Moving from Seattle to the Mountain View area (San Jose, Fremont: appointed, transplants)

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by blueskywalker

Are you sure you have to make the move?
If i were you i'd stay in Seattle if there's a choice.
The quality of living in Silicon Valley and the bay area is, imo, horrible.
There are far too many people, it's an absolute rat-race, a** holes abound, the drought will continue, CA is on fire, cost of living is obscene, air quality is awful, schools are hit and miss .... o.k., i'll stop.
If you have to make the move, i recommend Los Gatos. At least you'll be just over the hill from the ocean and it's a quick drive when not during commuter times. If i had to live on the eastern side of the Santa Cruz mountains, i'd live in Los Gatos. A little further to Mountain View but, imo, worth it.

The Los Gatos CA Official Site! | Official Website

Los Gatos, CA Real Estate & Homes for Sale | Trulia

Los Gatos is great IF you can afford it. As with many communities here, sadly.

[RVD90277]

Originally Posted by blueskywalker

Are you sure you have to make the move?
If i were you i'd stay in Seattle if there's a choice.
The quality of living in Silicon Valley and the bay area is, imo, horrible.
There are far too many people, it's an absolute rat-race, a** holes abound, the drought will continue, CA is on fire, cost of living is obscene, air quality is awful, schools are hit and miss .... o.k., i'll stop.
If you have to make the move, i recommend Los Gatos. At least you'll be just over the hill from the ocean and it's a quick drive when not during commuter times. If i had to live on the eastern side of the Santa Cruz mountains, i'd live in Los Gatos. A little further to Mountain View but, imo, worth it.

The Los Gatos CA Official Site! | Official Website

Los Gatos, CA Real Estate & Homes for Sale | Trulia

Unfortunately yes I need to make the move to keep my job. I have looked for other jobs in the Seattle area but they all pay less so I suppose I could take a pay cut and stay while at the same time I feel that they are all less prestigious jobs and less prestigious companies. I know that the cost of living (especially housing) is much higher but I have lived in the bay area before so I have many friends there, my family lives there, etc. so I'm not totally opposed to living there.

Los Gatos looks interesting.

[blueskywalker]

Originally Posted by RVD90277

Unfortunately yes I need to make the move to keep my job. I have looked for other jobs in the Seattle area but they all pay less so I suppose I could take a pay cut and stay while at the same time I feel that they are all less prestigious jobs and less prestigious companies. I know that the cost of living (especially housing) is much higher but I have lived in the bay area before so I have many friends there, my family lives there, etc. so I'm not totally opposed to living there.

Los Gatos looks interesting.

20 years have passed since you lived in the bay area. It has changed and, imo, definitely / absolutely not for the better. But if you can find and afford a sanctuary for you and your family then that will be good.

[neutrino78x]

Originally Posted by blueskywalker

Are you sure you have to make the move?
If i were you i'd stay in Seattle if there's a choice.
The quality of living in Silicon Valley and the bay area is, imo, horrible.

The Bay Area, especially Silicon Valley, is awesome. Things happen here, there is a good community, the weather is great, the green spaces are great.

I love the Bay Area and can't wait to move back to downtown San Jose.

There are far too many people, it's an absolute rat-race, a** holes abound, the drought will continue, CA is on fire, cost of living is obscene, air quality is awful, schools are hit and miss .... o.k., i'll stop.
If you have to make the move, i recommend Los Gatos.

lol sounds like you want to live in a small town. I would move to Arizona if I were you. It is a flyover state where nothing happens and the weather is terrible. But the population is small.

[nwman2830]

Originally Posted by neutrino78x

The Bay Area, especially Silicon Valley, is awesome. Things happen here, there is a good community, the weather is great, the green spaces are great.

I love the Bay Area and can't wait to move back to downtown San Jose.

lol sounds like you want to live in a small town. I would move to Arizona if I were you. It is a flyover state where nothing happens and the weather is terrible. But the population is small.

In defense of Arizona, Scottsdale is great. Their DT is like desert Southwestern version of DT Palo Alto. There is a lots of people there, just not as crowded. Sedona and Grand Canyon are beautiful.

As for community I think you have to actively look for great one. My neighbors are not exactly social. But I am renting condo from private owner in a small complex in MV. When I rented an apt from an agency in Sunnyvale in a big complex, I feel it was easier to make friends with neighbors.

[RVD90277]

Originally Posted by blueskywalker

20 years have passed since you lived in the bay area. It has changed and, imo, definitely / absolutely not for the better. But if you can find and afford a sanctuary for you and your family then that will be good.

Yes, I'm aware of that too. Housing prices have skyrocketed, I'm 20 years older, I have a wife and 3 kids now, etc. But thankfully I also make a little more than I did back then so that helps as well. I wouldn't consider making the move if I was only making $100k or $200k or something like that...

I get that many make 7 figures+ through stock, etc. and I'm not one of them and the news is full of billionaires like Zuck, etc. but I'm guessing while that somewhat prevalent it's far from the norm.

As of now, I'm probably going to start out by renting and am trying to keep my rent down to under $6k/month for a 3-4 bedroom house with around 2000 sq ft or so. It's a far cry from what we live in now but that's ok especially if the schools are good and the special education (one of my children has autism) is good.

I'll consider buying after I sell my primary home up here in the PNW and it will depend a bit on how much I can sell for, etc.

[mstnghu2]

Originally Posted by Local123

Why no mention of SJ? It is home to one of the "best" public high schools in the nation. It always makes me wonder why every city but SJ is mentioned in these threads. It can't be a commute issue as I'm in SJ and have tons of Apple etc employees who have bought homes on my street.

I agree. This is a common theme in this forum. San Jose is a big city. It has everything from dumpy high-crime neighborhoods to safe multi-million dollar neighborhoods with excellent schools and plenty of neighborhoods in-between.

In Almaden Valley for example, it's almost impossible to tell when you've crossed from San Jose into Los Gatos and vice versa. The houses on the Los Gatos side of the border are more expensive though, simply because of their zip code. The schools in Almaden Valley are just as good.

On this board often times every city/town recommendation is given except for San Jose. The reality is that most residents in Santa Clara county live in San Jose. The biggest issue with SJ in my opinion is the inadequate city services that are stretched too thin, specifically the SJPD and SJFD. A lot of the smaller cities/towns in Santa Clara county offer better services.

[mossly]

Are the schools really just as good? My son's school doesn't even have an art program, and has a budget so tight that they ran out of copy paper last year. Can any elementary school in Los Gatos say that?

[Local123]

[quote=mossly;45248044]Are the schools really just as good? My son's school doesn't even have an art program, and has a budget so tight that they ran out of copy paper last year. Can any elementary school in Los Gatos say that?[/

There are plenty of great schools in SJ including Lynbrook HS , Miller Middle School, Dilworth Elementary, Noddin Elementary, Fammatre Elementary, Leigh HS, Carlton Elementary, Leland HS etc etc
The list goes on and on

LGHS is way overrated. The graduation results are nothing that notable.

[blueskywalker]

Originally Posted by RVD90277

Yes, I'm aware of that too. Housing prices have skyrocketed, I'm 20 years older, I have a wife and 3 kids now, etc. But thankfully I also make a little more than I did back then so that helps as well. I wouldn't consider making the move if I was only making $100k or $200k or something like that...

I get that many make 7 figures+ through stock, etc. and I'm not one of them and the news is full of billionaires like Zuck, etc. but I'm guessing while that somewhat prevalent it's far from the norm.

As of now, I'm probably going to start out by renting and am trying to keep my rent down to under $6k/month for a 3-4 bedroom house with around 2000 sq ft or so. It's a far cry from what we live in now but that's ok especially if the schools are good and the special education (one of my children has autism) is good.

I'll consider buying after I sell my primary home up here in the PNW and it will depend a bit on how much I can sell for, etc.

Wise to rent for awhile. I'm always amazed that people will spend huge amounts of money to purchase a home before they're quite familiar with an area.

If you are interested in Los Gatos below is a link to craigslist rentals (San Francisco > South Bay > Los Gatos). Even if you don't use craigslist, it's a good way to get a sense of the availability and cost of rentals in any given area. There are some scams but they're usually quickly flagged and most people who are familiar with a community (like people on c-d-f for example) can easily spot them.

Good luck.


SF bay area apartments / housing rentals "los gatos" - craigslist