patrick.net

what the hell is suspicions?
i beg your pardon...now you know why I mostly lurk...

I really like Lafayette. Cute downtown, houses nestled on narrow, hilly streets, good architecture, all around neat place.

Moraga/Orinda & Lafayette are very nice and also very expensive --to buy or rent. Better have a fat checkbook with you when you go looking.

Claire Says:
we will probably wait at least another year - however, I worry that my daughter would benefit from a better school.

If you have a five mile commute to work, the extra time you get to spend with your daughter will be of much more benefit, than if you moved to a better school district but had to spend 2 hours commuting. Some colleagues commute from Fremont to Mtn.View (880+237) and it takes them roughly an hour each way. Not a fun way to live...

I really like Lafayette. Cute downtown, houses nestled on narrow, hilly streets, good architecture, all around neat place.

Uncle Yu's has some pretty good Chinese food.

Maybe Patrick can set up the anti-z with a “make me buy” tag?

Actually, he *did* try that a few months ago.

Some colleagues commute from Fremont to Mtn.View (880+237) and it takes them roughly an hour each way. Not a fun way to live…

Really? What time are they on the road?

@Peter P,
Thanks, I'll check it out.

Actually, he *did* try that a few months ago.

the hallmark of a BayAreaIdiot is to listen to someone's idea then "come up" with the same idea a few months down the line and have absolutely no clue he's not an original

Thanks, I’ll check it out.

The crabmeat puff is nice. The wonton soup is also decent.

skibum Says:
What, Realtors are dishonest???

No way. They have a Code of Ethics and everything.

Moraga/Orinda & Lafayette are very nice and also very expensive –to buy or rent. Better have a fat checkbook with you when you go looking.

Correct. Which is way I mentioned East WC. You have to go far past the tunnel to see savings in the several hundred K's, and by that time you might as well be in Tracy (if you work on the Peninsula that is)

Since we are discussing commutes, I will (again) put in a plug for ACE (Altamont Commuter Express) and Amtrak's Capitol Corridor. They both connect with Light Rail at Great America and the time spent getting to and from "cheap housing" can be used to do actual work (although the seduction of Amtrak's bar car after a rough day at the office may be too much for some). ACE also has dedicated shuttles that go around to most employment centers in Silicon Valley. Not that I would want to live in Stockton, but I do hear that home prices may be falling (like a rock!)

of course you can alway try Richmond or most of Oakland. Significant savings are possible and you're on the right side of the tunnel - only the bridge is between you and bliss. So go ahead....I dare you!

I see two possible "career" paths for a new arrival to the Bay Area:

(1) You move to the area and buy a house - probably out in Walnut Creek or someplace because of the kids, and the dog, and yadda yadda. So the house come with a 4+ hour a day commute. Your mortgage and taxes, etc to live in your wonderful house which you hardly see is about $5k a month. The kid(s) grow up for a few years not knowing you, which is OK because after those few years they get lots of quality time with you, you lost your job. This isn't so great, you were never able to save money, unemployment is WAY up, and RE's been decreasing in value at a steady 5% a year. Except out in Walnut Creek, where it's been decreasing in value at 7% a year. You collect unemployment, try to make it as "Mr Dad" while your wife gets a job at $8 an hour in a small book store, for 30 hours a week and hopes to land that lucrative gig on weekends at the laundromat, maybe. She's now the sole breadwinner. One car is repo'd and you turn the other one in, buying the neighbor's old van. You'll need it, since after squatting in your house for 3 months, the Sheriff shows up and that's the end of that. Luckily, your wif'e parents in Kalamazoo have a trailer in the back yard you can move into, and both Arby's and and screen-door plant are hiring, and not picky about credit histories, since yours and your wife's are trashed.

(2) You move to warm wonderful Silly-Con valley for that job with Initech. You rent a place in a decent neighborhood, which means you pay a premium, $2500 a month. At least the LL has to fix the roof or that leaky faucet! There's a yard for the kid(s) and dog, and decent schools. You and Wifey get together and decide to keep her Volvo XC70 while you sell your Ford Imperator-Maximus (and take a bit of a hit paying off the amount you're "underwater" on the loan) since Initech gives you a transit pass as part of the pay package and you take Caltrain + a brisk walk to work. A few other Initech'ers are on the train, and you hang out and shoot the bull every morning, in the car 2 up from the bike car. Wifey takes classes at the local college outreach, and the LL doesn't mind her turning the backyard into a vegetable garden, heck, it's rather nice actually! Three years pass by rather pleasantly and uneventfully. Wifey's on a Simple Living kick and has found the PBS film "Affluenza" on YouTube. You manage to save $2500 a month, since you'd figured maybe you'd buy a place at $5k a month, but had decided to hold back.... you'd had slight qualms..... Those slight qualms materialize too, but on the job front - Initech is downsizing and you're soon out of a job. Well, no worry, you've got savings in the bank, and if things still look bleak on the job front when the lease is up in 7 months you'll look for a cheaper rental, seems there are always a few with "shaggy" years to be had for under $2k a month. Wifey decides she'd like to go back to work part-time anyway, and you use your unemployment-vacation to do a bit of relaxing and look into job-retraining programs. A degree in bullshit is better than no degree at all, and you find there are a lot of "add ons" you can take in 6 months or so and with the gov't's blessings (they'll keep you on unemployment pay and even extend it while in a training program) which will make you very hire-able and at as least as good pay as Initech gave. Yes, you are a renter, and life is good!

Ugh - "shaggy" yards I mean.

Claire Says:
However, there is currently a $3-400,000 price difference for similar properties in Wanut Creek vs Mountain View

Keep in mind that you are comparing a bubble-inflated MV price (it has only slid a little yet) with the post-bubble WC price. This gap is likely to narrow as WC plateaus out and MV continues to slide.

Peter P Says:
Really? What time are they on the road?

Typically at work around 9.30 am, back around 6.30pm. Anytime they can, they delay their schedule just to catch a break...

SP - I sure hope the Mountain View prices do slide - I just wish it would happen quickly!

Typically at work around 9.30 am, back around 6.30pm. Anytime they can, they delay their schedule just to catch a break…

Perhaps they should shift their schedule at least 1 hour. That will save them some time.

Did anyone comment on the housing report yet?

Existing home sales got pwned, although the NAR Chief Monkeynomist is spinning this out as "declining inventories going into 2008". No mention of the fact that inventory was higher than last year-end, and also higher than their earlier estimate.

And oh, by the way, NAR also thinks you will be happy to know that 2007 was the "fifth highest sales" record. So I guess the "sixth highest" is in the bag for 2008...

Maybe I sound stupid, why not commute to Santa Cruz?

Isn't Santa Cruz at least along the coast and a resort town? Why does everybody want to go east?

Claire Says:
SP - I sure hope the Mountain View prices do slide - I just wish it would happen quickly!

It may sound a little glib, but seriously, stop looking at it and enjoy everything else. I don't think this will be quick, so it is best to do whatever it takes to get time on your side.

Ok, I know my town has a bad rep. and deservedly so, but there are some really great, safe areas here. Expensive too, unfortunately. If shooting down the east shore is at all a possibility, don't discount El Cerrito, Albany, Berkeley and even some parts of Richmond. Rule of thumb, altitude = safety.

altitude = safety

Let's go to Colorado Springs! It is higher than the mile-high city. Join the mile-high club!

Scrap that, how about Dillon at 9800 ft?

At higher altitudes, criminals lack oxygen to do harm. :)

@ESVR,

I'll take door #2.

how about Dillon at 9800 ft?
if your work allows it and if you don't mind being 1000+ miles away from the ocean, Dillon is fabulous. Right smack in the middle of several of the country's best ski resorts & a small lake too!

Dillon ain't cheap though.

At higher altitudes...............

The criminals around here are dumb enough at sea level. I can't imagine what a lack of O2 would do.

I think Santa Barbara is much nicer than Santa Cruz.

Fortunately the wind, and I mean wind, that comes in the Gate gives the East Bay, from Oakland to the north, really good AQI. Even better since Chevron keeps in line most of the time. There are a few bad days, but that's usually because of an off shore flow.

re: Santa Cruz, the commute over 17 can be a real drag day in and day out.

Boise is at about 2700 feet elevation and has dramatically lower crime than places like Oakland or Richmond. It probably has to do with the higher lead-to-oxygen ratio around here. :)

If your commute is on 17 over the hill then you should do your family a big favor and load up on life insurance. That commute is a suicide run. When I lived in Redwood City, I commuted the other direction for a couple months for a project. And that was 10 years ago, before everyone and their brother decided they were impervious to crashes in their leased 5-series.

Boise is at about 2700 feet elevation and has dramatically lower crime than places like Oakland or Richmond. It probably has to do with the higher lead-to-oxygen ratio around here.

See! :)

Flagstaff (7000 feet) has higher crime rate than Sedona (4400 feet) though.

That commute is a suicide run
I'll second that. I don't think I've ever driven a more dangerous stretch of road (at least at rush hour). At least not in the US. I'm sure there are other dangerous roads, but they generally don't see this much traffic.

That commute is a suicide run.

Driving is very dangerous.

How about this safe SUV? :)

http://www.gizmag.com/go/4799/

yeah 880/17's a suicide run no matter what part of it you're on. I used to drive the 880-17 to go to a place near Ebay on Hamilton Avenue and that road's very high risk. Random, high-speed, fast, lane-changing, basically reckless swerving over 2 or 3 lanes with no warning is the order of the day there, everyone does it, and the interweaving patterns of cars and SUVs weaving in and out of each others' paths at 70+ can be entrancing.

Santa Cruz is a nice town but I'd go there to live and work there and only travel over the hill if absolutely necessary.

Does Zillow let people change the ACTUAL reported sales price? That aint right. If you remodel or add on it kinda makes sense to change your zestimate though.

OK let me try again.

How about going to Half Moon Bay? Shouldn't that be more desirable than, Tracy?

Also, if your center working area is around MV or PA, right around the border of Peninsula / South Bay, Morgan Hill seems a more reasonable commute than crossing over to Walnut Creek. I personally find Morgan Hill more desirable than Walnut Creek because it is closer to the beach.