San Jose - accommodation, cost of owning a car, and living cost? (Santa Clara: car rental)

[jcyh]

I am relocating to San Jose from NYC in the end of month, and have spent over a week on apartment hunting. My office is located in downtown SJ with light rail and bus next blocks. I've been searching on Craigslist for newly renovated studio or one bedroom below $2000/mo from SJ to Mountain View, but didn't find any nice & safe options yet...

I am even thinking that, assuming cost of owning a car (second-hand) may go up to around $400/mo (monthly payment, insurance, parking in SJDT, gas, maintenance etc.), I was wondering should I increase my rent to $2400 in downtown and trade off the ownership of a car? I would need to rely on renting a car when I need it, and bike/walk/uber daily to work, grocery, restaurant etc.

Therefore, some questions would like to ask:

1) Do you think it would be a reasonable option to live in SJ downtown without owning a car?

2) What's the cost of having a car per month?

3) How much should I expect for the monthly living cost for a single female, 29yr, maybe eat/go out twice a week? e.g. restaurant, grocery, entertainment etc. (even better - if compare to the living cost in NYC, especially upper west side in Manhattan?)

4) how to find condo/apartment information online besides Craigslist?



I am totally new to west coast, relocation, car... so any advice from you would be highly appreciated!

[aramax666]

Living in San Jose without a car can be very limiting. Anywhere in the bay area , for that matter.
My advice would be to share your lodging with other women. That way you could manage with less than 2000 for rent and still have a car.

You could buy a beat up honda for 5-7K maybe ( just a guess)
Craigslist really is your best bet, especially if you are looking for roommates/ Housemates.

[FioSJ]

Studios which arent brand new are tough to find in the south bay. Newly renovated 1BR for less than $2K impossible to find as well. You might find an older 1BR for less than $2K in some good parts of Santa Clara if you're lucky.
I can't imagine living downtown SJ without a car. With a car would be fun. But the Bay Area is big and your social circle will cover a lot of the Bay Area.
I like aramax's advice. Look for roommate to share a 2BR apt.

[dogandcat]

agree...
roommate.
2000 per nice newly studio or 1 bdr is impossible.
car is a must.
cost of ownership - I believe the same as in NY and depends on how much you drive and what car you own (gas about $150-200, insurance about $100, maintenance and issues 1 year/12month = $100).

[cardinal2007]

1. Considering the office is in downtown SJ it would be cheaper for OP to use a car share service when she needs to use a car, unless out of town trips are common. Driving to Santana Row/Valley Fair for a 2 hour trip would cost $25. Target for 1hr would cost $13.

There are two grocery stores downtown, and most people can lease out their parking spot for about $50 to another resident if they aren't using it, given the parking situation downtown.

So it really depends on how much she would want to use a car. It isn't necessary for "daily" things, but if one wants to go hiking, taking the light rail to Santa Teresa and climbing up the hill for example would be quite a chore, similar for trying to take a bus to Alum Rock Park.

I would say even if you move downtown, I would say at least $60/mo in hourly or daily car rental + Uber or Lyft. You take the train home and the light rail doesn't get there for another 26 minutes, and the Dash doesn't run on weekends, then it is just simpler to pay $6-$7 for Uber downtown for example. But over a month that adds up, also if you go to SF and take Uber there instead of driving (though it may be cheaper considering you don't pay for parking). I keep my car because I got the insurance rate down to $50/mo.

2. A car depends on how much you drive it, taking the state minimum insurance will probably cost you $60-$80/mo based on your age, assuming you drive 5000/mi/yr it would be about $58/mo in gas, maintenance would probably add up to another $40/mo, Depreciation would probably be another $50-100/mo depending on year and model.

3. Excluding rent, I would say $1200/mo, eating out, going to movies, the theater, vacation, groceries, utilities, clothes, furniture, electronics, it all adds up.

4. You could try rent.com, but in the Bay Area, basically Craigslist is king.


Unless you really take a liking to downtown you can feel kind of trapped on the weekends without a car because of the lower frequency of light rail, Caltrain, and buses. Once the BART is extended it will be closer and the 181 will be replaced with a faster bus that runs as frequently, but that is 2 1/2 years away. I tend to keep my car because it is reliable I got the costs of ownership down, and it has a fairly secure parking spot, maybe it would be cheaper to use ZipCar on demand, but then I would have to plan with Enterprise or Budget in order to rent a car for the weekend when I want to go do something elsewhere in the Bay Area, not that I've done much of that this summer.