Living in or around San Jose.

RusWolf

Active Member
Established Member
Joined
Nov 2, 2011
Messages
1,520
Location
Finally back on the East Coast
Hello all..

I may have a job opportunity in San Jose and was wondering how is the quality of living around there.
Right now i live in NYC and i know San Jose is cheaper but also expensive when compared to the rest of the country.

here are my questions.
1) What is a going local 1 bedroom apartment rate in a good area?
2) Ideally i would love a small single family house with a garage where i can park 1 car in the garage and my dd in the driveway.
I will be moving (if i do) on my own, so really 1-2 bedroom house will be plenty.

Appreciate suggestions for areas, small towns or neighborhoods to research.
 

josephcostello

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2014
Messages
753
Location
Los Altos
I'm not familiar with housing prices, but i would guess 500-1mil depending on the area. I live about 15 min away in Los Altos and grew up in Willow Glen (a smaller part of San jose and a little nicer imo), was a very nice area and i think homes go for around 500-700 right now. Again I'm not familiar at all but that's what I would guess. Also buying anything in this area is a good investment and is bound to go up. Tech companies and such located in Palo Alto, Menlo Park, SF and even San jose and Santa Clara are forcing people to move to the outskirts meaning buying a house there would bound to go up. San jose is a pretty convenient area as well, close to all major highways and only about a 40min drive over to santa cruz and the beaches north and south.
 

RusWolf

Active Member
Established Member
Joined
Nov 2, 2011
Messages
1,520
Location
Finally back on the East Coast
I was more interested in rent prices at least or my first year if i do move there.
I will have to start searching around august/september if the job will be good to go. Would love to rent a small house with a garage.
 

NastyNate420

Member
Established Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2009
Messages
930
Location
Jersey Shore
Funny your moving back west...Im moving back to NJ. Ive been living in Sac and commuting to San Jose and Santa Clara area for the past year for work. Rent in the bay area is quite expensive but not as bad as NYC. I pay 1000 for a 3bdr with a 2 car garage. Same place in the bay would be $3k+. Dont get me wrong I love SJ! And if I decide to stay Ill be moving out that way. Good Luck with whatever you decide!
 

Stanger00

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2011
Messages
3,051
Location
Rocklin, CA
The only 2/1 houses you'll find out here with garages are town homes and condos. Those in the local area of San Jose will probably still run 2-3k per month.

I commute from Concord to Hayward. Housing is cheaper further in the valley.

Sacramento to San Jose is crazy. Amtrak loves commuters like that!
 
Last edited:

Stanger00

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2011
Messages
3,051
Location
Rocklin, CA
I think it is also illegal to wash your car at your home in San Jose too - would keep me out of that city all together!!!

Last year it was. Not sure if they are still enforcing or not. If they are just buy a truck then buy a 300 gallon tank and fill with recycled water to wash your car. I wouldn't do it but my neighbors do.
 

Stanger00

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2011
Messages
3,051
Location
Rocklin, CA
Is the prospective job within walking distance of VTA stop? Does the company offer perks for taking public transportation?

If yes to one or both than I would look into driving distance to the nearest station to take light rail the rest of the at to work.

Fremont and Milpitas are like 20 miles away and it probably takes an hour to get to San Jose and rents look similar.

Everything west of San Jose are super expensive thanks to all those amazing startup millionaires and billionaires.
 

RusWolf

Active Member
Established Member
Joined
Nov 2, 2011
Messages
1,520
Location
Finally back on the East Coast
Is the prospective job within walking distance of VTA stop? Does the company offer perks for taking public transportation?

I'm not sure if they offer perks for transportation, but i doubt it. Will find out closer to personal interview.

Also, not sure about the VTA stop (VTA i assume is something like metro-north train here around NYC)

So far from what i'm seeing rent prices are pretty close to NYC lol.. which is not a good thing haha

Also would love to have E85 station within 10-15 miles from the living quarters and as far as i understand 93 octane is not available in CA.

Wondering if i will have to use an octane booster if not running E.
 
Last edited:

Stanger00

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2011
Messages
3,051
Location
Rocklin, CA
Yeah, it's bad out here for housing prices.

VTA is light rail in San Jose/Silicon Valley. It meets up with BART and Amtrak and CalTrans. The last 3 are heavy rail but BART run with an electric 3rd rail and run 15 minutes apart instead of a 45 minutes to an hour like Amtrak and CalTrans.

I don't know what you do but most major banking institutions offer a few bucks pre tax for public transportation. I'd imagine tech companies will be into subsidizing their employees public transportation fees as well.

Get a retune for 91 octane from Shaun at AED. There are a lot of E85 stations in the area and I'm sure you could find one within that range. 91 octane is a lot cheaper than having to carry a bottle of booster around. I run 16-17lbs of boost in my 2 valve and use the crappy 91 octane. Plugs look good when I check them every few hundred miles. I hardly drive the car so I have time to look at the car more closely.
 

NastyNate420

Member
Established Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2009
Messages
930
Location
Jersey Shore
I was actually building the Service King in Milpitas. Its a nice area...so is fremont. Housing is comparable to NYC but hey you are in CALI!! the 91oct does suck and so does traffic!
 

RusWolf

Active Member
Established Member
Joined
Nov 2, 2011
Messages
1,520
Location
Finally back on the East Coast
Get a retune for 91 octane from Shaun at AED. There are a lot of E85 stations in the area and I'm sure you could find one within that range. 91 octane is a lot cheaper than having to carry a bottle of booster around. I run 16-17lbs of boost in my 2 valve and use the crappy 91 octane. Plugs look good when I check them every few hundred miles. I hardly drive the car so I have time to look at the car more closely.

yeah when i was stationed on the west coast i drove to AED and got tuned by him.
so i guess will have to do it again if i go back to the west coast.
 

Stanger00

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2011
Messages
3,051
Location
Rocklin, CA
Haha doubt anything is worse than NYC traffic..

I've driven NYC once before when I was stationed in Dover. Rode the train for my other visits, haha.

I don't drive to work now unless I have too but I also get to ride BART at no cost since I work for them.


Good luck on your new employment opportunity and hope the numbers workout and bring you to the Bay Area. It truly is an amazing place to live, even with all of the stupid policies we have to live with from local and state governments. Since I'm a relatively new homeowner I don't wish for prices going down, lol.
 

RusWolf

Active Member
Established Member
Joined
Nov 2, 2011
Messages
1,520
Location
Finally back on the East Coast
I've driven NYC once before when I was stationed in Dover. Rode the train for my other visits, haha.

I don't drive to work now unless I have too but I also get to ride BART at no cost since I work for them.


Good luck on your new employment opportunity and hope the numbers workout and bring you to the Bay Area. It truly is an amazing place to live, even with all of the stupid policies we have to live with from local and state governments. Since I'm a relatively new homeowner I don't wish for prices going down, lol.

hahha thanks bud!
I hope numbers work out as well!
I am actually looking at several cities. San Jose, Austin, Miami-Dade, Tampa.

All of these have their pro's and con's.
Con for SJ is that it's very far from NY and my family is in NY.
Con for FL and TX is that they do not have mountains and i love snowboarding, but they are much closer to NY.

I also have 2 cars. My DD and my 5.0. Thats why ideally i would love a house with a garage to put the mustang inside and my DD in the driveway. That goal is easy to materialize in FL or Austin from initial research housing in those areas is crazy cheap similar to WA where you could get a BRAND NEW just built house for $1200-$1300 a month.

My salary will be higher in SJ area, but so as living expense.
Im even considering renting a 2 bedroom house and maybe getting a roommate or something. Unless i can find a small house with a garage in a good area that does not look like poop and be under $2500 for a house. Just brainstorming here.
 

NastyNate420

Member
Established Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2009
Messages
930
Location
Jersey Shore
Traffic In the Bay area is actually ranked worse than NYC! Ive been in both and Id say they are about the same.
Now if commute on a streetbike and split lanes thats where its at! Ive lived all across the country and my Family is back in NJ. I loved living in Houston and I always keep going back to south FL!
 

DHG1078

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Established Member
Joined
Nov 2, 2007
Messages
9,368
Location
So Cal
The Gilroy/ Morgan Hill area is also very nice. My wife's aunt and uncle have a home worth more than 1 mil in gilroy in a gated community, but there is plenty of housing in the surrounding neighborhoods that I am sure is much less.
 

Svt_kid90

Member
Established Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2014
Messages
261
Location
NORTHERN CALI
Rent in san jose is stupid expensive in mind opinion, a one bedroom with the amenities u mention will probably run u 2k+ a month.. Look into renting a place like that in the morgan hill/gilroy area like mention above. Thats bout an hr dive to san jose. Car scene in san jose is great tho lol, if u end up moving down here pm your number if u ever wanna take a dive or something with myself and a few others. Good luck!!
 

RusWolf

Active Member
Established Member
Joined
Nov 2, 2011
Messages
1,520
Location
Finally back on the East Coast
Rent in san jose is stupid expensive in mind opinion, a one bedroom with the amenities u mention will probably run u 2k+ a month.. Look into renting a place like that in the morgan hill/gilroy area like mention above. Thats bout an hr dive to san jose. Car scene in san jose is great tho lol, if u end up moving down here pm your number if u ever wanna take a dive or something with myself and a few others. Good luck!!

Thank you and to everyone else who responded.

I am going to check SJ out and to do initial interview on April 22nd.
 

Users who are viewing this thread



Top