patrick.net

I'm here in Millbrae. I've heard great things about the schools.

East Palo Alto!

New Renter says

East Palo Alto!

No, West Oakland.

What is your criteria? Do your kids love to surf, fly kites, hockey, or are they musically inclined? How important is commute distance for you? What are your politics? Is diversity important to you?

Ok my mistake, I thought you had a budget of 700-800 a month. So edited my post -700-800k should net you a decent house. What are you looking for? Some sun, semi-rural, close to the city, commute friendly(close to BART/CAltran) , suburbs, best school district?

lostand confused says

Ok my mistake, I thought you had a budget of 700-800 a month. So edited my post -700-800k should net you a decent house. What are you looking for? Some sun, semi-rural, close to the city, commute friendly(close to BART/CAltran) , suburbs, best school district?

Surely schools are big part of it, in fact thats the most important thing.

E-man says

So you said you were looking in Cupertino, Pleasanton and San Ramon. First of all, where do you and your spouse work? Commute? Are you willing to settle for a townhouse? $700k-$800k won't get you very far in Cupertino, but you can get a decent house in San Ramon & Pleasanton.

Personally, I take Pleasanton and San Ramon over Cupertino any day, but I will not commute from Pleasanton and San Ramon to Cupertino for work everyday. That's a big sacrifice.

Everything in life has a price. Are you willing to pay to play?

Good luck.

Thanks E-man for your comment. I don't work in Cupertino, I work in Milpitas. Currently renting in cupertino for schools

lostand confused says

Ok my mistake, I thought you had a budget of 700-800 a month. So edited my post -700-800k should net you a decent house. What are you looking for? Some sun, semi-rural, close to the city, commute friendly(close to BART/CAltran) , suburbs, best school district?

Thanks! We dont like living near downtown and school are important.

jvolstad says

I'm here in Millbrae. I've heard great things about the schools.

Millbrae schools are nearly all Asian.

meetyaks says

Best Place to Raise kids in Bay area?

This was my first chuckle of the day.

Move somewhere else if you want the odds in your favor.

Almaden is good.

If lady luck follows you through to high school then San Francisco may actually be the best. Most suburbs I see people move to don't have high schools comparable to Lowell. Of course you need to get in to Lowell.

wave9x says

jvolstad says

I'm here in Millbrae. I've heard great things about the schools.

Millbrae schools are nearly all Asian.

Really? I live just up the hill from the High School. No kids however.

In the East Bay, Layfayette, Orinda, Moraga are good school districts and fairly accessible to the city via BART. Personally, I prefer Oakland neighborhoods like Rockridge, Trestle Glen and Crocker Highlands, but you will probably have to pony up for private school by 6th Grade.

If public transportation isn't an issue, Corte Madera and Larkspur are nice in Marin. Great schools and weather. Mill Valley, imo, is too foggy and cold.

Homes in your price range are available in all these areas.

I would recommending renting first to make sure you like the area. Prices are not going to go up and may even come down a little if people finally decide to sell. (small inventories right now)

EDIT: Sorry, I missed that you work in Milpitis. Ignore my suggestions unless you like long commutes!

"Surely schools are big part of it, in fact thats the most important thing."

If that's the most important thing, look into private schools or into hiring a private teacher like in the "King and I".

APOCALYPSEFUCK is Shostakovich says

Any place with its own water suppy and high ground in which they would have the advantage in a free fire fight.

Hmm, I wonder if that old concrete block up on Mt Uminum is available to rent...

Marina cal. Voted one of the top places in California to raise kids and had best high school grad rate.

Go wherever its the most expensive. That's your best chance of cordoning yourself from all the brown peopleand other undesirables. Or as the hoity toity leftist PC crowd puts it, the good neighbourhood with the good schools

What makes for high test scores? How about parents who are willing to kick butt. Their kid's butt that is.

JROTC is a great program for kids as well. Don't think they have it here on the Left Coast. Parents might complain.

https://www.usarmyjrotc.com/

jvolstad says

What makes for high test scores? How about parents who are willing to kick butt. Their kid's butt that is.

JROTC is a great program for kids as well. Don't think they have it here on the Left Coast. Parents might complain.

https://www.usarmyjrotc.com/

"kicking butt" will get CPS involved. This aint USSR.

exflirt says

http://www.redfin.com/CA/Fremont/43367-Gallegos-Ave-94539/home/1790619

Any suggestions?

SFace says

Push the budget up a little more, Fremont mission san Jose. Of course, you will be competing with several hundred families like yourself.

Is there a downside to it? I was told its better to be a top performers in a good school than a good performer in a top school. How important is that?

Look into parochial / private schools. Not $40k/year Harker stuff, but $7k/year K-12 and ~$10k/year HS. My sister and I went through that system (admittedly it cost much MUCH less relative to incomes at the time) and my parents didn't have to worry about battling all the other parents to buy-into the "good" areas. At the same time, they got better schools than the highly touted "best" public ones where parents are every bit as involved and my HS had a 99% college matriculation rate. Anyway, do the math on the costs. With 2 kids, it might be a wash between private schools and overpriced houses in the competitive areas.

Parenting had a great deal to do with the success of my sister and I, so you should also try not to buy into the fear nonsense that gets spread around about how you HAVE to put kids into the "best" schools. Like it or not, their success is up to you as their parent more than it is up to the school in the end. Buying into the "best" schools rapidly falls under the law of diminishing returns, and you have to consider the lost opportunity costs from dropping all of your money on that house. What if it means that you won't have money for traveling with your family? That can provide a great deal of enrichment for kids.

bmwman91 says

Look into parochial / private schools. Not $40k/year Harker stuff, but $7k/year K-12 and ~$10k/year HS.

Thanks a lot for your thoughts. If you don't mind, can you please give me couple of good private school names?

For K-8, I'd look at St. Christopher, St. Martins and just about any of the other parochial ones. They seem to provide good value overall. Sure, they are Catholic schools and I can understand some concern if you are not religious, but after my 12 years in the system I am definitely agnostic lol. Anyway, those places don't force Catholicism onto students.

For high school, there are lots of options. Bellarmine, Mitty, St. Francis, Notre Dame to name a few. Again, Catholic, but they are not going to force conversion onto anyone.

I went through St Christopher & Bellarmine myself (my sister did St. Chris & Notre Dame). I think that St Chris was something like $2500/year when I finished 8th grade in 1998, and Bellarmine was around $7k/year when I left in 2002. Both really did require a good amount of parental involvement, so you aren't just writing checks & expecting Yale students. When I got to college, I attended with a big mix of kids from public & private backgrounds. The one thing that they all had in common was very involved parents that pushed them to do their best while not being overbearing about A+ grades (at least in the engineering program). The kids with "tiger parents" all ended up in pre-law and pharmacy and were generally unhappy with life. They will surely make more money than me, and for their sake I hope that they find a way to enjoy it after what their parents did to them! Anyway, being that I used to lift weights & shoot-the-shit with one of the college admission counselors toward the end of my attendance, it turns out that being an Eagle Scout, working part-time as a cashier during high school and being really into wrenching on my car were big pluses in getting into college since it showed something other than the usual cookie-cutter, "4.6 GPA with APs, 2000+ SAT, varsity football" application. That's something important to think about too. Grades and school-provided extra-curriculars are only one piece of the pie.

Also, take into account that I am 28, married as of a week ago and not planning to have kids for a few more years. So, take advice from a non-parent for what it is worth. I imagine that perspectives shift a lot once you take the plunge into parenthood.

bmwman91 says

Also, take into account that I am 28, married as of a week ago and not planning to have kids for a few more years. So, take advice from a non-parent for what it is worth. I imagine that perspectives shift a lot once you take the plunge into parenthood.

Sure, thanks a lot for your time. I wish you a very happy married life.

Two separate issues: best places and best school districts. SF and Berkeley are the best places. If you have the time for home schooling, Khan Academy and YouTube may be the best school districts anywhere. If you don't have the time for home schooling, then as rooemoore said, Orinda and similarly affluent exurbs have the best public schools.

$7 - 800k would get you a decent place in Pleasanton and would be a relatively short commute to Milpitas. The public schools in Pleasanton score very high.

http://schoolperformancemaps.com/ca/

Cupertino schools are hyper-competitive in an unhealthy way. WSJ article here:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113236377590902105.html

If you are restricted to that money for housing, very good private schools will be beyond your reach.

If you check out city-data.com you will see that Layfayette, Orinda and Moraga are crawling with lawyers. I would avoid those cities unless you like fucking scumbags.

Pleasanton is your answer. You can throw the other responses in the shitter where they belong.

Biff

Biff Baxter says

Pleasanton is your answer.

Thanks! Any specific communities I shall look for in pleasanton? How pleasanton compares to Dublin East and San Ramon? Willing put up 10 more min of commute if there is value.

meetyaks says

Biff Baxter says

Pleasanton is your answer.

Thanks! Any specific communities I shall look for in pleasanton? How pleasanton compares to Dublin East and San Ramon? Willing put up 10 more min of commute if there is value.

My heart says pleasanton. But those new houses in San Ramon (for the same price) is what is putting in dilema. What are your thoughts on that?

As you mentioned, San Ramon is a farther commute. There are many new houses there but there is also a human warehouse feel to some of the neighborhoods. Southern San Ramon also has some beat up neighborhoods. I was told that it can be windy in some parts of San Ramon, but I'm not that familar with the place. The schools there score very high so this could be an alternative for you.

Dublin has a lot of places that are windy as hell. Windy enough to make you wish you hadn't bought there.

I am not terribly familiar with Pleasanton but I would try to get some distance from the fairgrounds. The downtown area is cute and their are some pretty older neighborhoods nearby. Pretty older neighborhoods retain value and gain value better than many newer ones. Think Los Gatos vs. Silver Creek in San Jose.

While I am not that familiar with San Ramon or Pleasanton, I have studied the hell out of your issue and spent many days in each of them over the last year.

Biff

By the way, there are a ton of properties in both Pleasanton and San Ramon that are in trouble with their bank. This would give you some buy side muscle.

Biff

Helpful maps of these neighborhoods with price ranges here:

http://www.680homes.com/san-ramon-real-estate/neighborhoods/

http://www.680homes.com/pleasanton-real-estate/neighborhoods/

Biff

Biff Baxter says

As you mentioned, San Ramon is a farther commute. There are many new houses there but there is also a human warehouse feel to some of the neighborhoods.

San Ramon is a place you must try before you buy. People who never had allergies before, suddenly develop them. The wind gusts through some neighborhoods so badly that it's difficult to enjoy the outdoors. It also has NO downtown. If it weren't so safe, I would move much sooner.

I think private high schools in the Bay Area are 13K or 15K now.

MsBennet says

I think private high schools in the Bay Area are 13K or 15K now.

Yikes! That's almost 3x what it was a decade ago.

bmwman91 says

Yikes! That's almost 3x what it was a decade ago.

Yeah, and the housing also trippled in the last decade. Yikes!

Even the schools in Hillsborough are garbage. I know. all california public schools are not going to do what the parents think should be being done given the outrageous taxes.

Your kid is your responsibility.

Also, the quality of life in the Bay Area for kids is zero.

We are planning a move to san diego or back east, the kids do NOT want to come home to the bay area. In sandiego we have friends, kids play with each other, people are people and not violin math robot tiger idiots like here.

Even if i made 1M / year I would leave, the quality of life is zero here for kids. Sorry. If you think otherwise you've bough the bay area rubbish.

Mick Russom says

Even if i made 1M / year I would leave, the quality of life is zero here for kids. Sorry. If you think otherwise you've bough the bay area rubbish.

Mick is right.

I grew up here and it was a bit different when I was a child. Having been a parent in two other states, the Bay Area would be one of my last places that I would want my children to experience their childhood in.

If you think differently, you are indeed delusional on the California kool-aid.