[homewrek]

A little help needed. I'm considering an offer within my company to relocate back to the Bay Area. The main office is in San Jose, but I'm only needed there about 20% of the time. We have other offices I will be going to in Salinas, Benicia, Sacramento, Fresno, Reno, Portland, and Tacoma.
I'm a native CA born in SD and I grew up in the San Fernando valley. I've spent over 600 days earlier in my career in the Bay area on business and I've been back at least once a year since around 1995 so I'm still pretty familiar.
I know some of the probable great rides through Napa, down to Monterey, out to the Sierra Nevada, etc.
What are some good towns to live in that are fairly affordable? I live in a close to comparable area in Fairfield County, CT but I'm going to buy something conservative and potentially "remote" community.
What do you know about living in Benencia, Fairfield, Vacaville, American Canyon, Tracy, Concord, Martinez, Novato and maybe down in Morgan Hill or even over to Watsonville or Seaside?
Other suggestions? Thanks in advance.

 

[MarinPhil]

A little help needed. I'm considering an offer within my company to relocate back to the Bay Area. The main office is in San Jose, but I'm only needed there about 20% of the time. We have other offices I will be going to in Salinas, Benicia, Sacramento, Fresno, Reno, Portland, and Tacoma.
I'm a native CA born in SD and I grew up in the San Fernando valley. I've spent over 600 days earlier in my career in the Bay area on business and I've been back at least once a year since around 1995 so I'm still pretty familiar.
I know some of the probable great rides through Napa, down to Monterey, out to the Sierra Nevada, etc.
What are some good towns to live in that are fairly affordable? I live in a close to comparable area in Fairfield County, CT but I'm going to buy something conservative and potentially "remote" community.
What do you know about living in Benencia, Fairfield, Vacaville, American Canyon, Tracy, Concord, Martinez, Novato and maybe down in Morgan Hill or even over to Watsonville or Seaside?
Other suggestions? Thanks in advance.

I live in San Rafael so here r my suggestions. American Canyon, about in the middle btwn Sac and San Jose. fairfield-ok town but ech. Tracy-too far from any of those places you list. Concord-little depressed now, Martinez-nice-have a daughter there, Morgan Hill-pretty far south for sac area, Seaside and Watsonville ech and too far south for Sac area.. Novato nice-in the middle for your commute. Good luck with price shock in Bay Area-still much higher Real Estate prices compared to rest of country.

 

[patsmith]

I agree with MarinPhil. You might also take a look in the Dublin, Pleasanton, Livermore area. Mountain House is a fairly new community on the east side of the Altimont. Kind of windy in that area but might be nicer than Tracy while still reasonalbly priced. Good Luck with the hunt.

 

[JayJay]

I relocated from the Sacramento Valley to a new job in Palo Alto (~15 miles from San Jose) about a year ago. Have not yet bought a house. To put this into perspective: I will have to pay close to twice as much for half the house I have in Davis. And Davis is considered to be about +20-30% over Sacramento. My $0.02 worth regarding affordability:

Commute to San Jose - forget about anything in the greater Bay Area (east bay, peninsula). Livermore or farther east might be OK but you're facing an ugly commute on I-580/I-680 unless you can do it off-peak hours. South (Morgan Hill, Gilroy) or west (Santa Cruz Mountains) would be preferable. If you don't lane-split already, learn how.

Benicia/Fairfield - you're looking at commuting even farther on I-680 than from Livermore, and you'll pick up some of the SF/East Bay traffic as well. Big huge snarl at the I-680/CA24 interchange at Walnut Creek.

American Canyon - you have the I-80 corridor to Berkeley, then I-580 or I-880 south to San Jose. Even worse idea than starting farther south. Or you can take I-780 to I-680 at Benecia, see above.

Vallejo - right next to American Canyon. Fairly afforable but it's a city that declared bankruptcy in 2008. There's a reason it's affordable. Nuff said.

Many companies, including the Federal Government, pay a differential of up to 15% or so to cover the increased cost of housing in the Bay Area. It is ugly.

But - the motorcycle (and bicycle) riding is fantastic!

An alternative: if you only go to San Jose occasionally, consider living somewhere way outside the Bay Area but on the Amtrak Capitol Corridor train line, and take the train. I did that for 11 years. A little longer, but it beats driving in Bay Area traffic all to pieces.

Good luck.

JayJay

 

[McWideglide]

Why waste your time commuting? Gas is high, your off time must be worth something. Wear your auto or cycle out commuting? If you can afford to live closer to work, there is more free time. As to the price of housing, I can't disagree that the farther you go from the Peninsula ,the cheaper houses get.But, your investment will appreciate faster here than those distant places. Local news paper S J Mercury had an article this past weekend talking about the depressed housing market in the valley. My 2 cents worth. Plus Hwy 9, 35 and the PCH can't be beat.

 

[homewrek]

Thanks folks. A couple of other things of note...
Right now I live about 35 miles northeast of NYC in Fairfield County CT so sticker shock with No. Cal isn't going to phase me. Where I live vs. some of those more remote areas is on a par or actually less than Fairfield County.
Commute isn't a factor. I'm only in San Jose maybe 1 day per week on average and I can commute from someplace further out and spend a night in a hotel if I have to on the company dime.
I'm environmentally responsible but gas prices mean nothing to me anyway. I have a company gas card covering all business fuel expenditures.
I'll be traveling between offices we have as far southeast as Fresno and southwest as Salinas. The northern most office to the west is Benicia and to the east is Reno, NV with Sacramento in between. I'll also be flying up to Portland and Seattle every few weeks.

I can really live within a 100 mile radius of San Jose so it brings places like Vacaville, Novato, American Canyon, Tracy, Fairfield, Martinez, etc. into play. I could probably stretch it and justify Sacramento but I'm probably not willing to go that far from the Bay.

My daughter currently lives in Alameda and goes to law school in San Francisco so there is some motivation to be somewhat close to her too.

Thanks for the 411 on some of the towns and your opinions.

 

[homewrek]

It's on. We are coming out there this Thursday, the 24th through next Wednesday and looking at a couple dozen properties in several communities. The company has made a firm offer in writing and it's 100% in my court to decide if we are making the move.

The biggest concentration of listings we are seeing are in Fairfield and Vacaville. We are also looking in Tracy/Mountain House, Brentwood, Pinole, 1 house in San Pablo, Benicia and Vallejo.

 

[amarider]

It's on. We are coming out there this Thursday, the 24th through next Wednesday and looking at a couple dozen properties in several communities. The company has made a firm offer in writing and it's 100% in my court to decide if we are making the move.

The biggest concentration of listings we are seeing are in Fairfield and Vacaville. We are also looking in Tracy/Mountain House, Brentwood, Pinole, 1 house in San Pablo, Benicia and Vallejo.

Hey Brentwood is nice, quiet and central, nothing exciting though. I live here and commute up the river to Sacramento - great ride.

 

[homewrek]

Update on the process. I've officially accepted the position to relocate with my company. The start date is up in the air, pending hiring my replacement in the Northeast and a couple of weeks of training that person. We've got 3 solid candidates so I'm expecting someone to be hired no later than July 15th and starting no later than August 1st.
This would probably make August 1st my official start date, but not traveling there until August 15th. I wouldn't anticipate moving until September 15th or possibly October 1st.

We went out and looked at several communities and houses over Memorial Day. We are going back mid-July with the intent of buying.

We don't have a favorite community because each has it's own merits that work for us while each has some downside too. If I were to rank it wouldn't necessarily be where I think we will be but here is my list:

1. Benicia (ideal location and love the town, but market in my price range is limited)
2. Brentwood (We like the community and the versatility of the various commutes I'll make works well)
3. Fairfield/Vacaville-(They are different communities but closely related)
4. American Canyon (Some houses here that we really like, if they are still on the market)
5. Vallejo (Has to be the right neighborhood, but we aren't ruling it out)
6. Tracy/Mountain House (Good for some commutes. I'm not a huge fan, but it works well overall)
7. Contra Costa options-Concord, Pinole. Hercules, Oakley, Discovery Bay. Actually not ruling out one or two sections of Antioch either.

We will probably look at 30+ houses again and narrow it to probably 1st choice in each area and rank those with #1 getting first offer. Intent is to go back on Day 4 of our trip to our 7 or 8 favorites and not leave down without a deal by Day 6 and going back east.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

[Dan-A]

I spent a good amount of my growing up in the "valley".

 

[Baloo2]

Caution: Pay close attention to foreclosure rates and real estate devaluation. Tracy, Mountain House and Fairfield have struggled throughout the downturn. Brentwood and the whole 680 corridor is nice, if a little 'suburban boring'. Your daughter is in Alameda, yet you don't mention that delightful town. It is fantastic and has some high-end neighborhoods in the Gold Coast and Harbor Bay. It's central to everything you seek. You also seem to have skipped the penninsula where you'll find some of the finest neighborhoods in the nation: Saratoga, Portola Valley, Woodside. And it has the best mcycle roads in the area and it's close to SJ. Finally, as much as anything else, consider the climate. Climate/weather-wise, the coast is a different planet from the bay which is a different universe from anything over the hills. In the summer, there is often a 50-degree temp difference between Orinda and Oakland.

 

[homewrek]

Caution: Pay close attention to foreclosure rates and real estate devaluation. Tracy, Mountain House and Fairfield have struggled throughout the downturn. Brentwood and the whole 680 corridor is nice, if a little 'suburban boring'. Your daughter is in Alameda, yet you don't mention that delightful town. It is fantastic and has some high-end neighborhoods in the Gold Coast and Harbor Bay. It's central to everything you seek. You also seem to have skipped the penninsula where you'll find some of the finest neighborhoods in the nation: Saratoga, Portola Valley, Woodside. And it has the best mcycle roads in the area and it's close to SJ. Finally, as much as anything else, consider the climate. Climate/weather-wise, the coast is a different planet from the bay which is a different universe from anything over the hills. In the summer, there is often a 50-degree temp difference between Orinda and Oakland.

I have spent many days and many nights in Oakland and Alameda (40+ year Raider fan). I've spent even more time on the Peninsula. My price range won't touch the Peninsula for the type of house that we want to live in and my wife wouldn't live in Oakland or Alameda. She's seen the good, bad and ugly of the East Bay and it just isn't her desire to live there.
As far as climate goes, I'm more of a Peninsula guy without the extreme high temps, but my wife loves the heat and has no problem with a few weeks of 100+ days. We'll end up compromising with some in between. I know all about the foreclosure rates in place like Tracy, Fairfield and Valejo but it doesn't bother me. The prices bottomed out around 6 months ago and it's not going lower anytime soon. People are buying the foreclosures and short sales in the area for what amounts to 50 cents on a dollar. A lot of cash purchases and people are upgrading the homes they are buying so it's coming back big time.
I'm definitely not buying a house based on where my family and friends are today. My daughter has 2 years left in law school and she is engaged so it's no telling where she will end up. My guess is someplace between the East Bay and Sacramento so anywhere I buy in my range is going to be reasonable distance from her.
I've got friends that live in Antioch, Brentwood, Mountain House, Livermore, Vallejo and Vacaville as well as the Peninsula and East Bay so I'll be in good shape there.
They all have biased opinions so that is why I've been looking for unbiased ones.
Thanks for the feedback....

 

[LTFan]

Have you considered Davis or western parts of Elk Grove. Both are reasonably commutable to the bay area and not very expensive. I live in Elk Grove and travel to Pleasanton daily. Travel to Reno is approx 2.5 hours as well.

Another good area is El Dorado Hills overseeing the Folsom lake.

 

[homewrek]

Believe it or not.... I'm still moving to Northern Cal. It's been a long process that isn't finished yet, but I'll be there permanently no later than 2/1/13, probably closer to 1/15/13.

I've been traveling between both coasts since August 1st where I've spent 7-10 days in our San Jose office and the rest of the time in Connecticut or our Massachusetts offices.
My interim position ends unofficially on 12/31/12 so I can finally devote full time to my position based in Northern California.
We have been working on a short sale in Tracy since the end of July. Two lien holders made it complicated, but the 2nd lien holder finally provided approval on November 16th after dropping the file for the previous 4 weeks. We should be closing right around Christmas.

Tracy is a really good location for me because it enables to get to our offices in Benicia, Sacramento, Modesto and San Jose within 90 minutes and the other offices are overnights or plane travel anyway.

I'm so looking forward to the variety of rides available and hope to meet some of the group that I know rides out of the Sacramento area and other rider groups as well. I'm in with my 2011 RT.
See you guys in a couple of months...finally!

 

[brasters]

Looking forward to you joining us for HDDC dinners !!!!! And a few rides....grin.