Tell me about moving to San Jose, CA

[skimerinkydo]

Our possibility of moving to San Jose has just been upped from "possible" to "very probable" and I'm feeling STRESSED and anxious about it. This morning I had a thought come to mind that we should take a weekend trip to visit the area so I will have seen it and maybe not feel so stressed.

 

I think my main stress is the idea that an affordable home will be smaller than ours (1750 sq. ft.) and cost twice as much. After living in the same house for 17 years we've accumulated a lot of stuff, especially for our hobbies. So the thought of moving into a smaller home is stressing me out. That and we need a house with land or a large lot with RV access for dh's automotive hobby... and a large garage would be ideal.

 

How far out from San Jose can you live and keep the commute to an hour or less? What is the "flavor" of different neighborhoods?

 

Schools- I know this isn't the forum for this but what are good high schools or high schools to avoid? Any high schools with Orchestra? We don't homeschool anymore -  our youngest/last one home is in public high school.

 

Tell me what is positive about living there. Right now I can only see the many reasons not to move there.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 3, 2016 by skimerinkydo

[prairiewindmomma]

Many of dh's coworkers work in San Jose.  Corporate work hours reflect the reality of long commutes---a lot of people telecommute in, and when they have to show up at the office, no one is expected to be there before 9am.  

 

I would definitely take a weekend trip to get a feel for things.  

[JenneinCA]

Are you talking about San Jose, California?

 

If you are then the housing problems you are imagining are very very real. Land is very expensive and commute times can be very long. I would start by finding out exactly where in San Jose hubby is going to work and then go from there.

 

Please don't be too scared it is a wonderful place to live. But it is expensive.

[Arcadia]

San Jose is a very big city with many school districts. Home prices seems to have stabilized somewhat but is still very high. The famous private schools are Harker and Basis Independent. The famous public high schools in fremont high school district are Lynbrook (San. Jose) and Monte Vista (Cupertino).

 

Downtown San Jose with the Tech Museum, SJSU, light rail stations is going to have a different feel from the Silver Creek area which has lots of greenery and no skyscrapers yet.

 

If you are doing a weekend trip, try to include a Friday or a Monday. Weekends are relatively peaceful while the weekday commutes are crazy. Also weekdays is when you get to see more panhandlers, homeless people and in my friend's neighborhood it was young adults who do drugs at the local park (no play structure) in the afternoons.

 

You can have an idea how big an area San Jose is from the VTA bike map below

http://vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/BikewaysMap.pdf

[Liz CA]

Lots of traffic from nearly any outlying areas of which there are many. Check areas carefully to discern more desirable neighborhoods.

Real Estate is crazy high. Something to consider when evaluating salary offers.

 

BUT you get temperate climate, no snow but slopes are in driving distance, proximity of renowned universities, some of the best medical facilities and countless opportunities for fun and educational experiences.

 

Edited November 3, 2016 by Liz CA

[bettyandbob]

My friend did this a few years ago. She sold or donated half her furniture before the move (I have two pieces). They rented. A year later, she donated half of what she had left and they purchased across the street from where they rented.

 

There are multiple overlapping layers of school districts. The same family might have kids in different districts. My friend has kids in different districts. Her boys attend different high schools. One district was a better fit based on her oldest child's disabilities. Another district was a better match in academics and sports. It's great because each child is getting what he needs, but it's had because the schools are on very different daily schedules and different vacation schedules (a spring break vacation means one child misses a week of school).

 

You probably need to visit to scout ahead and plan on renting when you get there.

[Arcadia]

City of San Jose school district boundaries map. Since your youngest is in high school, look at the 4 high school district boundaries.

https://www.sanjoseca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/1351

[Carol in Cal.]

Where exactly will your dh work?  Some of the bigger tech firms have their own private bus fleets, and it's worth planning your home purchase around those routes.  You can PM me if you want.  My husband and I both used to work in tech, and he still does.  We live in San Jose.  I'd be glad to talk with you about some details if you want--I've lived her for 35 years or so.

[mathnerd]

I suggest that you first decide your housing budget and then start looking for houses in areas around SJ where you can match available housing to your budget. Prices around San Jose are sky high. There are some pockets that are better than others if high schools are a big consideration. Most high schools here have orchestras.

Redfin.com is a good website for your housing search in order to familiarize yourself with what you will get in terms of $/sq ft. I live in the area (have been here for almost 20 years) and I can answer general area related questions.

Edited November 3, 2016 by mathnerd

[EmilyGF]

A lot of people commute into San Jose from various places. We knew a lot of people who lived up in the Santa Cruz mountains. There isn't really a cheap option anywhere, only cheaper options.

 

One nice thing, though, is that the weather is pretty nice almost all the time, so you can be outside more than in other places.

 

We halved out living space when we moved from the Boston area to Santa Cruz (and many people commute from Santa Cruz to San Jose, though it would drive me nuts). Even though the space was tight, we did spend a lot of time outside. 

Emily

[Laura in CA]

There are some truly excellent public (free!) high schools in San José (as the city now styles itself). I think they were mentioned unthread. Opportunistic realtors for these areas even advertise in China and India (see NYT article), and housing costs have skyrocketed. The private schools are expensive ( > $40k tuition).

 

Other people have mentioned commuting, like from nice areas such as Santa Cruz (I love it there!). As mentioned, many of the tech firms try to help their employees, and some have buses (comfy seats, WiFi, free!). My son commuted and will commute to a tech firm in Mountain View on a 40-min (much longer during rush hour!) bus – pretty sweet. We are on the ACE train line, and lots of people live out here in the boonies (East Bay) & take this train to San Jose every day.

 

https://www.acerail.com

 

Others drive, even from the Central Valley (2+ hours each way) – Tracy, Stockton, Manteca. I'm NOT recommending this! just describing the reality. If you can afford to live close to the job, that's great. But plots are TINY – we moved here from WNY and I was in shock – and land is expensive, and you said you wanted land .... Middle-income people who want to keep horses, for example, live far out to the east in Brentwood, Mountain House, Patterson, Livermore, Sunol ... There are nice horse ranches on the Peninsula (Palo Alto to SF) or Marin County (over the Golden Gate north of SF), but it is much pricier.

 

My husband is fortunate to have a 3-minute commute and could ride his bike to work, but many others aren't as fortunate.

 

 

I don't know if Gilroy (south of San Jose) is an option, commute-wise or affordability-wise (it used to be).

 

There was an article recently in NYT or WSJ about a San Jose fire chief who commuted from RENO, Nevada. Housing affordability and commute time is a vexing problem. People are sleeping in their cars to avoid paying rent. Not to be a downer, but things are crazy. Yes, do visit! Also feel free to PM me if you'd like.

[Carol in Cal.]

 

 

I don't know if Gilroy (south of San Jose) is an option, commute-wise or affordability-wise (it used to be).

 

There was an article recently in NYT or WSJ about a San Jose fire chief who commuted from RENO, Nevada. Housing affordability and commute time is a vexing problem. People are sleeping in their cars to avoid paying rent. Not to be a downer, but things are crazy. Yes, do visit! Also feel free to PM me if you'd like.

The commute from Gilroy is absolutely monstrous now, whether you take 101 or Monterey Road, and whether or not you switch to 85 when you get up to San Jose.  Not sure about housing prices, but you can certainly find bigger plots of land with just one house on them.  To get LAND land, you have to go further afield, to deep in the Santa Cruz Mountains or down in Hollister (which is getting trendy, can you imagine?) or even further.

 

My husband has a colleague whose family stayed in Minnesota when he got his job out here.  He goes home for two extended weekends (4-5 days each) per month. 

[Carol in Cal.]

People have been living in the Central Valley or the Sierra foothills and the breadwinner telecommuting into long weekends (ex telecommuting Mondays and maybe Tuesdays), and then driving into Silicon Valley on Wednesday and staying the rest of the week in a rented room in a house.  That's not super cheap but these are attractive tenants as roommates simply because they are not around that much so it's not that hard to find a room to rent.  It's a tough life overall though, but that's one of the best ways to get land and a settled down family life.  Tracy, Oakdale, or even the Sonora area (Columbia, for instance) are great places to buy some acreage with a house on it.  If you go that way, get a pool, it's hot, and AC for sure.

[mathnerd]

Brentwood, Tracy, Manteca and Hollister are the areas nowadays for "reasonably" priced homes (judging by Bay Area standards). A person I know commutes from San Martin and another person from Los Banos because they could afford newer and larger houses there.

Just for reference -  median family income in Santa Clara county is around $100 K - this is considered a very modest income because of the high COL. The family income should be above $150 K to buy a reasonable house in the Silicon Valley - https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2015/03/09/you-need-to-earn-142000-dollars-to-buy-a-home-in-san-francisco/  (prices have risen after this article was written). Rent for homes is also very high. You should use redfin that I linked above to punch in a few city names or zip codes that are mentioned on this thread to get a fair idea of prices.

 

 

 

[idnib]

You can probably find a house within an hour commute with room for an RV. With land, it's much more difficult. Almost everything close in is densely built, and if it's not, it's pricey.  And the part of SJ you're commenting to matters as well, as you can have a one hour commute within the city if it's a long enough distance at rush hour.

 

If you have a lot of hobby materials you'll probably have to declutter or become a whiz at storage.

 

The good things: Great weather, lots of culture and great food, smart and innovative people who are pro-intellectual, and a booming economy.

Edited November 4, 2016 by idnib

[sassenach]

There are some truly excellent public (free!) high schools in San José (as the city now styles itself). I think they were mentioned unthread. Opportunistic realtors for these areas even advertise in China and India (see NYT article), and housing costs have skyrocketed. The private schools are expensive ( > $40k tuition).

 

Other people have mentioned commuting, like from nice areas such as Santa Cruz (I love it there!). As mentioned, many of the tech firms try to help their employees, and some have buses (comfy seats, WiFi, free!). My son commuted and will commute to a tech firm in Mountain View on a 40-min (much longer during rush hour!) bus – pretty sweet. We are on the ACE train line, and lots of people live out here in the boonies (East Bay) & take this train to San Jose every day.

 

https://www.acerail.com

 

Others drive, even from the Central Valley (2+ hours each way) – Tracy, Stockton, Manteca. I'm NOT recommending this! just describing the reality. If you can afford to live close to the job, that's great. But plots are TINY – we moved here from WNY and I was in shock – and land is expensive, and you said you wanted land .... Middle-income people who want to keep horses, for example, live far out to the east in Brentwood, Mountain House, Patterson, Livermore, Sunol ... There are nice horse ranches on the Peninsula (Palo Alto to SF) or Marin County (over the Golden Gate north of SF), but it is much pricier.

 

My husband is fortunate to have a 3-minute commute and could ride his bike to work, but many others aren't as fortunate.

 

 

I don't know if Gilroy (south of San Jose) is an option, commute-wise or affordability-wise (it used to be).

 

There was an article recently in NYT or WSJ about a San Jose fire chief who commuted from RENO, Nevada. Housing affordability and commute time is a vexing problem. People are sleeping in their cars to avoid paying rent. Not to be a downer, but things are crazy. Yes, do visit! Also feel free to PM me if you'd like.

You would have to be a multi-billionaire to afford horse property here. And you'd have a hellish commute. Scratch Marin off the list for sure.

[Laura in CA]

You would have to be a multi-billionaire to afford horse property here. And you'd have a hellish commute. Scratch Marin off the list for sure.

 

That was exactly my point – apparently I wasn't clear. My point was that Peninsula and Marin aren't affordable, but east (Brentwood, Livermore, maybe Benicia, etc.) and south (Morgan Hill? Gilroy? Salinas?) are kind of affordable. 

Edited November 4, 2016 by Laura in CA

[sassenach]

That was exactly my point – apparently I wasn't clear. My point was that Peninsula and Marin aren't affordable, but east (Brentwood, Livermore, maybe Benicia, etc.) and south (Morgan Hill? Gilroy? Salinas?) are kind of affordable. 

Sorry I misunderstood. I have a sick kid and haven't slept through the night in a week. It's probably my fault!