A friend is looking to relocate to the San Francisco area (job related) and found housing (rental) to be more reasonable in Novato and was wondering why. Is it a decent area to live in if you are working in Marin County?

It's the ugly stepchild of Marin county, but a very nice place to live especially if you have a family. My sister lives there and I love the way the green hills are visible from her yard and the kids all play in the streets. The schools are supposed to be good too. I think Marin County in general is a bit snotty and Novato being fairly far south is a bit out of the thick of things.

Whoops, Novato is of course not south, it's East or North from SF (geography obviously not my strong point)>

Novato is part of Marin, in the northern part of the county. The farther north one travels from San Francisco, the (relatively) lower the property values. North Bay is God's Country!

That's what he wanted to know -- thanks for the replies.