Should I move to mountain view or Milpitas? (San Jose, San Francisco: low crime, houses)

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by kyle242

I tried that already, I found a prospective room in 2 bedroom apartment with only 1 roommate, but he chose someone else over me. We had nice friendly vibe, but after all, I think since he is Indian he will prefer to choose people of his nationality over a white Polish guy, even though his English was really good and there was no major communication issues.

Better yet i have already studio where I am KING by myself, but ended up living in ghetto full of too many cars in East San Jose near story/King where I can't find a parking space after coming from work at midnight. One time I had SWAT bust my neighbor. What quality of life it is? I'll trade for having 1 roommate in batter location over this. Unfortunately you won't almost find anywhere else studio for under $1200, you need a roommate.

Better yet, Find better job with better salary and then find later own 1 bedroom in better location, if only was that easy I make only $46,000 in base salary and for an engineering tech with Bachelor Degree in IT, 2+ years of experience and CCNA that is ridiculously low. After paying high rent and student loans, almost nothing gets left for other expenses. :/

I'd suck it up and deal with the smell and lower rent in Milpitas. It will still be a better quality of life than what you have now in East SJ. And if you're living payday to payday (or close to it), you definitely want to break that cycle. The only way to do that is to keep your expenses as low as possible in the short run while working on improving your income in the long run.

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by roadwarrior101

Other than that, there just isn't much there. Its all office parks, strip malls and the Great Mall, which tends to be sort of ghetto.

Great Mall is a lot of things, but ghetto is not it.

[roadwarrior101]

Originally Posted by bobby_guz_man

Great Mall is a lot of things, but ghetto is not it.

That's a matter of opinion. I find the people there generally to be rather ghetto.

[mstnghu2]

Originally Posted by roadwarrior101

That's a matter of opinion. I find the people there generally to be rather ghetto.

If you really want to see ghetto, go to Southland Mall in Hayward. Even Newpark Mall is worse than the Great Mall when it comes to "ghetto factor".

[roadwarrior101]

Originally Posted by mstnghu2

If you really want to see ghetto, go to Southland Mall in Hayward. Even Newpark Mall is worse than the Great Mall when it comes to "ghetto factor".

Yes, there are definitely shades of gray here.

[vadaseri]

IMO,

Ghetto-est is East Ridge is worse than Southland is worse than Newpark is worse than Great Mall

[mstnghu2]

Originally Posted by vadaseri

IMO,

Ghetto-est is East Ridge is worse than Southland is worse than Newpark is worse than Great Mall

At least Eastridge was completely remodeled awhile back. Both Southland and Newpark are completely outdated and don't have any decent stores. Newpark is finally in the process of being remodeled though.

Anyways, I think we're getting off-topic now.

[Catherine1985]

I live near Milpitas and to be honest it does kind of stink every so often. My husband definitely noticed it when he came out. If the rent difference is $200 (and that's something you can easily afford) I'd go for Mountain View, especially if you like to get out and do things. Milpitas doesn't have a lot of fun to offer and MV has so much more life. Milpitas is definitely livable though. Much nicer than King and Story. While it's not as nice as MV there's not too much I can't get to with a short drive.

To me the commute to Santa Clara from either location seems like no big deal.

[otterprods]

Originally Posted by roadwarrior101

That's a matter of opinion. I find the people there generally to be rather ghetto.

Me too, but then again I felt that pretty much all of CA was interlaced with ghetto-ness and conspicuous consumption by the time I left. In any case, many of the stores in Great Mall seemed outdated last time I was there (about 2 years ago). Or maybe it's just malls in general that seem outdated now.

[mstnghu2]

Originally Posted by Catherine1985

I live near Milpitas and to be honest it does kind of stink every so often. My husband definitely noticed it when he came out. If the rent difference is $200 (and that's something you can easily afford) I'd go for Mountain View, especially if you like to get out and do things. Milpitas doesn't have a lot of fun to offer and MV has so much more life. Milpitas is definitely livable though. Much nicer than King and Story. While it's not as nice as MV there's not too much I can't get to with a short drive.

To me the commute to Santa Clara from either location seems like no big deal.

This is a good assessment. I grew up in Milpitas and my parents still live there. I do notice the smell occasionally in their neighborhood. Not all of Milpitas gets the odor though. Milpitas is actually a nicely maintained, clean suburban city with low crime and good schools. I'd consider it a value compared to Mountain View.

There are pros/cons to both cities in my opinion. MV has a decent downtown area whereas Milpitas doesn't have a downtown. Milpitas does have a lot of shopping and dining options (especially Asian restaurants) though and is closer to San Jose for more shopping/dining/entertainment options. MV is expensive, bot not as expensive as neighboring cities like Los Altos and Palo Alto. Milpitas is generally cheaper than its neighboring cities, Fremont and San Jose. Both cities are in good central Bay Area locations. Milpitas has the dramatic backdrop of Monument Peak and the foothills and MV has the backdrop of the Santa Cruz mountains. Mountain View is closer to San Francisco and Milpitas is closer to East Bay locations and San Jose. These are just some comparisons.

I think it really just comes down to value and personal preference