Moving to silicon valley - please help with location/school (San Jose: 2014, rental)

[osakafrog]

Thank you for listening.

My husband is going for a career change that requires us to be in the bay area in 2 weeks. The moment that that thought became a reality we were very excited... but only for a few minutes. After that the stress set in - where exactly can we afford to live?

Stat:
Office location: Mountain View
Children: 5 and 6-year-old

We looked on zillow and obviously we cannot afford to buy any house. My husband's new salary is nice in where we currently are but will be considered poor in silicon valley. We will rent. And the rent $$ is also heart- attacky to just look at. Zillow is all we use at the moment and we think the truth is probably not too far away from it.

I have a few questions before we join the madness in 14 days-
1) If we want a safe and happy neighborhood for our children, could you please comment which city/region (the more specific the better) should we definitely look into? We can only afford to rent a 3 bedroom home/condo/townhome based on zillow.

2) We don't expect to live right next to the company but we also don't want to waste too much life on the road stuck in traffic. Compromising with rent price for a 3-bedroom, could you share the right pockets we should consider that will take us to Mountain View without too much frustration? And what time does the traffic hour start in the morning?

3) There are some amazing elementary schools in the bay area. We checked the ranking and Fremont, Palo Alto, Cuppertino... are all on the top list (nice!). However, when I checked a few star elementary schools in Fremont I noticed that their registration page all say "All grades are full. Currently waitlist is offered. Your child will be OVERLOADED." That was SHOCKING. I never knew that a public school will run out of capacity for its own residents! If you know this problem personally could you please share your experience? I mean, if I pour in my savings to locate a home to have access for some top rated public school, then only to find out that my child can't even get in... how do Fremont residents deal with that? Is there a method to guarantee a spot?

Thank you in advance for listening and sharing any advice on anything to surviving out there!

[Local123]

My advice is to not focus on the traditional areas like every other person here and to look into San Jose (Almaden, Cambrian, union school district etc.)

[Wintermomma]

I lived near Almaden, the commute from there to Mountain View is *killer*. Over an hour at least. I'd recommend looking north of mountain view for a somewhat reverse commute. For safety check crimereports.com and greatschools.net will give you some idea about an school, though it's not the final word on everything of course.

[Local123]

Winter do you have recs for towns that are a reasonable commute north of MV that are not as costly as MV?

[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]

Thanks everyone!

Hi jk88cal, I agree with a lot of your analysis. Can't afford Palo Alto, don't afford the traffic in Fremont. Cupertino might be the right compromise. Less rent and great schools.

I heard Cupertino is all populated with Asians and the elementary schools are so academically driven. I am not Japanese but I do love Japanese food! How far of a commute from Redwood City down to MV? Could you share why you picked Redwood City within San Mateo county?

[Sunnnee]

All I can say is good luck. Since you are already feeling the sticker shock (Welcome to California), traffic anywhere is going to be hell no matter what anyone tells you. Hwy 101 and Hwy 880 is a parking lot period. In regards to area, Campbell is nice, but rent anywhere in this valley is going to squeeze your pocket book.

Rent on my street is $2000 and up and that's only for a 2 bedroom. Where there is good schools, the rent will be even higher. Cupertino has great schools, be prepared to pay to live there.

Either way, prepare for the commute and I pray your hubby keeps that job because this valley is all about "age". If you're older than 30, you're considered a "has-been". Most of these companies want young kids.

[twins4lynn]

Originally Posted by osakafrog

However, when I checked a few star elementary schools in Fremont I noticed that their registration page all say "All grades are full. Currently waitlist is offered. Your child will be OVERLOADED." That was SHOCKING. I never knew that a public school will run out of capacity for its own residents! If you know this problem personally could you please share your experience? I mean, if I pour in my savings to locate a home to have access for some top rated public school, then only to find out that my child can't even get in... how do Fremont residents deal with that? Is there a method to guarantee a spot?

This is not a problem unique to Fremont. Many schools in the bay area fill at various grade levels each year and have wait lists. The children on the wait list are sent to other schools within the same school district that still have room. This is something that has been going on for over 15 years.

Also, school registration for fall 2014 took place around January/February for kindy and new students.

[jk88cal]

Originally Posted by osakafrog

Thanks everyone!

Hi jk88cal, I agree with a lot of your analysis. Can't afford Palo Alto, don't afford the traffic in Fremont. Cupertino might be the right compromise. Less rent and great schools.

I heard Cupertino is all populated with Asians and the elementary schools are so academically driven. I am not Japanese but I do love Japanese food! How far of a commute from Redwood City down to MV? Could you share why you picked Redwood City within San Mateo county?

Cupertino schools are close to 90% Asian (majority are Chinese and Indian). I heard the schools are very competitive and reflected in the scores.

On the peninsula along 101 north of Mountain View, there are not many choices. The cities from south to north from Mountain View are: Mountain View, Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Redwood City, Redwood Shores, San Carlos, Belmont, Foster City, San Mateo, etc. I thought Redwood City is reasonable balance between distance and schools. Except for East Palo Alto, Redwood City probably has the worst schools (in general) among these cities. But you can find good local area with good elementary school. Not sure how the rents compare vs Cupertino, so you have to do that search.

[osakafrog]

It looks like Cupertino has to be it until we spend some time living there. The bay is a huge place and it's just so expensive. I really hope one of those schools has space for its residents!!