Relocation to San Jose (Berkeley: sublet, apartment complexes, rentals)

[rizich2001]

Good morning Everyone,
I am new to forum and am looking for some insight.
I was recently offered a position in San Jose with a starting salary of 85K. My fiance and I have been looking into the rental market in the area and I am becoming a bit concerned if this salary will be enough for a comfortable lifestyle in the San Jose area.
My fiance will be attending graduate school in Berkely which will tack on a long commute (from what I understand). Further we are in our late 30s and are looking to start a family. We also have 3 dogs.
We are seeing one bedroom/one bath apartments for close to 2000/month. I have contacted many property managers, apartment complexes, landlords, etc to try and find a single family home in the area but have had absolutely no luck.

My questions are as follows:
1. Is 85k enough to make a good life in San Jose? We are looking to set roots and my concern is when we go to buy it will be impossible to find something and not be house poor.

2. What areas are the best areas to live in as I will be travelling alot and want her to feel safe when walking our dogs?

3. I want to make sure we can live ok, save some money for a home, and start a family on 85K. My fiance will work eventually but not for the first year or so as grad school will be her full time job.

Any insights the people of the area can provide are greatly appreciated. I want to make a good comfortable life for me family. And I don't want to feel like we are sinking--been there done that-got the t-shirt,....don't want to go back.

Thanks for all of your help.

[ccm123]

1/ 85K will be pretty tight, but it can be done.
2/ I think your biggest obstacle will be finding a rental that allows 3 dogs. It is hard to find a rental which will even allow one dog, or a cat, from my experience.
3/ Rents are very high here, as you are seeing.
4/ Since your fiance is attending Berkeley, you could consider something in the East Bay. The rents will be lower than in San Jose generally, and she would have a bit of an easier commute.

[easybay]

There are several current threads that you should read - "do we overhype the COL", "good choice to move to Silicon Valley", and "family of 4 live on 65K".......

I don't know how you can possibly save money, start a family, support a student (how high are the student loans?), and rent a house here with 3 dogs.

[nagleepark]

In a way, you already have a family: your three dogs. If not for them, you'd be able to take an apartment. Instead, you need to rent a house which is insanely expensive. I've known families who did it and it's so expensive that they saved nothing and consequently moved out of the area. If you do find a place, it'll be more of a survival lifestyle, not a comfortable lifestyle.

I know a landlord that has a 5-bedroom house. He rents each bedroom for $700 - $800/month. It's a long shot but you might look into seeing if you can rent a house and sublet rooms to bring down your cost. You might also look at renting a room from an elderly homeowner who would like to have more animals and people around. I've seen couples who rent rooms, not just single people.

If your fiancee could delay grad school and work instead (or do grad school part time which is super hard), that'd really help. There are no guarantees that she'd ever get to grad school, of course; she might just get stuck in the rat race.

[bobby_guz_man]

These kind of threads really need a sticky...

It's kind of sad actually, where the first time someone jumps into this forum, the first thing they see is a sticky that says "PLEASE READ: HOW MUCH DOES IT TAKE TO LIVE IN SAN JOSE (AND BAY AREA IN GENERAL)?" Speaks to our ridiculous housing situation here, more than anything else

[Wry_Martini]

It's possible, but going to be extremely tight, and you probably won't be able to save much money. I wasn't sure if your fiancee would be working PT or getting grants/student loans that would help cover living expenses, so that might help a bit. As another poster said, survival lifestyle, not living it up large.

The biggest problem is going to be the dogs. It's pretty unusual to find rentals that will take one pet, let along 3. Sure, they exist, but it won't be easy. A friend of mine moved out here about 18 months ago, and he and his girlfriend had to make the difficult decision to give 2 of their 3 dogs to family members and only bring 1 dog; they simply couldn't find a place to rent that would accept all 3. (To be fair, they also had to move on fairly short notice, it's possible they may have been able to find someplace that could have accepted 2 of the dogs if they had more time.)

Also, please know that in addition to the pet deposits you'll have to pay, a lot of landlords also charge pet rent. Last place I rented (before I bought) the pet deposit was $700 per animal and the pet rent was $25 per animal.

Definitely check the East Bay, that may be your best bet. Try Craigslist too, for rental houses.

Good luck!

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by ccm123

1/ 85K will be pretty tight, but it can be done.
2/ I think your biggest obstacle will be finding a rental that allows 3 dogs. It is hard to find a rental which will even allow one dog, or a cat, from my experience.
3/ Rents are very high here, as you are seeing.
4/ Since your fiance is attending Berkeley, you could consider something in the East Bay. The rents will be lower than in San Jose generally, and she would have a bit of an easier commute.

I also concur that you should look in the East Bay, preferably near a BART station, such that your fiancée can take public transit to the UC campus (parking is scarce and expensive around campus). You would presumably drive to SJ - where in SJ will you be? Driving to SJ southward from the East Bay, unfortunately is no picnic either.

The pets are going to be your most difficult matter in finding rental properties, I agree.

[cornblitz]

We knew when we moved to the Bay Area five years ago with one dog and three cats that we would need to buy, not rent. Multiple pets, especially dogs, will be a non-starter for most landlords.

[karwosts]

I'm gonna give thumbs down to this proposal. You cannot rent a SFH anywhere near San Jose on $85k salary with any sane rent to income ratio. You will be stuck in a small 1 BR (or 2BR if you really stretch) unless you can double your family's income. I cannot imagine trying to raise three dogs in a small apartment around here, assuming any landlord would let you. Most apartments have very little yard space anyway.

You will not be able to save for a home (or for much of anything else really).

Now the only reason I could maybe see this working is if your wife is planning on picking up a $50k+ paying job in a year in addition to your job and if you have no student loans. You will barely be treading water until then, but if this job is a really good opportunity for you might be willing to try. When you are both working you might be able to start thinking of saving for a few years to pick up a very low end house, but you'll be extremely cramped until then. You'll probably have to postpone starting your family as well as you'll need your wife's full time income to afford mortgage payments for several years.

[Nell Plotts]

Basically the OP needs to put the dogs in foster care until he and his significant other have found jobs adequate to sustain a middle class life style. After she obtains her degree they may both be able to find jobs in a community with a lower cost of living.