Can a family of four live in San Jose on a $65K income? (Santa Clara: countertops, house)

[bentobox34]

Good luck with everything. For what it's worth, I would choose the option of living in Tracy and riding ACE. You will be able to sleep, check email, read, whatever on the train. I have a train commute to San Jose that is 50 minutes, about 1:20 total including the additional travel on each end, and every time I drive anywhere near rush hour it takes AT LEAST 1:20 and I wonder what I was thinking.

You will need to look into connecting transit to your job. I'm assuming a federal job would be located in downtown San Jose, but be advised that the main San Jose train station is somewhat disconnected from most downtown jobs. You will probably need to use a shuttle, bus or light rail and factor that time into your total commute.

Regarding traffic - the landlord who told you that rush hour doesn't start until 8:00 was trying to sell you something. From repeated drives, I can tell you that heavy southbound traffic starts at about 6:45 AM in Fremont, and continues until 10:30. The outbound congested period lasts from 3:30 to 7:30 PM. I know, hard to believe. I was pretty dumbfounded the first times I found myself in stop-and-go traffic at 7:30 PM.

Regarding affordable housing, there are tiers of housing set aside for Low Income, Very Low Income, and Extremely Low Income, which I believe are set at 80%, 60% and 30% of AMI. I believe the 80% level is about $83,000 for a family of four. It could be the one you called up who said the limit was $67,400 was a VLI unit. Regardless, there is an extremely long waiting list for affordable units in this county, and preference goes to people who already live here (I know, paradoxical). The chances of landing such a unit within your timeframe are pretty low, but you might look into it if you plan to stay longer once you're here.

[sunnyvale teacher]

The Bay area has a way that lower income people can buy and rent the same housing that their higher income neighbors live in. This is Below MArket Rate BMR housing. When builders build new housing they must build a few units that get sold at about a third of what their other units sell for. You qualify to buy a BMR home if you have a down payment, make less than the needed salary and have not bought a home within the last 3 years. You can only buy a unit in the town you are currently living in or in the town you work in. A fellow teacher friend of mine bought a brand new BMR townhouse in Sunnyvale for $400K. Her income was less than 80K and she has 2 children. The units were selling for around 650-700K. There are restrictions on BMR rates. You buy them cheaper, you cannot rent them out and if you sell your home you have to sell it at a set price so the buyer gets to pay less too. I think that government workers may get a preference.Sometimes there is a wait in order to get a home, but I have known 3 people who bought beautiful homes this way (2 teachers and 1 grocery clerk)--much nicer than any home I have owned and my family's income is pretty good.

There are also BMR apartments. I looked at some of these with a friend and they were beautiful, more like luxury condos.You could rent one of them in a great neighborhood until you were able to purchase your BMR house.

[Goin' Coastal]

I am bumping this to see what ever happened to OP and his family? Did they make the move?

[never-more]

Originally Posted by Goin' Coastal

I am bumping this to see what ever happened to OP and his family? Did they make the move?

Try message the OP about it.

[easybay]

Looks like he's staying in the Carolina's....

So I'm in the market for a house. We've found two decent properties, but they are in totally different areas: One in the Northeast/Sandhill area of Columbia, the other in Elgin. We like the idea of being close to everything, such as supermarkets and restaurants, so this is why the NE Columbia house is more appealing in terms of location. But it is also much more congested and the road system there was clearly not designed to accommodate so many cars each morning. I have also seen how traffic backs up on Killian Road and Clemson Road in the evenings.

The Elgin house is nicer and has a MUCH larger yard. But it is a bit isolated. There is a subdivision there, but it is small (and apparently growing). The nearest supermarket is maybe a 10-minute drive away. Interestingly, the commute to my office from Elgin is easier and shorter than the commute from the NE Columbia house because this house is about 90 seconds away from I-20.

What can you tell me about the differences between these two areas in terms of crime, taxes, and general quality of life? Does Elgin have a decent reputation? For people living in Columbia, if you wanted to visit your friend who lives in Elgin, would you think it's so far out of the way that it's not worth the inconvenience? Or does this stigma not exist? Or would you recommend doing any grocery shopping after work in Columbia and driving back to Elgin and staying home? And how easy would it be to sell a house in Elgin or rent it out?

Basically I think the Northeast seems like the more logical place to live, but the much better house is in Elgin. We'd like to know if the tradeoff is worth it.

Thank you!

[Goin' Coastal]

Oh, good. I hope it works out for him. It is funny how worried I got about him relocating here!

My husband and I moved up here over 30 years ago, also for work. When we were told we had to leave our North San Diego County home of 3 years to move up here, we were so disappointed, especially when we were told, "You're gonna take a shellacking," and that was about right.

We left our $71k house down there and paid $113k here. Haha. Those were the days.

We are still in that $113k house, by the way, in Fremont. It is worth a bit more now, though.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by bobby_guz_man

^ I never understood why people who live in other cities like to post in the San Jose forum. Doesn't Fremont have their own forum?

Fremont is one of those in-between towns. You can post about it in the SF/Oakland forum...but in in both character and culture, it fits better into the San Jose forum. Even though it's technically a suburb of Oakland, it's closer to SJ. The only thing that makes it feel like the East Bay is the BART station.

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

Fremont is one of those in-between towns. You can post about it in the SF/Oakland forum...but in in both character and culture, it fits better into the San Jose forum. Even though it's technically a suburb of Oakland, it's closer to SJ. The only thing that makes it feel like the East Bay is the BART station.

Fremont is generally paired with Milpitas as a region, which turns into the Berryessa area of San Jose as one goes south, thus its association with SJ. Many of its residents live there to be near their tech jobs in the South Bay.

[bobby_guz_man]

We're too damn nice in here, nobody in here gets riled up by trolling posts anymore *sigh*

I was reading that "San Jose is LAME" thread from last year, was laughing my head off the entire lunch break Never knew people hated my city so much.

[never-more]

Originally Posted by bobby_guz_man

We're too damn nice in here, nobody in here gets riled up by trolling posts anymore *sigh*

I was reading that "San Jose is LAME" thread from last year, was laughing my head off the entire lunch break Never knew people hated my city so much.

This forum gets little activity or views. And don't worry about those 408 haters, their already gone and away. More room for those of us who loves this city.