EPTMoving to Oakland - Page 2
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Lockitupv2
United States496 Posts
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dAPhREAk
Nauru12397 Posts
commute by car - oakland (around lake merritt, elsewhere is dangerous), berkeley (closer to school is best, but less houses; hills are expensive, but nice), albany, emeryville, piedmont, alameda commute by BART (which is very nice) - add Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill, Concord (orinda and lafayette are for old people, expensive). i live in concord and work in walnut creek, so if you have specific questions, let me know. there is a tunnel between walnut creek area and berkeley/oakland area that makes commute nasty by car. however, houses are cheaper once you get on the other side of the tunnel in the suburbs (pleasant hill, concord) | ||
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dwhaaat
4 Posts
Like others have said check out BART stops. BART is one of the best, if not the best, public transportation systems in the states. Embrace public transportation, parking and driving through much of the Bay Area is a big pain. North Berkeley and Albany are generally good places to live. Avoid East Oakland and Richmond at all costs. | ||
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phiinix
United States1169 Posts
I think the Castro Valley, and more so Pleasanton, Dublin, and San Ramon areas would suit you well, but they're a tad further from Oakland/berkley. It's about a 20-30 minute drive I think. If you can take bart, CV and Dublin/pleasanton have stations, but not San Ramon. | ||
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Alexian
United States46 Posts
Emeryville is absolutely gorgeous in the housing neighborhoods. Even Oakland near San Pablo st has a lot of beautiful houses and foliage. Yes there is a lot of seediness in spots throughout there, but gosh darn, it's such a nicer looking seediness then say SF. That being said, if you are looking for an easy to rent transition place I recommend looking into Trinity Plaza in SF. Cheap ish for Sf, furnished, 3 month min lease, and right in front of civic center Bart. Area is on market st so highly seedy, but not particularly dangerous. | ||
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Kralic
Canada2628 Posts
Not sure how much help that would be, it might give a rough estimate on the crime certain areas of the city. Good luck with your move and finding a place! | ||
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TheToast
United States4808 Posts
Who's a doctor?? News to me, you lucky guy you. | ||
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ronpaul012
United States769 Posts
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Bear4188
United States1797 Posts
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micronesia
United States24495 Posts
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docvoc
United States5491 Posts
 . I doubt on a residency budget, you could llive in San Fran without significant money injections lol. Nony I know you are Pro-gamer and are sponsored by various companies, are they able to give you some kind of a helping hand? Also I really suggest not living in the oakland city area and being somewhere like piedmont if possible. I live in a city with a lot of crime in the south (#5 in the country) and I can tell you that the safer the area, the more wealthy, and the more available things are. Even more so are the people, when you live in a crim ridden area, people tend to be more secluded and therefore neighbors, especially in apartments are not the most ideal. GL Nony on finding a spot  | ||
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Slithe
United States985 Posts
I think Emeryville is probably your best bet. It's a decent neighborhood and it's a very short commute for your wife. You could do North Berkeley, as there are some nice areas up there, but the commute does get a little longer. Still not bad though. Don't live in SF. The commute and prices will be heinous as you've already noted. You can always go visit SF on very short notice, so there's no point in living there as well. | ||
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Maddhatter1
United States51 Posts
Otherwise you could look in Berkeley itself, which has a lot of nice places, but has a sorta inflated price range on housing due to it being a college town. Either way you should be able to be close to a BART station, BART kinda sucks for long commutes but for short/medium ones like you'll be having it works real well. | ||
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Maddhatter1
United States51 Posts
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Marzocchi
United States58 Posts
If I were you, I'd avoid the whole "main" Oakland area. Alameda, Oakland, Berkeley, Emeryville. There's definitely some good streets among them to live on... and there's no doubt some great places to hang out and get cultured for nightlife... but... moving there from Texas? Probably not a good idea. In my experience (40+ trips there a year) the Oakland area as a whole is not the safest place. It's all pretty dingy, smoggy, gross. San Francisco is nice, but it's pricey. Your absolute best bet is sticking to anywhere along 680 from Concord down to say Dublin (to stay within the 30 minute commute). Danville/San Ramon would be my choice as it's slightly less expensive than Concord/Pleasant Hill. Walnut Creek is awesome but is going to be a bit more expensive. The other benefit of the corridor along 680 is Mt Diablo State Park. As a runner, you'll appreciate it. As a dog owner, you'll appreciate it. If you like outdoors, you'll appreciate it. Oakland, and it's surroundings, is definitely a "grey" area (except Berkeley which is green, but really not the best area outside of the college)... but once you take 24 out of Oakland, everything is nicer, less smoggy, much greener, etc. One other thing - Oakland Airport... hands down the best/easiest to navigate airport in California (other than San Diego). SF is definitely cleaner and more high tech... but the Oakland Airport is awesome. Good luck man. | ||
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showbiz
United States66 Posts
North Berkeley is a nice mix of worlds - you get the comfortable suburban feel, but you're also a stone's throw away from great food and fast transportation to anywhere in the Bay Area. Depending on where exactly your wife's residency is taking place, she can either walk to work (it's safe) or take a quick bus ride. There are a mix of college students (less of the undergrad crowd there and more grad students, so people in their mid-late 20s and early 30s), as well as families. Aestheically the area is great if you like woody surroundings. Lots of trees, good park nearby (Tilden). Great areas to run and bike too. Some of the other areas people have mentioned are fine, but if your wife can avoid a 25+ minute daily commute, her life will be 50x better. BART is good, but when you factor in getting to/from the station, the fares, the delays, etc, a walkable commute becomes far more appealing. San Francisco is fun; you don't need to live there though. You can BART to SF for a night out for dinner or at a bar. If you have any questions, let me know. I'm a Bay Area native with good knowledge of the area. | ||
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TURBODERPER
3 Posts
Speaking as another Bay Area resident who's lived here for pretty much my whole life, I'll add my knowledge. Since you'll be renting a house, you honestly want to avoid Oakland at large. There are some good spots no doubt, but as a dude who went to high school in Oakland and saw the whole area, I reallllly don't recommend it. Places that are damn good? North Berkeley is pretty good. However, it's a bit more pricey, but still nice. Commute by car is definitely doable. However, if you want to commute by BART, which is again perfectly doable/safe, then I HIGHLY recommend Pleasant Hill (Walnut Creek too). They're very nice, very safe neighborhoods (we haven't had a break in or any robbery or anything for YEARS), very very close to BART, and close to all sorts of convenience and food stores. If I may ask, is your wife doing her residency in Oakland Children's Hospital? I'm curious because my uncle is one of the big players (doctors) there. Any questions, feel free to message me or ask here. | ||
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echO [W]
United States1495 Posts
I personally live in San Leandro, my father commutes to work at UCB and it takes him approximately a 5 minute drive to the BART station and a 25 minute ride to Downtown Berkeley so the commute isn't too bad. | ||
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TURBODERPER
3 Posts
It's totally doable to get there in 30 minutes from Walnut Creek/Pleasant Hill, my uncle does that every day (ish). | ||
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sc14s
United States5052 Posts
On April 18 2012 02:22 Liquid`NonY wrote: My wife will be graduating from medical school in May and will be doing her residency in Oakland. We'll be moving June 1. We are looking for a house to rent and we'll be visiting for four days in about a week to check out as many places as possible and hopefully make a decision. However we are a bit overwhelmed by the diversity in the area and we would like to narrow down our choices a bit before we go out there. The easiest way to do that is to cross off all the neighborhoods with a lot of crime or any other significant disadvantage to the neighborhood that we would not know by looking at a house ad. So I'm asking for the collective power of TL to help us with its knowledge and wisdom. The most pressing question: Where should we absolutely not live? If you want to go above and beyond, then we'll appreciate as much knowledge and advice as you are willing to give. Remember we are looking to rent a house, not an apartment (we have dogs, prefer more privacy, less chance of noisy neighbor, etc). I believe she'll be working about two miles south of the west end of UC Berkeley. About a 30 minute commute is acceptable to her but anything longer is pushing it. However if we find that we have very few good options within 30 minutes, then she'll probably accept a longer commute. Thanks! I'll be honest with you man do NOT live in oakland. I live in the bay area. I would highly recommend that you live in a city nearby with less crime and just have her commute with bart (bay area rapid transit) | ||
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