Theses fires were caused by dry lightening. No defense against that.
Haven’t decided yet. Our lease is up in February, so we have a bit of time to make a decision. Also a possibility we renew our townhome or find a different rental.
I now think there’s a high probability I’ll have to commute to Mountain View at least 4 times a week once the pandemic is over. Need to factor that into the decision.
The fires! Where I grew up, there were no such things as wild fires. Is there more risk of natural disasters in Belmont/San Carlos area vs Santa Clara County?
This should be apparent just by looking at the map. Los Gatos had several sink holes around highway 17 that stranded a bulk of commuters. Near the mountains (Belmont, Menlo Park) may have lot settlement issues ( @Elt1 is the resident expert here i think 
). If house is near a creek, aka flood zone, they require flood insurance which adds to the cost (South Palo Alto for example).
Generally, the more boring the neighborhood, the safer I found (Sunnyvale Cupertino )
What changed since the last post? Pardon my nosiness.
I was wrong to assume I would only have to commute 2-3 times a week. I think my company is a strong believer in the benefits of in-person offices. I don’t work for Amazon, but when this article came out about them doubling down on Office-Based work, it made me realize that office-based work might still be in the future. My company has officially not given any continuation of work from home once the lock-down expires. There have been hints at having 1 day of WFH.
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Los Gatos will be great