It is often said that it takes months or even years to grasp what a city is made of. In other words, people need time to adjust and assimilate to their surroundings before moving to a new location. This is why many of my clients who move due to business relocation find themselves in a 1 year lease and apartment provided by their company (lucky them!) that allows to them settle in and understand if moving to Fremont is right for them. What I intend to go through now is to reveal some aspects of Fremont that I find useful for others to think about it. That way, if you ever move to Fremont, you can consult this list and either agree or disagree with me. Either way, I hope that after you read this list you will feel more acquainted with Fremont.
1. You will fall in love with the location
Fremont is so centrally located in the bay area that you can really get anywhere from Fremont. Hopping on BART for one hour takes you into San Francisco, while a 30 minute drive takes you into San Jose. Commuters will love Fremont. Livermore is also 30 minutes away and you can easily put together a winery excursion with friends on the cheap (unlike Napa where tasting prices are soaring). The peninsula is incredibly close, with Palo Alto being only about 20 miles away, Menlo Park being even closer. If you ever moved to Fremont and then moved to San Jose or Oakland, you will realize how valuable Fremont served as a kind of midpoint between these major cities. This is not to say that Fremont is not a major city, since it happens to the 4th largest city in the bay area, but you will learn right away that the best “scenes” to have fun typically will be away from Fremont. As a local, I often find myself eating within Fremont and going to events outside of Fremont. This brings us to our next point.
2. Endless restaurants to try, but a little light on events.
This point is a compliment followed by constructive criticism. The makeup of Fremont is basically suburban (see our neighborhood tab for current market activity) and industrial (think: Tesla Motors and Seagate Technology, the latter being visible from 880-South). Because of this, the residential areas promote the growth of grocers that act as anchor tenants to many other shops. Not only will grocers thrive near suburbs but so will restaurants. If you ever tried doing a Yelp! search for restaurants in Fremont, one has many options. One can play it safe and choose restaurants with the highest reviews, or one can be more adventurous and choose a hole in the wall restaurant with controversial reviews. Either way, we have an abundance of Indian food, Pakistani food, Chinese, Thai, Mexican, Vietnamese, and American food to keep us busy for a while.
And now for the criticism: As a Millenial and my business partner as a baby boomer, we often find ourselves doing activities outside of Fremont. I often find myself in Oakland, the city, or San Jose when it comes to entertainment. When browsing Fremont events through Patch, Yelp, or the Tri-Valley newspaper, what you find are art and wine festivals, workshops, classes, and other small events that does not have a very “downtown” feel to them. Of course, perhaps I may not know about the best events happening, but this alludes to the main argument that Fremont is largely a suburban city, and few would dispute that claim.
3. Housing prices are up
Whenever I open my MLS system, I see homeowners who purchased in 2011 having higher equity than before, and I see homeowners who purchased in 2013 having higher equity than before. People are fond of living in Fremont, there is no doubt about it. The award winning schools play a role in this, and so does the other points mentioned in this post. Many home buyers are incredibly sensitive with API scores for schools and the school’s proximity to the school relative to their house. While Realtors are not allowed to make claims about the scores, I am always happy to provide my clients with the link that brings them to the Fremont school district website as well as the school locator tool. Buying in Fremont seems to be a relatively safe investment, especially if you are here for the long term. On average in the bay area, people seem to move every 8-10 years, so if you stayed here for that long, I can imagine that prices will be up by then.
4. The traffic situation is acceptable
Our main freeways, Interstate 880 and 680 are not that bad. Rush hour can be painful and I think many prudent people now have audiobooks or chat up a storm using bluetooth or their car’s handsfree cell phone system, but having client appointments in San Jose in the evenings are a breeze since the traffic on the southbound side is not so bad (the northbound side is a little worse. Recall that Silicon Valley employees are retreating back to suburbia, i.e. Milpitas, Fremont, Newark, Union City, etc.). I know the commute to Oakland can have midday backups not just from accident but from the fleets of trucks that take up the slow lanes on your way to the Coliseum and West Oakland. But I think we have it good. Those using 237 to Mountain View I know face some heavy gridlock at times due to Yahoo! and Apple being nearby, but I know we do not have it as bad as those driving to Stockton or Mountain house where interstate 5 and 205 can get hairy.
5. There’s plenty of places to Hike to stay fit and active
For outdoorsy people there is an abundance of places to hike. I cite Mission Peak, which I have heard is now too popular and the parking situation is terrible, but the headache of parking and the 2 hour round trip hike up to the peak rewards hikers with a great view that on the clearest of days, allows you to see all the way to San Jose. It is truly spectacular if you have not been. Other trails include Quarry Lakes, Coyote Hills (part of Union City but the trails feed you into Hayward and Fremont), and the Ardenwood Historic Farm where I have very fond memories of selecting a pumpkin from their pumpkin patch for Halloween. I know newcomers of Fremont use Meetup to join hiking groups and that quickly acquaints them with the surrounding area and allows them to hike at times when they would not go alone (catching a sunset or full moon or even a meteor shower).
6. Our drivers are aggressive
I have been to Texas where drivers are so courteous that my signal light actually means that they will slow down and give me time to change into their lane. Here, it is quite the opposite. Californians are aggressive drivers. When I turn on my blinker, the other drivers get threatened and begin to accelerate in fear that they are in my blind spot. The slow lanes to the right are for people who are at the speed limit. The second most fast lane probably goes around 72 on average, and then the fastest lane or carpool lane probably goes 75 or higher, as long as there isn’t a cop hiding. Some people have very powerful cars and they want to stretch the car’s legs, so to speak. Other people have average cars or just a lead foot or are just always in a hurry. Other drivers are so incredibly slow that they are oblivious to the hierarchy I just described. Either way, if you move to Fremont, be prepared to be greeted by aggressive drivers who will overtake you if you go too slow. I know those overtaking others from the slow lane has been a topic of discussion lately as not only being illegal, but dangerous to those around them. My stance: I stay invisible on the road, use my blinkers to make aggressive drivers accelerate ahead of me, use cruise control, and minimize lane changes to make sure I have the most consistent and safe driving experience I can have.
7. Niles is a quaint gem
Charlie Chaplin did his films in Niles and Niles would have been Hollywood if more directors migrated to Niles (a historian is better suited to provide a better explanation). Present day Niles is filled with antique shops and the Niles Canyon Railway which takes you to Sunol and other places. They even have a wine train which I will have to try sometimes. Niles, as a neighborhood of Fremont, also has a killer Thai temple that every Sunday sells food if you pay them with tokens (which you buy with cash). Their pad thai sometimes has a waiting time of over an hour, so get there early! I also go there to play tennis and hike at the Niles Community Park. It’s a really quaint area and the home prices there are spectacular.
8. We have our own waterpark
It’s so great to have a local water park. It’s great with kids and adults alike and it does not require a large pilgrimage in the middle of nowhere.
9. We have lots of gyms and yoga studios
A quick search reveals that we have many gyms nearby, meaning that there’s little excuse to not exercise at a proper gym (consider this on top of the fact that we have lots of hiking trails). Club Sport Fremont has always been the go-to place for the upper middle class gym rat (also my go-to place for indoor tennis which is a luxury item for me) while city-sport opened up some new places nearby that already has a pretty impressive turnout. Residents living in condos and townhomes are probably already outfitted with some amazing gyms within their community, so anybody wanting to move to Fremont can save on their gym expenses and choose a house with these amenities. The gym I belong to offers classes in conjunction with my membership, allowing me to attend classes. It’s a real social environment and highly recommended to make new friends and stay fit.
10. People keep up with their houses
In general, there is an adequate level of pride of ownership in homes in most neighborhoods. Homeowners keep up with their curb appeal and this is an important distinction to make from other cities. Of course, there are places in Fremont where there is a high tenant population and that it was not made clear who (between landlord and tenant) should maintain the lawns (I’m being very clear here that some tenants love to garden), but aside from that, people keep up with the maintenance. Contrast this with Hayward or Oakland, where there are clearly some very blighted places where people dump mattresses and other garbage on the road. It’s very sad when this happens, but we are lucky that Fremont has pride of ownership that is not just an aesthetic consideration– homeowners keep up with appearances because it is the right thing to do. Caring for the house teaches a lesson to our children to not litter and take care of things that were purchased by working hard. There’s a lot to said about pride of ownership, but I’ll stop there since I have made my point.
In summary, I think those living in Fremont have it very good. Those who left the bay area and go elsewhere find themselves craving burritos or food trucks that they cannot have elsewhere. It’s great place to live for work and also great if you want to plant your roots.