If you want walking distance to Bart, I'm talking concord, walnut creek, pleasant hill. on a lucky day, orinda or lafayette even. If you have a family & want a nice large 3 bdrm with small yard, you can get one for under 2K in nearby San Ramon and take the BART commute bus to the actual BART...I know tons of people who do this everyday. I actually considered doing that myself but was able to land a nice albeit small 2brm with walking distance to bart. If you don't mind an additional 30 minutes of car commute time to the actual BART station, it dramatically opens up possibilities...Danville is very nice.

Yeah no. I own a 2br home in Pleasant Hill. These 2 br SFH rentals for $1,500 you're talking about are a fantasy.

I guess I am presently living in a fantasy then. Let me pinch my wife & kids to check if they are real or just figments of my imagination.

You forgot Alameda, Berkley, Rockridge, San Leadro, Pleasanton, Dublin, etc etc.

I dare you to find a 2br+ single family home in Pleasanton for $1.5k.

All three of those are apartments, and one of them is $1600, above our $1500 limit.

Here's the link at a $1500 limit: http://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/apa?srchType=A&zoomTo...

8 results. Total. All are apartments (one is a duet, a couple aren't actually in P-town but are apartments nonetheless).

(edit: I'm not trying to dick with you here. I've just been searching for valley housing for a long time and have a good idea where certain cities land price-wise.)

Ah, I wasn't sure what you meant by "single family home".

Of course renting houses is more expensive than apartments.

I am sure you will find something that makes you happy. I have had a few house search adventures in the Bay Area. Best of luck to you!