Tranferring to San Jose-best place to live with kids

[sonarrat]

Originally Posted by ILWoods

What is the zipcode of the area?

Three ZIP codes in the Evergreen area; in order from least to most desirable, 95121, 95148, 95135. I live in 95121 near Aborn/San Felipe, and it's a safe, walkable neighborhood which is afflicted by terrible freeway and surface-street traffic.

[Ludachris]

Originally Posted by sonarrat

Three ZIP codes in the Evergreen area; in order from least to most desirable, 95121, 95148, 95135. I live in 95121 near Aborn/San Felipe, and it's a safe, walkable neighborhood which is afflicted by terrible freeway and surface-street traffic.

I'll second that - we lived right near Aborn and White (95148) and it wasn't a bad area, but the traffic you have to deal with to get in and out of the area (freeways and expressways) where terrible, especially at rush hour - which seemed to be 4 hour windows in the morning and evening. Not to mention the stretch of streets you have to use to get there from the freeway - which is not the most, how can I say this.... "visually appealing".

It's getting more run-down in that area from what I can tell having just visited family there this past weekend. Once you get closer to Silver Creek or Ruby Road you'll see more pride of ownership. But the pockets of "nice" neighborhoods which are still somewhat affordable are continuing to dwindle.

[Bay Area native]

I was born and raised in San Jose, which is essentially a huge metropolis comprised of many 'mini cities.' So, if you decide to buy there, scrub the neighborhood carefully. (I'm a fan of Almaden Valley).

I now live in Los Altos with my spouse and two elementary age children. This is nirvana on earth, really. Of course, it comes with a tremendous price tag, which means you'll be living in a smaller house than you'd like. We moved here for the schools and the sense of community. This is a place where I go downtown for dinner and always run into someone I know, for example. It truly has a 'small town' feel where folks look out for one another and build life long friendships.

If you decide to check out Los Altos, get as close to downtown as possible, since this forms the social center for the town. It's not a rockin' town, but it's safe, walkable, and friendly.

The schools are as good as Palo Alto.

Good luck with your move.

[sonarrat]

Originally Posted by Bay Area native

I was born and raised in San Jose, which is essentially a huge metropolis comprised of many 'mini cities.' So, if you decide to buy there, scrub the neighborhood carefully. (I'm a fan of Almaden Valley).

I couldn't agree more about the metropolis comment. There's a chameleon effect, as there are neighborhoods that blend seamlessly into neighboring cities Santa Clara, Campbell, Los Gatos, Saratoga, Cupertino, Milpitas, Morgan Hill.. but there are still at least 10 completely different and distinct sections of San Jose which you couldn't confuse with any of the others in SJ, let alone with neighboring towns.

[AndrewSoss]

Based on your criteria, I would highly recommend Willow Glen. Schools are hit and miss (esp High School), but it would be lots cheaper to go private schools and get a much nicer house with a 2 minute commute than to venture off to some place much further and much more expensive. You can get a very nice house in WG for 1.5. search 95125 zip

Almaden (95120) has very highly rated public schools, and you would get a nice house, but not as nice as Campbell (95008) or WG. Commute would be a little worse but not too bad.

However, to me, Almaden is about as suburban as it gets in SJ area.

Willow Glen has charm, great downtown, close to downtown SJ, you can hop on 280 and be in SF in an hour.

good luck whichever direction you end up going =)

[eichlerfan]

I would highly recommend Willow Glen. It's very charming with it's own little downtown. For the price you want to pay you could find a really nice home here. It's a very friendly family community.The schools can be hit or miss here, but both of my children have gone to Willow Glen schools, and over all I have been very happy with them. Almaden is a very nice community too, but it is very suburban, as is Evergreen. Evergreen has some beautiful homes, but several friends have moved out of there because it is so far east of most of what is happening in San Jose. You have to come "down the hill" to get to most places such as good restaurants and shopping, and again it is very suburban if you aren't looking for that. I would definitely recommend first Willow Glen and second the Rosegarden area.

[ILWoods]

Thank you for all of your replies, advice and suggestions. The information shared here helped us make our decision NOT to move. Not because the job wasn't interesting enough or the communities weren't nice. We simply could not accept the job offer based on the financial numbers. The cost of living is so high and the uncertainty of the state tax increase and public school funding really made the decision for us. My husband's company does not provide cost of living adjustments which made the offer too risky.

Thanks for all of your input!

[Team Vierra]

Morgan Hill is nirvana for young families. Wide open spaces, a fabulous athletic complex with soccer fields, aquatic center with olympic size competitive pool, gorgeous new Centennial Recreation Center (exercise facility, indoor pool, gym, sr. center). Beautiful parks and just 45 minutes to the ocean. Definitely check it out!
www.teamvierra.com
Margaret Vierra, Broker/Owner EXIT Realty Keystone