Best way to know is to drive over & check it out?
Terri, how about Walnut Creek, Orinda? Itās close to SF by Bart, decent schools and a lot of good neighborhood. Only sacrifice is stick to SF jobs. Goog, Fb would be far, but there might be shuttles. With your requirements, I would take you to Walnut Creek and stretch for Lomarinda if I were your realtor
Why is house so affordable?
And this
And this
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Btw, Oakland and Berkeley are now hot. Maybe Lomarinada and walnut creek will get hot in the next couple of years. Iām tempted to investing in Lomarinda, but rental yield is low. And only families will rent there and families are more likely to buy instead of rent
It feels that Dublin/Pleasanton are hotter than Lomarinda. Lomarinda is forgotten by the housing boom
Honestly, it feels like the middle of nowhere to me 
Bart commute looks reasonable from WC though-40 min
Iāll give it some thought, but STL feels better from that standpoint as we have relatives in the area, and school district is 20 minutes from downtown, universities, and Tech shop.
And at some point SJ becomes a better choice because the bullet Caltrain from SJ-SF is 1 hour, nicer ride, and way more options for very close by Tech jobs, but I donāt know anything about SJ schools. Maybe thatās another thread to startā¦
Have you checked out bay shores in Newark?
I suggest you to visit Walnut creek downtown with your family. Find a good restaurant and do some shopping. You could like it a lot.
With your housing criteria, I feel that WC might be your best option.
You can compare WC vs STL thoroughly with ample of data analysis. Do not rule out anything until you understand it
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You mean this?
https://lyonhomes.com/northern-california/masterplans/bayshores
No, I havenāt gone over there to look at houses. Weāve only been to East Bay to visit friends (Ardenwood) and Olive Garden/Panera Bread and the like. I have been hesitant to deal with the bridge because until last year, Iād never met anyone with kids who thought the commute was at all ok.
Yep, looks great 500 homes 19 floor plans and a few thousand more coming up in that area. These are built on toxic waste from some companies that were there, just be aware of that.
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Hate to beat a dead horse but why exactly you wonāt consider something in RWC but obviously more reasonable which means non Emerald Hills of course but just down Farm Hill? It sounds like you really like RWC and the West Side so stay and make a go of it. Life continues. You canāt wait foreverā¦
Oh great.
Thanks for the heads up.
This is it!!!
https://www.redfin.com/CA/Redwood-City/309-Orchard-Ave-94061/home/1193599
Thatās what we can afford in RWC right now. If we converted the front unitās carport into a living room, it would have the space we need at a price we can afford because we could rent out the back half.
elt1 did you go see it? 
Love the layout. 
Honestly, at this point, I canāt even afford the 2BRs around here.
Just do it!!!
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I would sfdragonboy, I would! But hubbie isnāt up to what it would takeāthe place has some issues.
Ok guys, I really appreciate the help. I think at this point i need to give this a break. Iām just spinning my wheels on this and itās giving me a headache. Somethingās got to change. My best bet right now is to try to start a business instead of buying a house. Maybe the $$ would open some opportunitiesā¦
Going to take a break from the forums again 
I donāt believe EH has ever been the most desireable portion of RWC. That designation belongs to Edgewood Park. Itās very much like the old money areas of Palo Alto. EH is more of a niche market. You should check it out the next time you head to EH.
Most desired by young families seems to be Woodside Plaza.
Good to know. My lil sister lives off Farm Hill and it is quite nice there. Initially I thought that was EH but may not be. I forget the name of the area where she is at. As you come down from 280 is it reasonably close to that Canada College but just a tad down the hill but before the church. Very nice area. Houses in her immediate area are snapped up for about 1.6-1.8M I believe but could be more now.
Canāt afford it anymoreā¦at allā¦and it looks like not even if I went back to work. The last jump this year in housing price nailed the coffin shut.
(Keep in mind, that when we started this search, the in-laws involved had offered large sum of money to help with the down payment. They couldnāt stomach the BA market and are no longer in the picture, my husband is no longer working for a publicly traded company (less income), and the market has doubled.)
How about Dublin/San Ramon?
Take a good hard look at Fremont too especially the up and coming areas. I get it, you want the best schools for your kids but perhaps you will find that certain pockets of Fremont give you the right mix of affordability and decent enough schools. My tenants, granted have very small children, but when they moved in I told them my home does not feed into the well known, best of the best Fremont schools. They werenāt too concerned. They said we will help to make the schools better by being active and participating at the schools when needed. They are pretty strong Christian folks and I can tell they do a lot with their kids. Dad is in cloud computing and commutes. Mom stays home. Houses in my area are going for 700K or so now. I bought 2.5 years ago at mid 400K.