Cheap places to live around Menlo Park and/or Fremont?

[HybridSquirrel]

I applied and interviewed for a job in the Fremont and Menlo Park area, just want to look at apartments because i'm bored and figured it couldn't hurt to look and see what is out there.

Can someone recommend an area? Preferably below $1000 for a 1br.

 

[Dr. Detroit]

Fremont is cheap, Hayward is cheaper and much shitttier.

No such thing as cheap around Menlo Park unless you live in the hood of Redwood City or East Palo Alto.


If you want to keep rent under $1K - look for a room-mate. If no room-mate, plan on $1250 - $1500.

 

[henryay]

I live in Fremont.
Rents are rising pretty quickly in the Bay area since there are very few apartments available.
Let's just say, anything under $1200, you would be in not so desirable neighborhoods or older apartments.
$1400-$1800 for anything decent.
$1800+ is considered luxury.
I was sharing a 2bed/2bath with a someone and our rent was $2150. (Sunnyvale, newer apartment complex)
If you want to keep it under $1000, I would recommend getting a room in someone's house or find a roommate. Check craigslist.

 

[HybridSquirrel]

thats fucking stupid rent -_-. I pay 700 right now for 1,000 sqft 2br/2ba...

What about Santa Clara, San Jose area? Whats that market looking like? Any areas I should avoid more than others?

 

[Drako]

East Palo Alto :sneaky:

 

[Tommy2000GT]

Along highway 101 on the east side of it between San Mateo and East Palo Alto, housing is pretty cheap because mostly Mexicans live there.

West side of 101 is expensive because middle class and rich people live there.

 

[HybridSquirrel]

Along highway 101 on the east side it between San Mateo and East Palo Alto, housing is pretty much because most Mexicans live there.

West side of 101 is expensive because middle class and rich people live there.

i'm down with taco bell.

 

[henryay]

I know what you mean. I lived in the Denver area before.
It only gets cheaper as you head outside of the areas with alot of technology.
But we would be talking about north of Hayward (sketchy), maybe Dublin/Pleasanton (far, horrible traffic) and Morgan Hill/Gilroy (far).
Santa Clara/SJ is less expensive than Menlo Park, but more expensive than Fremont, but not by much.
People are mentioning East Palo Alto. Let's say it is like the Federal and Alameda area in Denver. Also, avoid East SJ in general. There are pockets of neighborhoods you want to avoid in every city.

 

[Childs]

thats fucking stupid rent -_-. I pay 700 right now for 1,000 sqft 2br/2ba...

What about Santa Clara, San Jose area? Whats that market looking like? Any areas I should avoid more than others?

You're not going to find anything like that without being in a crappy neighborhood. San Jose is really big, and generally anything east of 87, south of 280 and/or NE of 101 is not that good. Santa Clara isnt that cheap, but maybe you can find a roommate near SCU. Fremont, Milpitas, and Redwood City are your best bets. But as others have said, $1300+ to get a 1BR in a decent area.

There are pockets of decent areas here and there in Sunnyvale, San Jose, Santa Clara, etc, depends on where you work, as the commute can be a bitch just getting to the hwy, then dealing with hwy traffic.

i'm down with taco bell.

hahaha These Mexicans dont eat at Taco Bell.

 

[Imported]

I just moved to San Jose.. $2050 for a 2BR/BA apartment in the Blossom Hill area. The GF was paying $1650 for a 1BR/1BA last year in the same complex.

 

[HybridSquirrel]

You're not going to find anything like that without being in a crappy neighborhood. San Jose is really big, and generally anything east of 87, south of 280 and/or NE of 101 is not that good. Santa Clara isnt that cheap, but maybe you can find a roommate near SCU. Fremont, Milpitas, and Redwood City are your best bets. But as others have said, $1300+ to get a 1BR in a decent area.

There are pockets of decent areas here and there in Sunnyvale, San Jose, Santa Clara, etc, depends on where you work, as the commute can be a bitch just getting to the hwy, then dealing with hwy traffic.



hahaha These Mexicans dont eat at Taco Bell.

I check out padmapper, and there are a lot of room shares for cheap....but if I come with my GF we might be able to afford a 1br...this is all dependant on getting the job anyways...the housing prices are really turning me off though.

According to the COL calculator, i'd have to make double what I make now to have the same lifestyle.

 

[trmiv]

I used to live at Waterstone in Fremont. Complete shithole, but it was cheap for Fremont. I ended up moving nearby to The Estates, and paying damn near double, because I was tired of my apartment smelling of curry constantly when I never cooked with it

 

[BoomerD]

There's no such thing as "Cheap" in those areas. Evey Fremont/Newark/Hayweird will be expensive as hell by comparison to what you're now paying.

Even where I live, (about 100 miles away) rents are higher than what you're currently paying.

East Palo Alto is "da hood." Not any place I'd want to live...at ANY price.

 

[shopbruin]

Can someone recommend an area? Preferably below $1000 for a 1br.

hahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahhahahahaha.

Also, there's quite a bit of difference to me between Menlo Park and Fremont. Where exactly is the job? Menlo Park is on one side of the bay, Fremont is on the other, and you have to pay a bridge to cross to either city daily, unless you go south and use 237, which can add quite a bit of time to your commute.

I was driving from East SJ to Palo Alto. Took me about an hour or so in the morning, almost 1.5 in the afternoon on bad days. You still won't find a 1 BR under 1000 though unless it's in a not so great neighborhood or you're SUPER lucky as heck and you find some old lady with a tiny complex that doesn't realize how much she can raise the rent.

As for EPA, there are parts of EPA that are West of 101, so it's not true hood. That's the part of EPA you want, if you must.

 

[HybridSquirrel]

I know what you mean. I lived in the Denver area before.
It only gets cheaper as you head outside of the areas with alot of technology.
But we would be talking about north of Hayward (sketchy), maybe Dublin/Pleasanton (far, horrible traffic) and Morgan Hill/Gilroy (far).
Santa Clara/SJ is less expensive than Menlo Park, but more expensive than Fremont, but not by much.
People are mentioning East Palo Alto. Let's say it is like the Federal and Alameda area in Denver. Also, avoid East SJ in general. There are pockets of neighborhoods you want to avoid in every city.

just saw your post. i actually live on Alameda but "gangsters" here are white kids tring to act tough.

I will look around some more, I thought about Burlingame and Foster City, I have family there and could rent their garage out...


Whats the bridge crossing cost? Google Maps says San Jose is about 25 minutes from both places, I am just looking at this point anyway.

 

[shopbruin]

just saw your post. i actually live on Alameda but "gangsters" here are white kids tring to act tough.

I will look around some more, I thought about Burlingame and Foster City, I have family there and could rent their garage out...


Whats the bridge crossing cost? Google Maps says San Jose is about 25 minutes from both places, I am just looking at this point anyway.

$5. They collect it when you go West. If you will drive it everyday, get FasTrak so you can zip through that lane.

Foster City is a nice suburb. Burlingame's advantage is that it's closer to public transit, if you wanted to take BART or CalTrain. I drove from the nicest part of East SJ, but it took 10-15 mins each morning just to get to the freeway.

 

[HybridSquirrel]

$5. They collect it when you go West. If you will drive it everyday, get FasTrak so you can zip through that lane.

Foster City is a nice suburb. Burlingame's advantage is that it's closer to public transit, if you wanted to take BART or CalTrain. I drove from the nicest part of East SJ, but it took 10-15 mins each morning just to get to the freeway.

So, Theoretically, I could drive East from Menlo to Fremont and the take the detour south of the bay ont he way home and avoid a feE?

 

[quikah]

So, Theoretically, I could drive East from Menlo to Fremont and the take the detour south of the bay ont he way home and avoid a feE?

That is going to take a LONG time.

What city is the job? If it is in Fremont it would make a lot more sense to just look at Fremont/Milpitas area.

 

[Childs]

So, Theoretically, I could drive East from Menlo to Fremont and the take the detour south of the bay ont he way home and avoid a feE?

In theory yes, but thats not worth $5 imo. Thats almost 3x the distance from Menlo to Fremont over the bridge. Traffic is a killer on 880, so it can be like 4-5x.

 

[HybridSquirrel]

That is going to take a LONG time.

What city is the job? If it is in Fremont it would make a lot more sense to just look at Fremont/Milpitas area.

I interviewed 2 places, 1 in Palo Alto, one in Fremont.

 

[thegimp03]

Menlo Park is not cheap. It is less expensive in Redwood City/San Mateo as well as Sunnyvale/Mountain View depending which way you're going to drive to Fremont every day. I'd avoid Fremont/Union City areas, lot of people commute in from Pleasanton every day but I bet the traffic is hell.

 

[thegimp03]

I lived in Mountain View for 4 years and access to everything was great. Caltrain, VTA, 85, 101, 237 and Central Expressway were all within a mile of where I lived.

 

[quikah]

I interviewed 2 places, 1 in Palo Alto, one in Fremont.

OK, for the Palo Alto place look in Palo Alto (there are a lot of small apartment complexes there), Mountain View, Sunnyvale (South of Central expressway is generally better). I am not a fan of Redwood City/San Mateo, but you could probably find something there. Everything else is going to be a crapshoot.

You could look along the Caltrain corridor also, there is a free Stanford shuttle (open to the public) from the PA Caltrain station that might go to/near the office.

I don't know Fremont, but Milpitas is OK.

Try to avoid long commutes, it is not worth it.

 

[Imported]

An apartment in PA is going to be expensive as hell. Looking 2k+ just for a 1BR/BA or studio.

 

[Drako]

An apartment in PA is going to be expensive as hell. Looking 2k+ just for a 1BR/BA or studio.

Pretty much anywhere on the peninsula is going to be way over the OPs $1000/mo. You would be lucky to find a 700sf studio apartment in Mountain View/Sunnyvale for under $1500/mo.