What is the safest area in San Jose? Best apartment complex? (Oakland: crimes, house)

[ady2glude707]

What do you do at Cisco?

[mgs333]

my guess would be software engineer. failing that, some other type of engineer.

you asked about northpark, it's a kind of "upscale" group of apartments (they divide it into different 'clusters' and call them the sycamores or redwoods or crap like that). it's a bit more $$ than regular apartments but the grounds are nicer but it's part of a huge complex, which you may or may not like. i personally didn't want to live in apartments (and especially mega-apartment complexes (try finding parking as a visitor on weekends) so i looked for condos or townhouses on craig's list and went that route.

one other nice thing is you don't have to deal with apartment management which is what most people complain about. you avoid that by renting a condo from an owner. i mean you can still get a bad, unresponsive owner but the chances of that happening are less than an unresponsive, uncaring apartment management. and you can gauge what kind of an owner he/she is by meeting them and talking to them.

for your budget, you should be able to find plenty of options going that route, you may want to try that.

[mgs333]

one other thing i thought of is that condos/THs are generally constructed better than apartments. meaning less noise through walls/floors/slamming doors and the like. And to add to my previous comment, the more people there are in a complex, the lower the lowest common denominator gets and 1 rotten neighbor can spoil everything real quickly as well.

also, another advantage is theft/vandalism to cars is higher in apartments. large apartments are big targets for thieves. there's reports of quite a few break-ins (cars not apartments) at both north park and elan at river oaks. and if any place touts gates, 24 hr guards and security cameras, know that those are all a big joke and the gate is especially nothing but a nuisance to the residents while not keeping anyone out.

[wolverine01]

ady-I will be working as a Marketing Analyst at Cisco---do you work there also?


mgs333...I would really love to talk to you more about renting a condo--I think your idea sounds a lot better than taking the apartment route. do you know where i could go to find a condo to rent? could we talk more about this? do you know of any reputable condos in the area?

[mgs333]

both my current place and the last place, i found through craigslist. and condos are not like apartments, they're usually one off places being rented by the owner so it's not like you'll find a bunch of condos for rent in one complex.

good luck in your search. actually, the condo i just left is probably still looking for a new tenant, the owners are really awesome, i can refer you to the craigslist ad if you want, let me know by private message. [edit: nevermind, it seems to have rented, the ad is down]

[mgs333]

actually, it is still available, let me know if you're interested, it's in north san jose, pretty close to cisco.

[gogetadbl]

Bella Vista is nice and really close to Tasman Dr which is where Cisco is located. It is a gated community and it is a massive complex with people walking around all the time. It makes me feel safe that you're never alone walking around here.

North Park is within walking distance of several Cisco sites too. I've heard of cars getting broken into in their parking lot, but it is probably rare. There's a nice field and restaurants on the property. There are gates to get into the apartments, but street parking is open for strangers.

You might be able to get cheaper than these two places if you goto Milpitas. Otherwise, the prices here are within your budget and definitely good enough for a stress free Cisco commute.

[samanthayong]

I think North Park is a good choice. The location is very close to Cisco system. I actually live here too.

[wolverine01]

Samanthayong- Which community do you live in? Do you have any recommendations? I know there are 6 different ones!

Gotadbl--Is Milipitas a safe area? how does it compare to san jose?

thank you all!

[sonarrat]

Milpitas is safe, I lived there for a year. Parts of it smell really bad, and traffic on Calaveras Blvd. is tedious. Lots of Filipinos and Vietnamese, in fact Milpitas is one of the very few Asian majority cities. But I've lived lots of places in the Bay Area and that was the only one where I never had any problem whatsoever with the neighbors or any of the residents on the block.