My son/wife and grandkids live in San Francisco and now that my husband and I are retired he's trying to convince us to move to Northern California (from Colorado). We have decided to go since there is nothing keeping us here....
Here is our problem...we would like to live in a nice, clean, safe town within a 1-2 hour drive of San Francisco that is reasonably priced. We can afford a home of maximum $600,000 and want a 3 bedroom, single story with a large enough back yard for our dog. I will contact a Realtor once I can zero in on a nice community. I would ideally like a town of around 25,000-75,000 people. Anyone out there from Northern California who might have a suggestion?? Thanks, Karen

Although I haven't been back to either town in a couple of years, Walnut Creek and Davis were nice when I was there...each one was about one hour away from San Francisco if I remember correctly...I do remember that each one was family oriented.

Maybe you could check out a new Active Adult community known as Rio Vista - around 1-1/2 hours from San Francisco. Lots of activities for retired people, gated community and relatively close to the kids. And by the way, I'm only 57, so it's not anything like a rest home atmosphere.

I live in the area. Housing is expensive here.

You can probably get what you are looking for in Salinas, Morgan Hill or Gilroy...all south of San Jose on Hwy101.

You also get more housing for your money in the Sacramento area...still close enough to drive for visits.

Another great area is Carmel Valley close to the Monterey Peninsula, the ocean and Carmel. The drive from Carmel Valley to San Jose is about 1 hour 20 minutes in non-rush traffic and then about another 1 hour to the city of SF.There is so much to do in this area you will really enjoy your retirement.

Hopes this helps some.

Thanks for the suggestions. The Rio Vista area sounds kind of interesting as do all of the suggestions. Is the Rio Vista area a pictureque area? I should also add that my husband and I have gotten in the habit of going out to dinner at least once a week to a nice dinner (not fast food) so I'd like to have some choices to dine as well. Looking at the map is really quite confusing...I don't know which direction becomes less expensive?? Also, I'd prefer an area that is warmer in the Winter. I'd really prefer So. California but the only reason for the move is to be closer to our son and family. Other than them, we don't know one person in California; though we also want to have our own life as well. Thank you...please keep any suggestions coming. Karen

I'm sure that you'd meet a lot of other retired people in the same boat if you moved to a active adult community. I just looked up Rio Vista and saw that it's a Shea Homes development, which tends to be a fairly decent developer. Good luck in your move. And yes, Sacramento area (near Rio Vista) is warmer in the winter months than most of Northern California.

Karen, if you want to be close to great restaurants and your son and his family, I'd suggest you stay closer to SF. Yes, real estate is high here, but there are plenty of communities in the bay area where you can buy a 3 bedroom house with a nice yard for $600K. We live about 40 minutes south of SF on the peninsula and there are homes here in your price range. Belmont, San Carlos and Redwood City all qualify for having good weather year-round, smaller than 75,000 people and close enough to SF to go there for the evening.

Another option is Sonoma valley, specifically Santa Rosa and Sebastopol. You'll have many good restaurants availble to you throughout the wine country, the weather is nice and you are close enough to SF.

I wouldn't suggest you head out toward Sacramento. The winters are colder the farther inland you go, and the summers hot, hot, hot. Plus, you will be more than 2 hours away from SF.

Rio Vista is kind of in the boonies - not much around as far as restaurants and shopping. Before the retirement developments came, it was pretty much a 1 stoplight town.

Looking at the map, directly north of SF in the Marin area is pretty pricey. Directly south of SF, down the peninsula is also pricey until you get down to the Gilroy area. From there south, real estate prices decrease. Along the coast in the Santa Cruz/Monterey area, housing is also expensive. East of SF is generally less expensive. I think that the Pittsburg/Antioch area is pretty reasonable, and there are some smaller towns sprinkled around out there. The Martinez/Concord area is reasonable, but are fairly good sized cities. Alamo and Danville are smaller, but I don't know how reasonable the real estate prices are.

If you are willing to go farther out, check out the towns along I80 between Fairfield and Sacramento.

To get a good idea about housing prices, check out www.realtor.com.

WE live in Palo Alto on the Peninsula. A lot of our friends are buying retirement property out in Grass Valley, near Tahoe but not up in the mountains. If you could afford Carmel, of course that would be super. Carmel Valley is generally cheaper than the town of Carmel and you might look into Pacific Grove. Santa Rosa is another place to look---really too far out for the commuters but OK for the visitors. I envy you the ability to retire to our beautiful state. Work still claims us to be closer to the city.

Another thought? Aptos?

One thought that comes to mind, not mentioned before, Novato. Just north of SF. My other endorsements are Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, Redwood City.

I would not like Salinas, Pittsburg or Antioch, (High crime rates), or Gilroy, too small and out in the middle of no where.

Walnut Creek is a middle of the roader. Bart can take you right into the city. There are lots of cultural activities, shopping and restaraunts, highly developed etc. But it is a town with not history, built out of suburbs.

You should start looking, now is a buyers market. The San Jose Mercury had article about the dot commers having to sell there homes recently.

I spoke with my son tonight and the only area he recommended was Livermore (he's not very familiar with surrounding areas so I'm sure there are more).
Anyone know much about Livermore? Thanks again, Karen

Karen, Livermore is too far from SF to go there for dinner. It gets very hot in the summer, air conditioning is a requirement, and cold in the winter. The housing is cheaper because there are many new developments constantly being built. The traffic to commute into the bay area proper is a nightmare. Considering you are retired and won't need to do the commute you might not mind that. Personally, I like being closer to the ocean, it makes the weather more temperate.

Seriously, you can buy a house for $600K much closer in to SF than Livermore. That is a good chunk of change and might not buy you what you can get in Colorado, but you will get a decent three-bedroom in a nice neighborhood. You should come out and spend some time in all these communities mentioned, talk to the locals and then decide.

Can she get a place in Lafayette (sp)? there is a BART station there they can take right into the city anytime for a visit.

Karen,
Kam's post re Grass Valley got me thinking.... The mother of a friend of mine moved out to California for reasons similar to yours a few years back. She settled in a town in the Highway 49/Gold Country area called Diamond Springs. The Gold Country is "rustic" without the severe weather of the High Sierra, since it is the foothills and not the actual mountains of the Sierra Nevada. Drive time to Sacramento is 1 hour or less, about 2 to 2 1/2 hours to San Francisco, depending on the route. The smaller towns I've traveled through such as Sutter Creek are really pretty. Amador County is a wine producing area, though not nearly as well known as Napa and Sonoma. Just some thoughts, hoping to be helpful.

Thanks so much for all your help.

Our needs are actually minimal. We do want a clean, friendly, well-kept town with access to some shopping (places like the grocery store, a Wal-Mart/Target type store. For the few times I go to a big Mall with major stores, I don't mind driving a bit. We do eat out in a nicer restaurant at least once a week. We seldom go to the movies or theater so again for those rare occassions, we don't mind the drive. I want to be accessible to SF more for the purpose of visiting family /picking up my Grandkids for a weekend etc. My husband love horse racing and I know there are some race tracks in that area so being within 1/2 hour of one of the race tracks would be great too. I'm sure we'll slip over to Tahoe once or twice a year too for the beauty as well as the slots (my favorite vice!)
Thank you, Karen

Karen--if you can swing it financially, I would check into the Peninsula (from Burlingame to Palo Alto). About 30 minutes to SF, these communities have been around for awhile and each has its own charm. The weather is pleasant and you're also about 30 minutes from San Jose.

If you're looking for more home for your buck, I'd go east to Green Valley, Fairfield, Vacaville, Dixon or Davis. These are an hour or so from SF and also about 30 minutes from both Sacramento and the Napa/Sonoma wine country. Good weather and good central location.

Another vote for Danville! If the prices is right, it is a very cute little town with lots of shops and restaurants. My favorite thing is the Xmas party and tree lighting ceremony the do after Thanksgiving. I feel like I walked into a Rockwell painting. No major chains but you could just head over to Walnut Creek for that kind of thing...also the BART goes into SF from Walnut Creek.

If you can find a nice 3-bedroom home in Danville for under 600K, please let me know how you performed this miracle.

One thing to bear in mind when looking at real estate listings in the Bay Area is that in many locations prices are still being bid way up above the asking price, recession or no recession. One theory is that people who are scared of the market and attracted by low interests rates are still looking at houses as a good investment and are willing to pay accordingly.