Job Offer in Sunnyvale

[Anonymous]

I accepted an offer to work at one of the big tech companies on the peninsula. I don’t know anything about the area and was hoping I could get some insight here. Here’s a few things about me and what I’m looking for:

1. Family of three that includes a third grader with the plan to add another child in the near future.
2. We are Black and coming from the Washington DC area.
3. Our child has an IEP for mild ADHD. We are looking for a good school that can provide support for this. We are open to private school if necessary.
4. We seek a school that is diverse and not predominantly one race. It’s important that our child is going to school with others that look like her.
5. We are looking for a 3-4 bedroom home in a nice, family-friendly, and diverse neighborhood with preferably a pool but it’s a want and not a need.
6. Budget: $5k max
7. I can use the company shuttle to commute daily and can work while doing so, so commute time counts as work time.
8. Spouse will have to look for a job in the new area with the plan that he will be closer to home and the school just in case my commute is far.

What areas/neighborhoods should we target? I should add that people have recommended Oakland Hills, San Leandro and Hayward. Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

LMAO!

[Anonymous]

I accepted an offer to work at one of the big tech companies on the peninsula. I don’t know anything about the area and was hoping I could get some insight here. Here’s a few things about me and what I’m looking for:

1. Family of three that includes a third grader with the plan to add another child in the near future.
2. We are Black and coming from the Washington DC area.
3. Our child has an IEP for mild ADHD. We are looking for a good school that can provide support for this. We are open to private school if necessary.
4. We seek a school that is diverse and not predominantly one race. It’s important that our child is going to school with others that look like her.
5. We are looking for a 3-4 bedroom home in a nice, family-friendly, and diverse neighborhood with preferably a pool but it’s a want and not a need.
6. Budget: $5k max
7. I can use the company shuttle to commute daily and can work while doing so, so commute time counts as work time.
8. Spouse will have to look for a job in the new area with the plan that he will be closer to home and the school just in case my commute is far.

What areas/neighborhoods should we target? I should add that people have recommended Oakland Hills, San Leandro and Hayward. Thoughts?

You can find a 3-4 bedroom SFH for 5K a month or under in San Jose. Look in Milpitas, Cambrian Park, East Los Gatos, or Campbell. The commute to Sunnyvale is not bad and you have lots of routes. Some neighborhoods have something called a cabana club which is a pool available only to the neighborhood. There are several pools/gyms in the area that you can join. Diversity is mostly asian, white and some hispanic. There are not many AA kids on the peninsula or South Bay. There are some AA families and one of DD's good friends is AA but in my son's class there were not any AA kids. AA families are more in east bay which is a nightmare commute for Sunnyvale. If you are open to private school for middle or high school then Willow Glen in San Jose is a good area but the rents are higher.

Houses are much smaller here. You will most likely be in a 1400-1800 sq ft house and you can find this with lots of options for different neighborhoods, not a busy street for under 4K. Once you go over 2000 sq feet then the houses start being labeled executive home and rents go over 5K very fast. A 1500 sq foot 3 bedroom might only be 3K in East Los Gatos but a 2500K house could be 8K. The weather is amazing and people really do use their backyards as additional living space. I have yet to go to a dinner party that has not been outdoors. People spend more on their patio furniture than inside furniture here. Everyone uses their garages for storage and parks in the driveway or street.

My best advice is to really purge before you move. Buy furniture out here that will fit the smaller space. Back in DC Ikea always looked cheap to me but out here people do it really well and it looks nice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I accepted an offer to work at one of the big tech companies on the peninsula. I don’t know anything about the area and was hoping I could get some insight here. Here’s a few things about me and what I’m looking for:

1. Family of three that includes a third grader with the plan to add another child in the near future.
2. We are Black and coming from the Washington DC area.
3. Our child has an IEP for mild ADHD. We are looking for a good school that can provide support for this. We are open to private school if necessary.
4. We seek a school that is diverse and not predominantly one race. It’s important that our child is going to school with others that look like her.
5. We are looking for a 3-4 bedroom home in a nice, family-friendly, and diverse neighborhood with preferably a pool but it’s a want and not a need.
6. Budget: $5k max
7. I can use the company shuttle to commute daily and can work while doing so, so commute time counts as work time.
8. Spouse will have to look for a job in the new area with the plan that he will be closer to home and the school just in case my commute is far.

What areas/neighborhoods should we target? I should add that people have recommended Oakland Hills, San Leandro and Hayward. Thoughts?

The commute is going to be brutal even if you use the shuttle. I'd aim to live on the peninsula. Public schools are also generally better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I accepted an offer to work at one of the big tech companies on the peninsula. I don’t know anything about the area and was hoping I could get some insight here. Here’s a few things about me and what I’m looking for:

1. Family of three that includes a third grader with the plan to add another child in the near future.
2. We are Black and coming from the Washington DC area.
3. Our child has an IEP for mild ADHD. We are looking for a good school that can provide support for this. We are open to private school if necessary.
4. We seek a school that is diverse and not predominantly one race. It’s important that our child is going to school with others that look like her.
5. We are looking for a 3-4 bedroom home in a nice, family-friendly, and diverse neighborhood with preferably a pool but it’s a want and not a need.
6. Budget: $5k max
7. I can use the company shuttle to commute daily and can work while doing so, so commute time counts as work time.
8. Spouse will have to look for a job in the new area with the plan that he will be closer to home and the school just in case my commute is far.

What areas/neighborhoods should we target? I should add that people have recommended Oakland Hills, San Leandro and Hayward. Thoughts?

OP, what are you going to be earning? What does DH do?

What on your list are you most willing to give up? Because you simply will not get all these things at that price. Ever.

[Anonymous]

OP, you can't afford all those things, plus a kid in private, plus a kid soon to be in daycare unless you are earning terrific money. You just can't out there.

Also, Sunnyvale and surroundings...do not have many African Americans.

[Anonymous]

OP, you can't afford all those things, plus a kid in private, plus a kid soon to be in daycare unless you are earning terrific money. You just can't out there.

This really is not true. First tech jobs in Sunnyvale pay extremely well. You would be shocked what people make. You can rent a small 3/2 house in several areas with good public schools for under 5K so no need for private schools. The commute from San Jose or Milipitas is pretty fast. The commute from Almaden is farther but doable. Heck you can find this for around 3K. Private schools out here are not like the 30K-40K in the DMV. When most people say private school they are talking about a 12K catholic school. Nannies are cheaper here because no one pays taxes like they do in the DMV. It will be hard to find a nanny who will agree to have taxes taken out of their pay. Daycare is as expensive as the DMV suburbs but many of the big tech firms offer daycare.

What you can not find is all the other options. You want a 2000K sq ft home to rent -OK well that will be 6K-10K. You want to rent a 1 bedroom condo? This will be almost as expensive as the small 3/2 house. You want to save enough to buy a house? It will be several years because you'll need 1.5M for a tear down.

Commuting from east bay (Hayward, Oakland etc) to Sunnyvale. You can't do it. There is only one major highway and the congestion is impossible. It is true that there are not many AA on the peninsula or in South Bay. There don't seem to be many AA anywhere in CA.