Pleasanton or Saratoga? (San Jose, Fremont, Sunnyvale: for sale, rental homes, mortgage)

[aslowdodge]

I forgot to say there are a lot of Asians moving to the area because of the quality of schools. I was looking at the last names of buyers of real estate to see the demographic mix. Lot's of Indians too.

[justinbro2002]

Originally Posted by aslowdodge

I forgot to say there are a lot of Asians moving to the area because of the quality of schools. I was looking at the last names of buyers of real estate to see the demographic mix. Lot's of Indians too.

I know a guy who works for a home builder that built million $+ homes in pleasanton and he said the buyers were almost exclusively east indian. The whole tri valley has experienced an influx of asians since the housing collapse. With the hot market now that trend is only intensifying I notice the changing demographics when I go to costco or walmart and the makeup of the student body at the schools. The good schools mixed with the hotter housing markets closer to silicon valley are probably the driving force behind this shift.

[aslowdodge]

Originally Posted by justinbro2002

I know a guy who works for a home builder that built million $+ homes in pleasanton and he said the buyers were almost exclusively east indian. The whole tri valley has experienced an influx of asians since the housing collapse. With the hot market now that trend is only intensifying I notice the changing demographics when I go to costco or walmart and the makeup of the student body at the schools. The good schools mixed with the hotter housing markets closer to silicon valley are probably the driving force behind this shift.

You're right on that. When I go out to stores, my gym, to eat, I am amazed how much it has changed in the last 5-10 years.
Education is highly valued by Asians and Indians. Pretty much all the schools are pretty highly rated which is what brings them to the area.
A friend of mine and I were talking about how dominant the tri valleys high schools are in sports. It's not uncommon to see out league go 20-2 against other schools in non league games. He said that was coming to an end and he said it was because of the shifting demographics of the kids attending. Smaller, less atheletic, and less interested in sports.

[sonarrat]

Originally Posted by bzmomofthree

Hello. My husband will be transferring to Sunnyvale office so we are looking around to buy a house around that area.
Since we have pre-K, G4 and G6 kids, we would love to move to Palo Alto or Los Altos area. However, our budget would be below $1.9 mil so it is pretty hard to get a 4 bdrm/2-3 bathroom house.

In which case, we would need to go out further and right now, we are looking at Pleasanton (my husband's colleagues strongly recommends it) and Saratoga(I would prefer to stay here than way~ out there).
Cupertino doesn't seem so diverse and I don't want my kids to be overloaded with school work and Mountain View and Sunnyvale school district doesn't seem as nice.

What do you think? My husband has no problem with commuting since he can go to office anytime and he mostly works at home anyway. But I am a SAHM and would like to meet some friends, play tennis, go to a shopping mall, take my youngest to the park... My kids love sports so I hope the neighborhood has good after-school sports activities.
Which would be a better choice - Pleasanton or Saratoga? My husband visited Pleasanton and said it's beautiful there, but we have no idea about Saratoga.
Could you also help us find which areas of either Pleasanton or Saratoga to avoid (safety/ investment/ noisy..)??

I would appreciate any feedback. Thank you!

With a little local knowledge, it's easy to get what you are asking for while coming way under-budget. The realtors push the areas with higher prices to get bigger commissions, and it's easy for those who don't know the area to overpay by a significant amount.

The suggestion I have to make is to check out 95124 (Cambrian), 95117 (West San Jose), and southern Santa Clara (95050/95051), as well as Campbell.

[aslowdodge]

Originally Posted by sonarrat

With a little local knowledge, it's easy to get what you are asking for while coming way under-budget. The realtors push the areas with higher prices to get bigger commissions, and it's easy for those who don't know the area to overpay by a significant amount.

The suggestion I have to make is to check out 95124 (Cambrian), 95117 (West San Jose), and southern Santa Clara (95050/95051), as well as Campbell.

Well I imagine the OP wants something something nicer and newer being that they looked at Ruby Hill. But if the want a nice home but not as fancy as Ruby Hill certainly they can spend well under 1.9 million. In Pleasanton you can get a 4-2 about 2200 sq ft in the 800 to 900K range. it will be a much older home, but nicely kept up, probably modernized, and in a great mature neighborhood.

[OrangeSunset]

Driving to Silicon Valley during commute hours will not be fun. I recommend taking the ACE train from Pleasanton. It is a nice 40 minute ride to Great America or San Jose area. From Great America there are free ACE shuttles taking people all over Silicon Valley. I don't recommend driving and the ACE is super nice and recently added another (later) train. It is a commuter train so it only runs 4 times in the AM and 4 times in the PM. But there is wi-fi and it is super comfortable. It works great is there is some flexibility with work schedule. Here is more info on ACE:
ACE | Altamont Commuter Express | Welcome to ACE Life!

There is a large Asian community in Dublin with lots of Asian stores. There is also lots of Asian stores along Dublin Blv including Kee Wah bakery, which is great. Dim Sum at Lee Garden on Springdale Ave near the Stoneridge mall is awesome.

As far as neighborhoods go, it really depend on what you are looking for. Ruby Hill is very exclusive and houses tend to be more expensive there. I am sure you can find something similar and not gated for much cheaper. Anyway check out Avignon, Del Prado, Vintage Hills and the area near downtown is quite nice and quaint. It really depends on what you are looking for, older or newer home. I suggest driving around and finding a place that speaks to you. Good luck!

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by aslowdodge

You're right on that. When I go out to stores, my gym, to eat, I am amazed how much it has changed in the last 5-10 years.
Education is highly valued by Asians and Indians. Pretty much all the schools are pretty highly rated which is what brings them to the area.
A friend of mine and I were talking about how dominant the tri valleys high schools are in sports. It's not uncommon to see out league go 20-2 against other schools in non league games. He said that was coming to an end and he said it was because of the shifting demographics of the kids attending. Smaller, less atheletic, and less interested in sports.

It's probably a little too broad brushed to say "less athletic". You might find instead more movement into some of the sports such as badminton...which is very popular with Asians (and the top players globally ARE Asian), where you don't have to be a hulking giant to effectively play.

Also, Indians ARE Asians, in fact, in the UK, referring to an Asian is almost synonmous with an Indian or Pakistani. Specifically you can refer to Indians, Pakistanis, Bengalis, and Sri Lankans as South Asians (to distinguish them from Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese who are considered East Asian).

[aslowdodge]

Hmm, they might be asians, but I have never heard anyone who says asians when they are talking about Indians. My workout partner is Indian as are two other gym buddies. I will ask them. But in conversation when we talk about someone Indian they say Indian, not Asian.

The more well known and popular sports such as football and basketball tend to need size as well as speed. You simply don't see high caliber teams with several asians on them. Mission San Jose has many Indians and Asians and suck at football and basketball. But their badminton team is very good so you may be right and see Tri valley schools slip in the most popular current sports and excel in the others.

[GoldyViolet]

The commute between Pleasanton & Silicon Valley is TERRIBLE. For that alone I couldn't live there although it is beautiful. My vote is for Saratoga/Los Gatos. Best of luck to you and yours!

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by aslowdodge

Hmm, they might be asians, but I have never heard anyone who says asians when they are talking about Indians. My workout partner is Indian as are two other gym buddies. I will ask them. But in conversation when we talk about someone Indian they say Indian, not Asian.

The more well known and popular sports such as football and basketball tend to need size as well as speed. You simply don't see high caliber teams with several asians on them. Mission San Jose has many Indians and Asians and suck at football and basketball. But their badminton team is very good so you may be right and see Tri valley schools slip in the most popular current sports and excel in the others.

I'm Chinese, and when I talk about someone in particular who is Chinese, I tend to refer to them as Chinese. It's just that when you say "Asians and Indians", it's like saying "Christians and Catholics". One is a subset of the other and therefore redundant.

Nope, most Asians don't have the physical size in our population to populate most basketball and football teams - Jeremy Lin notwithstanding, nor a big tradition of doing these sports -save for Pacific Islanders but they are a different group.