If You're Going To San Francisco...
 

Hey my west coast friends, in lieu of my disastrous run at trying to move to Toronto and failing to obtain legal Canadian residency, over time I've given up hope and have been looking to move on. I started this process soon after the new year, but my lease has me stuck here in Buffalo until this summer.

So... I'm interested in settling, permanently, in a new city here in the US and I want to do so in the Bay Area. I'm sick and tired of moving around. On a side note to those who know me, I've actually come to be at peace with things and quite enjoy what we have here in the US.

I visited SF twice in 2007, fell in love, and my last experience on the west coast when I lived in Portland taught me that I need a bigger city/region. ;)

So it looks as if I'm moving. I don't want to ask for basic moving help as I'm pretty much the master of moving and have got down the physical process, but the bigger question I have is what regions of the Bay Area are good, safe, and easy to start out in, and then migrate into the city maybe at a later date?

Would it be worth it to rent a room in, say, Dublin, if the savings were significant? I hear Richmond is a place to stay away from... Any input is welcome as I don't know the area enough. My preference would be to have a condo in the city with a nice job, but it'll take a while to work toward that.

I'm having to start over from scratch, my lease ends here in Buffalo this summer, and despite my job being relatively stable I don't really care for it as it isn't going anywhere. How easy is it to find temporary work, such as data entry, just to make ends meet while you find a career oriented job? Do you feel as if the Bay Area economy is rebounding so that a calculated risk would pay off if I drop my life here and move out?

I'm obviously going to have to take a huge step back before I can rebuild my life and settle in the Bay Area, but I'm willing to do it. It'll be my last stop, I've always adored San Francisco and if I'm going to be here in the US I might as well move to the best we have and stop settling for less. :)

Let me know your thoughts/feelings, I'm all ears!

Hi there, personally I love San Francisco! I've lived here for about 2 years now, and there is so much to do and interesting people to see around the city. I think my only gripe with SF is public transit. Muni covers most of the city, but it can take about an hour or more to travel from one end of town to the other. I think location is also a factor; the closer you live towards downtown, there more interesting stuff there is to do. The outer Sunset and Richmond is much more residential, but you're close to Golden Gate Park and Ocean Beach. As long as you have a bike, you'll get around pretty well. I hope this was helpful in some way. :)

Hey Brandon, here's my shot at some advice:

The Bay Area isn't really like other areas where there may be an expensive central city that slowly gets less expensive as you go out. Marin to the north and San Mateo and Santa Clara counties to the south will be every bit as expensive to find housing as SF, if not more, and large portions of Contra Costa and Alameda counties to the east are the same. Sonoma, Solano, and Napa counties to the north are generally cheaper, but they are far away from SF and not particularly well-connected by anything other than (perpetually clogged) freeways.

You mentioned Dublin, which is basically a middle/upper-middle class suburban city in outer Alameda county. I wouldn't recommend living there unless you know that you're going to be working in the 680 corridor or you know that you'll be working near enough to a BART line to use BART to go to work. The traffic on 580 over the hill to the inner middle of the region or down 680 over the hill into San Jose is absolutely brutal.

You're really going to be better off either finding a job before you look for housing, or finding where you want to live and then limiting your job search from there.

If you're looking at room for rent options, I'd suggest looking at SF proper. There are a lot more people looking for the same thing there, so the prices might surprise you. SF also has the weird situation of master tenants because of rent control, where a tenant who has lived in an apartment for 20-30 years essentially controls the lease and will offer you sub-market rates. You can find some great deals on rooms for rent because of this at times, just be careful.

As far as temp jobs, I'm not really sure. I think you've mentioned before that you work in IT - any specific skills you can talk up there? I don't know of much in data entry, but there are a lot of tech-related temp agencies in the area that are always looking for folks with computer/internet skills of just about any stripe. The tech economy is absolutely booming right now in the Bay Area (it's feeling more and more like the dotcom boom again, but in a more sustainable way), and especially in SF proper.

I have two potential jobs at the moment, one in Oakland, and one in the city right a block off Market St. If I somehow end up in the east bay, you better bet I'd use BART to get in and out of the city. There's no question about it. Starting out, I may have to downsize and rent just a room in the suburbs and work my way into the city later on, I have a new hybrid car with a payment that I have to deal with right now, which I will sell if I get decent employment in the city proper. But if I have a job in the Oakland/San Leandro area, I'd be keeping the car and commuting with it... Right now I'm just on leads though, so it is hard to say.

So far as jobs, I'm generally qualified for database analyst level, I can edit and run some SQL commands within a relationship database, but I can't be a database admin as I've not got the experience. Otherwise I have experience with network/internet support. It isn't where I want to be in 10-20 years, but it works for now...

I live in the city and work in Pleasanton/Dublin and I can tell you this much, DO NOT move to Dublin if you are looking for anything other than suburban wasteland.

I take BART and Muni everyday and do not have a car. It takes me about 20 minutes more by public transit than if I drove to commute.

It sounds like both jobs are good locations. I wouldn't rule out SF proper for living, you might be surprised at rent prices in some of the less attractive neighborhoods.

My wish isn't to live in Dublin at all, I have an interview on Monday via phone. We'll see where this goes!! :)

I live in the North Bay, and I just love the scenery out here. But, here are two things you might need to consider when you really want to live up here:

• Potentially longer commute than usual. Yes, there's a bus service right now in the area, but, I think it would not be that useful to use it all the time, especially service times can be choppy at nighttime. However, with the less service, you can get even more time to spend outdoors, meeting friends, and explore the natural beauty beyond San Francisco's urban limits. Also of note, driving is nearly the best option in this case; in compromise, though, carpooling and work-at-home is a very popular option here.
• Way higher cost of living. In an area where the median per capita income is the highest in the state (Marin County), it is expected that the cost of living can be so high, you'd better save up a lot of money if you want to live in a place where environment, modernity, and accessibility go hand-in-hand to make the county a unique place for residents and tourists alike. If you want to have cheap housing, though, your choices may be limited that you might need to remove the North Bay from your list. But, I'll tell you, if you want to have access to world-class hiking and national parks, then the North Bay is perfect for you.

It really depends on your priorities as well. In my opinion, I would live in certain parts of Oakland (never East Oakland) because many areas tend to be shady that you need to be vigilant, even in the daytime, to ensure your overall safety. However, if you want to live in a great place without sacrificing your safety, look at other communities as well, including Marin County, San Mateo County, San Francisco, and certain parts of Alameda County (Berkeley, Fremont, and Emeryville).

Thanks, my job (I'm painfully awaiting the result from the interview last week, every day more painful without an answer than the last) will potentially be in East Oakland if it works. It is an IT support job for an organization to help troubled people. I'm yearning to get back into non-profit work, and I know they will have a number of good candidates.

I'm worried I may have to end up in Walnut Creek or even as far out as Pittsburg if this works, I've been shopping around for places and it seems those are the only places with price ratios that work for what I'm needing. Although San Leandro has some decent prices. Too bad I can't move to the city... I need parking and other amenities though.

Walnut Creek is in your price range? That seems odd, as it's one of the priciest places in the outer East Bay, typically much more than nearby Concord or Pleasant Hill.

It does have a pretty nice downtown though (filled with plenty of expensive shops and restaurants), all things considered, with good BART access. A little bit too stereotypically yuppie (and roasting hot in the summer) for my taste, but it is better than most cookie-cutter suburbia. Demographically and in urban form, Walnut Creek seems pretty close to Bellevue, WA, where I spend some of my time (too much lately!), with a very nice, clean, and new urbanish walkable center and lots of surrounding regular suburbia.

Is the place in Oakland accessible by BART, or will you be driving? The Caldecott tunnel on 24 from Walnut Creek to Oakland can have some pretty maddening traffic, just so that you're aware.

I would have to take a bus from MacArthur station according to Google Transit, it adds about a 20 minute trip onto the ride, plus transfer time waiting for the bus. So theoretically I could test out what works best, driving or riding. Since I intend on spending time in SF I'd probably drive to work, use BART to go to the city and back and then head home some evenings. Not sure yet, I'm hoping I can get a closer place, then again I need the job to be officially offered first before really getting into it. ;)

If you think you might be driving anyway, I'd look pretty hard in Alameda, Berkeley, perhaps Albany or lots of areas of Oakland before going all the way out to Pittsburg or even Walnut Creek. Of course I don't know your budget or amenities needs, but I wouldn't expect any of them to be more expensive than Walnut Creek. Plus, those are all way more urban, which I assume would appeal to you.

First things first though, good luck with the job. I hope they make you an offer!

Looks as if I got all excited over nothing... I don't have the new job, so I won't be moving out. Thanks for everyone's insight!

Bummer, sorry to hear that. Glad to be of any help.

guess it won't be of much help now, but i just discovered this weekend that there are buses to/from oakland, that run out of the (temp) transbay terminal. about the same price as bart, but way nicer over the bridge, and saves the trouble of the transfer to macarthur bart. fyi

There are also lots of great neighborhoods to live in Oakland. (If another opportunity comes up)

Here is a good starter list:
Grand Lake/Lakeshore
Trestle Glen
Cleveland Heights
Adams Point
Piedmont Ave
Temescal (east of Telegraph)
Rockridge
Montclair
Laurel
Dimond
Glenview

Agreed with Jade408s list. Northern Oakland is really a hidden gem.

Any GIS experience? I can get you a job working in Walnut Creek. I'll be commuting from the north Oakland/Berkeley border. A 5minute bike ride to Rockridge BART, 15 minutes to Contra Costa Center, and a 15 minute bike ride to the office (or bus for bad weather days- which there are very few). I'm rather pumped.

And I agree with the above. North Oakland is where it is at. I just kind of just jumped into living here (minimal research, other then knowing it wasn't a ghetto and has easy transit), and can't be happier about the decision.

Only complaint is with my last job, I traveled all of the time, and the hour BART ride to SFO was killer after/before a 6 hour plane trip to the east coast. Tried to fly in/out of Oakland as much as possible, but it only has good connections for Denver and points west. /end rant