Any Good $850k Homes Near Silicon Valley?

[Phil3]

Originally Posted by thetrb

Why do you need 2000 sqft and a 8000 sqft lot? I'm just asking because I don't think this is realistic with your budget. If you can go down to 1500 sqft (and a smaller lot) then you might find something much easier.

I don't "need" a 2,000 square foot home or 8,000 square foot lot. But it is what I want. Our current house is 2,060 square feet and the lot about 9,000. I could go somewhat smaller, but would not want to. I do need some outside room and must have four bedrooms. That many bedrooms in a small house is just too cramped.

1,500 square feet is small (to me). While I could probably make it work, I could never shell out anywhere near $850k for such a place...no matter what the benefit in commute.

Phil

[Phil3]

Originally Posted by RecentGrad1

I would re-evaluate your housing size "needs" and compare them with the quality of life increase you will receive living close to work. My dad walked to work for years (10-15 minutes). I bike to work (10-15 minutes). Having that additional time each day to spend with your family and friends or on your hobbies is far better than having a huge house that you only have the time to spending sleeping in every night. Silicon Valley commuting is awful and will make you miserable, and your kids are young only so long.

Remember, you can always trade time for money, and money for things, but nothing will buy more time.

I have done this evaluation once before in a prior move, and despite the increased costs, it was a wise move for some of the reasons you cite (and others). My daughter is grown and gone, and it is only my wife and I. While not ideal, we spend time together in the car, in traffic. But yes, I wish I had more time to spend on my hobbies and just at home.

You mentioned "huge house". I don't consider 2,000 square feet huge.

Before I responded here, I looked at homes around where I work and neighboring cities. I really don't like what I see. The homes are old, small, often on small lots, and frequently need substantial updating. I might be able to stomach some of that for $850k, but it is clear to get anywhere close to what I want, I will be well past $1M, and likely closer to $2M and it STILL will not be what I have now, other than being closer to work, and to be honest, I am not even sure how much benefit that will get me. Most of the traffic problems are concentrated close to my work, meaning that if I move half as far away from work as I am now, my commute will not be cut in half. It might be cut by a third. This last Friday, I did not even average 8 mph for the first 20 minutes leaving work, and that just to get to the freeway. Admittedly, this rainy Friday night was especially bad, but the car computer said an average speed of 25 mph for 53 miles. Yup, 2 hours and change. What that doesn't tell you is that I averaged less than half that speed for the first half of the commute home (always the worst by far). That means that if move closer to work, I am STILL saddled with the worst part of the commute. Hence, moving to the outskirts of Silicon Valley will not have a substantial commute impact, except to my pocketbook for a house I don't even like.

Secondly, right now, I am not even 5 minutes from the freeway, but looking at closer locations to work, often means I am further from the freeway, again making the total commute time improvement not as much as first might be expected.

Given I will retire in a few years, the wife can work anywhere, and my work has stations for a plug-in hybrid, I may opt for a comfy car that is economical to run, and just stick it out for a while. I just can't make myself shell out the huge additional dollars for such little old homes and minimal commute improvement. I had hoped there were other housing options I could live with, but apparently not.

Thanks for your comments. It has given me things to think about.

Phil

[dburbs1975]

yes, difficult commute for sure. do you really feel you need to own your home? you may benefit from renting close to work.

[bigdumbgod]

Four bedrooms for 2 people? New? How many square feet?Sounds nice. For how much?

Hmmm... Kansas!

[tonykent]

I think you should make hard decisions. There is just far more demand than supply. Many buyers can offer more than $850K for a house(maybe even cash offer), and you don't have the advantage.

You need to make a trade-off.
* Size
* Commute
* School (usually very correlated with crime rate)
* Location
- Whether close to high way
- Whether close to a high voltage tower
- Whether close to a cell phone tower
- Whether close to a garbage dump
- Whether on an earthquake zone
- Whether on a flooding zone
- Near a gas station?
- On a busy road?
* New house / old house
* Condo vs single family

It's a free market. You will get what you pay.

[cis_love]

For 2 people I'd think a 2 br condo would be good. My family of five lives in a 1000 sf place and we are fine. You sound a bit unrealistic. You may need to think about compromising something.