Menlo Park, CA...any thoughts?

[scarab007]

Hello group,

Anyone in the Bay area familiar with Menlo Park as for a good place to live? Have an opportunity to possibly move from my current San Carlos area. Both are pretty small towns with that small town feels. San Carlos is probably more.  Would love to hear from anyone who has lived or currently lives in this area.  Thanks,

[calcsam]

What area of Menlo Park? I'm a Bay Area resident since 2005, and was in the Palo Alto area for 5 years (4 attending Stanford). Down by Sand Hill, etc, is really nice but more expensive. Up by 101 is cheaper, but neighborhood not so great. It's got a nice downtown and with the closeness to Palo Alto, Mountain View, etc means that there is more tech-y stuff going around which I like personally, but not sure where your interests lie.

I'm not too familiar with San Carlos though, so can't compare.

[Hadilly]

Hi S,

Menlo Park is a nice place. Per the recent discussion on rich zip codes, it is one of those 99% kind of places. Very little economic/social diversity in my experience.

Has a bit more of a downtown than SC, decent school system, Cafe Borrone, good public parks and a nice rec center.  The Saturday farmer's market is decent. It is a quick bike ride to Palo Alto and you can easily catch the caltrain to SF or SJ.

It is more expensive than SC if you are thinking of buying. We went for Palo Alto because the school system in high school is marginally better.

The area east of 101 tends to share many of the problems of East PA, though home to Back-a-yard (delicious Carribean cooking).

My friends who live there really like it -  good neighbors, very walkable/bikeable.

[scarab007]

What area of Menlo Park? I'm a Bay Area resident since 2005, and was in the Palo Alto area for 5 years (4 attending Stanford). Down by Sand Hill, etc, is really nice but more expensive. Up by 101 is cheaper, but neighborhood not so great. It's got a nice downtown and with the closeness to Palo Alto, Mountain View, etc means that there is more tech-y stuff going around which I like personally, but not sure where your interests lie.

I'm not too familiar with San Carlos though, so can't compare.

Place is right near College and El Camino and boarders Sand Hill Rd.  Walking distance to the Safeway shopping center, Standford Mall and about a mile to DT Palo Alto University area.  There is a new development coming up right now and can make a pretty good profit on my San Carlos place. 

[scarab007]

Hi S,

Menlo Park is a nice place. Per the recent discussion on rich zip codes, it is one of those 99% kind of places. Very little economic/social diversity in my experience.

Has a bit more of a downtown than SC, decent school system, Cafe Borrone, good public parks and a nice rec center.  The Saturday farmer's market is decent. It is a quick bike ride to Palo Alto and you can easily catch the caltrain to SF or SJ.

It is more expensive than SC if you are thinking of buying. We went for Palo Alto because the school system in high school is marginally better.

The area east of 101 tends to share many of the problems of East PA, though home to Back-a-yard (delicious Carribean cooking).

My friends who live there really like it -  good neighbors, very walkable/bikeable.

Thanks for the reply.  Some of the home prices seem higher than SC, which would be good for us as we are looking at new construction.  We could see a nice gain in a few years like we have in SC.  Located more towards PA than in Downtown area of Menlo.  Cool thing is I would be a mile from my work now, not a bad walk to do.  Seems like some growth going on and prices keep going up.  Hopefully the little economic/social diversity won't kill the place.

[Undecided]

What area of Menlo Park? I'm a Bay Area resident since 2005, and was in the Palo Alto area for 5 years (4 attending Stanford). Down by Sand Hill, etc, is really nice but more expensive. Up by 101 is cheaper, but neighborhood not so great. It's got a nice downtown and with the closeness to Palo Alto, Mountain View, etc means that there is more tech-y stuff going around which I like personally, but not sure where your interests lie.

I'm not too familiar with San Carlos though, so can't compare.

Place is right near College and El Camino and boarders Sand Hill Rd.  Walking distance to the Safeway shopping center, Standford Mall and about a mile to DT Palo Alto University area.  There is a new development coming up right now and can make a pretty good profit on my San Carlos place.

I lived about half a mile from there (west and a little closer to downtown Menlo Park) for a few years, and lived within 3 miles of there for an additional ~seven years. I really enjoyed living in the the immediate and general area. We also weathered two economic downturns in that area (the ".com bust" and the "financial crisis") and found things to still be pleasant in the first (but neither of us lost jobs) and remarkably insulated from the second. You'd also be close to a pretty good public library, and could ride a bike to Palo Alto on paths and very quiet streets. In many ways we thought the area was idyllic. For us, the opportunity to move to another place we liked, that was much cheaper and required no decrease in salary, shook us out, but if someone just gave me a comparable house in Menlo Park (which would probably be  a $4m gift ...), I'd happily go back.

[scarab007]

What area of Menlo Park? I'm a Bay Area resident since 2005, and was in the Palo Alto area for 5 years (4 attending Stanford). Down by Sand Hill, etc, is really nice but more expensive. Up by 101 is cheaper, but neighborhood not so great. It's got a nice downtown and with the closeness to Palo Alto, Mountain View, etc means that there is more tech-y stuff going around which I like personally, but not sure where your interests lie.

I'm not too familiar with San Carlos though, so can't compare.

Place is right near College and El Camino and boarders Sand Hill Rd.  Walking distance to the Safeway shopping center, Standford Mall and about a mile to DT Palo Alto University area.  There is a new development coming up right now and can make a pretty good profit on my San Carlos place.

I lived about half a mile from there (west and a little closer to downtown Menlo Park) for a few years, and lived within 3 miles of there for an additional ~seven years. I really enjoyed living in the the immediate and general area. We also weathered two economic downturns in that area (the ".com bust" and the "financial crisis") and found things to still be pleasant in the first (but neither of us lost jobs) and remarkably insulated from the second. You'd also be close to a pretty good public library, and could ride a bike to Palo Alto on paths and very quiet streets. In many ways we thought the area was idyllic. For us, the opportunity to move to another place we liked, that was much cheaper and required no decrease in salary, shook us out, but if someone just gave me a comparable house in Menlo Park (which would probably be  a $4m gift ...), I'd happily go back.

Nice! Thanks for the insight.  I do like being close to PA and biking is great in that area. Will about a mile to work, so huge plus on not driving to work.

[Hadilly]

Given all the VC money, tech, and Stanford, I think Menlo Park is going to appreciate for a long time.
Also, if you ever wanted to travel for extended periods of time, you could easily rent your place out (probably make a profit too).

Having a short, bikeable commute is a wonderful wonderful thing.