Hey guys,

I'm looking at a job in Cupertino, and I was wondering what is the closest I can be to SF without paying 2500/month for rent. I'm looking to spend about 1-1.5 a month for rent, and I don't want to commute too much either way.

What are some good areas to live in?

 

San Jose... look in the areas right around Cupertino... Campbell, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Santa Clara, etc...

 

are those the ghettos? How far is it from partying in SF?

 

It's just like Cupertino... there really aren't any ghettos here... all right next to Cupertino, only about a half hour away from San Fransisco. I'd suggest downtown San Jo bars for weekday nights anyways... San Fransisco is only good for partying Thurs (maybe), Fri, and Sat - trust me...

 

I'd stay away from San Jose. Those areas mentioned above are pretty nice. Rents vary from place to place. You would have to form your opinion after checking out the apts. The cities are about 45 min to an hour away from SF.

 

cool thanks. What's the average rent for the areas you mentioned? How's the age distribution? College kids, families? etc....

I appreciate your help!!!!

 

uhh ok first of all south bay spots around cupertino are 45 mins from the city. i live in sunnyvale. none of south bay is really ghetto except for neighborhoods in san jose. it's all the same everywhere really unless you start looking at the nicer neighborhoods (saratoga, los gatos, los altos, etc). my drive time up to the city is 45 minutes and that's averaging 70-75mph all the way up.

if you want to be close to SF to be close to the partying, look at places like daly city, san mateo, san bruno, milbrae, colma. you can find reasonably affordable housing in your range and the access to SF is pretty decent. if you're going to work in cupertino, look for something close to the 280. the 101 has much worse traffic.

a friend of mine lived in daly city and commuted to his job in san jose. it was an hour daily during off peak times but he loved having regular access to the city. plus he had a spot at the top of a hill by the cow palace (concert venue) with a jaw dropping view of the city.

let me know if you have more questions

 

well I'm just getting an idea...so I looked on craigslist. It seems that 900-1300 will get you a 1br/1ba place. There is a place archstone in saratoga (san jose west) that about 1k a month.

San Mateo seems to be around 1300-1600/month.

Obviously it's up to me whether the extra money is worth it, but do you think that paying the extra 500 a month would offset the convienence of being close to the city? Are these smaller communities real boring to live in?

 

IMO, no. I head to either The City (San Fransisco) or the East Bay (Oakland) about 3, 4 days a week. The commute is only bad if there's rush hour traffic. Just keep note that the closer you are to the bay, the more expensive housing gets...

 

i'd honestly be a little wary of places you find on CL. some are good, but most are kinda dingy imo. check out rent.com (ebay subsidiary) or springstreet.com. there's even an apartment review website somewhere that can come in handy. san mateo is a little more pricey. if you found something in saratoga for 1k it's probably either very remote or very old. expect a 1br/1ba to run you 1200 +/- 100 throughout most of the bay. if you can get a roommate, you'll have something more reasonable...

 

To me, it is worth the extra money to live close by your work in Bay area, I move out here renting a apt. while I have my on own condo 70 miles away just so I dont have to drive along side with bunch idoits , no matter how "safe" the city is? there are always a chance of bad element just right next door, If you work in Cupertino, why would you want to live close to SF? ...pick few places and post them here, I sure someone here can advice you whether its decent place or not.

 

You could try emeryville? its just a bay bridge away. not a bad commute, could take bart. I don't think its a good idea to commute from san jose, or anywhere near san jose to SF. The traffic in the morning is horriiblee!!

 

i am from cupertino. its pretty damn boring there. theres just a lot of asian families around there. its nice but far from exciting.

 

san jose is a big area so not all of it is ghetto. East side san jose, north san jose and downtown san jose are the ghetto parts. South san jose is the good area

 

Great...thanks for all the help. The company is flying me out next week to check out their facilities, so I will take that time to get an idea of the area.

Thanks for the suggestions...now I just need to get this job.