Question for N. CA transplants (Seattle, Issaquah: apartment, leasing, crime)

[flyingsaucermom]

My husband just got an offer for a company in Santa Clara. I REALLY don't want to move and my husband is going to try to leverage the offer with some of the interview loops he's currently involved with inside his current company. Hopefully it'll work out, but in the event it fails we need to start thinking about relocating. My question is for those of you who are very familiar with that area and the Eastside.

We live in Issaquah Highlands and for our family, it's the just been the best community for the kids (and we love the views). I don't expect to replicate it but I'm wondering which cities and neighborhoods we should be looking at??? I've only been to SF over a long weekend and I'm going into this completely blind and not very happy! THANKS for any SUGGESTIONS.

BTW: I know it's expensive

[ctr88]

If he works in Santa Clara maybe Saratoga, Los Gatos, Los Altos. All will be shockingly expensive. Tiny old bungalows going for $1 million. I lived all over the SF Bay for 18 years and the only areas I would consider living were in the city of SF itself, South Marin county, maybe parts of Berkeley like North Berkeley. Maybe parts of Oakland like Rockridge. Palo Alto maybe in a big stretch. Of course I did not have kids. The rest of the Bay Area has a lot of cookie cutter, chain restaurants and not a lot of character. San Jose is a totally non interesting boring city. I was always amazed how Silicon Valley has this mythical name, but when you get there it is the most drab looking boring place ever. Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Cupertino, San Jose are terrible in my opinion. Full of malls and chains. They have no character at all. Cupertino does have very good schools but the city has zero character or interesting-ness.

[flyingsaucermom]

I know. It's TERRIBLE.

Cupertino is the top of my list, because of schools. We were once 4 living in a 590sq ft apartment (we managed for a year, without cats). I'm confident, depending on the layout, we'd be okay at 900-1200sq ft (with cats).

[angelenogirl]

Is it a really great offer? Sending good thoughts that he can use it for leverage! :-)

[flyingsaucermom]

Originally Posted by angelenogirl

Is it a really great offer? Sending good thoughts that he can use it for leverage! :-)

Thanks! Technically the offer is for an additional $10k a year in base salary, but of course, it being the SV, I would estimate a $10-$15k loss (mostly going towards housing).

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by ctr88

If he works in Santa Clara maybe Saratoga, Los Gatos, Los Altos. All will be shockingly expensive. Tiny old bungalows going for $1 million. I lived all over the SF Bay for 18 years and the only areas I would consider living were in the city of SF itself, South Marin county, maybe parts of Berkeley like North Berkeley. Maybe parts of Oakland like Rockridge. Palo Alto maybe in a big stretch. Of course I did not have kids. The rest of the Bay Area has a lot of cookie cutter, chain restaurants and not a lot of character. San Jose is a totally non interesting boring city. I was always amazed how Silicon Valley has this mythical name, but when you get there it is the most drab looking boring place ever. Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Cupertino, San Jose are terrible in my opinion. Full of malls and chains. They have no character at all. Cupertino does have very good schools but the city has zero character or interesting-ness.

I'll give you a different take on this guys generalizations:

The Silicon Valley has near perfect weather. There is plenty to do in in San Jose, just because it's set in a more suburban like settings doesn't mean it's boring. If you like ranch style homes, and Spanish adobe with backyards, you can enjoy your pool next to your garden with the fragrance of citrus blossoms, bougainvillea and roses in full sunshine. Silicon Valley has little crime and its clean.

Of course, it has chains and malls as does every other place in the U.S. San Francisco is everything Seattle is and much more. Cupertino-Campbell is filled with all sorts of interesting Asian owned small businesses.

The coast over the hills and mountains is spectacular. You can teach your kids how to surf just 1/2 hour away. Surfing is the cheapest and most exhilarating sport and can be enjoyed up and down the California Coast. Once you buy your wetsuit and board you'll never have to pay a dime to enjoy a lifelong sport, unlike snow skiing.

Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Cupertino, Mountain View and San Jose areas, far from terrible: And they are connected by CalTrain , a cool and efficient commuter train that runs from San Jose to San Francisco, or by light rail.

Checkout these other areas: Downtown SJ, Willow Glen, Almaden Valley, Cambrian Valley, Rancho Santa Teresa, Milpitas and Gilroy.

[ctr88]

San Francisco is awesome, interesting, beautiful world class city, huge thumbs up to SF. So is Marin. Silicon Valley and San Jose I always found sterile, car culture suburbia and totally lacking character. And most San Francisco denizens agreed with that sentiment. For people living in SF, living in a place like San Jose was considered absolutely unthinkable. I worked in tech in the 90's and lived in SF until the commute got so bad I was forced to move close to work in Sunnyvale. Yuck! Silicon Valley IS close to some beautiful places if you drive towards the coast into the Redwoods, down to Santa Cruz, etc...

It really depends who you are as a person. Either your a Seattle/SF/Boston/NYC/European city type person or you are not. If you are the type of person that loves the walkable unique neighborhoods of Seattle filled with mom and pop establishments, places like Cupertino, Santa Clara , Sunnyvale or San Jose will be VERY hard to take IMO. I would be personally very unhappy if I was ever forced to live in Cupertino, Santa Clara , Sunnyvale or San Jose again.

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by ctr88

San Francisco is awesome, interesting, beautiful world class city, huge thumbs up to SF. So is Marin. Silicon Valley and San Jose I always found sterile, car culture suburbia and totally lacking character. And most San Francisco denizens agreed with that sentiment. For people living in SF, living in a place like San Jose was considered absolutely unthinkable. I worked in tech in the 90's and lived in SF until the commute got so bad I was forced to move close to work in Sunnyvale. Yuck! Silicon Valley IS close to some beautiful places if you drive towards the coast into the Redwoods, down to Santa Cruz, etc...

It really depends who you are as a person. Either your a Seattle/SF/Boston/NYC/European city type person or you are not. If you are the type of person that loves the walkable unique neighborhoods of Seattle filled with mom and pop establishments, places like Cupertino, Santa Clara , Sunnyvale or San Jose will be VERY hard to take IMO. I would be personally very unhappy if I was ever forced to live in Cupertino, Santa Clara , Sunnyvale or San Jose again.

For people living in San Jose, Seattle and San Francisco is absolutely unthinkable. Especially if you value a decent size yard, near perfect temperatures throughout the year, greenery without constant cloud cover and drizzle.

The Silicon Valley is filled with some really nice, green, warm, mom and pop neighborhoods, all you have to do is take your dog for a walk and meet your neighbors. There are plenty of "unique" neighborhoods, sure they may be suburban oriented, but some people prefer that over dense urban neighborhoods, besides the OP currently doesn't live in a dense urban city.

[Hemlock140]

I would suggest that you can save money with a not-too-bad commute by living where we did, in Castro Valley. You will find the schools good, prices much lower than Silicone Valley. Just be sure to move into the hill areas such as Columbia or Palomares Hills, and avoid the areas south of Castro Valley Boulevard near the Hayward border which may be in the Hayward School District.

[VeronikaW]

I lived in Mountain View for a couple years while working in Palo Alto, and then moved across the bay to Fremont for a couple years while still working in Palo Alto. I love the bay area. I love it. But they'd seriously have to at least triple my husband's salary before I'd ever consider moving back there with children. The housing prices are insane. I'd drive through Fremont with my mom, and there were all these crappy houses from the 1960s, and I'd joke, "Look mom, million dollar homes." The sad thing is, I wasn't really that far off back then.

I love Issaquah Highlands. I lived there for 3 years. I grew up in Irvine, CA, and IH totally reminds me of that. As far as I know, there's no place quite like that in the Bay Area (mind you, I moved out in 2001, so I know a lot can have changed, though I still have family there, so I do visit).

That being said, I'd look at Santa Clara, Cupertino, Saratoga, Los Altos, Milpitas, Mountain View, Redwood City, San Mateo, San Carlos, Hillsborough, and Burlingame.

In 1998 I rented an apartment in Fremont. It was one bedroom, about 650 square feet, and back then it was $1300/month. My apartment in Mountain View (which looked totally ghetto to me coming from shiny SoCal), was 546 square feet, one bedroom, with paper thin walls and was $900/month. And there were three people behind me in the leasing office willing to try to fight me for it. I think that was 1995.

I'd say unless there's some reason your hubby really has to leave his current job, not to do it, but I do not like living hand to mouth, so that's just me. I love the bay area and all it has to offer, but I can give my kids a better quality of life up here. Good luck.

V. =)