What does it take to live in Palo Alto & still have a life?

[mdwstrnkid]

Originally Posted by irishman_irl

Mayorhaggar - I hear you, prices are what they are in the valley, but I don't get how just about every half decent house around there is a million dollar+ home, not even talking about anything opulent, who is buying theses houses & what do they do for a living.....can only be so many VC's & tech CEO's or maybe I'm being naive, they are clearly not lowly software engineers anyway ;-)

In a household with two wage earners, it's not all that uncommon to have a combined household income of $200K-250K. (Think two software engineers.) There are many households in Palo Alto (and other parts of Silicon Valley) that fall into that category.

[sfcambridge]

You don't want to live in Palo Alto. It is one of the most expensive areas in the country to live. It is sleepy. Often college towns have more "life", but Stanford keeps itself pretty self contained. Palo Alto is more money and families. Wouldn't recommend it. And of course the cost of housing for what you get is ridiculous. I couldn't believe the poor quality of some of the construction going for crazy high prices.

I lived in Menlo Park for awhile, and found more apartments that were a slightly better deal, but rents have gone up quite a bit these past few years.... I agree that you should just head to Mountain View, which is just full of young tech guys and girls like you. More places to eat, more lively weekend scene near Castro St., nice farmer's market, close to Palo Alto.

Again - this isn't like living in Oakland or San Francisco. It is sleepy suburbia.

Also, you simply have to decide what's important to you. $1600 for a nice one bedroom is a great deal these days in any desirable Silicon Valley location. And you say "we", so I assume that means you are splitting it, which is el cheapo. So certainly if there are two of you, you can afford even a decent apartment in Palo Alto if you look around a little - on two salaries. It just depends on how you spend/save your money, and what's important to you.

[mayorhaggar]

Palo Alto is just expensive even by Silicon Valley standards. It has Stanford and a lot of wealthy techies combined with old money people, even a dumpy house will be like a million bucks. Towns like Cupertino, Saratoga and Menlo Park are similar. Pretty much town in San Mateo County or Santa Clara County with a good school district will be about a million for a basic house...fortunately rents aren't as bad in towns like Mountain View or parts of San Jose.

People move here for the kinds of jobs they can get, and for the weather and scenery. Problem is everyone wants to live here and there's no room to build new housing. People don't move here to buy a big house with a giant yard on a modest salary. Maybe 30 years ago but not today.

[irishman_irl]

Maybe I should just move into a large RV, negotiate two permanent parking spaces as part of my salary package...commute across the carpark in the morning & no $1600 a month ;-)

Seriously though, thanks for the advice so far.

What's the commute / traffic like between Palo Alto & Mountain View? They look fairly close on google maps, but not sure how that translates into travel time during rush hour.

[andyadhi01]

Originally Posted by mdwstrnkid

In a household with two wage earners, it's not all that uncommon to have a combined household income of $200K-250K. (Think two software engineers.) There are many households in Palo Alto (and other parts of Silicon Valley) that fall into that category.

$200-250K income is a typical middle class family income in silicon valley, it is by no means high or even upper middle class! And you can't afford a house in Palo Alto with only 200K income unless you have half a million dollar stashed away for down payment.

[sfcambridge]

Originally Posted by irishman_irl

Maybe I should just move into a large RV, negotiate two permanent parking spaces as part of my salary package...commute across the carpark in the morning & no $1600 a month ;-)

Seriously though, thanks for the advice so far.

What's the commute / traffic like between Palo Alto & Mountain View? They look fairly close on google maps, but not sure how that translates into travel time during rush hour.

Commute/traffic? Are you kidding?

You're a 28 year old kid living in Silicon Valley. You ride your bike to work, so traffic is not an issue.

Driving through suburbia can be slow at times/rush hour. But Mountain View is next door to Palo Alto. It is manageable.

[irishman_irl]

Been doing the craigslist / google maps dance for a few hours & most of the housing stock along the peninsula is between or near the 101 & 208 freeways.

On GMaps it looks like there is a lot of land / open space directly west of Palo Alto / SunnyVale / Cupertino.....up in the hills so to speak, I know nothing about that area but assume it might be less densely populated (big plus) & so traffic / rent might be a little less....could possibly even rent a small house.

Does anyone know what the housing situation & commute to SValley is like from those areas? Specifically I am looking around the 35, 239 & the 9 - lots of county & state parks on those roads which looks good.

[mdwstrnkid]

Originally Posted by andyadhi01

$200-250K income is a typical middle class family income in silicon valley, it is by no means high or even upper middle class! And you can't afford a house in Palo Alto with only 200K income unless you have half a million dollar stashed away for down payment.

Actually, the median household income in Palo Alto is somewhere around $119K according to 2007 census data. You are forgetting that there are a lot of people in Palo Alto who have been there for many years predating the emergence of tech in the area. My mom's cousin and husband have lived there for over 45 years and I doubt that they've ever made close to $250K in a year, even after adjusting into today's dollars. However, they own something like 8-9 rental houses in area, all of which were purchased more than 20 years ago. Of course, I don't think that they would be able to purchase those homes now with their current income stream.

[sfcambridge]

Originally Posted by irishman_irl

Been doing the craigslist / google maps dance for a few hours & most of the housing stock along the peninsula is between or near the 101 & 208 freeways.

On GMaps it looks like there is a lot of land / open space directly west of Palo Alto / SunnyVale / Cupertino.....up in the hills so to speak, I know nothing about that area but assume it might be less densely populated (big plus) & so traffic / rent might be a little less....could possibly even rent a small house.

Does anyone know what the housing situation & commute to SValley is like from those areas? Specifically I am looking around the 35, 239 & the 9 - lots of county & state parks on those roads which looks good.

Well, the two towns directly West of Palo Alto across 280.....

Portola Valley
Woodside

are probably the only places in the Bay Area more expensive then Palo Alto! These are rich rich rich and rich families. More land with lots, more hidden houses and windy roads, horse trails and the like. For living in privacy, but not much more. Minimal stores/restaurants etc..

We'll see what others say about the wide open areas on either side. Don't know what's there.... Maybe you could rent cheaper near Half Moon Bay, if that's what you are talking about, but that is also popular for tourists and maybe that affects rents. Very different feel of course. Further south you may get into more small roads, longer commutes/traffic issues.