Info About San Francisco

Hi J.,

Let me start by saying, I'm super jealous! I love the Bay Area (grew up there and lots of friends are back working in SF) and would LOVE to move back.

San Francisco doesn't really have "suburbs" the way you think of in other parts of the country. There are smaller towns and cities near "The City" but you have to go pretty far out to actually hit a suburb. If you want to stay within 45 minutes of downtown you're not going to be able to go that far out.

Houses in the Bay Area are EXPENSIVE. Most people rent. Depending on how high a cost of living you can stand... Marin County (the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge) is really nice and has good public schools... it's also EXPENSIVE. South of The City "The Peninsula" is nice, but again, it's expensive. Palo Alto (Where Stanford is) has nice public schools and cute neighborhoods, but again, its expensive. Across the Bay Bridge "The East Bay" actually has some suburbs once you get past Berkeley, Oakland, Alameda etc. but by then you're pretty far from SF and your public transportation gets a little trickier.

I'd recommended calling a reputable Realestate agency in San Francisco and tell them what you are looking for (price point, size, neighborhood characteristics etc.) and see what they say.

As for traffic: Commuting by car isn't the best option most of the time. Between the bridge tolls, and parking costs it's usually smarter (and sometimes faster) to do some combination of ferry, BART or bus so the traffic actually becomes a non-issue.

Hope this helps.

T.

J.,

to get an idea of house prices I would go to www.Redfin.com It is an online real estate sight that shows you the map of the area and you can look at the housing from there. For the 'burbs you basically have three general areas- North bay, East Bay, or the Peninsula. North Bay is Marin and as other have stated is very expensive and the commute over the Golden Gate Bridge, while beautiful is long and expensive and driving is really the only option.

East Bay is less expensive- depending on the area- and you can drive or Bart (train) into the City- there are some great communities (towns) in the East Bay- but there are also some rougher area so you really need to be careful. If it is really cheep- you may want to question why.

The Peninsula has a little bit of everything- and you can go quite south and still have a 45 minute commute- the peninsula train system is not as efficient as BART but it can work most of the communities are really family friendly and schools can be good- but again need to do some homework. Also- from the peninsula- you don't have to cross any bridges to get to the city.

as another mom posted- a house the size you are looking for is going to be pretty expensive... and in a lot of the Peninsula communities- hard to find-

As a disclaimer- I live on the Peninsula and am very partial to it! :)

Feel free to contact me if you have other questions.

M.

I agree with others about contacting a realtor in the Bay Area and going from there. Just wanted to add that you could live as far south as Mountain View or Sunnyvale in the Peninsula/Santa Clara County. The Bay area has a train system called caltrain that commuters can take to work right to downtown. During commute hours they have a bullet train which gets my husband from Mountain View to San Francisco in 45 minutes. From there your husband would have to see whether he would need to take MUNI. Also, if his work is not on the SOMA side of downtown you could do a combo of caltrain and then switch over to BART in Millbrae which has more downtown stops....hope that wasn't confusing, just depends on where he is working downtown. Also, I've communted to SF, it's doable as long as you stay off 101. The schools in this area are very good and housing prices based on your square footage would be at least $900 000. HTH.

I have lived in SF and many bay area suburbs. In considering moving back to the bay area I looked seriously at two 'burbs, because they have the best access to Downtown SF (without driving), really good schools, and were affordable for a mid-level income: Walnut Creek and Pleasanton. There are wonderful pockets in many of the suburbs. I lived in a glorious neighborhood in Oakland, but generally the schools did not measure up to the ones in Walnut Creek and Pleasanton. There are wonderful opportunities in Marin and on Peninsula too. Where you decide to focus will depend greatly on your budget.
I hope everything works out as you expect!
S.

Hi

"good public schools and San Francisco DON'T go hand in hand.. very few good schools at this in S.F. UNLESS of course you send your child to private school as do all my friends who live in San Francisco do...
with that said..
Opt for the commute... S.F. is very expensive even with prices having dropped a bit.... and you don't get much bang for your buck.. not too mention, with all the local politics, it just wears on a person trying to raise a family., I mean they have a huge homeless issue for which they have tried to no avail to remedy... so many politics going on in that city.. potholes galore .... I would try Marin flat lands for example. prices have down over there, weather is nice and "public" schools are way better.... We have cousins who used to live in the city but since the schools stink (I am not saying anything that ISN'T already public knowledge) they opted for Marin and like it so much better.
Additionally, as a native San Franciscan born and raised, I think I would know better some how the city has changed..... politics politics politics.. S.F. spends way too much ... did you know they have a built in policy that their Muni Bus Drivers must make no less than the 2nd highest paid drivers in the United States... I mean it's garbage rules like that that are bankrupting the city and taking away from any decent programs, many programs that kids could benefits.
Anyway.. stay away from S.F... there is so much better out there..
best of luck

Hi,
I moved up from the Bay Area in 2001, so things may be different now. That said, immediately north of San Fran, areas in South Marin like Sausalito, Mill Valley, and Tiburon are really pricey, and the San Rafael area may be your best bet if you only want a 45 minute commute (and that's pushing it - likely will be longer depending on the time of day you work). However, depending on where you need to be downtown, there is the ferry at Larkspur Landing. I used to travel Southbound on 101 from Marin to San Fran at 10:00 in the morning after rush hour and it wasn't too bad (earlier was). South of San Fran you can look into areas like Daley City or Pacifica (although I'm partial to the north). Unfortunately, I don't have too much knowledge w/the east side. Good Luck!

I grew up in Sonoma County about 45 minutes north of SF but that is 45 minutes in NON-commute traffic. If you looking to live in a more city area I'd say stay south and if your looking for more "country" living then go north. A lot of people commute from Sonoma County but that does not mean it's ideal. I suggest going out there, renting a car and drive...and drive. The Bay Area is such a large area that you need to find one that fits your family's needs & wants.
The other mom's had wonderful information about housing prices, etc. I know Realtors in Sonoma County (my FIL) but not south.
Best of luck!

The price of housing is high. I would make sure your moving would mean a very good increase in pay for your husband. We lived in Pleasanton area and is very nice right next to two major freeways. The surrounding areas are all very nice. Alameda, Dublin, Livermore, Danville are other great locations. You get more for your money if you go towards Sacramento or Stockton. Good luck to you and your family.
A. Jo

Traffic here is definately a big issue. I live in Livermore. Commute time by car can range from around 50 minutes to over two hours depending on traffic. You can get on Bart, which is the transit in Pleasanton and that is usually faster. The homes here range from around 350 thousand to several million. The closer you get to the city the more it will cost you, so your best bet is to contact a real estate agent to find out where you can afford to buy then investigate from there.

Because I don't know your family income, it's more difficult, but it's a gorgeous area! For good schools and a lot of beauty -try Marin County across the GG Bridge. I don't know that it will be within a 45 min commute to downtown, but I have relatives who live there and commute. It's really amazingly beautiful! Just about anything in the Bay Area is EXPENSIVE.

Hi J.,

I used to live in Greenbrae, CA which is in Marin County (other side of the golden gate bridge). It's fantastic! Lots of wonderful weather and GREAT schools. You really should talk to a good realtor. They can help you figure out all this stuff. That is a lot of square footage for the bay area. Just FYI. It'll probably be rather expensive but who knows, the market has changed everywhere. The commute can be brutal though. However, you can catch a ferry right into downtown from Sausalito, Tiburon and Larkspur among others. I wouldn't go past San Rafael otherwise SF is going to seem really far. Ferry or not. I was an escrow officer in SF for many years and can refer to you my favorite agents (there are a ton of agents there) - let me know if you are interested.

Good luck!

I used to be stock broker a long time ago, and there were some investments that required investors to have a net worth of one million dollars or more in order to be considered qualified to invest. Our joke was that anyone who owned a home in San Francisco was automatically qualified. Homes in San Francisco with the square footage you want likely sell for several million dollars now.