Planning to Move to the Bay Area But Can't Decide Where! Help?! (San Jose: 2015, rentals)

[pixie77]

Hello Everyone!

We are currently living in Southwest Florida, moved here from Long Island, NY in 2011. After almost 2 years living here we decided to move out in the Summer of 2015. We recently vacationed in the Bay Area [June], camping in Yosemite, going around SFO, Golden Gate, Monterey & Carmel. We missed out Napa but we’ve been there before so that’s okay. We love the scenery, the climate, how easy it is to go to the mountains and the ocean.

Our combined annual income is $160,000 bonuses not included. Husband works from home hence the flexibility. I work in a Biotech firm down here, but my income is not as substantial compared to my husband that’s why it’s not a big deal if I have to look for a new and better opportunity. Can we afford to live in the South or East Bay with our income? We have an 11 year old daughter. Rent budget is between $2,500-3,000, is this a realistic budget for a 3 bedroom 2 bath townhome or sfh?

We’d like to rent in a place with the following:
a. Safe & walkable neighborhoods – Gated community or not kindly recommend which ones are okay and which ones to avoid.
b. Reasonable distance to farmer’s markets – We like to go to farmer’s markets during weekends.
c. Reasonable distance to parks, library, and tennis courts – We like to go biking, walk around the park & picnic and my daughter plays tennis.
d. Reasonable distance to restaurants, shops – We are not crazy about fast food chains or chain restaurants. We like the mom & pop stores, restaurants. We like to try different kind of ethic food. We shop at Trader Joe’s and Ikea. We’re not crazy about big box stores.
e. New-ish –Townhome or single family home.

We are looking at the following areas:
1. San Jose – near or around Piedmont High School area – please recommend nice family oriented areas. Good Schools aside from Piedmont?
2. Santa Clara – we don’t know exactly where-please recommend nice family oriented areas. Good schools?
3. Fremont – We know Mission San Jose is exclusive and expensive so we are not considering that. We were told to look around North Fremont as it is more diverse, does that mean that area is not solely populated by Indians & Chinese? I mean I don’t want to sound offensive or anything just curious as we observed during our trip Fremont is mostly Indian, Chinese & Middle Eastern communities. Good schools? good and safe neighborhood?

We are considering:
1. Newark – because it’s surrounded by Fremont? Don’t know much about it. But cheaper rent. Good Schools? Areas to look at and to avoid?

Thank you for taking the time to read my long post and pardon the length. All your inputs will be appreciated. Please recommend any nice areas that we should consider other than what I mentioned and other things that we need to put into consideration when moving there.

Pixie

[mstnghu2]

1. Based on your criteria, I'd say in San Jose look in Willow Glen, Naglee Park and the Rose Garden areas. WG has its own little downtown area, NP is close to downtown SJ and the RG neighborhood is also close to a retail strip along The Alameda and is also close to downtown SJ. Schools aren't the greatest in these areas, but not terrible either.

2. In Santa Clara, the neighborhoods close to Santa Clara University would probably fit what you're looking for. This area is also very close to the Rose Garden area of SJ.

3. In Fremont, yes Mission San Jose is very expensive. Most of Fremont is heavily Chinese/Indian and there is not much diversity. I wouldn't consider North Fremont to be any more diverse than the rest of the city. If your looking for a more balanced racial demographic, I'd look in the Glenmoor neighborhood and in the Niles District. Niles actually meets a lot of your search criteria and I highly recommend it.

4. As far as Newark goes, yes, it is slightly cheaper overall than Fremont. I have lived in Newark for a little over four years now and am happy in my neighborhood. I live in the Lake Area and in my honest opinion, it's by far the nicest part of Newark. Newark has many ugly, bland neighborhoods. It's reasonably safe overall but does have a surprisingly high transient/meth user population. There is a large homeless encampment near hwy. 84 and Newark Blvd. but for the most part the people there are relatively harmless. You will see many of the "regulars" frequent the Safeway shopping center on Newark Blvd./Jarvis Ave. and occasionally harass customers. Schools are reasonably decent throughout town, but not stellar. They are pretty middle of the road.

[pixie77]

Thank you, Mstnghu2! We will keep those in mind. How about North San Jose? is $2,500-3,000 realistic figures for renting a 3bed/2bath townhome or single family home? Can we afford to live in the South bay or East bay with our income?

[zombocom]

That seems pretty realistic, I think you can manage that in North San Jose / Santa Clara / Mountain View - I'm sure you're already aware that it won't be nearly as nice as what 3,000 will get you in Florida.

[pixie77]

Thank you Zombocom. We are aware of the disparity in terms of housing cost and what we get for that amount and we have lowered our expectations. How about Almaden? Is that an okay area? Safe? Is North San Jose safe? How about the schools?

[mstnghu2]

Originally Posted by pixie77

Thank you Zombocom. We are aware of the disparity in terms of housing cost and what we get for that amount and we have lowered our expectations. How about Almaden? Is that an okay area? Safe? Is North San Jose safe? How about the schools?

North San Jose covers a large area. The north central part which is roughly the area between Trimble Rd. and north toward Alviso is primarily commercial. There has been a surge in multi-unit housing throughout the area over the last few years in that area, but it's still mainly a commercial part of the city. The northeastern part of San Jose that borders Milpitas is just typical suburban California. Overall most of North SJ is a decent part of town, not upscale, but perfectly liveable. Most neighborhoods are safe.

Almaden Valley is very nice and has highly rated schools. It's in a geographic location that makes it feel somewhat isolated from the rest of SJ. There is a large shopping corridor directly north on Blossom Hill Rd., but is highly commercialized which probably won't fit what you're looking for. It is close to downtown Los Gatos though which has a nice boutique-style downtown. Personally, I think that Almaden Valley has some of the best natural scenery in San Jose. The housing ranges from modest ranch homes to multi-million dollar mansions in the hilly parts. If you head south you are basically out in the country in a matter of a few minutes. You may have a hard time finding a house in your price-range in AV. My mom and uncle are currently in the process of fixing up my grandparents' 1963 1900 sq. ft. ranch home and will be asking close to $3k/month to rent it when its done. It will probably rent out immediately even at that price since the area is quite desireable.

[pixie77]

Thanks for your reply, appreciate it!

[never-more]

Piedmont is considered pretty average. If your ok living in a mostly Vietnamese and Indian neighborhood, Evergreen might work for you. The high school is Evergreen Valley, which is considered okay-ish, good academics, but questionable social environment. That school takes in kids from nearby neighborhoods of the East Side, which is more Hispanic and less affluent. Evergreen is a beautiful and very new part of the city. You should note though that as soon as you cross north of Quimby or west of San Felipe, your out of the newer neighborhoods and the housing stock quality drops noticeably.

Over on the West Valley, you have Cambrian Park, which is nice, zoned to Branham and Leigh (Leigh is the winner in this toss-up, but Branham is not that far behind). Los Gatos (very affluent) has condos to rent, if your willing to drop to a two bedroom house). LG is pretty balanced ethnically (though there isn't that many Hispanics there) and has a small little town center you can shop in, and is also the closest to the Santa Cruz Mountains. Cupertino has very strong schools and has a strong Asian middle class community, but two of them (Monta Vista and Lynbrook) are considered "too stressful." The southwest side of Sunnyvale will work best for you, being ethnically diverse, affordable with your budget, and part of Cupertino schools (Homestead).

Pretty much any part of Mountain View is definitely good, except for the ones next to the freeways, mostly because of air quality concerns.

Hope this helps.

[pixie77]

Thank you for your reply, never-more! We'd like a more diverse/balanced racial demographic if possible and a good school with safe environment. We have an 11 year old daughter which makes safety a paramount concern as well as a good school. I will take note of all that you pointed out. Our rent budget has been set at 3,000 max but we don't mind adding a little bit more if the place is right.

When we were there last June we had dinner in downtown Los Gatos, my husband loved that area. But we thought the rent is just too much. We'd like to be practical and realistic with this move. We like to just spend what we can afford, and hopefully after a couple of years if we really decide to stay there for good we can purchase a home.We will start looking at rentals in Sunnyvale. Thanks again...

[bobby_guz_man]

OP, bottom line is: stay away from San Jose. It's a rather horrible place to live/school. Even San Jose's best public high school, Lynbrook, is claimed as Cupertino's. Imagine that!

Concentrate on the tiny peanut-sized towns and villages around San Jose such as Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Saratoga, Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Mountain View, and Santa Clara. You will do much better there

Good luck! Stay away from San Jose, it's the pits. It's often the butt of jokes in this forum, as all the posters from the tiny towns around it loves to pile every problems of mankind onto poor San Jose and its generally sleepy residents.