San Jose - The Last Affordable City in Silicon Valley (fit in, sale)

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Originally Posted by bentobox34

LOL. I've literally never met anyone in the South Bay who could immediately pinpoint the city of a particular zip code, much less consider some zip codes "sexier" than others.

Maybe you've never heard the saying before. But, people refer to zip codes when they're describing an area being more desirable than another, saying it has a better zip code, etc. It doesn't mean they actually know all of the zip codes.

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by NoMoreSnowForMe

Maybe you've never heard the saying before. But, people refer to zip codes when they're describing an area being more desirable than another, saying it has a better zip code, etc. It doesn't mean they actually know all of the zip codes.

Sometimes it's not the best though. For example, if you're in 95121, then you're either in the blah area or the good area in the hills surrounding YB. In San Jose's case, it's so big that even one individual zip code has a lot of neighborhoods of varying "ish-ness" LOL

But I also tend to use zip codes when talking about housing locations.

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by silverkris

Actually, the city of Santa Clara does have its own library, and it's quite good.

But is it as good and large as San Jose's?

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by NoMoreSnowForMe

I disagree. San Jose has a huge library system - that only means they have lots of branches. That doesn't mean that each branch has what the Santa Clara City Library has at it's central branch, in one location.

I am more than sure that San Jose's MLK Main Library beats the snot out of whatever is at the SC main library

I don't care what you call the Santa Clara City Police Department, but when you live in Santa Clara and you call the Santa Clara City Police Department, which is listed as such, paid for by the city, and not some rent-a-cop company - they actually show up and quickly. I know this because I was a resident apartment manager for many years in Santa Clara, and I've never in my long life experienced such a responsive force.

If you live 1/4 mile away in San Jose, you need to call the San Jose Police Department. And God Bless them, they are also awesome, but they have to deal with a lot more calls and will prioritize, as you say, with the big city crimes vs small city crimes. This does not make living in SJ better than living in Santa Clara. Which was my point. Living in the smaller town of Santa Clara means that if you need the police, you'll get them much faster and they will definitely show up.

And you're right as far as Santa Clara having less entertainment than San Jose, or anything else that a large city has to offer as far as entertainment. But, that doesn't make it's real estate worth less money. It's very easy to drive from Santa Clara to San Jose for entertainment.

Just like Oakland real estate isn't worth more money just because it's closer to SF than Walnut Creek. There is no dispute that WC real estate is sexier than Oakland's real estate, except for exclusive areas like Piedmont.

I love San Jose, but that doesn't make me wrong here as far as all of my points. And your arguments honestly just make mine.

Exactly. I was making the point that there's nothing sexy about Santa Clara when compared against San Jose, and in fact it lacks tremendously so against San Jose, as it should due to its tiny size and small population. The only reason why it has higher home prices is simply because it is closer to jobs, and not because of anything else.

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by Wintermomma

Santa Clara City library is FAR nicer than my local SJ Library, which is also new. I'm not say there are no "good" SJ Libraries, but Almaden is a bit far.

You are comparing Santa Clara's main library to a branch of San Jose's. Putting SC main library up against SJ's MLK Main Library is like pitting **** against chocolate, respectively

And I don't know what you are referring to when you say "Almaden". Huh?

You get more services and amenities for your taxes in other cities than San Jose. I feel like the only thing I get for my taxes is a good fire department and the best graffiti removal team, and the fact that the best amenity that I will quote is the graffiti removal team, says something else altogether.

You also get a few other things: light rail, a usable bus service, an international airport, a huge trail system throughout the City, the best library system in the South Bay, a wealth of beautiful performance arts venues, an arena with a major league sports team and concerts, and the best ID4 firework show in the South Bay

I don't care how good you think SJPD is, when they don't come or respond, b/c there are not enough of them, it doesn't matter.

I'm merely pointing out that SJPD is an actual police force, as opposed to the glorified security guards of the villages. Nothing wrong with being glorified security guards, but they are no police force.

Unfortunately, people know it, and it costs more to live in the other cities.

It cost more to live in other villages simply because they are closer to jobs. That's it. I've said in in Page 1 and another poster has already said the same thing. There is literally nothing else outside of that factor that makes any of the villages around San Jose better than San Jose

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by jbunniii

I'm going to guess you've never seen LA's main library...

Been there. Ain't much to write home about.

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by bentobox34

OK, but all of this is really beside the point of the original question, which is why Santa Clara has higher housing prices than San Jose. No one really chooses between these two cities based on the library system (and anyway, it's very easy to live in one city and patronize the other city's library system, like I did). The real answer, which I'm surprised no one has given yet: It's the commute, stupid.

Bingo. That's what I said in Page 1 as well. The proximity to jobs is pretty much the only factor.

At the end of the day, Santa Clara, Cupertino, et al are tiny villages located on the valley floor. Compare to San Jose which occupies both valley floors and the surrounding hillside and San Jose, like you said, has a huge range of prices. On average it is cheaper, but comparing the poshest parts of San Jose is just as expensive if not even more so than Santa Clara's, Cupertino's.

I'm sure the moment we de-annex East Side SJ, services would improve greatly, average home prices would shoot up drastically, and crime rate would literally just bottom out to the point where we would only need 2/3 of the current depleted police force. Well, probably not the last part. We still need a strong police force in order to keep the riff-raffs from newly-created East Side City away from San Jose.

It's just too bad that East Side is leeching on the rest of San Jose, and it will be that way for a long time.

[gizmo980]

Originally Posted by bobby_guz_man

Sorry Snowie, gonna have to dispute a few points:

1) Incredible library? San Jose has the largest library system in the South Bay, it also has the single most impressive main public library this side of the Mississippi. Santa Clara doesn't have its own library system, it uses the County. San Jose's library beats Santa Clara by a mile.

You're actually wrong... Santa Clara IS a city library, and not connected with the County Library District. I should know, given that I work for one of them! I was actually at the Santa Clara Library this afternoon, and while it is very nice, it's definitely NOT part of the county system.

The County Libraries only include the following: Gilroy, Morgan Hill, Milpitas, Saratoga, Los Altos (x2), Campbell, Cupertino, and the Bookmobile.

[gizmo980]

Originally Posted by silverkris

Actually, the city of Santa Clara does have its own library, and it's quite good.

The Santa Clara County Library System is a totally separate system with branches in Milpitas, Cupertino, Saratoga, Los Altos, Campbell, Gilroy and Morgan Hill.

Guess I should have read through first, since I just said the same! And to answer the OP's question, we probably have more working/professional adults here who DO NOT own homes than most other urban metros. I'm 41 years old, work as a public librarian, and have never owned a home. That's fine with me for now, and if/when I am ready to purchase, thankfully I will have help (from my father) with the down payment... but I still worry about making the mortgage payments, taxes, repairs, etc, which is why I haven't accepted that money from him yet.

So the simple answer is: Those of us who aren't in the tech industry usually rent or live with family/parents.

[mossly]

My husband is in tech but I am not. All of my co-workers who own homes at my not-in-tech jobs either:

* grew up here and still live with parents
* grew up here and bought years ago, when houses were not as expensive as they are now
* moved here 8 or 10 years ago, when houses were not as expensive as they are now

I mean, if you got here - either by moving or by birth - before prices went through the roof, and bought a home, you've got that Bay Area life at a fraction of the cost of those of us who have moved in lately. These co-worker's mortgages are much smaller than my rent on a comparable house.

But moving in here now? Honestly even with a big tech salary it's not easy unless you're young and single and can save a lot of your income - if you've already got a family, you're spending a lot of that big tech salary on rent. You're probably not going to have a downpayment saved up to buy until you've had that salary for several years, or if you have extremely well-off and generous parents.