I'll be moving from Chicago to East Bay and am exploring neighborhoods for a rental. Single, mid-30's with a dog. What neighborhoods should I check out? Or, maybe it's easier to call out neighborhoods to avoid? And what are the best resources to use to find apartments?
I hate the idea of living in downtown some people love it. Tenderloin is generally avoided. Sunset is really pretty but also really out of the way. It depends on what you value, where work is, and your hobbies.
Work is East Bay and looking to live in East Bay
Leaving a truly great city for the awful bay area. Why?
Better job opportunity and personal reasons!
I'd consider SoMa too, close to 101 and 280, and Caltrain
Thoughts on Berkeley or Oakland?
Definitely not Oakland! #3 in crime rate across US
@Kil'ka - you're comment is analogous to saying don't work for Google, all they do is serve Search Ads and have a search engine. Oakland is a massive city with it's flaws and what not but so is SF's hunters point and tenderloin and other enclaves in the Bay Area/Valley. Some of the best neighborhoods in the whole bay are in Oakland. Ever been to Rockridge, Montclair, Sheppards Canyon, Oakmore, Harddon Hill? The list is huge! Not to mention sitting literally in the middle of Oakland is the city of Piedmont (those houses and schools go head to head to places like Menlo Park, Atherton, Lafayette, etc). I'd say it would be pretty ignorant and limiting to bypass the entire city of oakland because of some of the 40+ neighborhoods - mostly in East oakland south of 35th Ave - have high crime rates.
I came from Chicago! You're gonna love SF 😊
WalnutCreek or Berkeley
We moved from east coast to Dublin. Husband works in Santa Clara and commutes. But we're family so we looked for good schools, housing prices to not be as crazy as downtown Google/fb etc. Night life is pretty much zero though.
Depending on where your job is, might be best to live right next to it and bike.
Given you're with Adobe and going to the East Bay it's pretty safe to assume you'll be joining the Tube office. I've lived in this general 5 mile radius over the last 10 years so here is my 2cents. I would say location is going to depend on your personal hobbies/interest and obviously paycheck. If you're willing to spend on the upper $2k-3k for a nice upscale apartment walking distance to Tube I would say stick with Emeryville and NoBE. If you're more interested in classic bar/city scene uptown/Adams point/Lake Merit/pill hill/jack london is going to be your jam and a tad cheaper. If you're looking for nature and walking distance to hikes with your dog, look in oakland foothills - trestle glen, excelsior, dimond, redwood heights, laurel - definitely more homes than apts. More hipster/brewery scene with high prices but awesome neighborhoods your flirting with Temescal and Rockridge. I would steer away from Berkeley because you're going to be competing with either students or young families who are there for schools and what not. If you're looking in east lake merrit I would steer you above foothill (towards the 580 rather than 880) and not further down than 35th. If you're more tough skinned and want a cheaper place super close to Tube, Oakland, and super easy access to SF there is west oakland. Basically all these neighborhoods are within a 10 min car or 20 min bike ride to tube. Needless to say, I as a young adult would not cross the foothills to the other side of the coldicott tunnel, not much going on there especially if you're moving to the area and will be eager to socialize with your new friends. Oh one more thing, a good way to experience these neighborhoods before you commit to a long term lease is going on Airbnb and renting out a place for a week in each of your target neighborhoods. Do that for say 1 month while you look for places to stay then you can have a much better idea of how you'll like the area. Hope this helps.
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Cool, but doesn't help with my questions