SperlingViews - Walnut_Creek, California

I've lived in the Bay Area my whole life. I grew up in Livermore. At various times I've lived in Livermore, Pleasanton, and Walnut Creek--all of which are relatively close in proximity to one another. Though the climate here is nice compared to other states (so I'm told), the cost of living, the congestion, and the fast pace--for me personally--is overwhelming. The people here are not particularly hospitable either and I often get a sense of being snubbed at times. Of course, having lived in this area my whole life I'm probably biased to a certain extent. Hope this helps.[read more...]

Great place to live, if you can afford it. One of the most taxed places in the USA. Taxes continue to rise.[read more...]

The schools were not as great as we heard they would be. We like to go back and visit the downtown area, but it was too overpriced for us to buy a place and the people were snobs in general.[read more...]

Contra Costa County has a range of home prices between $485k to the multi-millions. The best price to value is in Antioch off HWY 4 adjacent to the Sacramento Delta Area at the convergence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. Good home purchases can be obtained in the $525k to $650k range. Some great buys in the 1993 to 1998 built homes. The drawback is commuter traffic on HWY 4. There are a few good wholesale purchases to be found if you have investment capital for kitchen and bath remodels, hardwood floor installation, and dual pane window installation. Most good remodels sell quickly when well priced. We have experienced double digit appreciation for a number of years, 21 to 25%. Currently, there is a correction in the market and prices in most areas are experiencing close to 10% reductions to early 2005 pricing. It appears that the 2006 appreciation will stabilize between 9 to 11%. Other than remodeling the few wholesale properties, this is not a good investors market. For those of us who bought in the late 90's...got to love it!!![read more...]

Born and raised in the San Francisco bay area, I currently live in Walnut Creek about 35 miles north of San Francisco. It is truly the "Best Place" on earth to live....if you can afford it. It's simply beautiful, we have the best restaurants, great weather and you can , mountain climb, play golf, ski and swim in the ocean all in the same day (if you don't mind the drive time). However, it is really expensive. The median price home is about $560,000 and it'nothing to write home to Mom about. Utilities, Food, entertainment all are pretty expensive. You can live pretty comfortably with moderate recreation etc. on about $175K per year. That's a lot of moola. The people are fairly nice and it is clean and pretty. However, the schools are not that great and it is getting a bit congested, even in the suburbs. Most people are health conscience and there is a great deal of cultural diversity. Over all a really nice place to live.... if you have the moola![read more...]

Born and raised in the San Francisco bay area, I currently live in Walnut Creek about 35 miles north of San Francisco. It is truly the "Best Place" on earth to live....if you can afford it. It's simply beautiful, we have the best restaurants, great weather and you can , mountain climb, play golf, ski and swim in the ocean all in the same day (if you don't mind the drive time). However, it is really expensive. The median price home is about $560,000 and it'nothing to write home to Mom about. Utilities, Food, entertainment all are pretty expensive. You can live pretty comfortably with moderate recreation etc. on about $175K per year. That's a lot of moola. The people are fairly nice and it is clean and pretty. However, the schools are not that great and it is getting a bit congested, even in the suburbs. Most people are health conscience and there is a great deal of cultural diversity. Over all a really nice place to live.... if you have the moola![read more...]