Job opportunity in Stanford... need advice (Sunnyvale, San Mateo: apartments, for rent, condos)

[summersb]

I am considering a good job opportunity in Stanford. However, I don't know much about the area. I am a single female in her 30's with no kids and also have a good job opportunity in DC (pays $85K a year).

I would really appreciate some advice regarding cost of living and what salary range I should ask to be comparable to the one in DC.

I also would like to know about the lifestyle and how easy might be to develop new friendships in Stanford.

I know Palo Alto would be completely out of my range for renting, so if you have any advice of places to live that are not a long commute from Stanford, with a nice, active community, I would really appreciate it.

Thank you in advance

[humboldtrat]

Mountain View, Sunnyvale or Redwood City would be good choices and cheaper than Palo Alto. It's mostly middle class suburbia everywhere along the peninsula. You could live very comfortably in the area with an $85K income if you could get it - you could get by OK with less.

I'm waiting for "hsw" to chime in with his nonsense about the titans of high tech and the masters of the universe who live/work in Palo Alto and go down to west LA on weekends for some decent "grub" .

[cardinal2007]

Originally Posted by summersb

I am considering a good job opportunity in Stanford. However, I don't know much about the area. I am a single female in her 30's with no kids and also have a good job opportunity in DC (pays $85K a year).

I would really appreciate some advice regarding cost of living and what salary range I should ask to be comparable to the one in DC.

I would say the latter depends on what you want, if the job in DC is in a similar suburb, like Tyson's Corner, then it really depends, do you want to buy or rent something, if so, what, a townhouse, a condo, or a SFH. Most single people rent apartments, or live in condos, so I'll go with that.

If you want to rent an apartment to have similar standard of living I would say the Palo Alto job opportunity should pay about $98k.

To buy a condo to have a similar standard of living I would say the Palo Alto job opportunity should pay about $115k - $120k.

Housing is expensive in the Peninsula, so for the most part you would have to accept a lower standard of living in that regard if you move to the Peninsula. There are somethings that are nicer here than there, like lower traffic, and better weather. But except for utilities, you should expect to pay more here, and yeah, condos are a lot more expensive here than in the DC suburbs, if you're comparing apples to apples.

I would say if you don't want to spend too much money Mountain View has some fairly affordable areas, not too far from Palo Alto. Some parts of Sunnyvale are affordable too. But I prefer places like Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Carlos, and San Mateo, mostly since they have actual downtowns, even though I live in Belmont, I'm about 7-10 minutes from downtown San Carlos. In terms of price I think Redwood City would probably be most affordable.

Location wise going from south to north it goes like this
Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Palo Alto (on the west) East Palo Alto (on the east), Menlo Park, Atherton, Redwood City, San Carlos, Belmont (on the west) Redwood Shores (on the east), San Mateo and Foster City (on the east). Avoid East Palo Alto, it is not part of Palo Alto, and it probably has more crime than what you're looking for, also Menlo Park east of 101.

[summersb]

Thank you to both of you for the very, very useful information.

I currently live in Santa Barbara, so I was looking forward to rent a nice large 1 bedroom in the DC suburbs, I was even considering buying a 1 bedroom condo... finally!

Now with the Stanford opportunity, it seems that if I decide to stay in California, the chances of buying will have to wait a little longer... which is ok, but I'm not sure about paying $1,200 for a studio... I have lived that life in Santa Barbara for the last 6 years, and I am ready for some upgrade on living conditions

[coolbay]

Originally Posted by summersb

I would really appreciate some advice regarding cost of living and what salary range I should ask to be comparable to the one in DC.

Salary range is based on the post and exp. you apply. Can you specify little more. University and Industry have different scales and career goals. Being single, I think $80k is manageable around or nearby that area.

Getting to stanford from hwy 280 is easier than hwy 101. So, if you staying away from nearby area, you probably need to find place easy access to 280. Sunnyvale and Mtn view will work out with close proximity.

Friendships in Stanford isn't that hard!

[humboldtrat]

You can probably get a decent 1 bedroom apartment in Mountain View, Redwood City, San Carlos, or Sunnyvale for about $1500. It will probably cost more in Palo Alto (at least in the northern half of the city).

[summersb]

I have been looking at Craigslist and other websites, and I have seen some apartments for $1300 (that is what I had in mind) in Redwood City, San Carlos, and Mountain View . However, they all look like Motel 6 places...