Silicon Valley

[Justin Ryan]

I'm contemplating a move to Silicon Valley would like to solicit some
advice from the group about what it’s like to live there. My questions
are in area of: Are the school systems good? Are good day-cares hard
to get into? Is it possible to find an affordable house near where the
jobs are? If not and given the traffic, how far away would someone
live from their job? Is California’s recent budget crisis affecting
public services like parks, transit and schools (i.e. things won’t be
as great as they used to be)? I’ve heard from northern California ex-
pats whom moved to the northeast to get away from the crushing expense
of living in the valley or the long commutes. Obviously they’re
biased, are people generally happy that they live there? Have other
people thought about it and changed their mind for some reason?

I understand that we’re talking about a huge area (50 miles from San
Fran to San Jose) and everyone’s situation is different, so broad
generalizations are perfectly acceptable. Maybe people could offer
some examples of where they live (and are happy) and far they commute.
E.g you live in Fremont and make the commute to Mountain View in 30
minutes.

[Carl of the Posse]

It's very nice living here. Good weather, good job opportunities, etc. Some specific replies to your questions:

Q: Are the school systems good?

A: In general, yes, but they do vary across areas, and even within a district individual schools can vary a lot. A good summary is: if you care about this, then it is quite doable to find a good public school to live near, or even a private school to send your kids to.

Q: Are good day-cares hard to get into?

A: I'll have to let others comment on this one.

Q: Is it possible to find an affordable house near where the jobs are?

A: Yes. There are jobs available in a number of areas across SV, so if you are more picky about location than work, you can balance that.

I live in the Almaden part of San Jose, and commute about 12 miles to Netflix in Los Gatos. It takes me from 15 - 25 minutes, either backroads or freeway. Some new people on my team live in Campbell and and have a 5-10 minute commute. 

Q: If not and given the traffic, how far away would someone live from their job?

A: Some people choose to live farther out from the valley, or choose to commute from one end to the other. (SF to Los Gatos for example is ~45 minutes on a shuttle) Some here live in Gilroy and have a 40 minute commute.

Q: Is California’s recent budget crisis affecting public services like parks, transit and schools (i.e. things won’t be  as great as they used to be)?

A: I think it is to some degree. Library hours have been reduced a bit, etc. But I think most of the services that people use daily are more city or county oriented, so not directly affected by the state problem. And I think that is overhyped too.

Q:  I’ve heard from northern California ex-pats whom moved to the northeast to get away from the crushing expense of living in the valley or the long commutes. Obviously they’re  biased, are people generally happy that they live there?

A: Sour grapes I think. I've been here my whole life, and wouldn't leave while I am still working. The last four people I've hired on my team are from outside the area (NY, 2xChicago, AL) so that's an indicator of the nature of the job market here for good software engineers.

The reason the housing is expensive is due to the basic economics of supply and demand. Many people do want to live here, and that drives the prices up. But the reason behind the demand is that there is so much opportunity, and for many people (especially software engineers) the opportunity outweighs the cost.

--carl

[Mark Fortner]

I would take a long hard look at housing prices and availability before making a decision.  "Affordable" means different things in different areas. Think $600K for 2000 sq ft.  In Austin, you'll probably pay half that; in the Northeast, the prices are probably similar to the Bay Area.

Zillow will give you a good idea of the prices.  

One thing I've noticed since moving to California is the percentage of people renting is higher here than in Texas. 

I would hesitate to say that the housing prices were driven by demand.  Prior to the bubble, prices seemed to have been driven by speculation more than anything else.  There's also a knock-on effect because of the real-estate prices.  Groceries and gas are more expensive.

I would probably rent first, learn the lay of the land, and then figure out where or if you want to buy.

Hope this helps,

Mark

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[Cédric Beust ♔]

On Mon, Aug 22, 2011 at 4:19 PM, Mark Fortner <phid...@gmail.com> wrote:

I would probably rent first, learn the lay of the land, and then figure out where or if you want to buy.

This. Best advice, IMO (I've been living in the Silicon Valley since 1998).

The house prices are pretty high but so are the salaries compared to the rest of the country.

-- 

Cédric

[Justin Ryan]

Thanks for the feedback, renting does sound like the best way to learn
the area. I was reminded that a few companies offer shuttles, which
can be a great way to alleviate sitting in traffic if you have a long
ways to travel. Likewise, I was also told about CalTrain and the BART
as an option to, especially if travelling into San Fran.


On Aug 22, 7:25 pm, Cédric Beust ♔ <ced...@beust.com> wrote:

[Wayne Fay]

BART is great so long as where you live and where you're going is
within some reasonable distance from a station. I lived in Russian
Hill and worked in the city so I used BART very infrequently as a
result. Instead we used MUNI constantly. My wife worked a couple dozen
blocks away and actually walked home when she felt like it and weather
permitted (most of the time). We had a car and it was common for us to
go 2-3 weeks at a time in between times that we would use it. I would
sometimes forget where we parked it.

CalTrain is certainly nice for long distances from the city into the
Valley or vice versa. We only used it a couple times a year. But I
knew people who used it every day to help with their commute, and they
seemed to like it vs fighting traffic in their car. The shuttles you
mention are also a nice perk for certain employers.

Ultimately you need to sort out the employment angle first (IMO) and
then worry about where you want to be located. Plan to rent for a
while (a year or more) before making any serious decisions about
buying anything. It seemed to me like relatively few people actually
owned their home but that may have been a factor of where we were
living or the people we knew (young, fairly well compensated, not
particularly tied down).

Living in certain parts of the city is wildly expensive -- that $600k
for 2k sqft earlier mentioned would only get you 1k sqft in Russian
Hill and maybe a deeded parking spot (one) if you were lucky,
otherwise its street parking which gets annoying after a while. If you
have a bunch of kids and require 2k sqft in your home, that will also
help limit your options in addition to the usual constraints (income
and downpayment).

Wayne

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[Steve Lewis]

On Sat, Aug 20, 2011 at 4:51 PM, Justin Ryan <quid...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm contemplating a move to Silicon Valley would like to solicit some
> advice from the group about what it’s like to live there. My questions

> to get into? Is it possible to find an affordable house near where the

> jobs are? If not and given the traffic, how far away would someone
> live from their job? Is California’s recent budget crisis affecting

Relative to software developer wages, you can get housing. Your
expectations and needs may vary depending on who and what moves with
you (sounds as if that is going to be part of your evaluation). Ten
years ago I bicycled to work quite comfortably, year round (San Jose
to Los Gatos and later San Jose to Santa Clara) in both cases it was a
25 minute commute unless I picked up a flat.

My advice is to get the employment location worked out first. Make use
of your social network to ensure your compensation package is
appropriate for Bay Area cost of living. obviously. Cost of living is
so much higher, it can be easy to underestimate your expected Bay Area
Salary. Use Google Maps travel times to set up a 30 minute radius and
begin looking inside that range for housing that would meet your
needs. You may need to adjust the 30 minute travel budget based on
finances, school and daycare, and housing prices, but it gives an
excellent starting point. This isn't New York so you can reasonably
start from a 30 minute travel budget in your search and have a fairly
large sampling of housing options.

--
SteveL

[phil swenson]

don't forget to factor in taxes for cost of living:

http://www.tax-rates.org/California/income-tax

you will probably be in the 10% bracket.