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Ask HN: Living/working in Cupertino?

• grellas 17y ago
  My office is in Cupertino and I live on the Peninsula. It is a great commute if you can take 280 (always against traffic) and it is about 30 minutes door-to-door (say, up to the Redwood City/San Carlos area). Anything in Cupertino will very likely be over $1M, mostly because it is a nice area and also because it has a much sought after school district, one which can command a couple of hundred thousand dollar difference for otherwise like houses that are even across the street from one another. There are homes in the South Bay that are in the range you indicate, and perhaps some nice ones, but you will likely be disappointed by what you will find in that range. If you go too far east, the prices might go down but the commute will likely be miserable if you drive during peak hours. Going north, Palo Alto is beautiful but way out of range, as most of Sunnyvale and Mountain View will likely be as well. Going further north, you can find some reasonable suburban homes in the San Carlos/Redwood City area that are within range and the commute fits so long as you can take 280 for the drive down (not so with 101, where the commute is often bad, even going south in the a.m.; the area, btw, is quiet and the neighborhoods nice, lots of younger and 40ish-type couples). The weather around the Valley is very consistent and temperate year-round - it averages perhaps 10 degrees cooler up toward the mid-Peninsula and so you should like it slightly on the cooler side (still 60s to 70s year round, on average) to live up there. Note: not written from a hacker perspective (I am not a hacker) but from that of someone who has been in Silicon Valley for 40+ years.
  • percept 17y ago
    Anybody know when upvoting ability kicks in on HN? I tried to upvote this but seem to be shooting blanks.
  • brk 17y ago
    Thanks for the reply. Forgot to mention, it's just me and the wife (and the dogs). No kids, so quality of schools isn't a major concern (recognizing impact on future resale value). Saw some listings in Los Gatos that looked interesting, what is that area like?
    • grellas 17y ago
      The Los Gatos/Saratoga area is one of the nicest upscale areas in the Valley. It has very high priced homes in the foothills and more reasonably priced (but still nice) suburban homes below - still not cheap, though, with many above $1M. It gets hotter in Los Gatos than elsewhere, with many days more likely to be in the 80s and 90s than you might get elsewhere (if you like this, great! many people do). Los Gatos also is deemed a "prestige" area, more so than San Jose, Santa Clara, and many of the other nearby suburban towns. You will also be fighting traffic in your daily commute to Cupertino. Many people tolerate this, of course. But, for an example to the contrary, my office manager lives in Almaden, which is a very nice San Jose neighborhood just south of Los Gatos. When she had to commute every day up Highway 85 (the direct freeway link to Cupertino) for 8-to-5-type hours, she found it very difficult. I switched her schedule to start at 7:00 a.m. and that worked. At the peak hours, between the metering lights (which considerably slow your ability to get on the freeway) and the delays incurred by those unable to use the car-pool lane, it is a real drag. Traffic isn't everything, though, and Los Gatos is a highly desirable place to live for many reasons - population tends to be a mix of successful business people (often younger, with growing families) and many somewhat older (50s and 60s, with a good number retired). The feel of the town is relaxed and "upscale" with many quaint shops, coffee houses, etc. By the way, one angle to consider: check out Laurie Avenue (I pick this in particular because I have an aunt that lives there and I frequently go there) in San Jose - this is in the heart of Willow Glen, a small but absolutely delightful neighborhood right in the middle of the Valley. Willow Glen (or at least neighborhoods like Laurie Avenue, just off Lincoln, the main street) is an "upscale" neighborhood that still accommodates younger couples starting out. For example, Laurie Avenue used to consist almost exclusively of comparatively old (1930s and earlier, into the early 1900s), small homes on very quiet streets lined with very large and beautiful oak trees. During the past decade or so, virtually every home that has sold on that street has been torn down and replaced by large-scale homes that are often quite nice (some maybe overdone, "all home and no lot"). In any case, it is a very "up-and-coming" neighborhood and, if you check the Zillow pricing, you will find that the older homes remaining there are going in the 600s to 700s. The strategy here (if it should fit with your plans) would be to buy one of these with the hope of re-building the home down the road and winding up in a very nice neighborhood all the while. The neighborhood is very "consistent" and an extremely pleasant place to live. I would say, about 15-25 minutes door-to-door from Cupertino, even with traffic.
  • evgen 17y ago
    The Mountain View area is nice and will give you a very sweet reverse commute. I would suggest putting that high on the search list. Another possibility is Campbell, the commute will involve heavier traffic, but it is a shorter trip than Willow Glen or LG.
    • evgen 17y ago
      Another factor that I should also probably add to this is that if you and your wife are looking for convenient night-life and a less suburban existence you are probably better off looking hard at the Mountain View & Palo Alto area. Some of the areas we have been talking about (LG, Willow Glen, Campbell, etc) are much more suburban house-with-a-small-yard and might be a better fit for a family that is considering kids in the near future. If this is not something you see in the short-term then MV and PA will give you access to more activities and events for singles and young couples. Castro St. in MV and University Ave. in PA have more bars/clubs/restaurants and both areas are more convenient for trips into SF including the option of taking the train in.