Where to live... new baby and eventually new jobs
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Anonymous
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Right now we both work on downtown SF, DH is in sales at an old line tech company and I’m a project manager for a startup.
New baby is one, we are looking to buy our first place Salary is $100k for me, $150k DH so total is $250k and we hope his income rises as he climbs sales rank. We have $100k DP, and approved for $1.1M loan. Maybe we can borrow from an IRA for a little more. We are going public for schools, probably will have a second. We want a SFH b/c we love entertaining and outdoor space, don’t mind old. Long term plan is to find a place we love, family friendly, good schools, etc and then find jobs closer to home. |
Anonymous
| We prefer to stay in Peninsula b/c of long term friends, btw, in case Danville etc came to mind. We are considering it but trying to stay closer. Thanks! |
Anonymous
| Walnut Creek. Easy BART access to Financial District. |
Anonymous
I guess that is helpful but long term we hope to change jobs. And being far from friends and family are far from first choice. Looking in Walnut Creek, Any recommendations of neighborhoods there? |
Anonymous
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Thanks for Bart but DH wants to stay near friends (most who have family money, which is why they can’t give us advice).
So aiming for proximity to Saratoga and Menlo Apark, any hidden gems? |
Anonymous
| Los Gatos has 10/10 schools and affordable gems. |
Anonymous
You mean like in the mountains south there? They look lovely but won’t that be a killer commute? |
Anonymous
| Pacifica or San Bruno (off of 280 Side) |
Anonymous
| Find the jobs first. You don’t want a long commute with a baby. Your going to priced out of a SFH on the Peninsula with a great school district. The East Bay or South like Almaden Valley are your only real options if your dead set on a SFH. |
Anonymous
We don’t have to worry about commute, we have ample family help for the baby. |
Anonymous
| You should not take on a loan that size in your salary. |
Anonymous
Well if we buy a condo or such which is still like $800k we will have high HOA and much lower appreciation that won’t match our target neighborhood SFH. The PITI is about our current rent. |
Anonymous
The public schools there are total shit. My friend lives there and her kids literally had NO science taught to them. She has a background in science and started coming in once a week to teach science when her DD was in elementary school. The school really tried to guilt her into teaching science full time FOR FREE. She doesn't even have teaching credentials. |
Anonymous
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We have a larger income than you and a larger budget and we would not bother looking for a SFH in Silicon Valley. W
e've been here for almost three years now and have searched the entire Bay Area extensively. The quality of the homes here is atrocious. You say you don't "mind old," but you will when you get your first $20k repair bill to replace all the electrical in the house, and find out while you're doing that, that there's illegal insulation over the knob-and-tube, which will cost another $2,500 to have removed while increasing your heating costs. Then you'll find out your pipes are leaking sewage into the Bay, and you've got to remediate at the cost of another $15k. Oh! And there's a boatload of lead paint around here, which means you'll either need to pay a premium for specially trained contractors for any project disturbing more than six sq feet in the house or risk brain damaging your kid or wait to make any repairs - including things like your shower head blowing off - until your kid is six and past the worst of the brain damage risk for lead. The thing we didn't realize when we moved here was how much more expensive it is to repair stuff, compared to the EC, and how bad the quality of the housing stock really is. It's not just that it looks old and crappy - because, whatever, pink tile doesn't matter, right? - it's that it actually IS old and crappy. On your income, you simply cannot afford to maintain an older single family home in this area and you can't afford to purchase anything updated. |
Anonymous
Do you understand that when you buy a house you have to have extra money to maintain it? |