Going to start the house buying process in Bay Area. What are good areas to look? How about schools? Thinking of a Townhouse. Don’t think I can afford an independent house. 2B2B minimum and a small yard. Can put about 250-280k down. Will be comfortable around 8k-9k monthly payment, can push a little higher if absolutely needed. How much should I budget for? Household TC: 370k #mortgage #housing #bayarea
Depends on a lot of factors… current family size, future plans of having more kids, age of the kids? If you are a young family, definitely chose areas with better public schools (assuming that you don’t plan to send them to private schools). Good areas considering decent schools are S. San Jose N. San Jose/Santa Clara - they opened a new K-12 school recently. Good if you are considering to stay in the home for 10 years. Dublin, Pleasanton, Livermore - you might be able to get townhomes with small yard. But not sure about the public schools status there.
What is considered a good school district in Bay Area? I recently moved from Seattle and there anything below 7 is not good. Dublin, Pleasanton are a tad bit far for a commute.
Which area/city is good for family with little kids? Considering safety and childcare
Dublin, Pleasanton area have good schools, are safe and relatively lower housing costs. Very family friendly. Trade off is a long commute if that’s a factor.
Yeah commute would be bad.
Talk to a mortgage broker and get an idea about what you can afford. Don't forget taxes which are brutal.
Cut down 5% of whatever the amount they say in your monthly payment affordability
Check out Bellaterra community in Los Gatos. They have many options to choose from and it’s a brand new community in a great established neighborhood. Top schools too.
Thanks will check it out!
With TC 370k how are you able to set aside 9k comfortably? I am not able to do it at all!! Considering maxing out 401k, espp, and setting aside atleast 2k per month for some cash. Not accounting stock vest. Max i can set aside is 5k comfortably. What am i missing ?
Dual income no kids. In hand cash per month from salary is around 13k. Rest is stock.
@OP: Where do you work? If you are going to get a townhouse anyway, I will encourage you to explore Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Los Altos, Mountain View in the 1-1.5m budget for 2B2B. Townhouse could be a stretch but a condo very doable. Pros - Great schools, beautiful neighborhoods, truly diverse (if that matters), great weather (lots to do for young families), optimized commute for a lot of tech companies (10-30 min). Most people go south or east because they are obsessed with getting sfh (the harsh tradeoff is commute time/schools unless permanently remote).
Will check that out. Condo would be pretty low on my list, willing to commute 35-45 minutes. There are multiple locations for Oracle, but I think redwood shores / santa clara are the ones where I could go to if and when they ask us to come in.
Where do you work? How many days are you required to be in the office? What’s your upper limit on commute time?
Oracle. Redwood shores/ santa clara. Currently 0. But that can change.
You can buy a townhome in Cupertino area if you want best schools for less than 1.5M
Is Cupertino best for little kids too? Like pre/primary school. I have no information just heard it has good high schools
Yes they have 2 of the top 5 elementary schools in all of California and most elementary schools are the top in the state
Sorry to be the stern old uncle, but isn’t 8-9k nearly 50% of your monthly take-home? Is that base and equity? Maybe stick to around 33% of your net for all-in monthly payment.
8-9k is more than 50% of my take home/net. It is 40% of my gross though. And that’s just monthly base salary. I have another 100k gross equity set aside for saving.
It’s not about how much you can put down. It’s about your needs and how much mortgage plus other costs you can afford
Thanks, updated!