Is $85,000/year for a single guy enough to live off of in Sunnyvale? (San Jose: mobile home, neighborhoods)

[neutrino78x]

Originally Posted by Jink

How bad is the drive from San Francisco to Sunnyvale? I wouldn't mind living there for a year just to get the experience of living there... I just hope I don't drive myself crazy in the process.

Driving is not necessary, Cal Train fires directly to Sunnyvale from San Francisco. Their express "baby bullet" train takes an hour to get all the way to San Jose, so less than that for Sunnyvale.

Regardless of rush hour.

Traffic could be crawling on 101 and it will still take less than an hour to get to Sunnyvale.

[80skeys]

Originally Posted by neutrino78x

Driving is not necessary, Cal Train fires directly to Sunnyvale from San Francisco. Their express "baby bullet" train takes an hour to get all the way to San Jose, so less than that for Sunnyvale.

Regardless of rush hour.

The bullet takes 45 minutes from Sunnyvale to SF (4th and King). But you also have to factor in how long it takes you to get to these two stations. My wife walks 10 minutes from 4th and King to her office. I used to walk 20.

Caltrain is definitely faster than driving, but you have to realize that it gets old too. i used to work in San Francisco, but three or four months into the job and I was already pretty tired of Caltrain.

[neutrino78x]

Originally Posted by 80skeys

The bullet takes 45 minutes from Sunnyvale to SF (4th and King). But you also have to factor in how long it takes you to get to these two stations. My wife walks 10 minutes from 4th and King to her office. I used to walk 20.

Sure, whatever, 45 minutes for the trip, an hour total.

Caltrain is definitely faster than driving, but you have to realize that it gets old too. i used to work in San Francisco, but three or four months into the job and I was already pretty tired of Caltrain.

There's nothing for me to realize, public transit is my only method of travel because I can't afford a car right now and don't know how to drive.

It doesn't get old, I would never want to drive all the way to work. Why sit in stop and go traffic, having to concentrate on driving, when you can kick back on the train? Watch a TV episode, listen to some music, maybe get work done.

Driving to work is lame.

[80skeys]

Originally Posted by neutrino78x

It doesn't get old, I would never want to drive all the way to work.

It gets old if a viable alternative is to live close to work.

Why sit in stop and go traffic, having to concentrate on driving, when you can kick back on the train? Watch a TV episode, listen to some music, maybe get work done.

Well, this is what I thought too when I started Caltrain. but it's not as easy or convenient as one might think. There's only limited tables on Caltrain, if you don't get a table then you have to use your laptop on a regular seat which can be awkward. Furthermore, I found that Caltrain shakes and bounces too much for me to read or use the laptop for long periods of time.

Driving to work is lame.

Any long commute is lame. It's better to live close to where you work.

[neutrino78x]

Originally Posted by 80skeys

Any long commute is lame. It's better to live close to where you work.

A long car commute is more lame because you're having to concentrate on driving. That time has to be dedicated to driving. Whereas on a train or bus you can do other things. I read somewhere that Einstein refused to drive because that was time he couldn't spend doing physics.

With transit you don't have to be close to where you work because you can do other things. CalTrain can be a bumpy ride but you can still use a laptop.

[Wry_Martini]

Originally Posted by neutrino78x

omg, here we go again with people making high salaries and acting like they can't afford Silicon Valley. ((roll eyes))

Original Poster, 85k is a lot of money and you can should have no problem living here. A one bedroom apartment in downtown San Jose is about 1000 a month. That should be like 20% of your monthly income after taxes etc.

That wasn't my experience when apartment hunting a few years ago. I own now, but am helping a friend who is relocating look for an apartment and that hasn't been his current experience, either.

Originally Posted by bobby_guz_man

You pay to play. No other way around it.

I am leaving this area when it comes to retirement, that is FOR SURE. Most likely in the Portland area. Hopefully by then Portland hasn't gotten too expensive for my old butt.

Same here - my other half and I are even talking about trying to buy a place in Portland now, and rent it out for the time being. (We'd probably sell my place in SJ and live in his, which is a bit bigger, using the $ from selling my place to buy our Portland home.)

[80skeys]

Originally Posted by neutrino78x

I read somewhere that Einstein refused to drive because that was time he couldn't spend doing physics.

Interesting, someone just last week (I think it was the guitarist in my band) told me that Einstein didn't drive because he was so absent minded that he would stop in the middle of the street, get out and walk away.

in any case, public transit is usually the better option for a long commute, but has its share of annoyances and disadvantages too

With transit you don't have to be close to where you work because you can do other things. CalTrain can be a bumpy ride but you can still use a laptop.

like I said, I had a difficult time with that. Caltrain is pretty bumpy.

[Radical347]

Originally Posted by neutrino78x

A long car commute is more lame because you're having to concentrate on driving. That time has to be dedicated to driving. Whereas on a train or bus you can do other things. I read somewhere that Einstein refused to drive because that was time he couldn't spend doing physics.

With transit you don't have to be close to where you work because you can do other things. CalTrain can be a bumpy ride but you can still use a laptop.

I've done both, but I find CalTrain far more stressful. On an average day during rush hour, both CalTrain (including the time it takes to get to the station) and driving take about an hour to go ~30 miles.

I find I can't really do much on a crowded, bumpy train. I definitely can't watch TV or read without getting a headache, not to mention staring at a small cell phone screen.

With CalTrain, you're tied to its schedule. (BART is a little better since it runs every ~20 minutes and makes the same stops.) And good luck trying to get on a train without waiting if you're stuck at the office after hours.

Driving isn't perfect because yes it is stressful having to be behind the wheel...but that's evened out by not having to be tied down to a schedule. Also, when working outside of rush hour it's MUCH faster to drive. I also like being able to blast the radio and CDs while commuting. For me, this is much preferable to listening with headphones.

Also, when driving I can stop and do whatever errands I need to on the way back. When taking Caltrain, I have to make a separate trip once I get back home.

[neutrino78x]

Yeah, don't get me wrong,a car is good to have, and I wish I could afford one. If I got called in outside of normal hours (one of the few benefits of my embarrassing loser job is that never happens), and driving was available I would do that. Just not for regularly scheduled trips especially during rush hour.

I just disagree with people who say CalTtrain is too bumpy. You guys would make horrible military officers; even submarines produce a bumpy ride when running near the surface and officers (and enlisted) definitely have to type reports etc.while that goes on, same in Afghanistan, people have to work on bumpy convoy trips etc. CalTrain isn't nearly as bumpy as any of that. I remember one time, I was riding the
Seattle foot ferry in slightly unsettled sea conditions, and the ferry listed suddenly to port. Most of the civilians lost their balance but not me, someone said "this sailor didn't notice" and I said submariner actually lol.

I'm actually typing, or actually"swiping"this on my android device on a bumpy bus ride.

If my choices are crawl through stop and go traffic, or take a nice train ride, where I can do other things, I'll take the train.

[80skeys]

Originally Posted by neutrino78x

If my choices are crawl through stop and go traffic, or take a nice train ride, where I can do other things, I'll take the train.

You make a good case for public transit!