pramster

Hi all,
I'll be moving our family over to the Bay Area in September, being transferred over by my company.

Their offices are in Palo Alto, and so ideally I would like to live within a 30 minute drive of the office.

Other things that are important to me are:
- very good public schools
- close to a nice downtown with shops, restaurants etc (ie not somewhere too quiet like Cupertino)
- ideally a house, but would sacrifice this for a large 2 bed apartment if needed

I have a max budget of around $4000 per month rent, but if I can spend a bit less than that, that would be better.

From some initial research, I've been looking at Palo Alto, Los Altos, Mountain View, Willow Glen, Campbell, Sunnyvale etc, but even looking at properties on Zillow, you don't seem to get a lot for my budget in some of these areas.

I will hopefully be going out on my own in the next month or so, to help narrow down the choices of town, but was wondering if any people here had some better advice for me?

Cheers,
pramster

off_again

Ah, the BIG question.....

I was relocated by my company, also HQ'ed in PA but my office is in Sunnyvale just over a year ago. Thankfully though, I don't need to commute, so I had a little more flexibility.

30 mins commute is actually quite variable and really dependent on time of the day. I presume you are talking peak hours, which does limit the area a lot, but its worth considering slightly odd hours (if you can) to avoid the crushing commute!

I am a fan of Mountain View, because its quite nice, but REALLY expensive. PA is nice too, if a little quieter and a touch more expensive. The other places will be cheaper, but clearly the further you move out, the cheaper it will become. That said, I was rather surprised by Burlingame and San Mateo!

Personally, I am in the East Bay. Money goes a little further and schools are pretty uniformly good. I am in Pleasanton, but Dublin & Livermore are good and Walnut Creek, San Ramon, Danville and surrounding areas are good too. Fremont is nice too, if not quite affordable, but be aware that its quite large though.

The issue with the East Bay is commute though. For me to get to PA, I am looking at an hour drive (easier now they have finished the road works on Oregon Expressway!). If I leave early, say 7AM, its pretty reasonable. Leave at 8AM and its NOT. Rush hour starts at 3-4PM and is heavy at 5. Traffic on Friday at 6-7 is bad.... but then, what do you expect?

That said, 30 minutes commute on a friday at rush hour won't get you far from PA anyway! It can take 20 minutes just to get down Oregon Expressway to the 101.... Traffic is to be expected in the Bay Area - though I would argue its not as bad as London / M25.

pramster

Thanks off-again. Yes, I was aware of traffic being a real issue, so my 30 minutes commute time would be based on non-peak traffic.

I will definitely take a further look at the towns you mention. I'm looking for good primary schools, as my daughter is 5 years old. I may also consider moving our family over a bit earlier in August, as I understand the school term starts earlier in the US than over in the UK.

N1cky

There's been tons of threads on moving to this area, I've attached some below for you.

A quick summary of the places you've listed. Palo Alto is out of your price range at $4k per month, probably Los Altos too. You can occassionally pick up a town house in MV for around $4k per month. Schools are good in all 3 of these. Willow Glen and Campbell, schools aren't good, that's why prices are lower. Sunnyvale is mixed, some good schools, some not so good, house prices are cheaper though.

You don't get much for your money out here. The rental market is highly competitive and properties move within a couple of hours of being advertised.

I live in Mountain View, been here for 5 years now. Love living here, but it's crazy expensive. Let me know if I can answer any questions.


http://britishexpats.com/forum/usa-5...fornia-853465/
http://britishexpats.com/forum/usa-5...st-bay-851163/
http://britishexpats.com/forum/usa-5...w-area-852173/
http://britishexpats.com/forum/usa-5...rea-ca-851970/
http://britishexpats.com/forum/usa-5...egging-835043/

N1cky

Both these are a steal in Mountain View right now. Expect rental increases to be a minimum of 5% per annum.

Newer Luxurious End Unit in Whisman Station!
Monta Loma Neighborhood

pramster

Hi N1cky,
Thanks for the advice there. Yes, I had started to already rule out Palo Alto, Los Altos etc from what I could find on Zillow with my budget...

But I hadn't thought of using Craigslist before. That first property looks amazing for the price, and compared to other properties listed on Zillow.

Mountain View sounds like the right combination of all the things I am looking for, so I will place that at the top of my list now!

Thanks,
pramster

N1cky

I actually live on that estate, it's a nice place to live. Really safe, and great for kids as it has a couple of parks, playgrounds and pools.

Obviously be aware of the scammers on Craigslist, but we've found all 3 of our US rentals on CL and had no issues.

pramster

Great...what assigned primary school does it have?

Also, I understand that schools start in mid to late August over there.
We were planning on moving over on Sept 1st (with 1st month in temporary housing), but is that too late in order to get a place in the more in-demand schools?

McZaki

Mountain View - don't even look elsewhere

N1cky

The school district guarantees you a place, but if the local school is full in the year your child will be entering, they will be assigned a different school. This happened to us, we were closest to Bubb, but were assigned Huff (which is actually the highest scoring elementary). You can request a different school in the school district, and will be granted it if their is room.

The assigned elementary school would currently be Landels, however MVSD are re-aligning the boundaries at the moment, so that could change.

Mountain View Whisman School District.

School goes back August 17 here. In all honesty, I'd try and make your move before the schools start. Not so much for getting a place, but so your kid is there for the start. This will be the first 2 weeks of real school for that age (I know yours will have done 1 year in the UK), and they'll get to understand how it works, tour the school, know how to get books from the library, where to get lunch, where to be picked up or where to go for after school care... Might help the transition enormously.

Also, make sure all immunizations are in place, they are different to what is needed in UK schools.

pramster

I had been looking at Huff, Stevenson and Springer in Mountain View, and just rang admissions now to find out status for Kindergarten.

Huff is already full, and Stevenson is on waiting list. I couldn't get anything on Springer (in Los Altos district), but assume it will be the same.

It's hard trying to juggle housing and schools, as I don't want to necessarily pay a higher rent for a property in a good school district, when you can't even get into the assigned school. As I understood it from some other people, Mountain View has some good schools, and some not so good ones.

On immunisations, can I get the ones required for the US done in the UK, or does my daughter need to take them over there?

McZaki

I can share the personal experience with you, hope it helps.

When I moved to the Bay Area, just over two years ago, I booked the temporary accommodation (close to Mountain View) through Airbnb for a month. After arriving, waited for 10 days and then applied the Social Security Number -the card arrived after 2 weeks. Opened the bank account, you don't need the SSN to open the bank account, passport is sufficient, however you do need the SSN to obtain the driving license and get the car on lease or finance. In the meantime, almost everyday, I was out and about exploring different towns and properties all over the Bay Area, and eventually decided that Mountain View is the best place to live with a young family in the South Bay - great schools, very safe and friendly neighborhood, great convenience around the daily chores and shopping, good GP's, Pediatrics and dentists, and hospitals, great parks, excellent restaurants and bars, 15/18 mins from the San Jose airport and 30/40 mins from the San Francisco airport, and if ever needed, decent public transportation options i.e. CalTran and the local buses - Mountain View ticked all the boxes! Thank you N1cky for recommending Mountain View, on this forum, prior to me moving here - I still owe her a few beers!

Once we were happy with the decision to settle in the Mountain View, the reality started to hit us! There weren't many rentals on the market, and the few that came along and were within our budget were taken immediately! Just to give you an indication, I used to browse rentals through many different sources i.e. Zillow, Trulia, and Craigslist literally every hour! One day, a new property came on to the market and I made an appointment on the phone, but after 3 hours received the call from the landlord/realtor that the property is now taken!! It was very frustrating; anyway, after a couple of weeks, I got the current property only because I took the check book with me along with the reference letters, a letter from my employer confirming employment and income, a credit report from the UK, and as soon as I was happy with the property, I made the take-it-now or leave it offer and signed the rental agreement! Stating the obvious, if you like something and it's within your budget then don't delay!

I believe there are some apartments available at the Carmel village - brand new apartments located at a great place, check out the details and call them for availability -these should be within your budget, here's the link: Luxury Apartments in San Jose near Google, Facebook, Yahoo | Carmel The Village

N1cky

The good thing is if they are all full, they have to put you somewhere, so will likely put you at your local one. I don't know of any bad schools in MV, and I know people who have had kids in them all.

I have a friend who had 2 kids in Springer, 1 it was great for, the other not so much and they moved her. I thought Huff was just ok, it scores a 10, I know people who loved it, and some who hated it. Landels only scores a 7, but I know lots of people who have kids there and love it, and don't know anyone who dislikes it...

There are a lot, and I mean a lot, of expats here, like you who have moved for work. Many of whom have had kids in Chinese, Indian, French, German... schools. Some of these kids struggle with the language transition, and thus test scores aren't necessarily a true representation of the school.

pramster

Thanks N1cky and McZaki. It's good to know that all the schools in MV are good.

I was just looking at the scores, and I should have realised, that just like Ofsted ratings here in the UK, they are not totally indicative of the quality of the school and teaching.

N1cky

No they're not. That doesn't mean you shouldn't aim for the highest rated school. I know it's a worry and everything seems really stressful, but your kid will be given a place somewhere in the district, and the school will be fine.

McZaki, what school are your kids in?