An ABC mother who just moved back to the Bay Area with a Hong Kong millennial daughter,
We have lived in our house in Redwood for 3 years, but we now want to move to a better place!
We want a bigger house and a bigger yard. We don’t consider any other factors, such as housing prices, school districts, or transportation. We have car and just go to the supermarket regularly to buy some daily necessities.
I think people here have been living here for years, so I’d like to get some suggestions of good places, feel free to ask more questions.
More: Mom likes gardening and growing vegetables, and she is very good at cooking. And I need a pool, that’s why I said I want a bigger yard, I’ve looked at some places myself and there are a lot of options, but I still want to get more advice.
Well if money isn’t a big factor Woodside and Portola Valley offer larger homes, larger lots and peace and quiet. Los Gatos is really nice. There’s a wonderful little community called Los Cumbres tucked in off the 35 but it’s too remote for some people. This is pending but it gives you an idea. No pool but the community has one so you don’t have to worry about maintaining your own if that’s a factor. No issues with crime or, potentially, social unrest if that’s a factor. 20025 Beatty Ridge Road, Los Gatos, CA 95033 - MLS#ML81963118 - Eri...
Most people optimize 2 things for their houses: schools and traffic to work. Schools is out, do you need to commute to work somewhere?
Bay Area traffic is no joke, especially in the evening when everybody gets off work at the same time. Took me 90 minutes to drive that 40 miles from Santa Clara back to SF. The San Mateo Bridge is crazy jammed. Everybody is driving back to their East Bay houses after work. East Bay is still more affordable than the 101 corridor. The farther out you drive east the cheaper it gets.
There aren’t anything on the 101 corridor until you hit San Jose. A bunch of options in the woods. The Portola Valley region that @acre mentioned, and another bunch around Hwy 17 in the Santa Cruz mountains. Scott Valley is a nice option if you don’t need to commute.
Otherwise it’s the East Bay. Marin County up north is also pretty nice, but most people here consider it too far.
thank you! The house looks nice, but it is a bit out of the way. Considering we are just two women, we try to be in a place with as many people as possible, and I don’t like the public swimming pool, even if it is smaller, it doesn’t matter.
I have a remote job so commuting is not a big deal for me, the furthest we go is to hike, camp, or go to a relative’s house, Santa Cruz is not bad!
and Marin and Half Moon Bay have been recommended, but some are far away. We live next to Oracle. In fact, the place is very good, quiet and comfortable, and there are good seaside trails, but the yard is too small. Like a place to park 1-2 cars
For 5M budget you can’t have your pick at almost anything. All houses in Hillsborough have decent sized lots. That would be closest to your current location. Going further south Saratoga and Los Altos are also great options.
Los Altos Hills is a good choice. I looked at the houses there, 5-13M. I will consider adding some budget to the house I like. My ideal house is in Ohio. I really hope that house can be moved to CA, but The price will definitely increase several times, with links to the houses I like.
That of course is not true obviously.
Peninsula unfortunately is too expensive for her. @Lucky with that limited budget, you should consider somewhere in East Bay. I moved from Peninsula to East Bay. The great size pool here together with the warm weather that I can actually use the pool make me never look back.
The first two are very good recommendations! tbh…I haven’t even been to the East Bay a few times.
Regarding budget, we all have a common problem, we want to buy a better house for the same price, and considering that we are just two women and don’t use too many rooms, in fact, I can double the budget or even more More, I just don’t think it’s necessary. haha
Niles Canon in Fremont has some really nice stuff mixed in with older, smaller homes but there’s no inventory there now. Proximity to major freeways and to BART is excellent. You can be anyway in the BA in 45 minutes. Sunol is at the other end of the canyon and also really nice but up to 10 degrees hotter in summer even though it’s just 15 minutes down the road. Hardly any inventory there now and what is there is not what you’re looking for. This would be the closest. BTW - it took me two years to find my house in AZ and when it came up I had to put together in offer in 48 hours. And this is BF nowhere. Sometimes you have to establish your parameters and check real estate sites twice a day being ready to move on a dime even when nothing has come up for months. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2465-Kilkare-Rd-Sunol-CA-94586/24932459_zpid/
That’s true. It’s like waiting for fate. Maybe one day there will be a house that is exactly what you want. Haha. We are ready to move at any time. We don’t have many things.
