silicon valley schools (San Jose, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara: to rent, mortgage, loan)

[sskowski]

I'm moving to silicon valley from LA and would like to get direction on where to live. Interested in which areas have the highest rated public schools (and pre-schools), in areas which attract educated, socially minded and active people. Proximity to San Jose with access to Palo Alto works in a town with a good community feel to rent in now and possibly buy in later (is $1 mil still possible?!!). Thanks!

[mstnghu2]

You'll basically be wanting to look at the west side of the Santa Clara Valley. You would probably want to look in Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Saratoga, Cupertino, West San Jose, Los Altos/Los Altos Hills and Palo Alto.

If you'd like any more specifics on these areas, feel free to ask. Based on your initial inquiry though, these are the areas you'll probably want to focus on.

[Nell Plotts]

BUT $1m for a family sized house will be a challenge.

[mstnghu2]

Originally Posted by Nell Plotts

BUT $1m for a family sized house will be a challenge.

Agreed.

[hsw]

PaloAlto/PortolaValley, etc region is where most of CA's (or world's for that matter) highest-income/highest-skilled choose to reside

Much as in LA's Westside, $1MM buys a slum in PaloAlto region
But desirable land in hills above PA is far cheaper than desirable land in Palisades/Brentwood

And keep in mind that PaloAlto region has world's greatest concentration of wealthy engineers who likely attended mediocre public schools all over US suburbia; may be college dropouts or graduated Stanford CS but view formal education as a waste of time and lots of miseducation, even back in pre-Kindle/iPad era, let alone era in which they are raising their kids and when most top engineers in SV are dropouts/outcasts of some form who are continually self-educating as tech/finance/business continually evolve

[Nell Plotts]

One of the problems is that professors are a generation behind. I think undergrad work is really the foundation to build on. There is a difference in the culture of implementers and creative developers. The similarity, in my observation, is with mathematicians. Their most creative work typically takes place before the age of 35. The SV is a stew made up of creative engineers and mathematicians/software developers. Not all of that ilk can handle the SV pressure.

[Wintermomma]

Perhaps Mountain View, Cupertino or the parts of Sunnyvale in the aforementioned school districts? You could find something for $1 million, not fancy (can you believe it? I can't...also from LA), but something. Especially if you could go townhome.

To those in the know, how are schools on the north side of this area, like Belmont, Menlo Park, San Carlos, etc.?

[roadwarrior101]

Originally Posted by Wintermomma

Perhaps Mountain View, Cupertino or the parts of Sunnyvale in the aforementioned school districts? You could find something for $1 million, not fancy (can you believe it? I can't...also from LA), but something. Especially if you could go townhome.

To those in the know, how are schools on the north side of this area, like Belmont, Menlo Park, San Carlos, etc.?

Well, living in Mountain View, I can tell you that the schools here are good. Maybe not as good as Palo Alto if you're just going by the API scores, but I don't think they tell everything. Palo Alto and Cupertino tend to have a high concentration of Asian students, who are very academically focused but less well rounded.

I personally think that the Mountain View schools are strong enough and having a little more diversity in the schools is not necessarily a bad thing. However, if I change my mind, I can send my kids to Bellarmine Prep, with the money I've saved in buying a less expensive house.

[Nell Plotts]

My daughter lives in Los Altos, her son is at Springer grade school (which is located in Mountain View but part of the Los Altos School District). They are happy with his progress. The parental support of their programs is very strong.

My SIL teaches in Cupertino. What others have said about the school culture is consistent with what he has shared with me.

[Home Addict]

Originally Posted by sskowski

I'm moving to silicon valley from LA and would like to get direction on where to live. Interested in which areas have the highest rated public schools (and pre-schools), in areas which attract educated, socially minded and active people. Proximity to San Jose with access to Palo Alto works in a town with a good community feel to rent in now and possibly buy in later (is $1 mil still possible?!!). Thanks!

It may make sense to just rent.

Buying a million-dollar home means putting down 200k downpayment, and mortgaging an 800k loan. The total monthly mortgage payment for a 800k 30-year fixed loan at 4% comes out to 3800+/month. Add 1500/mo of property tax, and take out about 800/mo in mortgage interest deduction, your monthly expense is about 4500/mo.

Now you could rent a pretty nice place for less than 3500/month. Of course, you won't see any appreciation by renting. However, your monthly expense is less, you don't have to tie down 200k, and if you feel the school district isn't your type you can always move on. Besides, who says home prices have to appreciate?