Which is better Brentwood or Mountainhouse (San Jose, Stockton: section 8, high crime, buying a house)

[Tonkz]

Questions:
I heard Brentwood has a lot of traffic issues especially highway 4, is that true?
Is there any future plans for mountainhouse?
Which is better Brentwood or Mountainhouse?( community wise, traffic, safety, etc)

I need a lot of feedback in both of this place. Anything that would help will do. Thank you.

[Tonkz]

errrr.....no one knows?

[Den Mathias]

Originally Posted by Tonkz

Questions:
I heard Brentwood has a lot of traffic issues especially highway 4, is that true?
Is there any future plans for mountainhouse?
Which is better Brentwood or Mountainhouse?( community wise, traffic, safety, etc)

I need a lot of feedback in both of this place. Anything that would help will do. Thank you.

That is a toughie as they are both kinda out in the boonies! Brentwood has many empty McMansion home tracts that have dropped in price. Most of them look like ghost towns. Highway 4 is a pain until you get to Pittsburg and then it opens up due to the lane additions.

Mountain house is still so new I think you need to go to Tracy or Liverhawk for groceries and services.

I guess if i had to choose it would probably be Brentwood as it is closer to services as in Antioch.

Also, Mountain house has all the windmill farms on the hillsides so you know what that means!

If you have specific needs we can give you some pros and cons.

[Tonkz]

Thanks for the reply Dan.

Well as you said the problem with Brentwood is the Highway 4. The traffic there is a pain in the neck. A friend told us that if your going to live at Brentwood you should also work at Brentwood. Brentwood is basically an enclose town. Both sides of Brentwood are bordered by Antioch and Stockton which are high crime-rate cities. While Mountainhouse is bordered by Livermore and Tracy which are better than Stockton and Atioch. The problem with Mountainhouse is that it is underdevelop for now, because it is a new city and with those cows and such. We both look at Brentwood and Mountainhouse as our potential investment in buying a house. So here are what we are debating for now.

Here is a list of what we want to know.
1)The conviniency( time, distance) on going in and out of the place(target areas SF and SJ). Brentwood has the time problem, while Mountainhouse has the distance problem. So which is better going to Brentwood which has traffic problems around 7-8am and 3-5pm, or Mountainhouse which is mostly traffic free due to its 5-lane highway (highway 580), but the distance is much farther.

2) Have you guys heard of any plans for Brentwood and Mountainhouse?

3) Safety factor is important. Pros and Cons of the area.

4) Bus, train, and good high schools in the area or adjacent area.

5) Health care hospitals for my mom(registered nurse) to work. Adjacent areas is also ok.

I think that pretty much covers it. If anything you want to add feel free to add , like your pros and cons of the area. Thank you ^_^

[Den Mathias]

Originally Posted by Tonkz

Thanks for the reply Dan.

Well as you said the problem with Brentwood is the Highway 4. The traffic there is a pain in the neck. A friend told us that if your going to live at Brentwood you should also work at Brentwood. Brentwood is basically an enclose town. Both sides of Brentwood are bordered by Antioch and Stockton which are high crime-rate cities. While Mountainhouse is bordered by Livermore and Tracy which are better than Stockton and Atioch. The problem with Mountainhouse is that it is underdevelop for now, because it is a new city and with those cows and such. We both look at Brentwood and Mountainhouse as our potential investment in buying a house. So here are what we are debating for now.

Here is a list of what we want to know.
1)The conviniency( time, distance) on going in and out of the place(target areas SF and SJ). Brentwood has the time problem, while Mountainhouse has the distance problem. So which is better going to Brentwood which has traffic problems around 7-8am and 3-5pm, or Mountainhouse which is mostly traffic free due to its 5-lane highway (highway 580), but the distance is much farther.

2) Have you guys heard of any plans for Brentwood and Mountainhouse?

3) Safety factor is important. Pros and Cons of the area.

4) Bus, train, and good high schools in the area or adjacent area.

5) Health care hospitals for my mom(registered nurse) to work. Adjacent areas is also ok.

I think that pretty much covers it. If anything you want to add feel free to add , like your pros and cons of the area. Thank you ^_^

Actually, it is Den. Have you looked at some of the cities more close to where you will work such as Concord? The home prices have gone way down there and you can find some good buys.

Antioch used to be a pretty nice place but in the last few years they have brought in section 8 housing and in came the crime. kind of a generalization bu the crime did increase in a fairly safe city.

In my opinion, I wouldn't think of Brentwood or Mountainhouse as a good investment unless you are in for the long haul. We had a house in Pittsburg and it did the bell curve appreciation. It is now worth less then when we bought in a matter of 10 years!

Maybe, Livermore would be a better place to shoot for. It is very nice in spots and not too costly compared to Pleasanton or Danville.

[Tonkz]

Sorry about that Den. Well we are looking into the future. Also, we thought about Livermore already, but housing there is quite small, and my mom wants it big. The only thing possible is Brentwood and Mountainhouse.

[18Montclair]

It might not look like it now, but I think Mountain House is better positioned. Its smack in the middle of an emerging region that connects The Bay Area and the Valley. I think the future for Mountain House is very bright.

[sonarrat]

580 is absolutely not traffic free. Since you posted your question in this forum, I have to ask, are you commuting to San Jose? If you are, I should tell you that I drove to Vallejo last night during rush hour because I wanted to go to Discovery Kingdom. Similar commute if you're going to Brentwood or Mountain House from SJ. I left at 4:15, Google said if I took 680 I should have been able to get there by 5:30. I didn't get there until almost 6:30, and most of that delay was just getting over the Sunol Grade to Pleasanton.

[mrschilicook]

Originally Posted by Tonkz

Questions:
I heard Brentwood has a lot of traffic issues especially highway 4, is that true?
Is there any future plans for mountainhouse?
Which is better Brentwood or Mountainhouse?( community wise, traffic, safety, etc)

I need a lot of feedback in both of this place. Anything that would help will do. Thank you.

Depends on what you value. Don't know where your commuting to, but the commute out of either is slow is your going to one of the major job centers.
However, Brentwood is lots of ammenities now. It's grown quite a bit the past few years...they have now have most of the major box stores (Lowes, Home Depot, etc.) plus a new shopping mall, Trader Joe's, and several chain grocery stores. Restaurants are becoming more available and they have a nice, cute "downtown" that is sort of old fashioned. Mountainhouse, while technically a city, is more of a planned development at this point. You have to drive someplace else to do any retail or do it on your way home from work.
From an investment point...long term maybe Mountainhouse, but right now housing is down and there are "good buys" out there (at least they are compared to 4 years ago...not necessarily if your coming from another state). I have friends who live in Brentwood and they love it. They used to have to drive to Pleasanton to do any "retail therapy" but now just drive down the road to get whatever they want.

[Tonkz]

18montclair:
I see, I'm asking this questions because I don't live in CA. Have you gone to highway 4? Which is better then?

mrschilicook:
Well we are thinking mostly for the future. I got videos in the housing in both Mountainhouse and Brentwood, that my dad brought when he went to CA to do some research on housing and demographics. Well for me I'll be traveling(public transportation) from Mountainhouse to San Jose for college, but during on weekends only.

Sonarrat:

I think so too.

Thanks for the reply guys.