swheat wrote:
The Brainalist wrote:
jmaan wrote:
I've lived in CA my whole life and its not that expensive to live in a safe area...there are many places in the bay area that are decent and not super expensive...i cant speak for so cal though
Anywhere that isn't East Bay? I think 1 mil stands for peninsula and the north side of the golden gate within reason. Otherwise, you are looking at San Jose (which I actually like) or pleasanton/livermore, which don't do much for me, and don't have good enough access to public transportation. Maybe Albany or Emeryville? But those are probably at least 7-800k for a three bedroom.
You are crazy dude. There are all kinds of houses in Redwood City/San Mateo right now for $500-600k. I'm talking 3-4 bedrooms in a nice, safe atmosphere.
You can actually get a nice single family house in Santa Clara right now for under 500k. All of those houses were just under $1m at the peak. Walnut Creek is not that expensive if you will take a 50 year old place in need of work. Dublin/Pleasanton is relatively affordable and very quiet and safe + has BART.
Of course all of this is due to the housing bubble crash. Everybody expects the Bay Area to be one of the fastest housing markets to recover, so I am sure most of us won't have a chance to cash in before prices go berserk again.
Define "nice" single family house. My parents have a house in Santa Clara in an average-ish neighborhood where the average 2 story house costs 700k-800k ite....with an average sized yard.
When you talk about 500k homes it makes me think of the ghetto areas, like Sunnyvale. There are some pretty bad areas in Santa Clara where you can get a place to live, but you will probably have to live in a totally Mexican neighborhood right next to commercial outlays.
As for Dublin/Pleasanton, they are really far away from jobs and in the middle of nowhere. I know someone who bought a house in Pleasanton and has to commute to SJ for work - it takes about 2-3 hours one way because of traffic every morning. Doesn't seem worth it. BART is very inefficient too, considering there are very limited stops and then you have to take the light rail. It probably doubles your commute if you end having to take the BART and light rail versus just driving. BART isn't like a subway, there are very few stops in comparison.
A little off topic maybe, but when did Sunnyvale become a ghetto. I grew up there and it was far from a ghetto when I lived there, I guess I haven't been there in a few years, but I find it hard to believe that it is that bad. There are a few neighborhoods on the north side of town near the dump and industrial areas that aren't great but on balance it is very middle class, pretty similar to Mountain View and Santa Clara. The three bedroom, one story house I grew up in sold for over 1 mil at the peak of the bubble, and it was even on the wrong side of the tracks, not too far on the wrong side though. Anyway, Sunnyvale isn't a ghetto, just had to step in and defend my hometown
Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2009 1:31 am 
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