Buying home in San Francisco east bay

Hi, my name is Milan and I’ve been living in San Francisco’s east bay for over 11 years now. I know, San Francisco is a great city to live in, but I believe you can get more out of San Francisco Bay Area lifestyle just to live outside of San Francisco. And buying home In East Bay San Francisco is a fantastic option for you!
 
 Buying home in east bay from parents perspective
 
 I will be brutally honest with you. Buying home in San Francisco’s east bay is not an easy rosy thing to do. Especially from the buyers, yours mental perspective. It could be a very stressfully thing to do, financially and psychologically.
 
 However, all that said, I believe it is the right thing to do for a family that wants to stay in San Francisco Bay Area. They prices of homes are more affordable and you get to live close to a most interesting city in the world by enjoying more suburban lifestyle raising a family.
 
 I have 2 very young kids and I still don’t own my own house. I am a happy renter for now. But not that long from now, me and my family will be buyers and we will buy our own house in east bay.
 
 These are my honest criteria for buying home in east bay I will use to buy my house:
 
 Very safe neighborhood.
 
 No I don’t necessarily need the safest neighborhood for myself as much. I have black belt in karate 🙂 But, yes I have kids and living in very safe neighborhood is very important for them. They don’t have the black belt in karate just yet 🙂
 
 Joking aside, there are few dangers lurking at you if you buy your house in east bay in not so safe neighborhood. Again this is all somehow relative, since in my experience your kids can still turn out great even if you live in unsafe neighborhood. I and my brothers grew up in not very safe neighborhood and we turned out just fine. I would say a little better that just fine, because you gain certain street smarts if you have to deal with few things kids have to deal in not so safe neighborhood. Things like bullying, drugs, seen violence and so on.
 
 Again, I am not for protecting our kids from everything. I believe you have to prepare them for life, not protect them from it. But one another reason for buying house in east bay in very safe neighborhood is:
 
 Preservation of your capital and safe neighborhood
 
 You might be like me, more understanding of your surroundings and people. And quite honestly us human beings are not perfect. Not everybody around you has to be perfect. Plus San Francisco Bay Area is big metropolitan place. And those tend to have some criminal activity going always on. So we won’t avoid it 100% all the time with our house purchase.
 
 But and this is a big but, not everybody is like me or you. People value hugely the safest area where they live. So, not only living in a very safe area is great for you and your kids, it is also great as a capital preservation thing. Your house will basically keep it’s value forever! People value safe very much.
 
 Great schools
 
 Having great public schools is important topic for anybody buying house in eat bay. Quite honestly from a parent perspective, this is one of the most discussed area especially for parents of young kids when deciding where to buy a house to make it their home in east bay.
 
 I want the best school for my kids. Quite honestly maybe mainly because if you buy home in East Bay Area with great schools, the house will always hold it’s value. And of course it will appreciate. So you basically will have very safe investment in your own home. So why is this the main reason for buying your house in great school district?
 
 I personally am a product of bad schools. Yes me and my 2 brothers went to not that great public schools. And you know what, we all turned out fine. My brothers are engineers, living happy life’s. I am not complaining either. And the public schools gave us little street smarts too. Yes there were few bullies in school. But you quickly learned to avoid them. So I believe that even if your child goes to bad public school he can still do very well. If you want to take this little gamble, go for it. You’ll most likely be fine. But from an investment point of view I wouldn’t.
 
 As I mentioned before, the main reason for buying house in great school district is preservation of your investment. And fantastic bonus is that your kids will be able to attend great public school too.
 
 So when people complain they can’t afford to buy a house in east bay of San Francisco because it’s too expensive, my answer to them is always the same: you can’t afford not to buy house in east bay in great school district.
 
 Private vs. public schools
 
 Yes of course, you have a lot of options to send your kids to private schools. But as I talked about it before, you might as well spend some extra money on a house in great public schools. Not only you won’t have to pay for lofty tuitions, you’ll certainly get your money back when you some day sell your house. Guaranteed!
 
 Proximity to transportation
 
 Proximity to transportation is very important for me and my family when considering buying house in San Francisco’s east bay. And I am not only talking about some proximity. I have a criterium of 30 or less minutes walk to a BART station.
 
 BART – Bay Area Rapid Transit is the main source of transportation here. So living within 30 min of walk from it is my criterium.
 
 In San Francisco’s east bay traffic situation this should be on your priority list as well. You save yourself a lot of time and energy over the years you’ll be happily enjoying your house. And that can add up to months of your life. Plus off course, if you make yourself walk or maybe bike to your transit station, you can promote your health with that hugely too. Everything benefits if you buy your house in east bay within 30 minutes of walking distance from the public transportation. Preferably BART station.
 
 Having some land, preferably flat
 
 I don’t know how about you, but having some usable land where my kids can play and dog can run is an important for me when considering my option in buying my home in east bay of San Francisco.
 
 Having some land that comes with your house will prevent you to eventually regret your decission.
 
 Why extra land?
 
 As I mentioned before, your kids will love having a nice safe place outside to play.
 
 You might want to have little organic garden someday, or just some pretty flowers to make your new home feel like real home.
 
 You might want to build little studio cottage for one if your college kids. My friend did it, he build little cottage in his garden from recycled materials it and it was a huge success. Now when his children are out of the house, he’s renting the cottage in VRBO to San Francisco Bay Area visitors for $90 per night. And he’s fully booked for 3 months ahead!
 
 Anyway, really considering to buy your home in east bay with nice patch of land is a smart thing to do. How much land? It’s individual. But I want a house with at least 0.5 acre. It might sound like a lot, but as I mentioned before, I don’t want to eventually regret my decission. If I won’t use that land for anything, that’s ok. Maybe I’ll just plant some apple, peach or fig trees and than sit under that tree reading my novel. The message is clear here my fellow east bay home buyer: Buy home in east bay that has enough land.
 
 I will talk more about some other criteria I have for buying my own home in east bay San Francisco in my future articles.
 
 Criteria like:
 
 Noise
 
 Highways
 
 Playgrounds
 
 Proximity of Factories
 
 Your own personal criteria for buying home in San Francisco’s east bay.
 
 Milan