Convince parents to move to San Francisco, CA ?

Maybe, you should ask them why they want to live in Sacramento.

Go to Trulia or ZipRealty to look at property values. San Francisco prices are going through the roof. Properties are available in Sacramento for under $200K; there are none in SF. To live in SF, you may live in half (or less) the house that you are currently living. You may need to move into a condo, townhome, or apartment. The cheapest home is $295K. They quickly jump to $500K and above.

My uncle lived about 90 minutes from his job as well. He took the train. When the train stopped running, he took a car pool. Many people do this. Some people rent a room during the week and drive home weekends.

We base home buying decisions on location, work, school, crime, and price. Price is the ultimate decider. We trade off between size and location. Generally, the further you live from a major city, the lower the property values. You get more for your money. Then, you pay to commute and have less private time.

There is no such thing as a permanent position. Your parents may be concerned about the stability of his work.

Your parents may also be concerned about your school and education. When I lived in SF, education was not the best.

It may be better to move closer (East Bay, North Bay, Vacaville, ...). But, your father may have plans to work in Sacramento.

Commute convenience is one thing but the bigger factor is can your parents afford to live closer to the city. Real estate prices are now increasing in San Francisco and surrounding areas (they never got real low anyway) as are rents. The reason your parents may have moved to Sacramento originally might be that house prices have been drastically lower in Sacramento (Sacto got hit hard by the real estate crisis). You need to discuss this with your parents. They may have decided that schools were better where you are now. They may have other reasons for living so far away. Or maybe now that your dad has a job in San Francisco they can and are considering relocating closer to his job (maybe not in the city proper but one of the suburbs). Just talk to your parents and see what they think. They may have real good reasons for staying in Sacramento. Or they may already been thinking about moving closer to family and work. Let them know you miss spending time with your dad, that's your main concern.

It depends on why you live in Sacramento. Best way to convince them would be to have an understanding of their finances. And, since most parents aren't totally open about their finances with their kids, that could be tough. The Bay Area is much more expensive than Sacramento.

The other issue may very well be affordability vs. school district. Like... could they afford something in a cheaper area of the immediate Bay Area? Maybe. Would it be as good of a school district as you have now? Maybe not.

Point being, there are a lot of specifics about your life (school district, living situation, reason for moving, etc...) we don't know, and possibly a lot of specifics about your parents' finances/decisions you don't know. In order to convince them, you're going to have to present more than an idea - more than what you'd *prefer*. Going to have to look at and address the practicalities of such a move - maybe it is possible with cutting back a little, maybe it's flat-out impossible. Best option: talk to your parents, tell them why you think a move would be good, but also make it clear you realize the difficulty of such a move and acknowledge the practical side of it, and that you don't know everything that's gone into their decision. Do it nicely, encourage them to have an open discussion with you about how practical (or impractical) such a move would be. As nice as it may be for you to move from Sacramento to SF, the logistics are something else entirely. Have a nice, mature conversation and get them to tell you the situation - if you think you see ways to work it out, then suggest that (I'd guess part of this will be you researching housing prices in comparable school districts and presenting that to them, if it's a possibility); if there isn't a way to work it out, accept that.

I agree with you. It was probably cheaper to buy a house in Sacramento than the bay area but they can find something closer to S.F. I dont blame you for not liking Sac after living in Berkeley. I have friends who went to school at UCB and live in Vallejo. It is not bad most of the time. Your parents should consider moving before the housing prices go up any more.

Are you paying rent? Does Mum have a job? My guess is no to both.

Sacramento is a safe affordable community to raise a family where you can put food on the table.

Your Dad is commuting because that's what Parents, especially Dad's do. They take care of the family.

Instead of asking him to relocate, do things for him. Mow the lawn, cook dinner, do chores without asking.

SF is one of the most expensive places in the World to live in. Things are not going to change in the near future.

You probably live in Sacramento because its more affordable. San Fran is freaking expensive with all the tech employees making 6 figure salaries.

That is the price you pay for having twice as much house as you would have in the bay area.