need to plant a tree in my front yard.. what to buy?

Factual Questions
1

i’ll forgo the horror of my 38-year old monster tree coming crashing down and causing untold damage.

anyway, once the mess is all cleaned up, i want to plant a new tree in my front yard. take into consideration the following:

  1. i live in the san francisco bay area
  2. i have a gardener, and do not care for my yard… i pay someone else to do it
  3. i want something that will at least look ok (not a 3-foot seedling) straight off the bat.
  4. i have no idea what trees cost, what maintenance is involved, and i am generally clueless… i’ll pay up to 200 bucks for said tree.
  5. please hep me… tell me what to buy!
2

You pay someone else to take care of your yard, have them pick out a tree for you. I’m sure they will do a good job.
Have them plant it while they are at it.

3

What kenny canoe said. Just make sure you tell them what you hope to get out of said tree - do you want it to shade the house eventually? How long do you want to wait for said shade (some trees get big a lot faster than others, though the slower growing ones also tend to live longer)? Or would you rather have something smaller? Something that blooms, maybe?