Hello Blind! I have accepted an offer from a large tech firm in their SF office. We're a family of 4 and I'm the single earner. I'd ideally like to buy a home in the Bay Area as I plan to live there long term. What are good neighborhoods / cities to live in in the East Bay? Looking for a reasonable commute to SF (is BART a good option for daily commute? How long would it realistically take from Fremont or Pleasanton?) At some point in the future I might transfer to a different office in the South Bay if the commute is better. Budget is 1.1M. Willing to go slightly over for the right place. Backyard or a community playground is a must have. Preferably in a good school district. Does such a place exist or do I need to reset expectations? :-) YoE: 13 TC: 280k
Itāll be really tight to afford all that with that TC especially considering you are a single earner. I urge you reconsider your budget
My ideal budget is 800k but it looks like I'd have to go 60+ miles out to get a place at that price.
No? I donāt think you need 800k to get a place. Thereās tons of places under 1 mil or around there.
Based on your requirements ( backyard ) sfh in fremont for school district which is 9 and above rating will cost you 1.5 million 7 and above rating 1.1 million should be ok. Be ready to spend 50-100k after moving on renovation . Pleasanton will be 200-300k lower for the same house and similar schools but better diversity. Dublin will be bit cheaper than Pleasanton and you will take a bit of a hit on schools. San Ramon will be similar to Pleasanton great schools bit of a more commute. Newark will be cheaper than fremont not great schools for now ( you are investing for future though )
Try Emeryville. Easy commute via bus. No backyard though. Might be able to get a 3 bedroom townhome for 1 M
Berkeley as well. Pricier but might be able to get a backyard. No idea about schools.
Iām in Emeryville, highly recommend it. Bus that stops all around and goes directly to salesforce tower. Iām a little away from salesforce tower so my commute takes like an hour ish. Area is nice as well.
You can get all of it in Castro Valley. We are happy here. 30 mins on Bart, I have essentially 1 hour door to door. Good schools. "Affordable" houses.
Rent for at least a year and explore all of these neighborhoods yourself. Its possible that after seeing the traffic, expenses, homeless people, car break-ins you will want to move and buy a house elsewhere. Also consider RE market crashes. Afaik in the last crash all the east bay/suburban home prices crashed but certain areas like SF proper/palo alto held steady.
Pleasanton/Dublin is really nice for a family. If youāre taking Bart, itās easy from there. If not, then you can consider closer.
San Leandro Bay-o-Vista neighborhood, you're welcome for the secret
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If commuting āOakland and Berkeley might be easier than Fremont/Pleasanton. Bart usually takes 45 mins to an hour to get to SF. For housing: South Bay is good, but some parts are pricey too. Fremont is great, parts of Milpitas, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, parts of SJ, and Newark.
That's helpful, thanks! Any idea why Newark is so much cheaper than neighboring Fremont? Mostly due to the school districts, I suppose?
Newark is very close to Fremont. Literally like neighboring city. Itās probably cheaper because it doesnāt have many tech companies, smaller area, lesser people than Fremont, and I believe one high school compared to Fremont. Friend has a house in Newark and she likes it. Since she would be spending similar amount of rent for apartment