San Francisco

The real question would be where would you be working?  The Bay Area is very big, but you'd want to be within a radius of your office as commuting across zones is a major PITA.

I love love love the so-called North Bay (Marin and Sonoma counties), but it's not for everyone.  If you like the city-life, you might consider living on the penisula somewhere.  My SO lived in San Mateo for years and claims to still miss it.

The East Bay has some nice things going for it.  Primarily: SUN.  I have several friends who live there and they seem to like it.

Then there's the South Bay.  My friend Kyle just moved closer to his job in San Jose.  I haven't spent much time there.  

You can train for a triathlon in any of these areas, and each has their own tri club.

I haven't even started looking for a job yet, and yes, I would try to avoid a significant commute.  It's only a pipe dream right now, but I'm looking to see if it's even feasable within a couple years (price of homes, jobs, etc).

It's probably one place the wifey and I both agree that we would love to go.  She like it here cuz of work (I hate it).  I want to go back to Denver for the lifestyle (but she hates it).  But we both LOVE CA (San Fran being the top of the list).  We might think San Diego too.  Probably not LA, though.

While I have absolutely no advice to offer on where to live in San Francisco, I offer a suggestion on where not to live.  Looking at the liquefaction risk map:  red/orange BAD.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/nca/qmap/

I grew up in Oakland and adore it.   My parents moved there from SF the year I was born, because my mom was going crazy being in the fog all the time - the Oakland Hills are sunny!  Oh, and with a third child, they needed an actual house. 

The neighborhood you will probably like best is Rockridge - my sister & her fam live there.  It too is pricey, but check it out.

Oh, I just read your square footage requirement, HAHAHAHAHA!  Never mind what I said about Oakland.  Live an hour away in the suburbs.

 OR:  adjust your square footage expectations and go see how people actually LIVE in the $700K 1,100 square foot houses; they are very nice and no the children are not deprived.  But your statement is like someone moving to Manhattan saying, "well, I need an apartment at least 1000 square feet for a reasonable price" - not going to happen.

When I bought my house in Texas, my mom joked "now come get your stuff out of my basement; you have more house than the rest of us put together." 

It's totally do-able.  The housing market is about as good as it can get these days.  (*looks at Lara*)

But you're not going to get ANYTHING close to 2000+ sf in SF.  I'm not even sure those houses exist.

Like CitySky says, you can totally do that in one of the suburbs, but plan on driving at least an hour each way if you have to commute anywhere.  Unless, of course, you can get a job in your suburban town. 

Not to discourage you from moving here. It was the best thing I've ever done in my life.  There are few things I would consider leaving the Bay Area for.

I noticed that when I started looking.  I get in San Fran for 500k, but I would have to settle for more like 1200-1500.  I can do that.

Might want to wait and see if the state goes into bankruptcy..   Certainly seem to be heading that way.  All nonessential payments have stopped (although those getting school grants and welfare might not classify them as such)

Only legally required payments are being made.  This state is going in the sh(((ter.  If it weren't for the weather.....

I could buy the whole city on foreclosure, perhaps?

I think I read that, before this fiasco even, we already had the highest income taxesin the nation tha kicked in at the lowest AGI.  The car tax will likely triple again.  The sales tax is going up again.  I'd consider it if I was looking for a place to live

And from what I hear, there aren't even girls in bikinis on the beach in January in San Francisco, so if you're going to move, so cal is the place

LOL, that takes my mind back to one of those precious moments in life.  Ages ago, when my wife and I were just dating, I remember parking the car down by one of the piers at Manhattan or Hermosa and blurting out "LOOK AT ALL THOSE BIKINIS."  Shot man, it just popped out of my mouth.  WOOPS.  Eh, she still married me.

Akidoman,

 I've lived in both San Diego and San Francisco, and they're both all star cities in the state.  You honestly can't go wrong if you end up deciding between the two - they're both great for triathlon training, but with San Diego taking the cake overall.  For San Diego, I would recommend the neighborhoods of Hillcrest, Mission Hills, North Park and South Park.

 As for San Francisco, I woudn't recommend living too far into the Avenues or the outer Richmond - it gets dead over there.  Daly city is cool, and the fact that there's a Bart stop there makes it an easy commute to work if it's in the city.  In the East Bay, I've always liked Berkeley.

It is the car registration fee and it is based on value and age, my 2006 mustang was about 240 bucks this year.  Prior to Arnie taking office that would have been in the 600 dollar range