BART is great so long as where you live and where you're going is within some reasonable distance from a station. I lived in Russian Hill and worked in the city so I used BART very infrequently as a result. Instead we used MUNI constantly. My wife worked a couple dozen blocks away and actually walked home when she felt like it and weather permitted (most of the time). We had a car and it was common for us to go 2-3 weeks at a time in between times that we would use it. I would sometimes forget where we parked it.
CalTrain is certainly nice for long distances from the city into the Valley or vice versa. We only used it a couple times a year. But I knew people who used it every day to help with their commute, and they seemed to like it vs fighting traffic in their car. The shuttles you mention are also a nice perk for certain employers. Ultimately you need to sort out the employment angle first (IMO) and then worry about where you want to be located. Plan to rent for a while (a year or more) before making any serious decisions about buying anything. It seemed to me like relatively few people actually owned their home but that may have been a factor of where we were living or the people we knew (young, fairly well compensated, not particularly tied down). Living in certain parts of the city is wildly expensive -- that $600k for 2k sqft earlier mentioned would only get you 1k sqft in Russian Hill and maybe a deeded parking spot (one) if you were lucky, otherwise its street parking which gets annoying after a while. If you have a bunch of kids and require 2k sqft in your home, that will also help limit your options in addition to the usual constraints (income and downpayment). Wayne On Tue, Aug 23, 2011 at 5:24 AM, Justin Ryan <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks for the feedback, renting does sound like the best way to learn > the area. I was reminded that a few companies offer shuttles, which > can be a great way to alleviate sitting in traffic if you have a long > ways to travel. Likewise, I was also told about CalTrain and the BART > as an option to, especially if travelling into San Fran. > > > On Aug 22, 7:25 pm, Cédric Beust ♔ <[email protected]> wrote: >> On Mon, Aug 22, 2011 at 4:19 PM, Mark Fortner <[email protected]> wrote: >> > I would probably rent first, learn the lay of the land, and then figure out >> > where or if you want to buy. >> >> This. Best advice, IMO (I've been living in the Silicon Valley since 1998). >> >> The house prices are pretty high but so are the salaries compared to the >> rest of the country. >> >> -- >> Cédric > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "The Java Posse" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en.
