SF guys... Need some advice

Looks like I'll be moving out that way in about 6 mos or so. What's the reality of buying a place with some kind of garage or some other covered off-street parking? I'm used to it being a pain in the ***, because I made do while living in Brooklyn, but my goal (after moving to Jersey and having a ***** of a commute) is to live as close to my job, which will be in the city, as possibe.

I have access to a shop, and storage a couple hours north, so I can keep most of my current garage/shop contents there, but I'd like to at least keep one of my cars with me to cruise in whenever I get the chance.

Is there one area that I should look at over another??? Ideas and advice are greatly appreciated.

-B

 

Depending on where your job is going to be in the city, you might actually do better to live outside of town with better access to a freeway. Though there are a lot of garages in the city, you'll find even more outside. Like Brooklyn, real estate ain't cheap either.

 

Parking's a real ***** in SF. Most homes with a garage are $$$. I'd check the Richmond or Sunset districts of the City. Like previously stated, you might be better off in the 'burbs. Unlike most of California, the Bay Area actually has a functional and efficient public transportation system, getting into the city is no biggie.

 

Seems like a popular thing to do lately. Check this thread:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=85917

Very hard to find a garage space in the city. The whole Manhattan/Brooklyn thing is somewhat similar to the SF/East Bay, SF/North Bay, or SF/Penninsula thing.

I live in the east bay. You need to cross a bridge or go under the bay (BART) to get to SF. So its a little like the whole bridge and tunnel thing you have going out there. You can draw basic similiarites from there.

Give us a shout when you get out here. Good luck!

Mike

 

Check out craigslist.org to get a feel for prices and availablity, but the rest of the guys are right, it costs big-bucks to have a functioning garage-type situation in SF and public transpo here is pretty killer, so getting around is no big deal. I live in Oakland and have to go to SF all the time... anyways check out some of what the East-Bay has to offer. Killer housing in Alameda, Oakland, etc... with a greter frequency of two-car garages! Unless, of course, you need that super-urban hustle all the time. I, for one, don't... Cheers.

 

Real estate is still affordable in Vallejo compared to everywhere else around here. From Vtown you can take a ferry to the city. The bonus is they have a bar on the ferry. Where else can you legally have an open container while commuting?

 

Thanks for the info... I read through that link, and there's some good stuff there too.

After leaving Brooklyn, I bought a house in Jersey and ended up with a 1 1/2 - 2 hr door to door commute to NYC every day, on a ferry that cost about 500 a month. The one BIG thing I'm looking for, aside from the garage and a place for my dogs to chill, is a really short commute.

That being said, I like the idea of Oakland for the garage space (heard a lot about it, but never went there. My understanding is that it's the Brooklyn of San Fran???)... I'm an Art Director by trade, and am expecting that I'll need to work in the city itself. What's the reality of the commute? I looked on the Bart website, and it looks like about 15-20 minute ride. C'mon... really?
I also have a motorcycle, so if I had to leave both my rides up north, I suppose having the bike around woudl somewhat make up for it.

Also, how easy is it to get to the Airport from there? My wife works for the Airlines, and that's kinda why we're moving in the first place.

Is there maybe a better place, equally as close to SF city and the airport?

 

On the ferry that I currently take!

Yeah, the bar is nice. I'd still rather not have to do it. I will look into Vallejo though. How long is the ride?
Thanks!

Sorry if this is getting off topic, but it really is about the cars!

-B

 

There's an International Airport in Oakland too... all this talk has got me to thinkin', me and couple of my buddies here in Oakland need a better place to work on **** then the middle of Telegraph Ave... anybody around here have some shop space they wanna pool in on??? All together we have a couple of rides and two BSA bikes. We have the usual... some roll-aways, welders, etc... anyways, I'm gonna do an "official" thread on here soon, but I thought I'd throw it out there. Thanks!

 

Alameda is pretty reasonable and you can find houses with garages and some apartments with garages.

If you need to get into the city during rush hour from Alameda, you're looking at a 30 minute drive if you carpool (three to a car or two to a pick up or other two seater), 20-25 minutes if you're on a bike (you can take the car pool lane then split lanes as the traffic slows on the bridge) or atleast an hour if you need to sit at the tolls in your car.

We also have a ferry that runs from Jack London (Oakland) to Alameda to downtown SF.

A 40 ticket book is like $150, the trip is about 20 minutes and they serve coffee and pastries in the morning and open the bar in the afternoon.

 

The ferry is 45 minutes every time no matter if someone grenades the ****** in there chevy on the freeway or not. See thats car related. Oh yeah and I have a 700 square foot shop in my backyard and still have a huge backyard

 

Alameda also has shop space on the old Navy Base- My buddy was offering me 600 (?) hundred sq. ft for $400 a month.

 

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ BIG BUCKS $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Thats why I moved my *** from Oakland (born and raised) To Reno...
CHEAP CHEAP up here....

 

Depending on where you get on BART, yes, it can take just 15 minutes if you get on at West Oakland and get off at The Embarcadero.

If your wife needs to work at SFO, then the East Bay may not be the best place to live. BART does get there from the East Bay, but it like an hour long ride. The other two "International" airports besides SFO are Oakland and San Jose. As an art director, you may also have the option of getting into a computer games company out here, besides some of the other obvious places of work.

A place like San Mateo, Burlingame, or Millbrae (on the Penninsula) may be better suited if you are looking to be near SFO. All of these towns are about 15-20 minutes to the city, and 5 minutes to the airport. In that area there is also San Bruno and South San Francisco, but the weather is colder in these towns due to the fog that swamps them all the time. My early years were spent here and I was always sick. Once the family moved to San Mateo, eveyone got happier.

My brother just moved to San Mateo (also where we went to high school) and he's in a 3 bed, 2 bath, 1 car garage house for $2K a month. He and his wife work, so $1K each for the rent (and the house is a really well kept 40s home) is doable for them.

 

here we go again.do a search for "bay area" and you will find a few pages at least covering this topic.it will be divided into 2 sectionseople whining about real estate,and making excuses as to why they pussed out and left,and bay area guys like myself saying how great the hot rodding community is here and how the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.hit me up when you land ,and we'll have a barby at my place....

 

Sounds good! as I said, I'm fully aware of the cost of living... I've been dealing with it for a long time. I'm willing to pay whatever i can to live as close to town as possible, without giving up the ability to jump in my Riv whenever I want. I'll just need to find that happy medium... now I know where to start.

Thanks again for all the info guys! It's opened up a lot of options. I'll send a shout when I get into town...

-B