Funstuie

hey all,

My previous thread got a bit unwieldy so I figured a fresh new one was in order. Offer has now been accepted and we are now moving onto the visa process. Now everything is not certain but we have to begin our search for a rental in the bay area.

I worked out a budget and negotiated (not as successful as I hoped) with work to get a salary which I felt would work for us. That budget was dependent on renting a 3bed house for $3500 or less.

The area I was looking at is/was San Mateo/Foster City due to access to work (work will be South San Francisco - right off 101) and the schools (7yr old son). Nothing seems to be available right now in a decent area in either city. So I need advice on nice areas within budget. Ideally we'd like a walkable downtown and good schools, my wife has fallen for Alameda, but I think the commute would be a killer due to access. Milbrae, Burlingame, Mountain View, Palo Alto are all nice areas but there is no way we can afford to live in any of them right now. So our search has taken us to the East Bay - Fremont, Berkley and the south Bay - North San Jose.

I don't mind an hour commute. For the first 2 to 3 months I will have to be in the office 8.30 to 5ish every day to get setup and started but after that I can start work from home a few days a week so a bit of a longer commute is OK initially (although not ideal). I will have to drive most days, although there is shuttles from the local Caltrain stations due to having to travel between offices etc I need the car. So while I might take public transport on occasion it could not be my only means of getting to work.

It's pretty much impossible to get any decent information on City Data due to the snotty posters on that forum. I realise this forum is probably not the right place for this sort of question but I have gotten some awesome advice from people on here and obviously this forum has some long termers who live in the bay area so I am hoping for local advice. I am planning to head over again to the area and see some houses and get setup.

Michael

I know Fremont since I lived there for over 20 years. I'm not sure if you are looking for a house or apartment but if you are looking for an apartment, the areas to look at would be north of Lake Elizabeth (Fremont Central Park) around Stevenson Blvd. There are quite a few apartments there with an easy walk to the park, downtown, and Bart. Also anywhere along Paseo Padre to Decoto Rd is pretty nice. Most apartments are north of Mowery avenue and around Quarry Lakes, the complexes are nicer. Along Mission Blvd is very nice but there are few apartments except in the downtown Warm Springs district. You should be able to find a very nice apartment well below your budget in those areas.

http://www.homes.com/rentals/fremont-ca/

The schools in Fremont are good but not great like many districts on the the peninsula. Schools in the Mission San Jose District and the Warm Springs District are great with 10 rankings and schools around where the apartments are ranked 6-8. In my opinion, as long as the schools are ranked 6 or above, they should be good but typically have a lower ranking because overall the parents aren't as competitive as other higher ranking schools and don't push their kids as hard.

California School Performance Maps

Currently there are few houses, townhouses, or condos for rent in Fremont.

I lived in a townhouse off Paseo Padre on Ocaso Camino which is a great area. If this is any indication, in 2002, 1700-2100 sf townhouses in the complex were selling for about $525-$600K and the few units that were rented were renting for about $2,300-$2,600 and now the townhouses sell for about $725-$825K so if rent went up at the same rate as home prices, that may possibly fit into your budget. However I doubt if there are any for rent in the complex.

The commute to South San Francisco shouldn't be too bad since that is primarily against traffic. However the San Mateo bridge can sometimes be a nightmare. If you have problems with the San Mateo bridge, the Dumbarton bridge may possibly be better. Although Bart goes to South San Francisco, that is a long way to get there.

Pictures of my townhouse.

Sally Redux

If your children are still young, could you manage with 2 bedrooms? That might get you into the better areas.

CAdreaming

Check out the Tri Valley area - livermore/dublin etc - a bit further to commute and i think the traffic would be a bit like the M25 - but the prices are a bit lower (not much i must say tho) if you go even further out - Tracy or mountain view the prices are lower but probably too far to commute in tho i think there is a train service

You can get BART from tri valley into SF

Zez

We're in Foster City and that budget seems about right for a 3 bed. What I will say is that it moves fast.... When we were lookin no one would consider us unless we we're live in ready so it really was pointless looking until about the week before we flew.... Risky and very stressful. We found ours via craigslist.

Giantaxe

You presumably mean Mountain House. Commuting from there to South San Francisco would indeed be horrendous. Not only would you have to fight the traffic on 580 towards Dublin, but also you'd then have to cross the San Mateo bridge.

I am not sure why the OP is rejecting Alameda. It's a nice place imo, and I kind of wished I had lived there when I first moved to CA. Its downside is that BART access is not easy, and that's why I chose against it. But if you're going to drive anyway, I would choose it over Fremont - a place that I find too bland and "suburbanish". I doubt the commute from Alameda is worse than from Fremont.

Alternatively, you could look at places like St Bruno or Pacifica. The latter is definitely cheaper, but it's downside is that it's pretty much the foggiest place in the summer and there's really "no there there". The advantage is that there is no bridge commute, something I would try and avoid if possible.

As you are discovering, the geography of the Bay Area makes for difficult decisions and tradeoffs on commutes etc.

Zez

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/apa/4490709636.html. My friend lives in ine of these. V nice area! You've probably seen it but just incase you haven't.

Houses are few and far between here hut they do come up; just be ready to jump on them when they do!

N1cky

You should be able to get something for $3,500 in Foster City, as a previous poster said, the market moves extremely fast around here. Expect a house to be advertised on Craigslist at 9am, the viewing to be between 12-2 on the same day, and 5 offers on it by 5pm. Just because you don't see anything today doesn't mean there won't be anything tomorrow.

I've been in this position twice now, and you really have to be ready to move when you see a property advertised. Have a stack of standard application forms completed, copies of your job offer, copies of your UK Experian Credit report (as you don't have US history,) and copies of references. If you haven't rented before take copies of your mortgage statement to prove you've been paying your mortgage on time. When you see something advertised you might like, call immediately, if they say the viewing isn't until Friday beg and plead to see it now as you'll be out of town... If you can get in before other viewers it will give you a better chance. If you like the house on viewing, hand over your application and supporting evidence, and tell them there and then that you really want it, and you can have a deposit to them in the morning...

I don't know the Fremont side, but know a few people who have moved from Mountain View area to Pleasanton, as houses are cheaper/bigger for the money, and the schools are good. Everyone seems to have been pleased with their decision.

Funstuie

Thanks guys. The main worry was/is that there seems to be a dearth of houses available right now whereas a couple of months ago there was more.

My boss is trying to convince me to move to Los Gatos/Santa Clara as thats where she lives but the problem is her office is in Mountain View whereas mine will be in south san fran.

N1cky

No way would you be able to afford Los Gatos on that budget anyway. It's a lovely town though. Definitely too far to commute to south SF.

Santa Clara is utterly bland, although we go to the cinema there, Great America, and a trampoline place, I have no idea where the houses supposedly are, and there certainly isn't a downtown area. It just feels like an area where they plonked loads of offices and warehouses, but didn't put any thought into making it a community.

Zez

Los Gatos is beautiful but the commute would suck! Hubby's boss commutes from there to the financial district in SF every day and has to leave at stupid o'clock in the morning to beat the traffic. V expensive too!

My advice would be to book yourself a hotel for the first week and come all ready to bid on a house. We were incredibly lucky to have one sorted to move into from day 1 but that only worked as husband was here on business two weeks before our move date and we payed the rent from then.

Is you do end up in or considering foster city I'm happy to help however i can. I have a 6 year old daughter and an 8 year old son

Zez

Ps don't worry about a dearth of houses, that really can change within a matter of days. Just pick an area (or 2 if that makes you feel more comfortable) and figure out housing when you are nearer. That budget is about what my friends and I are all paying for similar properties here

CAdreaming

oh i got it wrong! ive only just moved to the East Bay so am still finding my way around... I would commute into San Fran for work but only ever by BART

Zez

Have replied to your PM. Can probably give advice on SM and FC as I spend equal time in both really!

kodokan

This is excellent advice. I don't know the area you're moving to, but certainly when we moved over to Phoenix there wasn't the slightest chance of doing anything in advance, or from a distance. And you won't have any furniture anyway, if you're shipping..?

We just came over and lived in temp holiday villas for 6 weeks, whilst the furniture shipped, and found a rental once we got here. It was fine, like a lovely long vacation (I didn't bother putting the kids in school until we were in our rental, so we just hung about swimming, going to the cinema, reading, watching TV, taking day trips, etc).

It's honestly much easier to do on the spot, in person, especially since you'll no doubt run into the no credit history thing. Have copies of your job letter with salary, bank statements showing you're good for the deposits and not an inveterate gambler, know where you can get a cashiers' check from, and so on. It'll be fine - in general, we found that prospective landlords figure that if a company is prepared to move you to a new continent, you're probably a pretty decent, reliable tenant!