)

[j_rode]

Right now I'm sort of just looking at areas of the country that I might want to live in upon the graduation of college and the Bay Area is one of them.

I realize that it's quite expensive to live in San Francisco itself and I was wondering if people could point me in the direction of some suburbs that have affordable apartments that are within an hour of the area.

I have some relatives who live in Martinez, but I've never been there and really don't know where that is, but I'm told it's near the area, I think.

I'm looking to live the "big city life" but at a lower cost, it's that possible.

Also, are insects bad out in the Bay Area? In particular, are spiders common? I live in Wisconsin and we don't get many big spiders around here, just the occasional, small, house spider. I'm not a fan of spiders of any size or shape. Any spider creeps me out.

Any information would help!

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by j_rode

Right now I'm sort of just looking at areas of the country that I might want to live in upon the graduation of college and the Bay Area is one of them.

I realize that it's quite expensive to live in San Francisco itself and I was wondering if people could point me in the direction of some suburbs that have affordable apartments that are within an hour of the area.

I have some relatives who live in Martinez, but I've never been there and really don't know where that is, but I'm told it's near the area, I think.

I'm looking to live the "big city life" but at a lower cost, it's that possible.

Also, are insects bad out in the Bay Area? In particular, are spiders common? I live in Wisconsin and we don't get many big spiders around here, just the occasional, small, house spider. I'm not a fan of spiders of any size or shape. Any spider creeps me out.

Any information would help!

We have spiders -- but I've never seen anything truly horrendous. Mostly Daddy Long Legs, and smaller spiders.

Martiniez is about an hour out of SF, but is BART accessable.

Check Craigslist for apartments -- and get a price range in mind. That will help you even more.

[sliverbox]

Not sure if you mean apartments to buy or rent. Here's the thing. Rent in the Bay Area is actually very reasonable. In fact, you might even find that prices are similar to WI. But... buying is a whole different ball game. Unlike many national metros, the prices do not drop dramatically outside the cities. By the time the prices get at all close to being ' affordable', it is so far away from the city that it makes no sense to consider unless you like driving 3-4 hours a day.

Buying at this point isn't wise anyway because the market is dropping. So I would advise renting for now.

[nooneknowsmyname]

Originally Posted by sliverbox

Not sure if you mean apartments to buy or rent. Here's the thing. Rent in the Bay Area is actually very reasonable. In fact, you might even find that prices are similar to WI. But... buying is a whole different ball game. Unlike many national metros, the prices do not drop dramatically outside the cities. By the time the prices get at all close to being ' affordable', it is so far away from the city that it makes no sense to consider unless you like driving 3-4 hours a day.

Buying at this point isn't wise anyway because the market is dropping. So I would advise renting for now.

I live in a small community two towns west of Martinez and am very familiar with Martinez. It is the county seat of Contra Costa County. My spouse is an English professor at one of the community colleges in the Contra Costa Community District, whose district offices are located in Martinez. The housing and apartment prices have already dropped quite a bit. Although many sellers are holding onto the idea that they will be able to get exhorbitant prices for their homes, others are seeing the light and dropping their prices. I've seen some 1 -2 bedroom condos located in condo development communities advertised for prices as low as 299,999, which although still quite expensive compared to other places--Houston or San Antonio, for example, are 100,000-150,000 less than they were priced a year ago. Lots of foreclosures are on the market, so there are some good buys available. In addition to Craigslist, you can also consult the Contra Costa Times, a local newspaper without much news, but classified ad for the area or contact a realtor, some of whom will put you on a distribution lest and send you the best buys of the week.
A few of the suburban communities--Martinez and other smaller towns like Hercules, Pinole, Crockett or larger communities such as Pleasant Hill and Concord have buses express and local that will take passengers directly to the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) which unlike public transporation in Eastern Cities is more like a commuter train--read expensive, infrequent schedules, and no trains after midnight. In addition to BART and the local buses, there is a train--the Capital Route that travels between the state capital Sacramento and Oakland that one could take into Emeryville, which is a small town nestled between Oakland and Berkeley. This train stops at a train station in downtown Martinez.
These communities are popular with families. Although one can travel to
SF, Berkeley and Oakland from these towns, they really are suburban places that don't rival what one would find in SF. And depending on when and where one wanted to travel to in SF, the travel time could take as much as 1 1/2 hours in travel time.

As far as driving it concerned, unless one is travelling against the traffic or during non rush hours, the commute can be very long-- 90 minutes one way-- even longer if there is a traffic accident or one or more of the road inaccessible as it is now because a truck that crashed, caught fire, burned the highway and caused the road above it to collapse. Don't want to discourage you. There is a lot to like about the SF Bay area; however, the prices, traffic, and cost of living are not among those things. Good luck.

[j_rode]

Originally Posted by sliverbox

Not sure if you mean apartments to buy or rent. Here's the thing. Rent in the Bay Area is actually very reasonable. In fact, you might even find that prices are similar to WI. But... buying is a whole different ball game. Unlike many national metros, the prices do not drop dramatically outside the cities. By the time the prices get at all close to being ' affordable', it is so far away from the city that it makes no sense to consider unless you like driving 3-4 hours a day.

Buying at this point isn't wise anyway because the market is dropping. So I would advise renting for now.

Yeah, I meant rent for apartments. Good to know that the prices are reasonable. Thanks.

[Luke9686]

Not many spiders where I live. You want to be near San Francisco, so expect to pay a lot even for rent. Compared to Wisconsin, just about anywhere in California will seem expensive to you. I'm sure you will be able to earn enough to rent here though. I only make around $60,000, have a stay at home wife and a 1 year old and am able to make it work. Although, I will be out of here in January. I'm from Iowa and don't see the point in spending $700,000 for a 3 bed 1 bath ranch home, even if I could afford it. Where I come from that will buy almost the whole state of Iowa!! (kidding)

[j_rode]

Originally Posted by Luke9686

Not many spiders where I live. You want to be near San Francisco, so expect to pay a lot even for rent. Compared to Wisconsin, just about anywhere in California will seem expensive to you. I'm sure you will be able to earn enough to rent here though. I only make around $60,000, have a stay at home wife and a 1 year old and am able to make it work. Although, I will be out of here in January. I'm from Iowa and don't see the point in spending $700,000 for a 3 bed 1 bath ranch home, even if I could afford it. Where I come from that will buy almost the whole state of Iowa!! (kidding)

Yeah, I've compared downtown Milwaukee to downtown San Francisco and San Francisco is definately much more expensive. I would be willing to live outside of the city and commute to wherever my job would be too. The Bay Area is just very intriguing to me and is very beautiful.

Me, being single, I'd settle for a Studio apartment. I wouldn't need much more room than that.

[sliverbox]

Look into renting a house with house mates. I've found this to be the cheapest way to rent more space for less.

[haughki]

Originally Posted by sliverbox

Look into renting a house with house mates. I've found this to be the cheapest way to rent more space for less.

Agreed. You want to live at all cheaply in SF, get roomates. Studios in San Francisco proper start at ~$1000 a month. Based on that, if you're thinking, "oh, I bet I can find something that would suit _me_ for $750", you should keep believing in yourself and stay positive, but then really believe me that it will cost you, at least, about $1000 a month for a studio in SF, despite your best efforts and accepting nature. That $1000 studio will also be hard to find.

Spiders aren't a issue in SF Bay any more than they are anywhere. No big spiders to worry about.

Rent is not cheap in the Bay. As mentioned, closer to SF means more $. If you want to live the "big city life", I think a requirement would be to be able to stay out late in SF. At least, that's the big difference to me: if you live in the city, you can stay out late and have some drinks, and not have to worry about driving home. Unfortunately, mass transit in the bay area stops being useful between 1-2 am. That's early in terms of partying or clubbing in the city.

What I'm trying to say is that, depending on what you mean by "big city life", it might be harder to do in the SF Bay Area than in other metropolitan areas (like NY, for example) simply because of the bridges and mass transit. It is very expensive to live IN San Francisco. Living with roommates helps, and there are plenty of people living on the cheap in SF; but, those folks are crafty and dedicated, and it's certainly not the norm.

Living cheap in SF: look on the outskirts of SF: western sf near the beach (the Richmond, the Sunset--foggy) and southern sf (Excelsior--no easy downtown transit). Some bus lines run all night. They're called "owl" lines. They only run once on the hour between 2 and 5 am (? still ?), but they'll get you there. I think there might even be a late night cross-bay bus now, running between downtown SF and East Bay, but I don't know much about that. I had a great time living in the outer sunset for a few years: plenty of space, taking the L line in and out of downtown, hanging out at the (very cold and foggy) beach. Cheap Chinese grocery stores (esp. produce).

One thing I almost forgot to mention: get out here! The Bay Area is an amazing place. Bring your best mid-west vibes and be yourself: you can do that here like almost nowhere else in the world.

[Luke9686]

I would find out where you will be working, and then rent according to that. You wouldn't want to live in SF if you get a job in San Jose, unless you like spending 3 1/2-4 hours a day in your car.