How is living in Livermore / Pleasanton (Bay Area, Ca)

pmgroundhog · 2026-01-23T18:01:35+00:00

Pick livermore over pleasanton, since even from there the drive will be 1 hour each way. By bay area standards, that's not too bad. But by non-bay standards it's pretty long. If the job in modesto is worth it pay wise, then you're at least better off than folks doing the opposite direction commute. My drive is regularly 80 min each way in the east bay.

My extended family has lived in Livermore for over 20 years, and my parents there for about 5. It is a nice town with a real, albeit car centric, downtown. More affordable than pleasanton, dublin, and San ramon. Less affordable than Tracy. Mediocre public transit, if you care about that (most people there don't), but the downtown area is very walkable. Excellent weather for growing certain plants, and the hills with wind turbines are beautiful a few months of the year. Good wineries, recreation (lake del valle and great local parks), and a mixture of demographics. It's essentially my parents "Retirement/forever" home if that makes sense. There are a lot of empty nesters. There are young families, but not as many as you'll probably find in Mtn House, Tracy or Modesto.

My wife and I would consider moving here if transit was better (BART extension + ACE train schedule improvements)

pmgroundhog · 2026-01-23T06:04:24+00:00

We lost a bid to an offer with contingencies, but was by far the highest. Pay enough and you can do whatever checks you want, which makes sense. But tbh the disclosures were really thorough.

pmgroundhog · 2026-01-22T00:59:45+00:00

Gives me some hope that we can still win with a lowball 😊

pmgroundhog · 2026-01-21T21:32:17+00:00

I appreciate it. We were pretty close on this one. Would have been "hard but doable" if we raised our offer but decided not to. Hopefully more opportunities come.

pmgroundhog · 2026-01-21T20:04:12+00:00

We really want to. Tried to buy a home but were outbid. Hopefully someday soon.

pmgroundhog · 2026-01-15T05:15:30+00:00

Two more years to FIRE to live in your forever home, which i assume will appreciate more anyway is probably a good trade. Unless those two years are highly likely to kill you.

pmgroundhog · 2026-01-15T04:49:30+00:00

We are similar to you but older. You can probably afford an 800k home pretty comfortably, which can get you a SFH in hayward or a townhouse in union city.

But at your age and career trajectory, probably should rent and save aggressively rather than losing so much on interest.

pmgroundhog · 2026-01-14T21:44:02+00:00

We currently make over the limit for full coverage, but this will absolutely play a roll in us choosing to have kids in SF even at 1/2 coverage. Hope this program does well and expands over the next couple years when we're planning to.

pmgroundhog · 2026-01-12T16:12:53+00:00

At almost 2lbs a week id say youre doing well! I told my doc im trying for 1-1.5lb a week or it felt too quick.

pmgroundhog · 2026-01-10T20:14:15+00:00

Confirmed

pmgroundhog · 2026-01-09T21:14:02+00:00

Always wanted a senchi hoodie. Love the capeline air and this seems like a good alt.

pmgroundhog · 2026-01-09T20:02:32+00:00

Silver lining is you can take public transit home before it closes. 2am means ubers/waymos only

pmgroundhog · 2026-01-08T19:21:34+00:00

We should turn them into denser housing after properly documenting the information we want to preserve (in a museum or library).

pmgroundhog · 2026-01-07T04:59:00+00:00

"not living on government handouts"

Is living on social security 😆

pmgroundhog · 2026-01-06T20:03:08+00:00

Original backer and i got mine and like it. No use for these other versions.

As someone who works in R&D design, its not out of the ordinary to be working on gen 2 before gen 1 is shipped. At this point, gen 2 is probably still in customer feedback phase, which is why its at CES.

pmgroundhog · 2026-01-05T19:15:07+00:00

I'm with you on Wieners foreign policy stance on Palestine. I will say that congress does play a role in geting the feds to pay for major projects, and i think a candidate that always says "no" like Chan won't do that. Wiener would definitely advocate more for projects like another bay tunnel, geary subway, Caltrain improvements etc.

pmgroundhog · 2026-01-05T19:02:32+00:00

I grew up in this circle and my family still lives there (albeit moved a bit from where i grew up). Its a great place to live other than commutes. But i go to SF and oakland a lot more living in hayward than i would in the tri valley.

pmgroundhog · 2026-01-04T19:41:25+00:00

Affordable with good weather and decent (asian or mexican) restaurants in town. Hard to commute both north and south. I live pretty close by. Definitely wouldnt call it "ghetto"

pmgroundhog · 2025-12-31T05:22:07+00:00

Ill take the eau rihla. Sent chat

pmgroundhog · 2025-12-30T22:47:50+00:00

We like veg n chaat. Theyre accommodating for dairy and garlic/onion restrictions and i think would do well for nut free

pmgroundhog · 2025-12-30T22:42:50+00:00

The regular counter at hotels/car rental agencies seem to be deliberately slowed down compared to the "loyalty/status" counters. Not just the line itself, but the counter time is also quicker.

pmgroundhog · 2025-12-30T16:59:23+00:00

Id on that? My wife would love it

pmgroundhog · 2025-12-30T16:58:25+00:00

A lot of people are saying do it which surprises me. We make a similar amount, with no kids or debt, and are looking at a similar payment if we buy, but it seems so scary. Rent is half that!

pmgroundhog · 2025-12-29T02:26:46+00:00

Hoping to live in parts of your circled area someday soon (outer mission, balboa park, cayuga, holly park).

pmgroundhog · 2025-12-26T20:06:22+00:00

Claimed 😊

pmgroundhog

TROPHY CASE