Almaden Valley vs Pleasanton (San Jose, Santa Clara: apartment, house, neighborhoods)

[OneOfTheRs]

Needing some advice, please... My husband's work is now mostly virtual so we would like to leave our Santa Clara apartment and buy a home where we can have space and good schools for our 8-year-old. We would still come to Santa Clara/North SJ twice-ish a week for my son's activities and my husband would likely commute to the south bay one week a month. So we don't want to be too far away...

It would appear that Almaden Valley is 15 minutes closer than Pleasanton during commuting hours, but is that accurate or is it based on the current, possibly temporary, lower-volume traffic?

We are looking for a 3000-4000sf home in the $2-2.5M range.

Bonus--we like neighborhoods that are walkable, good for bicycling, and have neighborhood pools. We enjoy Pleasanton's Main street--is there an equivalent in the Almaden Valley?

Thank you for any advice/clarity/etc to help us focus on one of these areas.



p.s. We are also considering Campbell and Willow Glen but they don't seem like areas where we can (safely) bicycle around. But they are way closer, so there's that.

[roadwarrior101]

I used to live in the Silicon Valley and moved up to Danville, so know both of those areas you reference well. If commuting is not an issue, I'd greatly prefer Pleasanton. I just think most of the tri-valley is more upscale, more relaxed and more family oriented. The exceptions for me in the Silicon Valley would be the ultra expensive areas, such as Los Gatos, Saratoga, Palo Alto and Los Altos, but those would be out of your price range.

I never really saw the appeal of the Almaden Valley, to be honest. The schools are good and its cheaper than other areas of the Silicon Valley, but sort of isolated from everything. You have to drive into San Jose to get to shopping malls and there's no real downtown, unless you drive over to Los Gatos (about 10 miles away). It seems like you have to pass some so-so areas to get out of the Almaden Valley. The housing stock, while nice, is generally old. It just seems ultra suburbia with no character.

At least in Pleasanton, you have a nice downtown area and a lot of other nice communities nearby in the tri-valley. I'd imagine you can get a bit more for your money as well, although I haven't compared recently.

[jdhpa]

When traffic gets back to normal, I wouldn't even consider a commute from Pleasanton to Santa Clara. Commuting that long every day gets old, fast.

Of the places you mentioned, I personally would choose Campbell. I don't know about biking in the area, though.

Good luck!

[OneOfTheRs]

roadwarrior101--thank you for your insights!


jdhpa--thankfully our commute would be more like 5 weekdays per month.. any guesses on typical North SJ-to-Pleasanton afternoon commute times (e.g. as they were six months ago)? And thanks for the confirmation about Campbell being a good option.

[jdhpa]

Originally Posted by OneOfTheRs

roadwarrior101--thank you for your insights!


jdhpa--thankfully our commute would be more like 5 weekdays per month.. any guesses on typical North SJ-to-Pleasanton afternoon commute times (e.g. as they were six months ago)? And thanks for the confirmation about Campbell being a good option.

I haven't lived in East Bay in about 20 years, but my guess would be typically 60 - 90 minutes each way. When I lived there 880 and 237 were basically parking lots in both directions, as was 680 in the main commute direction.

[roadwarrior101]

Originally Posted by jdhpa

I haven't lived in East Bay in about 20 years, but my guess would be typically 60 - 90 minutes each way. When I lived there 880 and 237 were basically parking lots in both directions, as was 680 in the main commute direction.

Yes, but as the OP stated, they won't be doing this commute every day. In addition, in the post-COVID world, we may be seeing more and more remote work environments (we just don't know yet).

As a FYI, I commuted daily to the peninsula from the tri-valley. It was a bear, but I was able to work out a schedule to make it more manageable, including leaving and returning early, carpooling and a couple days per week of telecommuting. Now with COVID, I haven't been into the office in months and would expect the post-COVID commute requirements to look vastly different than before.

[BRinSM]

Campbell is actually quite a nice place to ride bikes with easy access to the Los Gatos Creek Trail and plenty of roads into the hills above Los Gatos and Saratoga. I think the bigger issue in Campbell, and likely Willow Glen as well, will be the house size you are looking for. Nearly all the families I know in/near Campbell live in well under 2k sf. Lots of 60s era ranch homes. Even the random newer subdivisions are well under 3k sf. And with prices nears $1k/sf, you'd likely be priced for a larger home anyways. Weather is great though, with limited high heat days. I can't imagine the same can be said for Danville. Almaden is okay as well, with more larger homes, it's just a bit removed, though you may prefer this. Great cycling though.

[OneOfTheRs]

Thank you all for your advice & insights--much appreciated!

[aslowdodge]

I used to live in Pleasanton just a few blocks from downtown. It’s very nice and great for families. It seemed to be a gathering and meeting place for many families to run across each other. If you are a local and in downtown you will run across many friends there. There is a nice concert series in downtown in the park in the summer with tons of families.
A nice benefit is downtown Livermore is very nice also and just 10 minutes away.
For a community feel I think Pleasanton is a better choice.
Oh and downtown Danville is very nice too and just about 15 minutes away.

You might also know that there is a large multi pool aquatic center just a few blocks north of ptown. There is also the iron horse trail for biking all the way into Walnut Creek. I’ve ridden my bike several,times and it’s a nice ride.

[roadwarrior101]

Originally Posted by aslowdodge

I used to live in Pleasanton just a few blocks from downtown. It’s very nice and great for families. It seemed to be a gathering and meeting place for many families to run across each other. If you are a local and in downtown you will run across many friends there. There is a nice concert series in downtown in the park in the summer with tons of families.
A nice benefit is downtown Livermore is very nice also and just 10 minutes away.
For a community feel I think Pleasanton is a better choice.
Oh and downtown Danville is very nice too and just about 15 minutes away.

You might also know that there is a large multi pool aquatic center just a few blocks north of ptown. There is also the iron horse trail for biking all the way into Walnut Creek. I’ve ridden my bike several,times and it’s a nice ride.

I agree with what you said. I'd say that downtown Pleasanton reminds me of downtown Willow Glen in San Jose in look/feel (albeit nicer) whereas downtown Danville reminds me of downtown Los Gatos.

Again, I think you get a lot more for your money in a nicer community in the tri-valley. It does get hotter than San Jose, maybe 5-10 degrees in general, although I'd also say that Almaden Valley is much hotter than the rest of the Silicon Valley, so the difference is not significant.

I also agree that the difference in commute is not significant. Distance wise, yes, but I also know people who lived in South San Jose and commuted to jobs near 237, where it could take well over an hour (to go only about 15-20 miles).

Personally, I'd go with tri-valley all the way if I couldn't afford to live in the ultra-elite communities of the Silicon Valley.