PS

I've been offered a job in the San Francisco Bay Area - I know it's very expensive. I would like to hear from people who live in the area. Job location is South SF. Would move with children. Any suggestions and or comments?

kam

It's really tough to move in to the Bay area from most other places. You don't say where you are coming from, whether you have a home there, how old the kids are, how much salary you will expect to make etc., but this area is on a par or more expensive than NYC. The other problem is schools. If you are working in South SF, you would want to live on the Peninsula for the best commute. Daly City is foggy and the inspiration for the 70s song about the houses "little boxes made of ticky tacky." Coming farther south there is Millbrae which is better, Belmont and finally San Carlos and San Mateo which are quite nice. I would think that a 3 bedroom regular house in San Mateo is about $600,000 by now, but I'm not in the house market so I could be wrong. You also need to take into account our high cost of living, transportation costs, and state income taxes as well as sales taxes. I don't want to sound like doom and gloom--once you're established here it's one of the best places in the country, but you will take a hit in relocating. I think you need to get very specific with your employer and talk with a realtor or two. Good luck.

Monica Richards

Also, don't discount the toll that round the clock traffic and long working hours (the norm in Silicon Valley) can take on your life. Like Kam says, once you're established it's a great place to live, but you do have to take into account the negatives (high cost of living, bad public schools).

John

I also worked in South San Francisco a few years ago, and had a house in Burlingame. Along with Milbrae, it's alongside SFO. Burlingame was a great town and felt very residential... had a wide mix of kids,young adults, seniors, etc. It's also just a few minutes up El Camino Real or the freeway to SSF.

anon

P.S., I have to agree with the others who have posted here thus far. If you've been established in the Bay Area for a number of years, it's great, but it's become increasingly difficult to live a middle class life there any longer. The people I've known who did move there from other areas always regretted it.

I've worked in the corporate HR offices of a large national corporation for the past ten years (I won't name it here though), and one of the biggest challenges we face is attracting and retaining managers to live and work in the Southern California and San Francisco Bay Area, mainly due to quality of life issues.

Have you flown out there with your spouse to check it out? That's what seems to be the deciding factor for those we manage to entice -- once they see the high cost of housing (especially in the San Jose area),the shabby schools, and the gridlock traffic for themselves, they decline our job offers.

Just weigh it all very carefully before you decide. If you were fresh out of college, single and ultra ambitious, I'd say go for it (for a few years anyway), but you have a family to think about.

Best of luck to you.

kam

The word on the street (and only the word on the street!) is that even Stanford University is having difficulties recruiting/keeping professors because of the difficulties in moving to the Bay area. Most of the medical residents who finish at Stanford then depart for a more comfortable place to live and raise their children. Just be cautious! Again, this is only the word on the street, but comes from some pretty reliable sources.

traveler

I live in the South Bay city of Sunnyvale. The homes in this tract house neighborhood are selling for $700K. When a house goes on the market here, there are bids of up to $150K over the asking price. Keep that in mind as you make your decision. The physical and cultural climates are outstanding, however.

SFSally

I live in the SF Bay area. Yes, we definitely do have a housing problem along with many other problems of living in a large metro area. However it is not all bad.

My daughter and son in law moved out here from Florida not too long ago. They are settled in and love it here. My daughter works in downtown San Francisco. Her husband used to work in the city but now works in San Ramon.

You do not mention what kind of job etc. That will make a big difference. I get so tired of hearing about our bad schools. They are not that bad compared to others. In fact there are many fine schools in this area.

I do agree that the peninsula will be the best area to live in. You want to avoid having to cross a bridge in your commute.

Rents, though high are not astronomical. They are maybe $200-$500 above other comaparable metro areas but usually the salaries are higher to compensate. Buying a house is another story but again not impossible.

We have lived and traveled in many parts of the USA and several foreign countries. We far prefer the San Francsico Bay area to anyplace else that we have ever been. The only other place tha we would consider is San Diego, where we have also lived. There are many intangibles here that just do not exist elsewhere. However, one does need to eat and have a roof over the head. You need to do some personal research. My suggestion is if you can swing it all, then do it. This is a great area to live for adults and children.

suze

I was using the term <seedy> as in people passed out on benches in a park, etc. not necessarily feeling threatened at the time but a place I would not want to have ended up accidentally alone late at night.