Commute, Work in Milpitas, evergreen or Cupertino, Almaden?

[bobby_guz_man]

I'm really surprised that VTA does not run a separate light rail line starting at the current Curtner station and running east along Curtner/Tully Road all the way up the Evergreen hills and end around Ruby Road vicinity. That would alleviate quite a bit of the car traffic, IMO.

[Jyothi108]

Originally Posted by bobby_guz_man

Bottom line is if you live in Evergreen, commute is going to be an absolute pain in the ass. I would say, of all of San Jose's normal-to-great areas to live in, Evergreen has the worst freeway commute, in or out. The main streets of Evergreen (Quimby, Tully, Capitol, Silver Creek, Aborn, YB) are pretty crowded as well.

Wow....ugh. Any idea on the commute if hubby leaves at 9:30am? We have been stuck in a tiny city apt for two years now. Thrilled to move to CA, we are making the decision to rent a small, oldish home in Sunnyvale/Cupertino or our "old life back," larger home Evergreen or Almaden.

An interesting side note, They have a solution for the car problem here in Singapore...they only allow 800,000 cars (population roughly same as Bay Area) and you have to bid on a special certificate to own one in open auction. Currently about 75k dollars plus the car is highly taxed, about 150%. (About $125k for a toyota camry depending on market). Certificate is valid only 10 years then you must buy a new car. (difficult to renew but possible for antique or specialty cars). Car ownership is about 11%. But, taxi is cheap and public transport is good! They also charge extra to travel on certain roads during peak times ranging .5 to $2.00, but that doesn't deter me.

[sonarrat]

Originally Posted by bobby_guz_man

I'm really surprised that VTA does not run a separate light rail line starting at the current Curtner station and running east along Curtner/Tully Road all the way up the Evergreen hills and end around Ruby Road vicinity. That would alleviate quite a bit of the car traffic, IMO.

It wouldn't work, because the density just isn't there along that route. It's all sprawly single-family developments. The 31 bus used to run from Evergreen to the Alum Rock station, but they cut off the useful part of it and just left the part from Eastridge to Evergreen College.

[josh u]

Originally Posted by Jyothi108

Hi,

We have decided to rent for 1 year when moving to San Jose from overseas...which do you recommend for a decent commute to Mtn. View? I am looking at Evergreen and Cupertino. I have also seen some cool houses in San Carlos with pretty good API but great parent ratings. Would that be too far? Husband also travels to SFO often. Our budget is 4-6000 per month and we need 4 bedrooms (5 in the household, including an in-law and two elementary aged kds). Schools are important. Do you have an API minimum that you look for when buying or renting?

Almaden seems to have nice homes but I'm concerned about the mercury...has anyone else heard about this?

Thanks!

You're gonna have a hard time renting a place for $6k. There just aren't many rental homes in that price range available. For $4k you won't be able to find a rental home w/ 4 bedrooms in Cupertino because that's an expensive area.

Milpitas is a compromise. The schools are above average but not as good as Cupertino (lots of Asiasns in both cities). I used to work near MV and dated someone in Milpitas so I'd go over to her house a couple of times a week. The commute w/o traffic is 15 min and 25 min with traffic. Which is not bad by Bay Area standards. This was a few years ago so perhaps it's differnt now.

Santa Clara is a shorter commute from MV but the schools aren't good.

San Carlos is a better commute for your husband but there's no way you're gonna find a 4/br in that price range. Very expensive city

[spicydreamt]

"Santa Clara is a shorter commute from MV but the schools aren't good."
even its Blue Ribbon school and its Cup' schools? and on what premise - the amount of homework at kindergarten maybe? (gotta prep' early for Lynbrook!)

[kdog]

Originally Posted by sonarrat

The Almaden Valley area does have an old, defunct mercury mine which has caused soil contamination issues, mainly in creekside areas and around Almaden Lake. But unless your rental would be right on the water, I wouldn't rate that as a major concern.

Actually there is no concern. As long as you don't eat the fish or drink the water from the creek or Lake Almaden, there's zero chance of ingesting mercury outside of the Quicksilver Park. There's no soil contamination outside of the park with the possible exception of the creek beds themselves. Even inside the park the mercury has been cleaned up so it's highly doubtful you'll come in contact with any there either.

[quizzer25]

Originally Posted by Jyothi108

Wow....ugh. Any idea on the commute if hubby leaves at 9:30am? We have been stuck in a tiny city apt for two years now. Thrilled to move to CA, we are making the decision to rent a small, oldish home in Sunnyvale/Cupertino or our "old life back," larger home Evergreen or Almaden.

An interesting side note, They have a solution for the car problem here in Singapore...they only allow 800,000 cars (population roughly same as Bay Area) and you have to bid on a special certificate to own one in open auction. Currently about 75k dollars plus the car is highly taxed, about 150%. (About $125k for a toyota camry depending on market). Certificate is valid only 10 years then you must buy a new car. (difficult to renew but possible for antique or specialty cars). Car ownership is about 11%. But, taxi is cheap and public transport is good! They also charge extra to travel on certain roads during peak times ranging .5 to $2.00, but that doesn't deter me.

Jyothi - welcome to California.

Have you already moved?

Where did you choose?

I'm looking to move to alamden as well.

[Jyothi108]

Originally Posted by quizzer25

Jyothi - welcome to California.

Have you already moved?

Where did you choose?

I'm looking to move to alamden as well.

Hi! We are moving in about 2 weeks... I'm currently hanging out at my parent's house while we wait for the lease. We had a heck of a time even getting a rental property. Anything somewhat nice just flew off craigslist. My hubby went to several open houses (yes, open houses for rentals!?!) over a week's time and was unable to get any of them. By the time he spoke to the agent they said several people had already submitted applications. So....he scouted out a house in Los Altos and showed up early to make sure he was the first one and made sure he befriended the agent. Long story short, a bidding war on the lease ensued and we ended up agreeing to pay 400$ more than they originally asked. Un-freaking-believable. It is a 2500sq foot semi updated old house in Los Altos. There is a pool--but there is also wood paneling in the family room. I've never seen the house so I'm excited and can't wait to finally see it.

We did use the bidding war to our advantage also. We were not able to get some of the other homes because we preferred a 1 year lease (they gave it to people accepting two years right off the bat). We are waiting on our tenants lease to expire so we can sell our home in San Diego, have one year to wait. So, we said if we're going to pay the extra money we want a 1 year lease instead of two with an optional month-to-month or six month extension.

So, we are renting 4 bdr in Los Altos $5900/month. Hubby really wanted Los Altos because he will fly out of SFO a lot. We may end up buying in Almaden though because I really don't think we can afford L.A. long term.

I'm so glad to be returning to the US. I've already mapped out Whole Foods, Trader Joes, the YMCA and Costco from my house.