Work in SF, live in San Jose area? (San Francisco, Fremont: 2013, apartment complex)

[mossly]

Originally Posted by AtlasTraveler

Everyone knows SF is THE CITY. The future is literally being created here in the Bay. You can't say that for New York City. It's only purpose is to finance the risk, intellect, exuberance, weirdness, innovation and creativity of SF, Oakland, SV, surrounding areas. And this function is quickly being disrupted by fin-tech, so basically NYC is a cold relic from last century full of uptight type As adding no real value to society besides a bank account for the genius of The Bay. THE CITY of San Francisco is, of course, the heart and soul of this region.

Oh please. Walk into any tech company and it's a hundred engineers wearing practically identical clothes, all on the same MacBook, quietly typing away. Nothing exuberant about it.

[spicydreamt]

Originally Posted by mossly

Oh please. Walk into any tech company and it's a hundred engineers wearing practically identical clothes, all on the same MacBook, quietly typing away. Nothing exuberant about it.

That's a crowded MacBook!

[BellevueNative]

Originally Posted by cardinal2007

I would recommend Fremont, it might be a little more expensive than San Jose, but it is still less expensive than the peninsula, the commute by BART from Fremont to Market St in SF is probably about 45 mins, on Caltrain unless OP works near the ball park they have another 15-20 mins walking or taking Muni. Granted this is speculating on where OP works in SF, but it makes a big difference, if OP works near the ballpark or Mission Bay then Caltrain is more convenient than BART, and I would suggest Redwood City.

Funny, I hadn't really considered East Bay, but an earlier suggestion of Union City and now Fremont has got me thinking it's not a bad idea. As for where I'd be working, Embarcadero or financial district.

[mariposa86]

I live in South San Jose and work in San Francisco. I hate this. But I have a family, great schools nearby and 2/3 days per week working in the office. I leave home 7am to get to the office at 9am. I leave the office at 5pm to be home 6:50pm. I use Caltrain, it's 1 hour commute. But I live south and deal with all the traffic to get to the derided station in San Jose

[cardinal2007]

Originally Posted by BellevueNative

Funny, I hadn't really considered East Bay, but an earlier suggestion of Union City and now Fremont has got me thinking it's not a bad idea. As for where I'd be working, Embarcadero or financial district.

I would look around, fairly suburban area, no downtown in Fremont, some nicer apartments like San Jose but a bit more expensive, BART parking can be contentious, I would consider a place close to the BART. Eventually Warm Springs area will have its own BART, but for now I would consider the area near Walnut Av. if I were you. Your work should be a short walk from BART in SF.

[NOLA101]

Originally Posted by AtlasTraveler

Everyone knows SF is THE CITY. The future is literally being created here in the Bay. You can't say that for New York City. It's only purpose is to finance the risk, intellect, exuberance, weirdness, innovation and creativity of SF, Oakland, SV, surrounding areas. And this function is quickly being disrupted by fin-tech, so basically NYC is a cold relic from last century full of uptight type As adding no real value to society besides a bank account for the genius of The Bay. THE CITY of San Francisco is, of course, the heart and soul of this region.

90% of tech in the Peninsula/South Bay, so using your logic, somewhere like Palo Alto or Cupertino is THE CITY. SF, comparatively, is not very tech oriented compared to SV. Fintech is almost all in NYC, BTW.

And if you believe the relative weight of tech in an economy determines the relative importance of a region (it doesn't) SF is more like NYC in that it's a well-rounded economy than like SV, with it's overwhelmingly tech-focused economy.

And no one refers to SF as THE CITY outside of the Bay Area. You would get blank stares.

[BellevueNative]

When I said "the City" it was in the context of dialogue between people in the Bay Area. Not THE city, but "the city," as in, "We're driving up to the city today..." or "I work in the city." I've never heard my friends that live on the Peninsula or in South Bay refer to San Jose as "the city." Some of you can stop being obtuse now.

[NorCalLover]

I moved here in a similar position to you - job in SF, lots of friends in the South Bay. Over four years later, I still live in San Francisco, they still all live in the South Bay, and I've never been able to see any of these friends that often. It's hard to convince any of them to deal with traffic and parking into San Francisco, and for me to drive to the South Bay I need several free hours to make it worth the commute time. If a top priority is spending time with them, it does make sense to live closer to your friends.

If you live close to a Caltrain station, and work a pretty traditional, set business schedule and don't mind a 15-20 minute walk to the Financial District in SF from the station, I hear from Peninsula / South Bay friends that that commute is simple. I have three friends who live together by the Sunnyvale station and commute to San Francisco, San Jose, and Mountain View on Caltrain. All are very satisfied by their commutes.

Mountain View, San Jose, San Mateo, Redwood City, Palo Alto if you can afford it are all great options. Sunnyvale and Santa Clara are ok too, a little less to do for someone single IMO. Millbrae is a bit longer drive to the South Bay, but from there you have the option to take BART or Caltrain. I wouldn't advise the East Bay, Fremont / Union City / Newark, unless your top goal is cheaper rent. These areas are very family-oriented and don't really have downtown cores. They're nice if you have kids but not ideal for a single person.

My only caveat would be to make sure you really are going to hang out with these friends a lot. I know I'd drifted more from my South Bay friends than I realized, and I don't think any of them would make it a big priority to see me, even if I lived closer. Only you know the personal dynamics of your friend group, of course.

[BellevueNative]

Thanks again to everyone who replied to this thread when I started it! I spent several days over the past week exploring different parts of the Bay Area, including Fremont and all over the Peninsula.

Although I really like that Fremont is on Bart, I felt really out of place there. Nearly every single person I saw in the apartment complexes I toured were Indian men...I saw very few females or non-Indian people. I don't have any issue with Indian people - there are many where I live right now, too - but I found it alarming how many of them were single, apparently live in overcrowded apartments (numerous apartment complexes in Fremont apparently have an issue with people not on the lease living in the apartments - 10 people to an apartment, supposedly), and on a couple of occasions the men very non-subtly eyeballed me like a piece of meat. I felt very uncomfortable, and also as a single woman I am hoping to live somewhere where it will be easier for me to meet (and date) people socially. I got the impression that the community in Fremont might not be so great for a single gal wanting to make new friends.

So, I turned my sights to the peninsula. Thankfully, there are many towns there that I really like: walkable/cute/functional downtown cores with apartments close by, and in many cases close to Caltrain. Due to a mix of proximity to SF, likable downtowns, walkability to Caltrain w/Baby Bullet, and apartments with the amenities I'm looking for, the towns I've narrowed my list to (I think) are:
- San Mateo
- Redwood City
- Burlingame
- Palo Alto
- Mountain View

The last two are a bit too far south for my likely commute, so I'm probably ruling them out.

I'd be interested in your candid opinions of San Mateo, Redwood City and Burlingame, though. What are your perceptions and/or experiences, good and bad?

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by BellevueNative

Thanks again to everyone who replied to this thread when I started it! I spent several days over the past week exploring different parts of the Bay Area, including Fremont and all over the Peninsula.

Although I really like that Fremont is on Bart, I felt really out of place there. Nearly every single person I saw in the apartment complexes I toured were Indian men...I saw very few females or non-Indian people. I don't have any issue with Indian people - there are many where I live right now, too - but I found it alarming how many of them were single, apparently live in overcrowded apartments (numerous apartment complexes in Fremont apparently have an issue with people not on the lease living in the apartments - 10 people to an apartment, supposedly), and on a couple of occasions the men very non-subtly eyeballed me like a piece of meat. I felt very uncomfortable, and also as a single woman I am hoping to live somewhere where it will be easier for me to meet (and date) people socially. I got the impression that the community in Fremont might not be so great for a single gal wanting to make new friends.

So, I turned my sights to the peninsula. Thankfully, there are many towns there that I really like: walkable/cute/functional downtown cores with apartments close by, and in many cases close to Caltrain. Due to a mix of proximity to SF, likable downtowns, walkability to Caltrain w/Baby Bullet, and apartments with the amenities I'm looking for, the towns I've narrowed my list to (I think) are:
- San Mateo
- Redwood City
- Burlingame
- Palo Alto
- Mountain View

The last two are a bit too far south for my likely commute, so I'm probably ruling them out.

I'd be interested in your candid opinions of San Mateo, Redwood City and Burlingame, though. What are your perceptions and/or experiences, good and bad?

I'd concur that Fremont is more of a family-oriented community - and its focus tends to be southward towards Silicon Valley, BART connection notwithstanding. Fremont also doesn't have a town center because it was created from about 5 small towns, hence its decentralized character.

San Mateo, RC, and Burlingame are good choices for a commute into SF - it's going to depend on your budget.