I am planning to move to the Bay Area in 2026. I am in the tech industry and that is the place to be. My plan was to go in the last 90s after graduation from A&M but I could not get an offer. I ended up elsewhere and the plan was to move after 1 year. Life happened, marriage, kids, this and that and decades later I am planning to move there. Goals are weather, and jobs. My son is also looking for a tech job in the Bay Area.

My question is what is a good town in the Bay Area to buy a house. As of now I am thinking of a budget of around $4M. I am thinking West Bay where my friends are. I know Pleasanton etc have better houses but they are too far from my friends and I want to be close and get back in their circle.

So looking for ideas on good neighborhoods. And areas to avoid. Kids will be in college so I don't care about "good school district". Has to be safe.

The SF Bay Area is large, so helpful to know a bit more of where you think you will be working - traffic can be a lot and the bridges have very expensive tolls. The Peninsula (between SF and SJ) will have patches of nicer areas in most cities and patches that are not as nice, its not city by city. Generally, the western area, closer to 280, will be nicer than the eastern area, closer to 101. Top cities would probably be Los Altos, Palo Alto, Menlo Park, parts of Mountain View, Cupertino, lots of parts of San Jose. Toward SF, San Mateo is nice. Some areas of San Carlos and Redwood City are also nice, esp towards 280 side. I am not as familiar with the East Bay but Pleasanton and Walnut Creek are probably nicer then other areas. Berkeley if you want a college town.

Random Ag said:

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The SF Bay Area is large, so helpful to know a bit more of where you think you will be working - traffic can be a lot and the bridges have very expensive tolls. The Peninsula (between SF and SJ) will have patches of nicer areas in most cities and patches that are not as nice, its not city by city. Generally, the western area, closer to 280, will be nicer than the eastern area, closer to 101. Top cities would probably be Los Altos, Palo Alto, Menlo Park, parts of Mountain View, Cupertino, lots of parts of San Jose. Toward SF, San Mateo is nice. Some areas of San Carlos and Redwood City are also nice, esp towards 280 side. I am not as familiar with the East Bay but Pleasanton and Walnut Creek are probably nicer then other areas. Berkeley if you want a college town.

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Thanks Random.

It is still many months away but I am planning to start a job search targeted to the area so it is likely to be tech hirers like PayPal, Walmart Global Tech, Visa etc. I am not particularly targeting FAANG. Walmart is very likely as they are open to hiring from outside their areas, and have good relocation benefits. They have offices in Sunnyvale and San Bruno. I had an offer from them last year but did not take as my kid is still in school and did not want to relocate.

As I move toward retirement, I want to have my old friends (pre A&M) closer. How are San Jose (western side), Los Gatos, Campbell? I know someone in Saratoga, that seems to be very upscale. Any areas to avoid? I head bad things about East Palo Alto though Palo Alto houses rich people.

All of those you mentioned are great, I just tend to forget about them because I didnt spend as much time in those areas. I would be wary of some of the more hillside communities due to unstable housing. I lived in Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Los Altos and back to Sunnyvale when I lived there. Worked in Redwood City and then San Jose near the 49ers stadium. Went to church in MV/PA.

I didn't mention EPA because it didn't sound like what you were looking for. Its not necessarily safe all the time, but very different than 20+ years ago. We have several friends who live there intentionally to better serve that community, but I would not recommend it to someone just looking to save some money.

We left 10 years ago, but still have a large group of friends there. Some left to move to Portland or LA. I am in the med device business so that was a great place to be, and I just joined a Google spinoff, so its possible I will do some travel back there.

I think your 4M budget will get you something nice, but probably more mid-starter home compared to Texas. But it sounds like you have a good reason for doing it. The weather and no bugs is amazing! The day trip or long weekend travel options are amazing. Diverse, amazing food options. I got sick of the brown hills for 10 months of the year but I did love my time there.

Can get a pretty nice spot in the Tenderloin with that budget. Or could probably make it work in Hayward too, if you're frugal.

Man, I don't miss the people there, but I do miss living in the City...

I would definitely recommend Walnut Creek, but as you mentioned in your post, it would be too far away. I loved living there when I worked on a project for Chevron back in 2006-7. Met a lot of Ags at Stadium Pub. Some of them worked animation at Pixar.

Kaiser von Wilhelm said:

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Can get a pretty nice spot in the Tenderloin with that budget. Or could probably make it work in Hayward too, if you're frugal.

Man, I don't miss the people there, but I do miss living in the City...

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I thought you were joking when you said "Tenderloin" but it really exists!
I am still familiarizing myself with SF and surroundings. I don't plan on living in the city though.



I haven't heard good things about Hayward. Apparently there are Asian gangs operating from there? I might go at most up to Fremont.

randy828 said:

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I would definitely recommend Walnut Creek, but as you mentioned in your post, it would be too far away. I loved living there when I worked on a project for Chevron back in 2006-7. Met a lot of Ags at Stadium Pub. Some of them worked animation at Pixar.

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I looked it up, it does seem quite far off. Cruised around using Google Street View and the area seems very nice though. Good newer houses. I will keep this in mind though it seems unlikely since the commute to San Jose area looks difficult. This may be a very good retirement destination if I decide to stay on in CA.

Random Ag said:

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All of those you mentioned are great, I just tend to forget about them because I didnt spend as much time in those areas. I would be wary of some of the more hillside communities due to unstable housing. I lived in Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Los Altos and back to Sunnyvale when I lived there. Worked in Redwood City and then San Jose near the 49ers stadium. Went to church in MV/PA.

I didn't mention EPA because it didn't sound like what you were looking for. Its not necessarily safe all the time, but very different than 20+ years ago. We have several friends who live there intentionally to better serve that community, but I would not recommend it to someone just looking to save some money.

We left 10 years ago, but still have a large group of friends there. Some left to move to Portland or LA. I am in the med device business so that was a great place to be, and I just joined a Google spinoff, so its possible I will do some travel back there.

I think your 4M budget will get you something nice, but probably more mid-starter home compared to Texas. But it sounds like you have a good reason for doing it. The weather and no bugs is amazing! The day trip or long weekend travel options are amazing. Diverse, amazing food options. I got sick of the brown hills for 10 months of the year but I did love my time there.

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Thanks for all your inputs!
Since we will be empty-nesters pretty soon (daughter just got a very good admit!), our focus changes a bit. I'm scouting houses in the area, pretending that I am looking to buy but just to familiar myself with the prices so there is no sticker shock later on. I notice a recent trend of falling prices for houses in the area. I don't have any solid proof but many more nicer houses seem to be available for price points that were not possible a year ago.

My current house is worth $750k based on what Zillow says, 2400sqft with 4 bedrooms. I have been monitoring the SF Area for comparable sized houses and I see about 3M to about 4.5M range of houses depending on location.

I think North Beach is the best. You are right in the Italian area, Chinatown is a few blocks up, the wharf is a few blocks down, tons of amazing restaurants, very quiet at night.