Santa Clara job offer (San Jose, Fremont: apartment, rent, condo)

[coolcreek21]

Hi if this has already been asked apologies in advance- pls direct me to another thread! My husband has a job offer for a company in Santa Clara. Salary is $230 plus bonus (but we can’t factor in the unknown bonus amt ). My husband and I have three kids (one income until they are in school)...I’ve been looking at Pleasanton and Dublin or Livermore - just on Redfin for now. The company has a satellite office in Pleasanton so he could work there a couple days a week and do a terrible commute into SC the rest OR he could work from home a couple days and drive into SC the rest. We really don’t want to/can’t afford over 900k for a house - around 850 would be even better. Any suggestions? Thank you!!

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by coolcreek21

Hi if this has already been asked apologies in advance- pls direct me to another thread! My husband has a job offer for a company in Santa Clara. Salary is $230 plus bonus (but we can’t factor in the unknown bonus amt ). My husband and I have three kids (one income until they are in school)...I’ve been looking at Pleasanton and Dublin or Livermore - just on Redfin for now. The company has a satellite office in Pleasanton so he could work there a couple days a week and do a terrible commute into SC the rest OR he could work from home a couple days and drive into SC the rest. We really don’t want to/can’t afford over 900k for a house - around 850 would be even better. Any suggestions? Thank you!!

No, no, NO! Don't do that to him. I can see, I guess, how you're tempted to go out there, because of the satellite office, but that's a horrible commute to stick someone with, the rest of the time. Where, in Santa Clara, btw? Do you mean San Jose?

OK, it might work, if he could take the train from Pleasanton to SJ, and catch a bus (does the company have a shuttle?) from there. Also take a look at Fremont, which is much closer, just for comparison's sake. It's on the Bay, so the weather will be cooler. I don't know if that matters to you.
http://www.acerail.com/Getting-You-T...ons/Pleasanton

[coolcreek21]

Lol thanks. We were just thinking that 3 days a week may not be so bad(?) I guess it is! And the address is Santa Clara zip 95054. I’m not sure about a shuttle but we will ask. And I’ll check out Fremont! We like cooler weather. Thanks for the tip!

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by coolcreek21

Lol thanks. We were just thinking that 3 days a week may not be so bad(?) I guess it is! And the address is Santa Clara zip 95054. I’m not sure about a shuttle but we will ask. And I’ll check out Fremont! We like cooler weather. Thanks for the tip!

I see. It borders north San Jose. The train could still work. Check out Fremont on the map, though; it's really close, and he could still take the ACE train from Fremont; it would be a really short run, and has two stops short of San Jose, one of which looks like it's in the target zip code. The "Great America" stop is the one.
Fremont - ACE | Altamont Corridor Express

You'll find, that you won't get as much square footage for your buck in Fremont, but the two of you will have to decide if it's worth sacrificing that, for proximity to work, and cooler weather. There are bike trails in Fremont, that go to a bayside park, and other parks, btw.

[capoeira]

Originally Posted by coolcreek21

Hi if this has already been asked apologies in advance- pls direct me to another thread! My husband has a job offer for a company in Santa Clara. Salary is $230 plus bonus (but we can’t factor in the unknown bonus amt ).

I wouldn't recommend moving for that salary. Here is a previous post from March that calculated the necessary salary to make a move to Silicon Valley worth it.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/54707744-post2.html

Originally Posted by coolcreek21

We really don’t want to/can’t afford over 900k for a house - around 850 would be even better. Any suggestions? Thank you!!

There are very few house options under a million dollars with good schools. Any house in the 850k range will be on the tiny side like these midget sized examples.

https://www.trulia.com/p/ca/fremont/...38--2083395565

https://www.trulia.com/p/ca/pleasant...66--2083646152

I recommend not buying until you really know the area. The tax advantages of buying are a lot less under the new tax law. If you make the move I suggest renting a 3 bedroom apartment at Avalon Fremont for around $3500 or at Avalon San Jose for the low 4,000's.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by capoeira

I wouldn't recommend moving for that salary. Here is a previous post from March that calculated the necessary salary to make a move to Silicon Valley worth it.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/54707744-post2.html



There are very few house options under a million dollars with good schools. Any house in the 850k range will be on the tiny side like these midget sized examples.

https://www.trulia.com/p/ca/fremont/...38--2083395565

https://www.trulia.com/p/ca/pleasant...66--2083646152

I recommend not buying until you really know the area. The tax advantages of buying are a lot less under the new tax law. If you make the move I suggest renting a 3 bedroom apartment at Avalon Fremont for around $3500 or at Avalon San Jose for the low 4,000's.

I didn't see the part of the OP about their house-buying budget. The 2nd listing looks nice, except for the tiny back yard. "Excellent Feng shui!" Wow--what a deal! . The other place has a better yard. Both places would be cramped, with 3 kids, I guess.

Renting first is a good idea. They could rent in Fremont, and scope out Pleasanton. Or maybe just go for Pleasanton, with the train commute, which seems to have a station right near the company's main office.

[RationalExpectations]

Don't do it for that salary. Your quality of life would suck beyond belief.

Here's another way to look at it. Go to Zillow and browse residential housing within a reasonable commute distance, focusing on Mt. View, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Cupertino, Los Altos, Saratoga and Los Gatos.

Look at how much you would need to pay to get a home that is replicates your current lifestyle. Use that to back into a gross compensation number you need to replicate your current lifestyle for housing.

If this is for a pre-IPO company, you have to decide if you want to roll the dice.

If this is for an already public company, you'll need to closely examine how much stock they granted in the offer letter.

There is yet another thing to look at if the employer is a Fortune 50 company. Very large companies will sometimes give you a loan to buy/build a house, where the loan will be forgiven over time. So, if you leave the company within 1 year, you have to pay off the loan. However, if you stay on for, say, 5 years, the loan is forgiven. In between is a sliding scale. At the same time, you want to make sure any loan forgiveness is tax protected.

[RationalExpectations]

https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/04/...ousing-crisis/

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by RationalExpectations

Don't do it for that salary. Your quality of life would suck beyond belief.

Here's another way to look at it. Go to Zillow and browse residential housing within a reasonable commute distance, focusing on Mt. View, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Cupertino, Los Altos, Saratoga and Los Gatos.

Look at how much you would need to pay to get a home that is replicates your current lifestyle. Use that to back into a gross compensation number you need to replicate your current lifestyle for housing.

If this is for a pre-IPO company, you have to decide if you want to roll the dice.

If this is for an already public company, you'll need to closely examine how much stock they granted in the offer letter.

There is yet another thing to look at if the employer is a Fortune 50 company. Very large companies will sometimes give you a loan to buy/build a house, where the loan will be forgiven over time. So, if you leave the company within 1 year, you have to pay off the loan. However, if you stay on for, say, 5 years, the loan is forgiven. In between is a sliding scale. At the same time, you want to make sure any loan forgiveness is tax protected.

Or maybe it would only be challenging, until the youngest kid gets into school, and the OP gets a job to contribute to the budget? Presumably, her hubby would be getting raises during those years...

There's no need to send the OP in the direction of SV and the Peninsula. This is why the East Bay was suggested. This is why the OP zeroed in on Pleasanton, for example; plus the fact that the employer has an office there. It would be a waste of time to look at housing prices on the other side of the Bay, & in the South Bay. She knows it's way out of budget, there. The commute would be doable on the train, if it's not too expensive.

Where would you be moving from, OP? Do you guys have a good lifestyle where you are? Or are you hoping to escape brutal winters, or something?

[roadwarrior101]

I tend to agree that its probably not worth it to move to the area for the quality of life. Here's a couple thoughts on what the compensation would allow for:

1. Short commute - Either compromising on house quality, size, neighborhood safety, school quality or all of the above.
2. Long commute - You can have the better community and nicer house in Pleasanton (although even that is becoming less affordable), but your husband will have to put up with the commute 3x per week

Basically, you cannot have it all. Having it all would be a beautiful house in Los Altos/Palo Alto, with a reasonable commute, but that's far out of your budget.

If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't do it at this point. If I did it, it would be for a couple years to get the experience and then transfer to another office with this company in a cheaper city, with the same salary.

We have a similar dynamic commute wise, but the benefit is that we bought in about 10 years ago, so our mortgage is a lot less. We also have family ties to the area and our kids are already in school here. But, we probably wouldn't do the transfer here if we were relocating at this point in time.