here are some figures from this realtor on the Berkeley housing market for May for those who are interested:
http://www.eastbaymodern.com/blog/berkeley-real-estate-market-report-may-2016.html
I’d love to live in Berkeley. I always have a thing for college town. Palo Alto is out of reach for me. Berkeley I still have some hope…
Maybe not, if you plan to be more than a mom and pop owner…
Oakland also charges business tax on landlords. As long as it’s not exorbitant that’s just the cost of doing business. I actually have no plans to landlord in Berkeley. It’s even more socialist than SF…
Anyone shop at Rainbow in SF? 
Thanks for reminding me about that… I hate paying that business tax only because it comes relatively early in the year and quite frankly I may not have tabulated how much gross income I earned there yet to figure out the tax. Hey, I have other things to do…
Berkeley was the most desirable town to live in the BA from 1945 to 1970 when rent control and radical communists destroyed it…Definitely making comeback
State Universities and Community Colleges are not Colleges?
Well, community colleges are “junior” colleges in that they generally do not offer 4 year degrees (BA or BS) but at most 2 year Associate degrees (AA). Many people go that route and transfer to say UC or other college if they meet the criteria and are accepted of course. Finances would be a major reason or undecidedness of major coming out of high school could be why folks go this route since you can theoretically get your general lower level requirement classes out of the way at a much cheaper institution before heading to a 4 year school and majoring in whatever subject you finally decide on. Many folks have gone this route and done just as well as if they went to a 4 year school from the get go. These are mostly commuter schools, so no on campus housing, that also cater to more folks who also work and go to school after.
In the sense that probably @manch was referring to, a “college town” evokes images of a relatively small town/city where the college is a major focal point in the overall community whereabouts and perhaps is a major or the one big employer of the city because well it is so big relative to everything else with its employees and student body populations. For example, I wouldn’t call NYC a “college town” because of NYU. State universities, I suppose like Ca State San Luis Obispo, or Ohio/Penn State I am thinking would be examples as well (although never having gone to these places). And of course private colleges like a Stanford or Notre Dame would probably fall in this category too. PA of course has a lot of other things going for it but Stanford is so linked to PA that it probably makes PA a “college town.” Granted, a very expensive one at that…
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Universities add a lot of value to a city…South Lake Tahoe community college is offering 4 year degrees now…Finally a legitimate ski school…lol…will add a lot to local property values…and is a beautiful campus…
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No doubt on the value that universities add to a city. Interesting, so SLTCC is offering bachelor degrees now? Hopefully, not only in skiing… Weren’t we just wondering if our kids can compete with the rest of the world???
Soon we have a degree for housekeeping 
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You know what college towns look like: coffee shops, bookstores, young people milling around in sandals. Community colleges mostly commute and not stick around, so no. State universities of course count. But like @sfdragonboy says, if they are already in big cities like SJSU in San Jose and SFSU in SF they don’t contribute any college-townness to their locales.
Berkeley is more of a college town than PA, especially the part east of MLK. Someone once told me that’s where the poverty line is. I recently went there for some (no good) Taiwanese hotpot and it has changed quite a bit. Many more mid-rise condos and even a Trader Joe… must admit have not been there for long long time.
Berkeley is losing some of its sharp bern.
It is so hard to get into Berkeley now the students are a lot more serious about the business of getting an education. …when I went they were more concerned about protests and parties. …plus the boomers have become bourgeois and more concerned about lifestyle than political crap…
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Does Berkeley (or nearby cities) have enough high tech jobs? I’ve visited Berkeley few times back, and I actually liked Berkeley way better than PA. I would choose the political crap over pretentious snobs in PA any day. I also have a thing for college towns (perhaps @manch also is so fond of his college years); I’d love to just get up on the weekend and walk downstairs to a cute local cafe.
I do have a colleague who commutes from Berkeley to Mountain View (2 body problem, since her SO works in north bay), but that seems excessive. If I were FI, it’d be an awesome place to live though.
Not sure, but there are def biotech companies in Emeryville. I suppose Caltrain via Emeryville to the South Bay is doable???
There may be more IT jobs in Dublin/Pleasanton than around Berkeley and Oakland? Not sure. Berkeley is definitely punching below its weight in terms of tech jobs.
Interesting why that is the case with Cal grads right there for the taking. NIMBY Berkeley leaders? Not enough buildings/land?
I can think of two reasons:
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Cal grads are just less entrepreneurial than Stanford. It helps that Stanford is doing a lot to help and expose its students to starting businesses.
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There is already a big tech hub right across the bay. It’s too hard to start something when the world champion is just an hour’s drive away.
On Cal, I was thinking more in terms of continuous pool of well qualified applicants who probably wouldn’t mind staying in their Berkeley apts after graduating and working locally. The companies are glamorous no doubt, but the South Bay traffic and living cost would be negatives. A tech company opening up a satellite office in Berkeley, Emeryville or Oakland should be able to recruit from Cal pretty easily.