Kudos to Tim and Carl for actually addressing some of your questions. Shame on Meena, who couldn't even be bothered with providing a single valuable answer to your questions and instead posted a blatent, self serving advertisement. Sad that the Trulia boards have become essentially a used car salesperson lot, where nearly every question is answered by a sales pitch. No wonder Redfin.com forums have become so popular (no solicitation is allowed). You might want to post there in the future.

Anyway, we are in a similar situation, renting in San Mateo and working in Foster City. We want to buy, but it's rather expensive locally, so we looked at the East Bay (Castro Valley, Dublin, and San Ramon). We've toured homes in Castro Valley (Palomeres Hills and Five Canyons), West Dublin HIlls, East Dublin (Dublin Ranch), and San Ramon (Windemere).

1) Commute:

Driving: if you leave by 7:00AM from the farthest reaches (San Ramon / Dublin Ranch), you can make it to the Peninsula by 8AM if there are no accidents (1 in 4 days). The reverse commute is much worse and with no accidents is typically 1.5 hours. When they finish the flyover that will connect 92 with 880 in 2011 it should help some, but the 880 to 580 exchange is always bad.

Non-driving: the AC transit M line picks up at castro valley and drops off at a number of mid pen employers (visa, Oracle, etc.). It's a luxury motor coach with wifi access and a bike rack. The commute times are the same, except that you can kick back, surf the web, and the let the driver deal with the traffic. If you are very ambitious, you could take the Dublin BART to the Castro Valley Station and then catch the M line to the Mid Pen.

Here's the link to the M Line:
http://www.actransit.org/maps/schedule_results.php?version_i…

2) Areas:

Palomeres Hills, Five Canyons, Dublin Ranch, and Windemere are very much planned communities. Very burbish and very cookie cutter. There are generally four or five different house models, all very similar and all on very small lots. Nothing like Alameda. Elementary schools are generally good, but there are capacity and quality issues as you progress up to the high school levels. Palomeres Hills and Five Canyons, while once rather "tony", now seem dated, with pockets that seem more like Oakland than Belmont. In PH and FC, your range will buy you a condo. In DR or Windemere, you can (or soon will be able to) get a decent house, as the market is crashing (see below).

West Dublin: the lower area (Hansen) has much more character. The houses are unique, although older and the lot sizes are a bit bigger. As you go up the hill toward Inspiration point, it gets more burbish and planned. In your range, you should be able to find an older, decent home. They are building a new BART station there, so if you are considering the M line, that's a big incentive. Again, this is a significantly declining market, so waiting might be a good option.

Pleasanton: basically the same as West Dublin (only a few miles to the South). Check schools though, not as good as Dublin or San Ramon.

I can't speak to Fremont.

One other poit to consider is that many of the 2004 - 2006 sales in the above mentioned areas were originated with exotic loan products. The majority of these loans were five year Option ARMS that are set to recast in 2010 and 2011. As a result, many are predicting that those markets will see significant short sale and foreclosure activity in the next 12 - 18 months. The number of short sales and foreclosures are already quite high and if that trend plays out, there will be significant downward pressure on prices in those markets. See my other posts on this topic. In short, you may find that its best to rent for a while and let the East Bay prices settle down before getting yourself into a mortgage that could have significant negative equity six months after you sign it.

And if you want to use a RE agent, insist on a buyers only agent and negotiate a discount on the commission. Better yet, go with a service like Redfin where the licensed Real Estate agents are paid a base salary and their bonus are tied to customer satisfaction, rather than an absurd flat rate commision that has nothing to do with the actual service provided (other than to pay their boat or BMW payment).

Wow, all that and I'm not even trying to get your business. Because I'm not in the RE industry...

-H

Hi Leap,

There is so much to tell you about Castro Valley that it is not possible to put it in here. I lived in a neighborhood called Five Canyons for 7 years and really enjoyed the area. I have sold many homes in Five Canyons, Palomares Hills and all other areas of Castro Valley. The schools in Castro Valley are very good. My kids went to the elementary, middle and high schools there and were very happy there.

There are many good areas within Castro Valley that I can talk about if you want to call me at 510-279-9580. I can also tell you about all the things that are going on in Castro Valley for kids.

You can go the the following link to see all the homes I have sold in Castro Valley:
http://www.helpusellachievers.com/About_Castro_Valley/page_2…

You can also read about Castro Valley on my blog at :
http://castrovalleyhomes.wordpress.com/

You will love the great community in Castro Valley and I look forward to answering all your questions.

Meena Gujral
Help-U-Sell Achievers Realty
510-279-9580

Meena

Leap:

One of your earlier questions included references to San Carlos. Castro Valley has a bit of the same feel as a town, since much of it is built on hills. It does not, however, have the “old-world” charm that I personally love about comparable parts of the peninsula, including San Carlos. You would have to go further north into the more exclusive sections of the Oakland Hills to get the feel I believe you really want. It also does not have the type of city center “Main Street” that I believe you are looking for. Castro Valley Boulevard is the main drag, and it has a totally different feel than downtown Pleasanton or Palo Alto.

Castro Valley has wonderful schools, and, as Tim mentioned lots of other wonderful amenities. It definitely has an older, slower pace to it. The average age is higher than the surrounding communities – one of the reasons it is such a stable area.

You also might want to consider living at the Lake in Newark – awesome commute access, and the Lake is one of the nicest neighborhoods anywhere. And it comes with a … lake! Its one of Newark’s best kept secrets and Kennedy Elementary is an awesome school. Newark has a wonderful “small town” feel (they just had their yearly parade this morning, as a matter of fact).

Let me know if you have any additional questions.

carl@carlmedford.com
.

Hi Leap,

I commend you on your efforts to do some homework before making a purchase of a home. As a resident of Castro Valley some of the things you are looking for are here but not all. For example, schools here are great. Home values have done well here becuase of the schools and being centrally located to 580, 880, 680 and 238 is a plus. As a result of that ,communting to Redwood City by way of the San Mateo bridge should be 35-40 min. pending on what time you start your day. As for being "Artsy" and homes with character, in my opinion it's not here.

Castro Valley has more of a "simple life" feel to it. It's an older un-incorporated part of Alameda county so the homes are smaller and older unless you live in some of the newer communities like Five Canyons, Palomores, Briar Ridge or Columbia. Those are great communites but the homes all have a similar style. However, your price point would be a little bit of a challenge to purchase in those areas.

As for Artsy, the new Performing Arts Center just opened but it's not a representation of the feel of the city. There will also be a new library soon, there is a Trader Joe's, lots of walking trails and of course Willow Park golf course if you have a thing for golf like I do. I'd say take a day trip and tool around town (it won't take long) and get a feel for what it's like. After tooling around and you would like to take a look at some homes I'd be happy to show you. In the meantime best of luck to you and your family with your search. I hope this helps.

Regards,

Tim Ambrose
Realtor
Windermere Real Estate
510-258-8909