Moving to California from the midwest.

[Raj Ramachandran]

Hello - I am moving to California this month, following my daughter who will be attending college there. I have so many questions but will start with a few:

1) Is it still better to rent given than invest, given the prices in the bay area? I need to be equidistant from downtown San Francisco and Silicon Valley.  

2) If I can be ready to buy in 6 months, would it be better buy a pre-owned home or new home?

3) Are there any reasons to not invest in Hayward, CA if I am looking at it as a medium term (say 5 years) investment horizon?