Before you make an important decision to move Pleasanton, CA, you need to know what the city has to offer!
Here are the 17 items you need to know first before living in Pleasanton, CA
Number 1: Pleasanton neighborhoods.
Pleasanton’s neighborhoods are beautiful, quiet, and safe. I posted several property tour videos on my YouTube channel that feature specific Pleasanton neighborhoods (Vintage Hills, Vintage Heights, Vintage Heights II, Foxborough Estates). The key items that separate one neighborhood from the other is age, size of the property, and of course, cost. You’ll find the majority of Pleasanton neighborhoods are in good order. There are a few gated communities in Pleasanton. The two main ones are Golden Eagle Estates and Ruby Hill.
Number 2: Weather
Pleasanton has amazing weather. There’s no snow, there’s no fog and there’s no humidity. Yes, it does get hot in the summer. And occasionally temperatures can go over a hundred degrees. However, it usually starts cooling off between five to 6:00 PM. And again, there’s no humidity and no mosquitoes. The winter months are pretty mild here. The biggest rainfall month is February with an average total of 3.6 inches.
I want you to know with no snow means that the roads aren’t salted in the winter, which equals less corrosion to your car.
Number 3: Cost of housing
Pleasanton by far is not the cheapest area to live. However, if you compare the average price of a 1500 square foot home in Pleasanton and compare that to comparable property in the South Bay Silicon Valley area, such as Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Menlo Park, Cupertino. These are the cities that have the tech headquarters for companies like Google, Apple, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. . You’ll see Pleasanton’s average sales cost is a little over a million, which is $668 a square foot. But the South Bay cities I just mentioned, the average sales price is about $1,900,000, which is $1300 a square foot. That’s almost twice the price for a comparable home in Pleasanton.
To learn the cost of living in Pleasanton, please go to How much does it cost to live in Pleasanton, CA.
Number 4: Pleasanton, CA’s commute
Pleasanton is known as a bedroom community, which means it’s a ‘suburb inhabited largely by people who commute to other cities for work‘. What does that mean? Let’s just say, if you live in this town, you most likely don’t work here.
So where are the cities you’d commute to? Well, as I just mentioned in the cost of housing, the South Bay, which is Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Menlo Park, Cupertino. This is only a 30 minute drive from Pleasanton. However, in commute time, it can take up to two hours each way. This sucks!
Fortunately, there’s several ways you can get there in style and comfort. One way is a commuter bus. Many tech companies offer their own commute coach bus. They usually have comfortable seats with wifi. There is also the ACE train. Once you get there, you can take a Lyft or an Uber to your location. Some companies offer private shared buses that offer regular scheduled pickup and drop off services. Now, if you’re going to Oakland to San Francisco area, there’s BART. Let me give you an example. My wife works in Emeryville, which is a city next to Oakland. She’s been there over eight years. She’s never driven once, she takes Bart everyday she goes to work.
Number 5: Pleasanton, CA is close to everything
If you like skiing, hiking, and camping, we have the spectacular Sierra Mountain range, which is located in the beautiful Lake Tahoe area. It’s approximately a three to four hour drive from Pleasanton. If you like the beaches, we have Santa Cruz, which is about an hour away.
And if you want to do some sightseeing like in the San Francisco area, that too is about an hour away. When my wife and I want to change of scenery, we’ll go visit the famous San Francisco Pier 39 Fisherman’s Wharf area. To make it easy, we’ll just take the BART train right from the Pleasanton station. And this means I don’t have to have a hassle of driving in and the headache of trying to park. Now, if you’re in the mood for wine tasting, the Napa Valley Wine County is just two hours away.
Number 6: Local activities
Let’s start with golf. We have numerous public golf courses in and around Pleasanton that are no more than a 25 minute drive(Top Golf Courses in the Tri-Valley area). Now let’s talk about wineries. You don’t have to go up to Napa.
We have the Livermore Wineries, and they’re just 25 minutes away from Pleasanton (Top Livermore Wineries). Pleasanton has great bike and walking paths. Pleasanton also has 44 neighborhood (Kottinger parks, Tawny park, Vintage Hills Park and community parks. These parks offer a variety of amenities from baseball, soccer, and general exercise fields, basketball courts, tennis courts, aquatic water park, dog park, and some have restrooms, picnic tables, and barbecues. Pleasanton also has approximately 24 miles of trails and 600 acres of undeveloped space.
Number 7: Pleasanton, CA Downtown
Pleasanton’s downtown main street area has numerous activities such as their famous Saturday
morning farmer’s market (Facebook Farmers Market), their weekend street fairs and parades.
To find out more about upcoming events, please visit Pleasanton’s downtown.
Number 8: The Alameda County Fairgrounds
Alameda County Fairgrounds host several events throughout the year to include the annual county fair,
the summer car Goodguy Car show. And in the fall they have the haunted theme park Pirates of Emerson, which is a Halloween tradition. And during the fair season, they have horse races.
Number 9: Restaurants
Pleasanton has numerous restaurants along their downtown main street area. You’ll find a variety to include Asian, Greek, Italian, and Mexican foods.
To really appreciate all the charm and unique restaurants and stores main street has to offer, just take a stroll down the street and make sure you include both sides. You don’t want to miss anything. You’ll also find several shopping strip malls that feature popular chain restaurants, such as Chili’s, Panda Express and Habit Burger.
Number 10: Pleasanton, CA Stoneridge shopping mall
Stoneridge mall is a beautiful laid-out indoor mall. They host numerous chains like Apple store and Macys. They also have restaurants such as PF Chang’s, The Cheesecake Factory and California Pizza Kitchen.
Number 11: San Francisco dining and entertainment
You’re just an hour away, whether you choose to drive or take BART. Now there are numerous restaurants along Pier 39, Fisherman’s Wharf and The Cannery .
And of course, once you get to know the San Francisco area, you’ll find numerous restaurants throughout the city. For entertainment you have many events to choose from such as plays, concerts and sporting events. Now don’t think you have to spend any money to have a good time. You can find amazing street performers in and around the Pier 39 area. And one item I must mention before I leave this section, is the annual San Francisco fleet week event. It’s usually held the second week in October, and it concludes on the weekend by the spectacular aerial performance by the Navy’s Blue Angels. This event again is free. However, I do recommend you take BART in due to the traffic and trying to find a place to park.
Number 12: Pleasanton, CA has great schools
One of the biggest selling features for families in Pleasanton is their award-winning schools.
No need to go to private schools. Their public schools are excellent. For all the school information go to Pleasanton Unified School District.
Number 13: Pleasanton is a super pet-friendly town
Again, Pleasanton has numerous parks and these parks are all dog friendly.
Now, if you’d like your dog to run off leash, we do have Cubby’s Dog Park. As you go through the city, you’ll see everyone walking their dog around the neighborhood.
On most Saturdays, weather permitting, at the main street farmer’s market there’s pet adoption day.
Number 14: Pleasanton’s freeways
Pleasanton has easy access to the two freeways that surround the town,
which are 580 and 680. To help assist in the traffic hours, both freeways have been upgraded with commute and toll lanes.
Number 15: The Bay area’s professional sports teams
For baseball, we have the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletic A’s.
If you don’t want to drive and hassle with parking, you can take BART right from Pleasanton, it’ll go straight into Oakland. And for San Francisco, there’s a muni-metro transfer, and it’ll take you right to the stadium. For football, we have the San Francisco 49ers. They play at their new state-of-the-art Levi stadium in Santa Clara. For ice hockey, we have the San Jose Sharks and for soccer we have the San Jose Earthquakes, both teams play in San Jose. And for basketball, last but not least, we have the Golden State Warriors, which are just about to move to their brand new stadium in San Francisco.
Number 16: California property taxes
Under Prop 13, the annual real estate tax on a parcel of property is limited to 1% of its assessed value and not to exceed 2% annually.
This 1% limits the amount of how much the state can raise your taxes per year. Here’s an example. Let’s say you purchased a property in California for $200,000 and your annual property taxes are $2,500 a year. Now providing you still live in that same house, let’s say you stay there for 30 years and it appreciates to 1.2 million. Yes, it can happen, especially in Pleasanton. Your annual property taxes after 30 years will be approximately $4,600, as opposed to being taxed on the current assessed value, which would be $15,000 per year. You’ll find this is a big California homeowner benefit. Please consult with your tax specialist for all the details and how it will affect your particular tax situation.
Number 17: Pleasanton is a very friendly and community focused town
Probably one of the main features that separates Pleasanton apart from other towns, is its local connection with this community.
As I discussed earlier, their downtown main street area hosts numerous events throughout the year from street fairs, farmer’s market, Friday night concerts, parades, et cetera. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Pleasanton offers much more. The City of Pleasanton recreation department has several different sports programs to include basketball, baseball, soccer, swimming, skateboard, tennis, outdoor hockey, golf. The list keeps going. They have programs for all ages, from kids to adults.
One more item to mention:
Pleasanton’s performing arts is held at the Firehouse Arts Center.
They host numerous types of events to include concerts and plays. So when you put this all together, you’ve a good size city that has a small town feel.
Please let me know your thoughts on this.
I hope you enjoyed this article. Please let me know if you have any questions. Warren
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Hello…I work with both buyers and sellers in the Northern California area.
My real estate spans from the East Bay (Tri-Valley) to the Greater Sacramento areas.
If you would like to know more about the Tri-Valley area, please read: “Everything you need to know about the Tri-Valley area”
To better understand what each city has to offer, I have created a Pros and Cons videos and articles for each Tri-Valley Area:
If you are thinking about purchasing or selling a home, please reach out to me by text, phone, or email. If it is convenient, I can schedule a Zoom chat so we can discuss your home goals. Wishing you all the best on your home journey. Cheers!
eXp Realty
(925) 980-4603 DRE # 01861944
