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Old 08-16-2011, 09:58 PM
 
17 posts, read 84,153 times
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My wife and myself we have job offers in Santa Clara and Fremont (close to Fremont Central Park).
If real state price were not an issue (I doubt it though), where would you live? Santa Clara? Fremont? In between?
Our priorities are school district, commute time and safety.
Thanks in advance
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Old 08-17-2011, 10:51 AM
 
Location: Pleasanton, CA
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If your commute is a concern, then I'd probably limit your search to Fremont, Milpitas, Santa Clara and maybe Sunnyvale or Mountain View. This is a pretty decent commute radius that would keep both you and your wife somewhat sane. North San Jose may be an option too, but many of the schools there aren't so great. You'll find better schools in the other cities that I mentioned. Fremont has really good schools for the most part and even has some that are among the highest rated in the state. Some neighborhoods of Santa Clara and Sunnyvale use Cupertino schools, which are also some of the highest rated in the state. I would add though that some of the shools in the higher performing districts can be obsessed with academic success and tend to put an unreasonable amount of pressure on students and neglect other educational areas such as the arts.

Palo Alto is another option that has a reasonable commute to both Santa Clara and Fremont but if real estate prices are an issue, you will probably not even bother considering this place.

You will probably find prices to be slightly lower in Milpitas and Fremont (with some parts of Fremont being very expensive, mainly the Mission San Jose area), but really the quality of life is identical to most of the other cities above. All the cities mentioned are considered to be safe with not much crime to speak of.
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Old 08-17-2011, 11:37 AM
 
Location: Sunnyvale, CA
6,288 posts, read 11,775,293 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tyrannosaur View Post
My wife and myself we have job offers in Santa Clara and Fremont (close to Fremont Central Park).
If real state price were not an issue (I doubt it though), where would you live? Santa Clara? Fremont? In between?
Our priorities are school district, commute time and safety.
Thanks in advance
Probably Santa Clara, as there seem to be more things going on/things to do around that area. Fremont seems a lot slower in that regard.
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Old 08-17-2011, 12:54 PM
 
Location: Pleasanton, CA
2,406 posts, read 6,037,241 times
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Originally Posted by 80skeys View Post
Probably Santa Clara, as there seem to be more things going on/things to do around that area. Fremont seems a lot slower in that regard.
On a "boring-ness" scale, Fremont and Santa Clara are about equal. I've lived in both cities. In fact, if anything, Fremont probably has more festivals and activities going on throughout the year.
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Old 08-17-2011, 02:01 PM
 
Location: Sunnyvale, CA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mstnghu2 View Post
On a "boring-ness" scale, Fremont and Santa Clara are about equal. I've lived in both cities. In fact, if anything, Fremont probably has more festivals and activities going on throughout the year.
I should have explained better. Santa Clara is closer to a larger set of places where there seems to be more stuff going on (mountain view, san jose, the peninsula)

but yes, probably santa clara and fremont are equally boring
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Old 08-17-2011, 06:17 PM
 
Location: Westwood, Los Angeles, CA
76 posts, read 394,477 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 80skeys View Post
I should have explained better. Santa Clara is closer to a larger set of places where there seems to be more stuff going on (mountain view, san jose, the peninsula)

but yes, probably santa clara and fremont are equally boring
True, but I find Santa Clara less appealing due to its geographical terrain. Flat. Santa Clara's stretch of El Camino Real is, as one member put it, quite a wasteland--long stretch of road unfriendly to pedestrians.

Fremont on the other hand offers spectacular views of the eastern foothills and a nearby BART station for access to San Francisco.

Equally boring, yep. But Fremont's nearby beauty > that of Santa Clara
Take cycling along wonderful Mission Boulevard in the morning. Oh my goodness... my eyes.
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Old 08-19-2011, 01:11 AM
 
105 posts, read 338,179 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tyrannosaur View Post
My wife and myself we have job offers in Santa Clara and Fremont (close to Fremont Central Park).
If real state price were not an issue (I doubt it though), where would you live? Santa Clara? Fremont? In between?
Our priorities are school district, commute time and safety.
Santa Clara next to Cupertino schools. Traffic coming from Fremont on 880 in the morning and coming back in the evening is bad, especially if you take the 237 ramp, the opposite direction is better. Unless, your schedule allows to leave home after 9am and head back after 6:30pm, then it's not so bad and you can choose Fremont for good schools. Both are safe.
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Old 08-19-2011, 02:19 PM
 
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I would chose a high end neighborhood in NE SJ (e.g. near the Milpitas border, east of 680). That is a reasonable compromise of commute and schools. If you are willing to tolerate a worse (but not bad, essentially still reverse) commute for the person going to Fremont, then the "ultimate" places would be in no particular order, Palo Alto, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Portola Valley, Woodside and Menlo Park (west of 101). Further afield are Atherton and Hillsborough but at that point the commute is getting out of hand for the Fremont bit. Safety is automatically factored in by the school district choices I've included here.
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Old 08-21-2011, 11:18 AM
 
30,894 posts, read 36,941,290 times
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Originally Posted by Atsuke View Post
True, but I find Santa Clara less appealing due to its geographical terrain. Flat. Santa Clara's stretch of El Camino Real is, as one member put it, quite a wasteland--long stretch of road unfriendly to pedestrians.

Fremont on the other hand offers spectacular views of the eastern foothills and a nearby BART station for access to San Francisco.

Equally boring, yep. But Fremont's nearby beauty > that of Santa Clara
Take cycling along wonderful Mission Boulevard in the morning. Oh my goodness... my eyes.
I would add that Fremont has slightly cooler summer weather than Santa Clara. Fremont has the Bay Area's best weather, IMO.
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Old 08-21-2011, 11:25 AM
 
Location: Sunnyvale, CA
6,288 posts, read 11,775,293 times
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Originally Posted by mysticaltyger View Post
I would add that Fremont has slightly cooler summer weather than Santa Clara. Fremont has the Bay Area's best weather, IMO.
That doesn't seem correct. This summer I've had to go several times between Fremont and Sunnyvale for work, and it's always been cooler in Sunnyvale. Fremont doesnt' have as many trees and has that brown hill next to it which seems to bake in the sunlight and reflect the heat back into town.
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