Moving from Seattle to the Mountain View area (San Jose, Fremont: for sale, hair salon)

[RVD90277]

I currently live and work up in Seattle. I like it up here but my job is taking me back down to the bay area. I work in tech.

I went to college in the bay area (Go Bears!) but moved out of the bay area to SoCal almost 20 years ago. I lived in SoCal for many years and moved up to Seattle 4 years ago.

I like it up here in Seattle. I am a family of 5 and our standard of living is awesome up here. I know that we'll have to make some big huge cuts moving down there. For example, we live in a nice 7000 sq ft home on 2 acres of land in the suburbs (about 15 miles from downtown Seattle) and I know we probably won't be able to get anywhere near that.

My 3 kids are age 10, 3, and 1. The 3 year old has some development issues (autism, speech delay, etc.) and our school district up here is awesome. They essentially have free day care / classes / support for her as well as people coming to our house to tutor her.

So basically I'm looking for areas not too far from Mountain View that have good public schools, preferably good programs for kids with autism, and nice houses.

Budget for a home would likely be around $1.5m but for the right home maybe we'd stretch to around $1.7-$2m. I'm hoping to get something like a 4 bedroom / 2500 sq ft house? As for neighborhoods I'm sort of looking at areas like Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Milpitas, Redwood City, etc. I would prefer not to be more than around 10 miles or so from Mountain View if possible.

We probably will sell our current home in Seattle when we move but I'd prefer to buy a home down in silicon valley first and then sell our home. That means I'd have to qualify for a loan and I'm not sure that with my income I could qualify for a loan (I already own 2 homes - main home + rental down in LA). I guess I can try running some numbers to see my debt to income ratio right?

I remember Palo Alto being pretty nice with good schools. I get that for $2m I'd probably be getting something closer to 3 bedrooms and 1500 sq ft but if the schools and support system are worth it, I might be ok with it for the kids.

Any advice?

RVD.

[dogandcat]

Originally Posted by RVD90277

Any advice?

Welcome to Silicon Valley!

Just forget about Palo Alto. You will not get a house for this money.

Other towns mentioned before: yes it is possible to find something appropriate and relatively roomy in all of them in a good school district, or in a perfect district (as for instance in case of Cupertino).

Milpitas is too far away from MV and traffic is bad - if you are ready to drive more than 10 miles one way than better consider West San Jose, parts of Campbell and parts of South San Jose (I live here, and home prices are relatively affordable comparing to Penunsula part of Silicon Valley. It is also easier to find bigger homes in SJ comparing to Peninsula).

Just come here, rent for about 6 months, and than you will understand where to buy. Do not buy without exploring the area...

[silverkris]

You may be able to find that sort of house size with that budget in a very solid public school district in Fremont. Even Mission San Jose. More house for the money than Cupertino. But the trade off is going to be the commute - Fremont to MV is a rather rough commute in terms of direction. Try about 45 minutes in peak traffic.

Yes, forget about Palo Alto. We're seeing 3 bedroom houses about 1200-1400 sq ft go for 2.2 million here.

[WanderingFar]

Parts of Mountain View are zoned for Los Altos schools ... and many MV schools are also very good. Perhaps you should give MV a look.

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by Nony100

Depends where you want to live and the type of environment you're looking for?

Mountain View = Indians
Cupertino = Chinese
Sunnyvale = More Indians
Santa Clara = White but being taken over by Koreans, Chinese, and Indians
San Jose East = Vietnamese, Mexican
San Jose West = White
Los Altos = White and being taken over by various immigrants
Palo Alto = White,
Redwood City = Mixed
Fremont = Indians and Middle Eastern
Mission San Jose = White and slowly being taken over by Chinese

Best Area for Autism Programs = Closer to Palo Alto/Menlo Park
Best Area for Schools = Cupertino, Palo Alto
Best Bang for your Buck with Houses = Fremont, Milpitas. Decent schools but no diversity (primarily asian/indian/middle eastern) and neighborhoods aren't great looking.

Simplistic nonsense and full of inaccuracies, with a tinge of ethnocentrism.

Just for a few:

I live in Palo Alto and it's about 60% white, 30% Asian now. But the only color, sadly, that matters for one to live there is green (money) these days. Los Altos is 70% white, 23% Asian, and the same applies.

Sunnyvale is about 40% non-Hispanic White, 44% Asian, 19% Hispanic (can be of any race - so overlap). Hardly Little Delhi. Stop exaggerating.

"Taken over?" As if communities are supposed to be the exclusive domain of one ethnic group? Get a grip.

[RVD90277]

I am Asian but have always lived in predominantly white neighborhoods (90%+) so my kids are used to that.

This is actually kind of a helpful list despite the inaccuracies and ethnocentrism.

Koreatown seems to be in Santa Clara (most of the Korean restaurants, hair salons, etc.).

From a price / schools perspective it looks like Santa Clara or Sunnyvale are good options but we'll see.

And yes, I'll probably rent for awhile first.

[nwman2830]

I suppose you must be making a very high income to support a purchase of $2m house and getting a mortgage for it? I calculated if I wanted to own a 1m condo in Mountain View and get 15 year fixed mortgage, I would have to make monthly $15,000 after taxes to maintain a reasonable debt to income ratio.

[RVD90277]

well, the money is actually the same as what i'm making here in seattle. it's ok though and enough to live ok in the bay area (although not extravagant by any means).

also, i'd probably get a 30 year fixed mortgage instead of 15 year.

[blueskywalker]

Originally Posted by RVD90277

well, the money is actually the same as what i'm making here in seattle. it's ok though and enough to live ok in the bay area (although not extravagant by any means).

also, i'd probably get a 30 year fixed mortgage instead of 15 year.

Are you sure you have to make the move?
If i were you i'd stay in Seattle if there's a choice.
The quality of living in Silicon Valley and the bay area is, imo, horrible.
There are far too many people, it's an absolute rat-race, a** holes abound, the drought will continue, CA is on fire, cost of living is obscene, air quality is awful, schools are hit and miss .... o.k., i'll stop.
If you have to make the move, i recommend Los Gatos. At least you'll be just over the hill from the ocean and it's a quick drive when not during commuter times. If i had to live on the eastern side of the Santa Cruz mountains, i'd live in Los Gatos. A little further to Mountain View but, imo, worth it.

The Los Gatos CA Official Site! | Official Website

Los Gatos, CA Real Estate & Homes for Sale | Trulia

[Local123]

Why no mention of SJ? It is home to one of the "best" public high schools in the nation. It always makes me wonder why every city but SJ is mentioned in these threads. It can't be a commute issue as I'm in SJ and have tons of Apple etc employees who have bought homes on my street.