Northern California Babies

If you live in the east bay

what town do you live in?  What do you like/dislike about it?  All of us are officially moving to California in early October.  My husband is already out there (for work) and has been looking at homes on the weekends.  We have been looking in Lafayette, Walnut Creek and Danville.  Obviously we would get more for our money in Walnut Creek and Danville but we like that Lafayette would be a shorter commute.  He has been speaking to people at work who say they LOVE how family oriented Danville is.  Our son will be almost 15 months when we go out there and we would like to get pregnant again within the next 6 months so a family friendly area is important to us.
image

Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker

Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker

Re: If you live in the east bay

  • I think all those communities are very family friendly. Danville would be a hard commute to SF if that's where he works. I love in WC, love it here. We just moved here in march and we are renting for awhile. I don't think you can really go wrong with those three areas. Can you ret for awhile in one of the three till you figure things out?
  • Loading the player...
  • I grew up in Lafayette. It is a great family town, and the school are excellent. It would be my first choice, but all of those towns are good choices if family friendly  is the most important consideration. I do agree with pp that Danville is likely to be a harder commute than WC or Lafayette.
  • I live in San Leandro and really love it. There are tons of things to do with the kids and the housing prices are quite reasonable for the area. We moved about a month ago from San Jose, and agree that we like it 100x more than we ever did the S. Bay where we lived basically our whole lives. I have some coworkers who drive over an hour each day just so they can continue to live in Danville, so it sounds great too!
  • San Ramon might be an option -- same school district as Danville, but closer to the 580/680 interchange, so no tunnel traffic.
  • I live in Walnut Creek and think it is great for families, as well as the other areas you have been looking. I like the access to parks and great schools that Walnut Creek has to offer, but I can't stand the traffic and parking problems. I really would like to stay in WC but we are probably going to end up in Concord when we buy a home.
    DD1: May 2011
    DD2: February 2014

  • I live in San Ramon and frequent Danville. All of the options you listed are good family options. I agree Danville is not the greatest for a commute. You are stuck in the middle of 680, About equal distance to either 24 or 580. And no where near BART. But thats also the charm of the town. Lots of community events, a good mix of big box/local businesses. Great variety of things to do/places to eat. More of a small town feel...If I had to choose I think I would order them like this:

    1) Lafayette 2) Danville 3) WC

    Warning No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
  • We live in Castro Valley and we really like it.  It's not as $$ as Danville, but has good schools too. 

    My sister does live in Danville and it really is super nice!  San Ramon, too. 

  • I'm in Walnut Creek and I love it!  I'm walking distance to both elem and middle school.  It's a quick and easy drive to downtown with great shopping and non-chain eateries.  And I just love the overall family feel.

     

    That said, if we could afford to live in a similar sized home, I'd love to live in Lafayette or Orinda.  The shorter commute to SF would be HUGE for us. 

  • I live in Danville and I do agree that the commute would be the hardest from here.  All three towns are great for families.  Great schools, good family communities.  If I were considering a town based on those things and I had to drive in to SF, I would choose Lafayette.
  • I live in Alameda and grew up here my whole life. Alameda is a city island between San Francisco and Oakland. What I like about it is that it's 10 minutes from SF, 30 minutes from SJ, and just an hour to Santa Cruz or Monterey. It's safe, low in crime, and has beautiful Victorian homes. It's a little pricey, but you get that small town feeling in a Bay Area city. Also, we have a beach, which I love taking walks on, which overlook the the cityscape :)
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards
"
"