This is a post about finding housing in the Bay Area. Because we ruled SF out pretty darn quick considering the costs and our preferred lifestyle. Which, really, is all that it takes to find housing where you want to be.
Basically, there are several factors to consider, and you want to understand how they fit into your situation, prioritize those for yourself and then the options get really narrow. Here's my list of factors that we weighed when finding our apartment.
1. Budget
2. Safety
3. School Ratings (and its subset "school guarantee")
4. Demographics (including race, economic, and subculture)
5. Yards
6. Transit Time
7. Weather
8. Types of Activities (sports, arts, etc.)
Let me break down how each of these things can factor in.
Budget
For us, the number 1 priority was budget. We are dedicated to a no-debt lifestyle, so we absolutely had to find a place that allowed us to easily pay for all the necessities, as well as invest for our future so that we can maintain a debt-free lifestyle when we are old and grey. Once we found our per-month number (along with our minimum bedrooms we were willing to have), our Craigslist results plummeted. It all but ruled out Alameda and Berkeley, which was disappointing, but so be it. Time to sift through our other factors.
Safety
We currently live in the high-end ghetto of our city. It was a choice that we made and we knew what we were doing. Still, it hasn't been easy to live in a neighborhood where you're not necessarily shocked that a murder happened down the street.
Moving to the Bay Area is a different ballgame, though. There's like... real crime there. I was a lot more hesitant to move into a location in a shady part. Plus, the reasons we moved into our current neighborhood just don't apply to our family situation anymore. So, we decided to avoid the red areas on the Trulia crime map. Basically, we are now avoiding Oakland down until you reach San Leandro.
Demographics
As a multi-cultural family, we are ardently opposed to living in a homogeneous town, particularly when the majority race is white. I was more willing to keep looking at places that have a majority of Hispanic or Asian, although diversity was still my priority. What I really was looking for was a place that had a population of each of the cultures that are represented in our family. Asians are much more abundant in California than Alabama, but African-Americans are much more of a minority. So, I was looking for a town that had a reasonable amount of blacks. Berkeley had the highest percentage at 9% (Huntsville is around 30%), but it was already ruled out due to price. Racial demographics also ruled out places like Pleasanton (60% white; 2% black), Walnut Creek (which, let's be honest... was really ruled out because of its Little House on the Prarie sounding name), and South San Francisco (only 1% black).
School Rating (and its subset "School Guarantee")
Another high priority for us was that our kids be in resourced schools with an environment of academic success. What this translates into is that we wanted a school with at least a 7 on Great Schools, which is based on testing. But we also wanted to be seeing good reviews that talked about parental involvement and a partnership mentality among the staff.
This kind of thing used to not be important to us because we homeschooled, but now that we have our kids in schools and have seen what the low scoring schools are like compared to our kids' magnet school (which scores high), we definitely know what we're looking for in schools.
The requirement of a 7 school ruled out the rest of the East Bay coast cities, such as San Leandro and Hayward, as well as the towns north of Berkeley. We were left with Castro Valley and the end-of-the BART line town Dublin.
Daly City (a town very close to SF) was eliminated through demographics, but also I think it's important to note that their school assignment process is something that I have not come across before because if Daly City had the demographics we wanted, we would have ruled it out quickly due to this process. Turns out that the high school district is huge and there are no assigned school. It is a first-come, first serve system, and our 7-rated high school in Daly City was already full for next year. The district had some other good schools, but they were far away from where we were looking. Schools that were closer were not well-rated by tests or the community reviews. Unfortunately, we wouldn't know what school our daughter could go to until we had a signed lease and applied. This was too much uncertainty for me, so I crossed Daly City off the list for good. Some places have more structure to their school assignments and some are purely based on applications and luck of the draw. So, if schools are important, it's worth finding out how schools are assigned.
This kind of thing used to not be important to us because we homeschooled, but now that we have our kids in schools and have seen what the low scoring schools are like compared to our kids' magnet school (which scores high), we definitely know what we're looking for in schools.
The requirement of a 7 school ruled out the rest of the East Bay coast cities, such as San Leandro and Hayward, as well as the towns north of Berkeley. We were left with Castro Valley and the end-of-the BART line town Dublin.
Daly City (a town very close to SF) was eliminated through demographics, but also I think it's important to note that their school assignment process is something that I have not come across before because if Daly City had the demographics we wanted, we would have ruled it out quickly due to this process. Turns out that the high school district is huge and there are no assigned school. It is a first-come, first serve system, and our 7-rated high school in Daly City was already full for next year. The district had some other good schools, but they were far away from where we were looking. Schools that were closer were not well-rated by tests or the community reviews. Unfortunately, we wouldn't know what school our daughter could go to until we had a signed lease and applied. This was too much uncertainty for me, so I crossed Daly City off the list for good. Some places have more structure to their school assignments and some are purely based on applications and luck of the draw. So, if schools are important, it's worth finding out how schools are assigned.
Transit Time
It got a little frustrating to see how far away our viable options were. Dublin, for example, is a 45-minute BART ride. With 3 kids to care for, it was hard for me to think about being on my own for the full work day plus commute, but it turns out that Dublin's position on the end of the line may actually allow for less time away from home because Billy's job is such that he is not required to be in the office certain hours. Getting on the train first guarantees him a seat where he can open up his laptop and work for 45 minutes; whereas, a 20-minute ride would essentially be wasted time standing up not working. For someone who is required to punch the clock at for a certain number of hours, this might not work as well, and the shorter commute time might be important, but for us, it wasn't.
What was important regarding the commute, though, was that Billy be able to bike reasonably to the BART station. That means that we really had to stay on the BART line and didn't have the freedom to go off too far to the side... places like San Ramon were ticked off the list (not sure if that would have still been on there with the other factors or not, but it's definitely too far from the train).
What was important regarding the commute, though, was that Billy be able to bike reasonably to the BART station. That means that we really had to stay on the BART line and didn't have the freedom to go off too far to the side... places like San Ramon were ticked off the list (not sure if that would have still been on there with the other factors or not, but it's definitely too far from the train).
Yards
Yet another thing to think about is how important a yard is. Part of me wanted to live in more of a city setting. That's my personal preference for myself. But I also have little kids to think about, and truly my own sanity with said kids. I knew that we would need a place to run around, so I was limiting my search to places that at least had a park or school yard within a child's walking distance.
Weather
I never actually considered that I'd need to think about weather when I'm comparing cities all within an hour's drive of each other. But I've learned that the Bay Area has pockets of weather and the difference between the peninsula and East Bay can be huge. Ultimately, for us, weather wasn't such a big deal. It was truly low on our priority list. But I am happy that our final decision puts us in the warmest of all the cities. I have lived my whole life (as long as I can remember, anyway) living where 95 degrees is a normal summer temperature. And I was having a hard time thinking that I might live somewhere that barely breaks 70 at its hottest. I don't even know how people swim in that weather!
Fortunately, just a quick jaunt away from SF, you can find 80 degree summers, and I'm thrilled that our apartment has a pool.
Fortunately, just a quick jaunt away from SF, you can find 80 degree summers, and I'm thrilled that our apartment has a pool.
Types of Activities
The last consideration was what kind of activities were important to us and how important those were. We are an art family. I think we all know that families usually choose... it's either sports or arts. I've rarely met the family that can find it in themselves to commit to both.
Part of the lure of San Francisco is the art culture, and I have to say, I was pretty bummed for a while that all the signs were pointing toward living further rather than closer, but in the end, we decided that our kids will have good opportunities to pursue arts through the schools, and SF isn't too far away, so we will just have to make a point to take a family outing every so often.
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