Nicsay

Hi all,

Has anyone been to/live in or /have any thoughts of the above areas to live - We are a family of three with an 8 year old daughter, husband will work in San Jose - lloking for good schools and good downtown community feel.

Many thanks

Pulaski

Paging N1cky!

To the OP: search for posts by N1cky as she is our BE "man on the ground" in Mountain View.

N1cky

I'm going to be brief, as I seem to type this a lot. Feel free to ask specific questions. I live in MV so know more about that area.

Campbell has a nice downtown, but the schools aren't good, hence why the prices are cheap.

Mountain View Lovely downtown area, lots of restaurants, some independent shops, great parks, good public swimming pools, awesome library, lots of events going on, VTA and Caltrain station. Good schools, with plenty of funding and support from Google and the likes, great technology in all classrooms, currently going through a boundary reorganization that should see at least 1 more elementary added, if not 2. For a 4 bed detached with a small garden expect to pay rent of $4,500, for a Townhouse with no garden $4,000

Los Altos nice downtown area, mixture of restaurants and independent shops, smaller than MV not as much variety, and not as much going on, but literally a 5 minute drive to MV so not an issue. Not on the VTA or Caltrain lines. Good schools. Expect to pay slightly more for a house, mainly because they are a little bigger out there.

Palo Alto Great downtown area with a mixture of restaurants, independent shops, and chains. Very good schools. On the Caltrain line (Avoid anything that says East Palo Alto, it's not the same and rather rough)/ Expect to pay $6k for a 4 bed detached with a small garden.

You may also want to consider Los Gatos which has a lovely downtown area, parks, good schools and on the VTA line. Prices are around the same as MV, commute to San Jose would be around equal distance from MV area.

Unless you're a tiger mum and your kid is a math genius, avoid Cupertino. It doesn't have the downtown you are wanting either.

fozzyb

I have some friends who live in Campbell, they've been there about 12 years now and love it. Very nice downtown area, nice community feel. There's a carnival in the summer, and a really good Oktoberfest in the autumn (opps fall...). Its on the VTA line so you can get into San Jose without needing to worry about parking/traffic if that appeals.

They went through a bunch of different schools for their kids, never got on with any of them and ended up homeschooling - not sure if that is a reflection of them or the schools in the area.

I lived in Mountain View for 2 years, and very seriously considered moving back there. Nice downtown area with lots of varied restaurants. Lots of parks, lots of activities for kids. I worked in Sunnyvale so was a really easy commute for me by bike. We had to return to the UK before my kids got to school age so I can't say much about the schools.

Nicsay

Many thanks all of you for taking the time to reply. great info.