md95065

I live in Santa Cruz and have been working in Mountain View for the last 5 years - for me it is exactly 40 miles door-to-door and takes about 45 minutes in non-commute hours.

Believe me, Hwy 17 is *not* the problem - sure there are occasional delays and a couple of times a year a really bad accident will close the road at a time that is inconvenient, but by far the worst part of the drive is Hwy 85 - especially coming home at night the section between 101 and 280 is particularly bad.

In spite of that I think that it still beats living over in the valley.

Vicky88

Not sure if I am thinking about the right area but isn't that a bit rural? We looked at living in the hills above Los Gatos off the 17, but the journey getting there on a nice day put us off. If this is the place I am thinking of, everytime I go by I think of Deliverance.

Jscl

You'll get a lot more for your money, assuming you don't mind commuting, if you try Morgan Hill. There's a lot more space there and they would likely be more pet friendly. They widened the 101 so the commute isn't as bad as it used to be.

TimNiceBut

Well, I am a country bumpkin at heart . Yes, it's a little rural if you count living under trees near a Golf course rural. Bit more villagey, plus the houses don't seem to be built as close together as the reasonably affordable ones are in the rest of the valley. Reminded me a little too much of the UK, that.

I might look into that - not too keen on a 101 all the way commute but it's worth considering. TBH I'd probably look at Santa Cruz if I was going that far out, but then again I love leaving close to the sea (which is why we also looked at Half Moon Bay).

chrisann

Well I agree with this - we have been living in Mountain View for the past 18 months and looking for a place so we can bring our German Shepherd over here, traffic issues mean that hubby not to keen to communte, we just cant find a reasonabley priced rental with a garden. As it happens we are returning soon so no longer an issue, but we found that every time we looked at a 'pet friendly' place - we mentioned dog and instantly it seemed that someone else had expressed an interest and were moving in!! So good luck with your search - I agree its a tough one in this area!!!

TimNiceBut

I think we've pretty much postponed our ideas of getting a cat or two until we can afford to buy a house. Cats are usually a little easier to officially get past a landlord but it's still a lot of hassle by the looks of it.