Where to live outside San Francisco/Bay Area?

[Mastmw7g]

DH's employer has a London office, but also locations in Burlingame, Austin, Las Vegas, Tell Aviv, and Hong Kong. Redwood Burlingame is just outside of San Francisco. I'm trying to gain an idea about what we need to be considering. We've spent all weekend reading various ex-pat forums and blog posts about living there, but I figured Mumsnet will help me out.

So the situation is: We have a fifteen year old DD and a five year old DD, with no plans for any more DC. DH's employer can guarantee placement for our older daughter at a charter school by the Burlingame office, so if he ends up with a long commute, she could also possibly end up with a long commute.

Would you look for rents on the Peninsula or in East Bay? What other areas should I be looking at rent in? It's choosing between having a decent commute or dealing with costs closer to what we're used to in London.

Is 15 a good age to move for your dd? I would be concerned about GCSEs etc. Most of our expat friends have chosen to go down the boarding school route for this reason.

I'm afraid that I have no knowledge about SF but I would also be concerned about moving your daughter at this point in her education. How long is your placement for?

You will also want to give consideration to your five year old's school when looking at places to live. Look at greatschools.com to see how they are rated. You will want to check which school any potential new home is zoned for before making a decision.

The property market is very tight and very expensive in the Bay Area and the traffic is hellish. Public transport isn't much of an option unless your workplace happens to be close to BART. If you can afford to be on the Peninsula, then I would to avoid the commute, but I hate sitting in traffic. It will be less expensive on the other side of the Bay, but housing prices are very closely tied to school ratings. School placement is based on your address (with the exception of charter and magnet schools, but those are generally on lottery in the spring for the following school year). The South Bay is at least as expensive or more than the peninsula and the traffic is as bad or worse, so the East Bay is really your only reasonable alternative. What some people call the East Bay goes pretty far out these days though, so be careful. Further out is less expensive, but the commutes can get very, very long. All that said, I love the Bay Area! It's a great place to live.

As an aside, your 5 year old may be up to a year ahead in school as they only start Kindergarten at 5 in the US. It shouldn't be as much of an issue for the15 year old as it's easier to move them to more or less challenging classes as needed in high school. We had to move my son up a year when he started school in the US when he was 7. Depends on your child, the school, etc. though, of course.

Another who lives in the Bay Area - I agree the traffic is hellish, so for me I would go for short commute and such up the property cost

Prices of rentals are hugely expensive, so have a look around, there aren't really any bargains to be had - just good areas and bad areas

Also, check out other costs, groceries are very expensive, as is eating out, mobile phone contracts, etc

I would definitely go for the shorter commute and look on the peninsula. When you say 'costs closer to london' be aware that SF is overall more expensive than london. Burlingame will be slightly cheaper. You could also look at the outskirts of SF and Daly City which would be cheaper than SF proper. There are much cheaper places in the east bay, but two things to be aware of: some very sketchy areas and a hellish commute.
We live in SF and DH commutes 1.5-2 hours each way to get to the peninsula for work. It's awful, but he doesn't want to change jobs and I don't want to move nearer to his work (and away from my work and dc's school).

There are many amazing things about the Bay Area but many challenges as well. The salaries look high but the main challenge for us is the cost of living. We earn in the top 5% of the country but we still spend 50% of our income on rent and we're comfortable but not loaded.

I wouldn't worry too much about the disruption to your dd's education. The system is very different but as long as she's a resilient girl she'll be ok. Is this a long term move? If so she would graduate with a high school diploma which is different from a levels. The university system is very different too. Definitely look into the charter school. The standards at charters are very varied. Some are great, some awful.

Pm me if you want to talk more - happy to help!