East Bay (El Cerrito/Albany/Berkeley) is where it's at. Great weather, no suburban sprawl hell, easy commute to anywhere, great food and culture, top notch schools, decent rents. Every time I try to leave this place I just can't justify it.
The problem with Berkeley is that the rental stock is shit and overpriced because they know plenty of students are price insensitive and have no clue about the market. However if you stay on top of craigslist you can eventually get lucky enough to find something amazing with a better commute to Fidi/Soma than half the city.
Do you rent or own? I've been looking to buy in the East Bay, but it's becoming extremely difficult to find something that an engineer's salary can afford that's in a good school district and is of a reasonable size.
I rent in El Cerrito but we've been looking at buying. It's really the best option around here IMO. Decent 3 bedrooms in a wonderful neighborhood can still be had for < $700k. Case in point: https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/El-Cerrito-CA/fsba,fsb...