Is it starting? and some observations after 9 months here

We got a “notice to vacate” letter. Owners are very happy with us, but want to sell their Millbrae house. We must leave at the end of the lease in April. They said, and I quote the realtor, that “renting out is not as attractive anymore” and “we want to get out after this huge run up”.

We are looking to move down to Palo Alto. Better schools, and honestly, Millbrae strikes me as a place in decline… my wife has made friends with some locals and they all say the same thing. The Nextdoor group is certainly in agreement. The schools have been blah… Lots of unemptied trash cans, growing homeless “hygiene issues” and a generalized “not my job to clean that” attitude.

In the 9 months we have been here, that I can recall right now, a local teenage kid got stabbed outside the Millbrae library by a homeless person, a high speed chase crashed two houses down from us at 2AM (helicopters, K9 units, cops searching our backyard for suspects, news trucks outside our door…), and just the other day an out-of-state couple got robbed at gunpoint at the Millbrae Pancake House down the street on ECR at 1:30 in the afternoon. Links below. Again, this is all literally within a mile radius of my house where my kids walk to school and hang out after school and on weekends). Links below. Not sure this is a statistical fluke or normal for the Bay Area in general

We have been shocked to find Palo Alto rents not that much higher (in fact, even cheaper) down in nice areas southwest and close to the main strip on University Drive. I work in SF near Caltrain. My commute will only be 25 minutes longer on Caltrain. (in fact, I have a pretty long walk to the Millbrae station now, so depending on location it may be the same or shorter)

Soooo, just thought I would share those observations with the group with my Sunday morning coffee… Not trying to insult anyone or Millbrae, just what I think are objective observations. I hope this is not the case for the Peninsula as a whole… because the commute from WalnutCreek/Danville to SF sucks!

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It’s ok. Never been a fan of Millbrae either. It is just that a lot of SF folks won’t go anywhere farther south.
Burlingame and San Mateo are much nicer.

Millbrae has dangerous road. I got an accident there on El Camino. The drivers in Mullbrae also drive fast and pay less attention.

Millbrae housing price appreciated less than other places. I never understood why, you just gave an insider’s first hand experience.

when we moved here, they said that about San Bruno, “but Millbrae is much nicer”. I wonder if “these things” are spreading down the peninsula and Burlingame is next? Maybe it all ends with the end of the BART line in Millbrae.

I did find the comments from the house owners interesting, and my observations on rental prices seem to agree with the ongoing forum about rentals not getting easier (for the landlord)

Crime is going up crazy everywhere in California after big liberals reformed prison and pushed some criminals to the streets and community from prisons. Millbrae is not alone. Being close to SF definitely hurts, those criminals can definitely drive to PA and chase you there :joy:

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Hey, if it were up to me we’d live in the Tenderloin… this is all driven my the missus :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Millbrae has no there, there
Burlingame and San Mateo have real downtowns
And are just better places to live
SSF San Bruno and Millbrae have no identity…

Hey come on!!!

@sfdragonboy’s wifey