Married couple looking to move from MD to SJ Area (San Jose: rent, condos)

[MotionBlur]

Originally Posted by roadwarrior101

Well, if square footage and a SFH is your top priority (along with a commute that isn't hellish), then Morgan Hill may be your best choice. However, my wife and I chose to forego the SFH to live in Mountain View in a tri-level townhome for a variety of reasons:

-Better school district than some of the far flung suburbs
-Right in the heart of Silicon Valley (good for commute and home value appreciation)
-Better options if switching jobs (we can work anywhere from SF to SJ)
-More urban (to us, this is a positive)

Yeah a TH definitely has it advantages, maybe it's just the bad neighbors in our area that have left a sour taste in our mouth with having one for the last 1.5 years. It's almost like in an apartment bad some nights with the car stereos, tv's, house parties etc. The last 6 months have brought in so many bad neighbors.

Space wise it wouldn't be bad if the layout of a TH wasn't "east coast" style. Half our second level is wasted space because of the layout.

[MotionBlur]

Originally Posted by Nell Plotts

What you don't realize is that the listed price of a nice home is like the opening bid in an auction. The RE market is different than what you have experienced. You really need to talk to a local realtor to learn how it works.

Most home buyers discover that renting is actually cheaper. Yes rent will increase but if you find a place you like the next time the lease is up make it longer. Also renting will give you geographic flexibility should you find other employment opportunities.

Yeah I've thought about renting so we wouldn't be stuck some where until we really live in the area and see it on a daily basis. Definitely made when I moved to Maryland much easier, rented in several places prior to buying our TH. But then again our jobs really determined where we lived in Maryland.

[roadwarrior101]

Originally Posted by MotionBlur

Yeah a TH definitely has it advantages, maybe it's just the bad neighbors in our area that have left a sour taste in our mouth with having one for the last 1.5 years. It's almost like in an apartment bad some nights with the car stereos, tv's, house parties etc. The last 6 months have brought in so many bad neighbors.

Space wise it wouldn't be bad if the layout of a TH wasn't "east coast" style. Half our second level is wasted space because of the layout.

Well, I can tell you that my TH is definitely not in a bad area (I am paying a premium for it though). The layout isn't ideal when we have school aged kids (1 bedroom on first floor and 2 bedrooms on 3rd floor). However, we figure this is a great starter place and we can have little kids in the 2nd bedroom upstairs. As we don't yet have kids, we're hopeful that we gain enough equity in this home, accumulate a lot of savings and get significant job promotions, to be able to afford a nice SFH in a nice area on the peninsula.

[MotionBlur]

Originally Posted by roadwarrior101

Well, I can tell you that my TH is definitely not in a bad area (I am paying a premium for it though). The layout isn't ideal when we have school aged kids (1 bedroom on first floor and 2 bedrooms on 3rd floor). However, we figure this is a great starter place and we can have little kids in the 2nd bedroom upstairs. As we don't yet have kids, we're hopeful that we gain enough equity in this home, accumulate a lot of savings and get significant job promotions, to be able to afford a nice SFH in a nice area on the peninsula.

Sounds like a great plan, that was original plan too, with the closures of bases all around us leaving only 1 major base just down the road. We thought it would be a good investment, although a few months after we bought it, the housing market took another plunder and 2 doors down from us a TH very similar to ours sold for $40k less than we paid for ours. That was last year, so maybe if we just wait it out a bit longer.

[roadwarrior101]

Originally Posted by MotionBlur

Sounds like a great plan, that was original plan too, with the closures of bases all around us leaving only 1 major base just down the road. We thought it would be a good investment, although a few months after we bought it, the housing market took another plunder and 2 doors down from us a TH very similar to ours sold for $40k less than we paid for ours. That was last year, so maybe if we just wait it out a bit longer.

The bay area is a bit different in terms of housing values. If you are out in the outer burbs, prices are very depressed and probably have not yet bottomed. If you are in the heart of the Silicon Valley, the peninsula or the city, houses may have dropped 10-15% from peak in 2006 (if that), bottomed out after 2009 and have already gone up a bit. Its all about location, location, location.

[MotionBlur]

Originally Posted by roadwarrior101

The bay area is a bit different in terms of housing values. If you are out in the outer burbs, prices are very depressed and probably have not yet bottomed. If you are in the heart of the Silicon Valley, the peninsula or the city, houses may have dropped 10-15% from peak in 2006 (if that), bottomed out after 2009 and have already gone up a bit. Its all about location, location, location.

Yeah I have been watching the Morgan Hill/Gilroy area for a year or so now, Morgan Hill has dropped a little bit since my wife and I first saw that town for our needs.

It's unfortunate that Tracy/Mountain House is too far from IT jobs as those prices seem to have hit the bottom. $300k there can buy you way more than it can even in the cheaper parts of the Baltimore/Washington area I'm in now.

[roadwarrior101]

Originally Posted by MotionBlur

Yeah I have been watching the Morgan Hill/Gilroy area for a year or so now, Morgan Hill has dropped a little bit since my wife and I first saw that town for our needs.

It's unfortunate that Tracy/Mountain House is too far from IT jobs as those prices seem to have hit the bottom. $300k there can buy you way more than it can even in the cheaper parts of the Baltimore/Washington area I'm in now.

Other than the long commute, I question what you'd do out there on weekends. It is all chain restaurants with no downtown areas to explore. For me, the quality of life (both in commute and things to do) outweighs buying a cheaper place. At least in the suburbs of DC/Baltimore, you are pretty close to city centers.

[MotionBlur]

Originally Posted by roadwarrior101

Other than the long commute, I question what you'd do out there on weekends. It is all chain restaurants with no downtown areas to explore. For me, the quality of life (both in commute and things to do) outweighs buying a cheaper place. At least in the suburbs of DC/Baltimore, you are pretty close to city centers.

That is definitely a good point. When my wife and I were out for New Years, walking around downtown Burlingame and Mountain View we realized we do kind of miss that atmosphere. Our suburb of Baltimore doesn't have one, we'd have to travel either up to Baltimore (which only the inner harbor we feel comfortable in) or down to DC.

Other than programming/reading on the weekends I really don't do much in Maryland.

[easybay]

I have a townhouse now in Maryland, ~2100 sqft, 3 story and 2 car garage. We definitely want 2500 sqft and a 2 car garage, no mansions or swimming pools needed, we both work too much to have a bigger house/pool

We used to live in NoVA, in 2500 sq ft townhome with a double garage, and when we moved here 2 years ago, had that in mind to either rent or purchase. It was nearly impossible. All of the newer townhomes are REALLY small - 1400-1700 sq ft. We rented a 1650 sq ft townhome in the Westgate area of San Jose, and it was so cheaply made, built in 2007 - (selling in the 600-700's now) - cheap vinyl floors, pressed wood (?) baseboards, uneven floors, poorly insulated, etc. My theory is that they were thrown together to get sold asap (I heard that they was a lottery to be able to buy back then). When looking to buy something bigger there were some built in the 70's and 80's in Willow Glen, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale, which were bigger, but needed a lot of upgrading, or the HOA fees were really high,. One townhome we looked in Los Gatos had an HOA of over $500 per month - crazy.

ANYHOW - we ended up buying a 2400 sq ft patio home (so 5 home in our little development) for $750000, last summer - in Rosegarden area San Jose. No HOA, built in 2004 - so well built. You are best to rent and take your time shopping around - we looked for 9 months before we found our house. Good luck!

[roadwarrior101]

Originally Posted by easybay

We used to live in NoVA, in 2500 sq ft townhome with a double garage, and when we moved here 2 years ago, had that in mind to either rent or purchase. It was nearly impossible. All of the newer townhomes are REALLY small - 1400-1700 sq ft. We rented a 1650 sq ft townhome in the Westgate area of San Jose, and it was so cheaply made, built in 2007 - (selling in the 600-700's now) - cheap vinyl floors, pressed wood (?) baseboards, uneven floors, poorly insulated, etc. My theory is that they were thrown together to get sold asap (I heard that they was a lottery to be able to buy back then). When looking to buy something bigger there were some built in the 70's and 80's in Willow Glen, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale, which were bigger, but needed a lot of upgrading, or the HOA fees were really high,. One townhome we looked in Los Gatos had an HOA of over $500 per month - crazy.

ANYHOW - we ended up buying a 2400 sq ft patio home (so 5 home in our little development) for $750000, last summer - in Rosegarden area San Jose. No HOA, built in 2004 - so well built. You are best to rent and take your time shopping around - we looked for 9 months before we found our house. Good luck!

Rosegarden is nice, but the schools in the area are not great. I suppose with the money you save living there vs. Palo Alto, you can afford to send your kids to Bellarmine.