Palo Alto Relocation (Los Angeles, San Jose, Fremont: for sale, real estate, rental)

[somethingsomething]

Considering job in Palo Alto. Have two kids. Currently live in the South Bay in Los Angeles area. Which areas are recommended? I am looking for the best schools. If it helps, schools that are comparable to Palos Verdes or La Canada in the LA area. Housing budget is 800 to 950k. Need 3 bedrooms and at least 1 bath. Would like a commute under 30 minutes.

[comingbacktocali]

so many page views and no responses...

i am not exactly sure how far a 30 minute commute radius would be since i don't drive down there anymore. but it you are looking just in palo alto (based on your school requirements) you could *maybe* get a 2 bedroom condo for that price.

i suggest you search both san mateo and santa clara county api scores to see, simply based on api score, what the 'best' schools are. you will find that district wide, the highest scoring towns are palo alto, los altos, cupertino, and hillsboro. other highly rated districts are belmont, burlingame, and santa clara. then you get pockets of very highly performing schools in slightly lower average districts.

your budget would not get you any SFH in any of those school districts. you could rent in a highly performing school district or investigate condos since i am not familiar with that market. but both rental and ownership competition is pretty fierce. unfortunately it would be very hard to say i want to go to *that* school and actually secure a home within the school boundary.

i wish i had better things to say.

[thetrb]

Fremont might be an option. It's a relatively short commute over the Dumbarton bridge and has pretty good schools. However, it's not very exciting there and depends on what you're looking for in terms of neighborhood.

[somethingsomething]

Originally Posted by thetrb

Fremont might be an option. It's a relatively short commute over the Dumbarton bridge and has pretty good schools. However, it's not very exciting there and depends on what you're looking for in terms of neighborhood.

Looking for family-oriented neighborhood that's safe to play outside, reasonable distances to grocery stores and shopping, and family-like things to do such as going to the park or hiking.

[mstnghu2]

Originally Posted by somethingsomething

Looking for family-oriented neighborhood that's safe to play outside, reasonable distances to grocery stores and shopping, and family-like things to do such as going to the park or hiking.

In that case, then I agree with the other poster. Fremont may be a good option for you. It's overall safe and family-oriented. As the fourth largest city in the Bay Area, it's actually got many different neighborhood options to choose from.

Schools pretty much range from good to very good to excellent and neighborhood real estate prices will vary based on that. There's also a lot of shopping and restaurant options all over town. There are many city parks throughout the city, including Central Park which is a huge park with a man made lake in the middle of it. There are also numerous regional parks very close by for hiking, biking, etc.

Depending on where exactly you live in Fremont, the commute to Palo Alto generally isn't too bad by Bay Area standards. You would have to pay a $5 one-way bridge toll though to cross the Dumbarton Bridge. Hwy 237 is an option to avoid the toll, but is a much longer drive and traffic is horrible during commute times.

You could also consider Milpitas. It's also safe and family-oriented and has plenty of shopping and dining options as well. Most schools are good all over the city and some are very good. Milpitas, like Fremont, also has easy access to regional parks for hiking, getting out in nature, etc. You would have to battle the traffic on hwy 237, but it wouldn't be as bad as if you were coming from Fremont. I used to commute to Palo Alto from Milpitas and it wasn't too fun. During non-commute times though, it's only about a 20 minute drive.

Sunnyvale may also be an option to look into. It's slightly cheaper than Palo Alto and Mountain View to the north. It's another city that has the ammenities you're looking for. Of these three cities I recommended, Sunnyvale would give you the easiest commute.

To be honest, based on your budget, I don't really think you'll have much luck finding a place on the peninsula.

[likealady]

You should post this in the San Jose forum. People in there know more about the area.

[SwizzyFicket]

Originally Posted by somethingsomething

Looking for family-oriented neighborhood that's safe to play outside, reasonable distances to grocery stores and shopping, and family-like things to do such as going to the park or hiking.

Then you'd love Fremont. The central area (near the BART station) has loads of grocery stores, coffee shops, restaurants, a Target, that kind of thing.

Fremont also boasts Central Park which is full of families, as well as the Quarry Lakes recreation area.

You can easily find a home in Fremont for your budget, too:
804 Snapper Ter, Fremont, CA 94536 is For Sale | Zillow

The only downside is your commute would be more than 30 minutes. We commute from Fremont to Menlo Park and it's closer to 40 minutes.

[jk88cal]

OP: rent first and then look to buy. It will take you 1 year to buy in current market.

Unfortunately $800-950k budget is quite limited in Bay Area, especially for good schools. Some options are parts of Fremont (already mentioned), parts of Evergreen in San Jose, and possibly parts of Campbell. Fremont is closest to PA, but you have to cross bridge, which can be a bottleneck. Campbell to PA using I-280 should be a bit longer than 30 minutes. Evergreen to PA will be easily longer than 45 minutes.

The issues with these areas is that you have good to excellent elementary, good middle school, but average to poor high school. Of course everything is relative. I try to put it in perspective based on what I know about Palos Verdes.

To have high school in same caliber as Palos Verdes, you are looking at Palo Alto, Los Altos, Mountain View, Cupertino, Saratoga, Los Gatos, Mission San Jose in Fremont, Almaden in San Jose, and Evergreen in San Jose. Most of these places, median SFH is $1.5M to $2M+. With $950k, you might get low end in Almaden and Evergreen in San Jose, but commute will be easily >45 minutes.