There are plenty of houses in Tracy, CA, about 50 mins east of SF. You can get a 4 br 3 ba house for around $250k. It was also one of the "ground zeroes" for the housing bust, because those $250k homes were going for $650k in 2005.
You can drive 20 mins west to the Dublin BART and be in SF within 30 mins. My commute was 50 mins every day without traffic, so it ends up being comparable.