Relocating to SJ from Seattle - where should we buy?

[Azmordean]

Commutes here are very bad. Even downtown San Jose - which by distance is not particularly far from Mountain View - can be nearly an hour. If an average commute under 30min is the goal, and normal working hours are what is expected, I wouldn't go much farther east than Sunnyvale. *Maybe* North San Jose.

Realistically, even with the high salary, you're probably going to have to downsize the house. That's just the reality of this area. Some billionaire CEOs here live in homes that would be a normal upper middle class suburban home in most of the United States.

Mountain View and Los Altos are both very nice but expensive. Palo Alto even more expensive. All have nice downtowns, though homes in walking distance to those downtowns come at a premium. I'd look in both cities and at least consider 3br options. Sunnyvale will save you some considerable money, at the price of it being a bit more "bland" without a real downtown. Further north, Menlo is nice but doesn't save you much money. Redwood City has nice parts - though I'm not sure on schools. I wouldn't go much further north than that if 30min commute is the goal.

Here for example is a home on the Los Altos - Mountain View border. Not particularly walkable, though I think it meets your other requirements:

1108 BLUE LAKE Sq, Mountain View, CA 94040 | MLS# 81414902 | Redfin

Sadly, walkability to downtown here incurs a massive penalty. I don't have near your budget, but by way of example, my 2br apartment is $2500, the same thing a mile away near downtown Mountain View is $3500+.

[fashionguy]

With your budget I would recommend looking at the Mountain View area that has Las Altos schools. The commute will be ideal and I also think that area has great upside potential. An alternative is to look for a very small house in Palo Alto. Your lifestyle will have to downgrade a bit but the resale value can't be beat.
Historically Palo Alto is very resistant to downturns and claims the highest % increase when the economy is good, and building there is very difficult and expensive so you can be rest assured that supply will be tight. For example,

Palo Alto approves new development fees for residential and commercial projects - Silicon Valley Business Journal

A small condo there now can sell for north of 1 million.

Originally Posted by cheryllouise

My husband has had a great job offer in SJ - bigger salary (around 300k not counting all the extras/shares etc), great job opportunity at senior level and he wants to take it. Except of course they want us to move to SJ and we love Seattle. LOVE it. Full disclosure though, we're from London originally so, yes, the CA weather would be amazing, and we are excited to move, but we can't decide where we'd want to move to.
We currently own a 2300sq ft 4-bed house in a great walkable neighborhood in Seattle, a few minutes by car or bus to DT, which we're thinking of renting out. We have two kids under three so would prefer husband not to have hour-long commute to Mountain View but house prices in the closer quaint walkable neighborhoods are terrifying. We're outdoorsy and like hiking, biking etc. We're long term home owners so renting isn't really an option. We're looking to buy a four-bed house with a back yard and we've been considering Los Gatos, Saratoga, Campbell, Almaden, Evergreen, spending $1.5-1.7million (this is top top end of budget).
We're having trouble deciding whether living further out (in Almaden/Evergreen) with a potentially bigger house/yard but not walkable to much and longer commute is preferable to smaller house/yard with shorter commute and more neighborhood/downtown feel with shops, restaurants etc.... Good schools are obviously a priority and I'm also worried too about how easy it is to make friends and play dates for the kids, especially if we're a way out in the countryside.
I've only been down there once so I don't know the neighborhoods very well at all - only what I've seen on Redfin. I don't know how to make this decision!
Any and all opinions welcome!
Thanks

[SiliconWriter]

The zillow listing above mentioned on Clay has Cupertino schools, which are excellent. Walkability might be tough, though.

[cheryllouise]

Thanks again - I'll widen our search area to consider the areas you mention.
I really appreciate the input!

[jk88cal]

Originally Posted by cheryllouise

Thanks - you've given me some useful things to think about. I guess we need to consider resale value too if we ever decide to come back to Seattle. I'll check out those other neighborhoods mentioned. It seems like houses coming on the market are sold within a couple of weeks or even days - is this always the trend due to turnover of people moving in/out of SJ or a more recent thing?

Also just wondering what places like San Carlos, Belmont, Redwood City are like? Houses seem to be a bit cheaper there - is it because they're just not quite as desirable as Los Gatos, Palo Alto etc? They seem to have good schools, small downtown areas, short commute.... Should we take a look at these?
Thanks again - I am so grateful!

Time on market is typically 1 to 2 weeks. The reason is lack of available homes for sale and high buyer demand. The homes are listed on Tue, Wed, Thu. They hold open house for 1 weekend. The following week, offers are due at set date/time by the seller. They will collect all the offers and pick the best one. If no offer or nothing acceptable, they hold another weekend of open house.

The sellers market is very extreme now. You probably have to waive contingencies, as you will go up against 5-10 other buyers. In highly desired neighborhoods, it was competitive even in down market like 2010/2011. But there were definitely more options and better buyer leverage on pricing in down market.

I definitely think San Carlos, Belmont, and Redwood City (and other cities in San Mateo county) and Los Gatos, Saratoga, Los Altos, Palo Alto, and Mountain View (in Santa Clara) are better fit for you. They have small downtown areas and walkability is bit better.

San Mateo county should be more expensive than Santa Clara County, in general. (Of course there are exceptions, like Los Altos, Palo Alto, Saratoga, Cupertino, etc). It is closer drive to San Francisco. There are pockets of good vs bad areas in these cities. In general, you want to buy west of El Camino Real, as opposed to east of El Camino Real to HWY 101. Maybe the ones you saw are older and smaller homes, so price might seem be lower, but you are paying more per square foot.

There are some concerns with SM schools. There are more good high schools in SC county than SM county, probably because SC schools are more separated by area (and thus demographics). In SC county, there are 7 schools over 900 API score (standard California testing); another 6 with scores 850-900. In SM county, there are only 3 high schools with scores above 850. These are Mills and Burlingame High further north; Carlmont for Belmont and north part of San Carlos. So based on high schools, choices are more limited in SM. You can consider private school.

[teoreticar]

Originally Posted by cheryllouise

My husband has had a great job offer in SJ - bigger salary (around 300k not counting all the extras/shares etc), great job opportunity at senior level and he wants to take it. Except of course they want us to move to SJ and we love Seattle. LOVE it. Full disclosure though, we're from London originally so, yes, the CA weather would be amazing, and we are excited to move, but we can't decide where we'd want to move to.
We currently own a 2300sq ft 4-bed house in a great walkable neighborhood in Seattle, a few minutes by car or bus to DT, which we're thinking of renting out. We have two kids under three so would prefer husband not to have hour-long commute to Mountain View but house prices in the closer quaint walkable neighborhoods are terrifying. We're outdoorsy and like hiking, biking etc. We're long term home owners so renting isn't really an option. We're looking to buy a four-bed house with a back yard and we've been considering Los Gatos, Saratoga, Campbell, Almaden, Evergreen, spending $1.5-1.7million (this is top top end of budget).
We're having trouble deciding whether living further out (in Almaden/Evergreen) with a potentially bigger house/yard but not walkable to much and longer commute is preferable to smaller house/yard with shorter commute and more neighborhood/downtown feel with shops, restaurants etc.... Good schools are obviously a priority and I'm also worried too about how easy it is to make friends and play dates for the kids, especially if we're a way out in the countryside.
I've only been down there once so I don't know the neighborhoods very well at all - only what I've seen on Redfin. I don't know how to make this decision!
Any and all opinions welcome!
Thanks

I would buy in Sunnyvale or some older house in MV.