Moving to silicon valley - please help with location/school

[Wintermomma]

Originally Posted by osakafrog

That is also another interesting route too. Much better school choice and more room in the house. Any area you might suggest me looking into?

We already don't like what we are getting into. We are buying an opportunity. If we still have to sacrifice so much for several years out we will turn around.

San Jose (but not the Western part with Cupertino schools as it is still pricey). You will pay a premium from Palo Alto, Los Altos, MV, Cupertino, Saratoga, even Sunnyvale and Santa Clara now. SJ is pretty much all that is left that is more affordable.

We also came as a family of four (plus big dog which was the killer when it comes to renting in the bay area), though my children a bit older. If we could have and public school was an option, I would have rented a nice townhome in one of the pricier zip codes near public transportation/walkable areas and nice parks. That would be my advice. Having to spend a lot of time in the car is a drag. We do it to have a SFR and a yard for aforementioned big dog and older kids to play in.

Originally Posted by kdog

Definitely check out Almaden in San Jose. The public schools are all blue-ribbon. It's a beautiful, quiet and safe area. The commute is vastly overhyped IMHO. If you can stagger your hours either before 8 AM or after 9AM it's a piece of cake. Even at the height of rush hour it's really not that bad. 35 or 40 minutes maybe tops. But don't take anybody's word for it. Try the drive yourself some morning.

I did that commute for 18 months. In the carpool lane. Total misery. The 85 was a parking lot. Good advice given to try it yourself before committing. We tried it on a weekend and thought "how much longer can it take on a weekday, we will have the CARPOOL lane!" hahaHA. It hardly moves faster than the rest. If the family can mostly stay in that area, though, and just one parent is commuting they might like to try the light rail. My husband looked into it, but it wouldn't have saved him any time over the commute so he preferred the freedom to drive himself and have his car available.

[kdog]

Originally Posted by Wintermomma

I did that commute for 18 months. In the carpool lane. Total misery.

Just out of curiosity, when was that? I commuted that stretch for over 20 years and agree it was pretty bad during commute hours. We were gone for 8 years then moved back a couple of years ago, but I no longer do that commute daily. However, I've had several recent meetings up the peninsula which caused me to do this commute again and the traffic these days seems like a breeze compared to the way I remembered it. Maybe the traffic patterns have changed over the past few years, but I'm not seeing the horrible traffic of the good old days.

[osakafrog]

If we stay in Cupertino or Mountain View and 85 will be our main route... how early do we have to get on the road to avoid the heavy traffic?

[MediocreButArrogant]

Originally Posted by kdog

Just out of curiosity, when was that? I commuted that stretch for over 20 years and agree it was pretty bad during commute hours.

Hasn't Hwy 85 south of Stevens Creek only been open 20 years total?

The few times I've had to get to SFO for a morning flight, 85 North has been pretty awful from 7:30AM to after 9AM. Just west of the Almaden on-ramp it becomes a parking lot. Last time I got a late start, 85 looked so bad I got off and took 17 north to 280. I made my flight, but I think I would not have if I had stayed on 85.

My normal commute is on VTA, and I leave a car at work just to get around if I need to (although there are almost always a couple Zip cars available).

[Wintermomma]

Originally Posted by kdog

Just out of curiosity, when was that? I commuted that stretch for over 20 years and agree it was pretty bad during commute hours. We were gone for 8 years then moved back a couple of years ago, but I no longer do that commute daily. However, I've had several recent meetings up the peninsula which caused me to do this commute again and the traffic these days seems like a breeze compared to the way I remembered it. Maybe the traffic patterns have changed over the past few years, but I'm not seeing the horrible traffic of the good old days.

Mid 2011- Late 2012. My commute on 85-N went from 35 minutes to 55 minutes in the 18 months we did it, as the economy bounced back. I can only assume it wouldn't be getting better.

Originally Posted by osakafrog

If we stay in Cupertino or Mountain View and 85 will be our main route... how early do we have to get on the road to avoid the heavy traffic?

If you are going to live in Cupertino or MV, I would take streets to avoid the 85. Though the snippet of 85 from past 280 to 101 isn't as bad as from 87 to 280. I still take that once or twice a week and it's not bad at all, in the carpool lane, but still not horrible outside of it for the most part. But since I live further north I am getting to that point about 20-30 minutes earlier than I used to, so that could be part of it.

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by Wintermomma

If you are going to live in Cupertino or MV, I would take streets to avoid the 85. Though the snippet of 85 from past 280 to 101 isn't as bad as from 87 to 280.

I don't know about the 87-to-280 segment, but the northbound section from 280 to around 237 can be really bad - due to the merging of lanes on NB 85 from 280, and then again there's a slowdown around the El Camino Real to 237 exit lanes.

[fashionguy]

I lived in both Cupertino and North Fremont and commuted to Mountain View and I would say the commute from Cupertino is hardly an improvement over the Dumbarton bridge. Highway 85 is more congested than the Dumbarton bridge in most of the commute hours. In the morning they are pretty much a draw in terms of time of arrival, with Fremont having a longer distance but less traffic. In the afternoon Cupertino is a little better because 85 clears up around 7-7:30pm while Willow Rd can still back up a bit.

Don't go the part of Fremont that goes through 237 if you are concerned about commute. Consider North San Jose instead.

Originally Posted by jk88cal

Hi Osakafrog,

The several cities you mentioned are not really practical, unfortunately.
- Fremont: commute will be a big headache, as Fremont to Mountain View is along key traffic route, either HWY 237 or Dumbarton bridge.
- Palo Alto: Rental for 3-bedroom TH is probably $3000+. 3-bedroom SFH is $5000-6000.
- Cupertino: The commute is not great, but doable. I don't know rental prices in Cupertino. It should a bit lower than Palo Alto, but not cheap by any standard.

The issue with Palo Alto and Cupertino is that these cities have excellent elementary, middle, and high school. You only care about elementary school. I think you should look for location with good elementary school, but poor middle and high school.

Couple places that comes to mind: Santa Clara and Sunnyvale. You can use school ratings in on greatschools.org for quick assessment of the schools. Note: Santa Clara is a city that is in Santa Clara county.

If you can get a place in the peninsula north of Mountain View, that would be ideal. As you can be opposite of traffic, depending on how far north you are. For weekends, peninsula is more centrally located as you can go north to San Francisco or south to San Jose.

For San Mateo county (north of MV), look at Redwood City. Also, not sure if you are Japanese, since I see osaka in your name. There are quite many Japanese living in San Mateo city. Note: San Mateo is a city in San Mateo county. So can be a great place if you are Japanese.

Traffic: Depends on location and direction. Here is my general assessment. For morning, traffic before 7:30am is reasonable. Between 7:30-8am is when bottlenecks start to form. 8-9:30am is pretty much standstill for routes with traffic. As for afternoon, I don't see much time dependence. From 4 to 7:30pm, the traffic is very heavy along routes with traffic.

[osakafrog]

Say if Cupertino is the final pick, do you know what time we should get on the road to avoid heavy traffic to Mountain View in the morning (via 85)?

Coming home at 7pm is not pretty but doable.

[fashionguy]

There is really no alternative. I tried different routes but highway 85 is still the best bet to arrive more quickly. Other routes may feel a bit less congested, but in the end they don't provide a faster commute. That is why so many people are still on 85.

Originally Posted by osakafrog

Say if Cupertino is the final pick, do you know what time we should get on the road to avoid heavy traffic to Mountain View in the morning (via 85)?

Coming home at 7pm is not pretty but doable.

[osakafrog]

BTW, is it true that Cupertino Union School District no longer offers GATE program? I looked just for fun and I can't seem to find any info on it.