What is Fremont, CA like?
 

OK, my wife has to transfer and she has found a position she loves but it is north of Fremont, CA.

What do yall think of the area?

Cost of living?

Availability of land (5 acres or so) and pricing?

We have horses but will be down to two.

Non-CA '83 SC without air pump, CA Emissions?

What else have I missed besides wierd laws to someone from Texas?

Freaky Fremont? Fremont itself is heavily East Indian. Also lots of techies commuting to Silicon Valley. It also has a bit of the west Oakland thug-life thing going on.

Not a lot of "wide open spaces". Very few places to keep a horse in Fremont. Depending on your income, a lot of very nice places are a short commute to Fremont. There are horse properties in Castro Valley near Crow Canyon. Lots of space to the south in Niles Canyon which is spacious and secluded (for the Bay Area). For more suburban digs, look at Pleasanton. It's 15 minutes away from Fremont, but it's a beautiful town with a western feel. Saddle shops, great restaurants and sky-high real estate prices.

No matter what, you are in for some serious real estate "sticker-shock".

Availability of land (5 acres or so) and pricing?

Dorothy, you're not in Texas anymore. "North of Fremont" - since it all runs together, what is the actual city?

My WAG is $2M if you can find it. They're developing as fast as they can.

There's a nice 20 acre horse property not far from where I live (outer Sacramento) for $1.9M

I was stationed in that area when I worked for CDF. I wouldn't want to live there.

Yep guys, serious sticker shock. My 17 acres and 2850 sq ft custom home with antique wood floors thoughout, granite counters, etc, appraises at $180,000. Just sold my old 1000 sqft home and six acres for $37,000.

Just asking questions so she can negotiate smartly. Please keep the cards and letters coming....

Affodable housing? Here?!?!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

That's a good one.

Well, there's your down payment! (seriously).

$37k in Fremont will get you a prime dumpster behind Hu Phlung Phoo's Veterinary Clinic and Restaurant.

On the plus side, looks like you're bringing your own food; that will help make ends meet.

You might have to go over the hill to "the valley" to get acreage. Many people are commuting to the bay area from places like Tracy and Stockton. But even those places are growing and are more expensive than what you are used to.

So, we go from upper income bracket in our little hick neck of the woods and become very poor... I knew it was bad, but needed a wake-up call. So this drives the salary demands the wife needs to make! When looking up the cost of living indicator for the two counties it shows that we need a 36% increase in pay but yall are giving me different information. I LOVE this board!!!!!

What about the employment situation for me if she can get the salary raise? Senior Buyer/Planner, Materials Management, high speed production in food/pharma. Best scenario is I could get on with her company.

Back in the Roaring 90's, technical recruiters would fish the backwaters for 'underpaid' rubes, and offer them 'phat' salaries in the Big City. I knew of several techies who jumped at the chance to make 6 figures in SF and NY - only to find themselves barely making ends meet. In 1994 or so, I was making $30k and had a 'crooter offer me $65k in SF. Wow! More than double my current salary - sweet! I went down to the bookstore, got a copy of the SF paper, and did some apartment hunting. There was no way I would have been able to maintain my standard of living - and car working (ie a garage) - on $65k in SF.

thom what years did you work for CDF? I was in san benito/monterey ranger unit 87 thru 90.

sunol, just north of fremont is the area i am reading you want to look for, either that or livermore. livermore would be like pleasanton descibed above, but more cowboy-ish. you would find it easier to find the acres you desire. i know a few that board horses in the bay area at stables because they can not afford the property to keep them at home.

i would recommend you two make a trip out to see if its what you desire.

Yes, you do need to visit first to see the land. Exactly where is the job. That will allow us to give some better advice on where to commute from.

There are quite a few pharma companies not too far away in South SF, Berkeley, etc. Farther away is BioRad in Hercules and Benicia. You might look into real estate in Martinez where there are horse properties but way cheaper than Livermore, Pleasanton, Fremont, etc.

Let us know if you plan to see the area before moving here. I'll can show you around if you like.

Thanks to all!!! North side of Fremont is where I believe the plant to be. The other issue we expect to figure in is traffic. I hear yall's 40 mile commutes take more than 40 minutes. Heck, when there are more than three vehicles in front of me it is rush hour...

Thanks to all!!! North side of Fremont is where I believe the plant to be. The other issue we expect to figure in is traffic. I hear yall's 40 mile commutes take more than 40 minutes. Heck, when there are more than three vehicles in front of me it is rush hour :D

Yep, we know there will be many life changes coming. Cowboy area? Sounds better to this East Texas Redneck! Guess our 3/4 tonne Diesel would fit in better there.

What is the name of the company and address? Niles or Sunol may be a good option.

Agreed. GH - sounds like most of your expectations/wants may not be met. Don't make any decisions until you come out. Plan for a Thursday - Saturday stay to experience area/commute on a work day, Friday, and weekend. My weekly commute is doubly bad on Fridays.

Here's the 5 acres you are looking for. Oh, but you will need to build a house...

http://www.realtor.com/FindHome/HomeListing.asp?snum=63&locallnk=yes&frm=bymap&mnb ed=0&mnbath=0&mnprice=500000&mxprice=99999999&js=o ff&pgnum=7&fid=so&mnsqft=&mls=xmls&areaid=88376&ty p=1%2C+2%2C+3%2C+4%2C+5%2C+6%2C+7&poe=realtor&ct=P leasanton&st=CA&sbint=&vtsort=&sid=046518586211C&s numxlid=1044169264&lnksrc=00001

Steve,

It is Scios, in Fremont, CA. She currently works for another division of J&J and her facility is closing down. She has until about the third quarter to find a job to move to.

David,

Yep, we'd have to make a trip out and see what is up. worse on fridays just says to work four days a week, but then again I must be dreaming.

David,

Sounds OK, but that is waterfront property. I want across the street where it is only $1.5M!

Here is your average dump in Fremont. $500,000 for a P.O.S. built in 1952.

http://www.realtor.com/FindHome/HomeListing.asp?frm=byxmls&xlid=1045296281&fh=on&l nksrc=feathome&poe=realtor

Hope that I don't upset anyone: That is a nice little s@*#&$^hole. But nicer than the one I just sold that I lived in for a couple of years. Heck, that would fetch close to $40,000 in my large metropolis. Maybe.

Looked where Scios is, and maybe Niles and Sunol might be your best bets. Likely to find horse boarding if that is an option also.

You do need to see for yourself, at least 4 days to look. And together you will probably need to make ~$140K.

good luck

You'll like Sunol the best, Livermore second. You'll never afford your own horse property, so go for boarding. Check out this website:

www.mlslistings.com

Your wife better ask for a huge pay increase. But hey, if you manage to stay here a few years and build some equity, you can go back to Texas and retire like royalty.

Thanks yall!!! It's amazing what can get done and found out just by asking on this board!!!

Not sure about the east bay, but one factor is a reverse-flow commute will make your quality of life a WHOLE lot easier. Imagine everyday 3 or more hours sitting in traffic just for work.
I've driven across the bay bridge and down to San Bruno during afternoon rush hour at a constant 55mph, and going the other way was a single mass of stopped traffic.

one VERY important thing everyone local forgot to mention,,, the golden gate region of PCA here is very good. a very wide array of people, and they put on good events. that makes a 500k dump almost worth it....

At $385 this is an overpriced property in my neck of the woods:

http://www.century21.com/buy/property_detail.aspx?teasers=property-detail-pic+Property+Detail+with+Pictures&tr_key=31035506& bSite=N

I am living in the wrong state.

I grew up in Santa Clara (which is near Fremont) and now live in the "Valley." I don't think you're going to get acreage for horses out here for less than $1M (for 1-2 acres in a po-dunk town), and your wife would have a huge commute on our famously overcrowded roads.

How long does it take to drive to TX, anyway?

I made the drive from north texas to within an hour of San Fransisco in about 30 hours....with a 4 hour sleep/ thaw break.

Unless you have 1.5 million to spend, you will not have a place to keep horses within a 20 mile radius of Fremont. You will have to board them and that is expensive too. $500 each is easily spent a month. You can put a mule on a pasture for $200, but for real boarding, expect to be paying a grand for both horses.

Here is a house with 4 acres in Livermore that is right on a very busy shortcut street, and on the corner of another, MINES ...

http://www.realtor.com/FindHome/HomeListing.asp?snum=72&mlsttl=&frm=bymap&pgnum=8& mls=xmls&js=on&target=&ct=Livermore&st=CA&sbint=&s bls=&sblo=&areaid=77514&mnsqft=&fid=so&vtsort=&mnp rice=0&mxprice=99999999&mnbed=0&mnbath=0&typ=1&poe =realtor&x=11&y=0&sid=04676167AD37C&snumxlid=10434 06023&lnksrc=00002

MINES is where we go canyon carving on a regular basis. So we could meet at your house. :D

Fremont isn't great, but I would not even attempt to commute. If you do, go only as far as Pleasanton or Livermore. Stay away from the Valley (brentwood, tracy etc.). That has just been voted one of the 10 worst commutes in the country.

There is decent neighborhoods in Fremont. I recommend that you rent a house close to work to get started and to get familiar with the area. Rent is comparably cheap. 2k a month will get you a decent 3 or 4 bedroom house. I do not expect the house prices to continue to rise at double digit rates per year. They may even soften a bit, who knows. So, there is no hurry to buy right away.

The Livermore to Fremont commute is hefty, so be careful. Before you buy a house or settle where you would have to commute, do the commute for a couple of days, just for "testing". I think a lot of people buy their bedroom community house on sunday and then get a rude awakening when they go to work the first day!

And one word about reverse commute: SURE, but usually the reverse direction is the direction where the prices increase. Yes, you can probably get from the Peninsula to Fremont quickly in the morning, but prices on the Peninsula are prohibitive. There is a reason commutes are going one direction and not the other!!!

Unless you make six digits, life will really suck here. Especially if you are used to a decent standard of living now. Two people can fairly easily make that much in this area. There is plenty of opportunity and business has really picked up.

We are enjoying ourselves greatly here. The area and the people are very diverse and there is tons to do in your spare time. I am into a lot of different things, and I can find it all here.

I may have a small house with only a two car garage, but I also have Laguna Seca, Sears Point, Thunderhill, Buttonwillow, Fernley Reno and soon another track in Merced. What else do you need? :D

If this area would not be attractive, people would have long quit moving here...

George