MillMan,

A 5 acre plot in Pescadero (a charming peak oil ready village about 1 mile from the beach and surrounded by farmland and redwoods) on Pescadero Creek in rural San Mateo county is about US$300,000.  I was going to relocate my home from San Jose to Pescadero last year.  Then I realized that it would be more prudent to leave the US entirely.

PS:  Strongly advise not living in San Francisco itself.  The SF Bay military bases were gradually closed over the past several years.  Then Jeb Bush was heard to joke at a Florida GOP meeting that San Franciscans were an endangered species.  Make of that what you will.  But Livermore Lab has taken delivery of vehicles with gatling guns, and Camp Parks has been refurbished as an emergency detention centre, presumably for unruly San Franciscans.

Where did you end up moving to?

Right now I rent, I am probably a few years away from owning anything. I am unwilling to buy anything in this surreal real estate market anyway.

Smart.
That's rather scary. Do you think that SF is where the next AlQaeda 'spectacular' will take place?