thornberryontour

Hi All, Myself, my wife,our 1 year old daughter, 4 dogs and a cat are relocating to SF in March/April next year with my company. We are Brits but have been living as expats for the last 5 years in Southern Africa so are aware of the common issues of relocating, however we were hoping that some of you might be able to give us some guidance on which are the best areas to live for a young family? My office will be based in the CBD, but I am willing to live with a 60-90 minute commute.
Also, if anyone can guide us in the right direction of websites/forums/clubs etc that would help my wife to meet other wives/mums etc so that she can get a head start on settling in that would be great.
Any advice or tips will be greatly appreciated,
Thanks

N1cky

Here's a fairly recent thread on moving to SF. We live in the Bay Area, so only visit SF on day trips, I therefore can't offer any advise on where to live in the city.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=784027

S Folinsky

Its been quite some time since I lived in the Bay Area [a short time in the East Bay, otherwise in the City]. So, given the lapse of time, I am unable to figure out what the "CBD" is.

Transit in the Bay Area is quite good -- so when you say "commute" it is not just a matter of time, but also method. For example, when I was working after law school, I commuted to the Financial District [Bush & Montgomery] so I would take the "Muni" in via the Twin Peaks Tunnel [back then the street cars ran on top of Market, they are now underground]. From the East Bay [and part of the Peninsula, BART is often an option]. From parts of Marin, there is ferry service.

The weather can vary quite a bit depending on where you live. There is the famous quip of Mark Twain about the coldest winter he ever spent was a summer in San Francisco. I remember being foggy and overcast in the City and driving to relative in Marin and the sun was shining bright. [Also, in the City, it tends to get foggier the further east one goes -- I seem to recall in the 70's that a survey showed that 45th Avenue had the highest suicide rate of any street in the City].

So, it is hard to answer your question.

N1cky

After a while of puzzling I guess Central Business District? Might be totally wrong though.

md95065

Could be, but I have never heard any area of San Francisco referred to by that name ...

md95065

Apparently it means "Community Benefit District" but, from the description on that web site I somehow doubt that is what the OP meant ...

thornberryontour

Hi all, I seem to have caused some confusion, when I mention CBD i mean central business district, this is a generic term we use for commercial areas where we are living now, apologies. I think our office will probably be in the finance district, we are not looking to stay in central SF but probably further out and I would be commuting by car. Thanks again for any info supplied.

Zez

My husband works in the financial district and we live in Foster city. We've just moved here but I love it so far. We chose it because its good for kids and by peninsula standards quite spacious and quiet. His commute is an hour door to door.

They say the weather is pretty good here...certainly we've had sun every day for the last 9 weeks and no fog! I've also found it really easy to make friends as there are lots of expats.

Not sure if its your kind of place but if google suggests it might be then feel free to contact me.

If hubby was willing to do a longer commute and I could take him being out of the house for longer we'd choose Los Gatos. Gorgeous, but the commute is an hour and a half and that's if you leave early and go up the 280.

thornberryontour

Hi Zez,thanks for the info, I will definitely check out these areas.

Zez

No probs x

md95065

Commuting to the financial district by car will not be fun so, when choosing where you are going to live you may want to consider its proximity to BART and/or Caltrain stations.

Zez

Yes, MD95065 says!! I hadn't picked that up. Hubby drives for 15 mins then gets BART. Traffic too bad and parking too expensive to drive!

Michael

Why doesn't he take Caltrain? There are the San Mateo and Hillsdale stations within 5 miles.

TimNiceBut

Parking in the Financial District is no fun and very expensive, so another vote for commutability by public transport.

As to where you live, it also comes down to affordability. San Francisco is expensive with a capital E so depending on your budget you might well have to live somewhere else anyway; in that case being in reasonable distance from public transport to work will become even more important.

Zez

We are a mile from Hillsdale, but his office is 35 mins walk from the Caltrain terminus so he would then change to Muni. Door to door the commute time is the same if he drives to Millbrae, but the trains are much more frequent so fewer waits/poor connection issues that way. In practice the Millbrae way is the same on the way in, but about 10 mins shorter on the way home. Not to mention $11 a day including parking vs $18 for hillsdale Caltrain. It's good to have options though.