Blossom Valley area (San Jose, Santa Clara, Cupertino: crime, how much, house)

[glial cell]

I'm thinking about moving over from the east coast.

As everyone is aware housing costs in the bay area are insane... but playing around with zillow I feel like home prices in this area aren't too bad, and the quality of homes you get are okay.

If anyone is familiar with this area, and south san jose as whole... would you recommend a move here?

How is the traffic commute to santa clara, and cupertino most days? crime levels? schools? shopping? diversity, and community?

Are home prices lower compared to west san jose... because blossom valley is less desirable or problematic in anyway?

Thank you so much,

From a confused east coast native.

[Jane M]

Yeah, there are some sketch areas around Blossom Hill. Mainly encompassing the triangle East of 87 North of 85, South of Branham. For example, the Oakgrove area.

It's a slightly lower income area compared to places like cupertino, mountain view on the west side.

Here's a tip about the bay area: when you see housing significantly cheaper, there is definitely a reason. That being said, Blossom Hill area is not as bad as east San Jose.

Commute times should not be too bad as I am guessing a number of tech workers are working from home and probably will continue for the for seeable future.

[jdhpa]

Campbell is a very nice family oriented town. If you can swing that you'll probably be happy there. Of course, visit first (during normal times). Most things are still closed for COVID-19, so if you visit now you won't get a feel for the traffic, and how much time you'll spend sitting in it.

Good luck!

[mstnghu2]

As mentioned, there are some pockets of sketchiness in Blossom Valley, but overall it's still a family-friendly and mostly safe part of San Jose. The more desirable areas are the further south you are toward Santa Teresa Blvd. For the most part the areas closest to Blossom Hill Rd. and Monterey Rd./hwy 101 are not the best parts. I used to live just off Blossom Hill/Monterey Rd. The area itself was ok but was literally walking distance to a stretch of Monterey Rd. that's always been a not so great part of town.

Somebody also mentioned Campbell which I agree is a good option. There are lots of other nice parts of San Jose that might fit your budget too. Just south of Blossom Valley is Santa Teresa which is a good part of town. On the other side of the mountain ridge from Santa Teresa is Almaden Valley which is a very nice part of town with high performing schools. AV is actually one of my favorite areas of SJ.

Feel free to ask more questions. SJ is a big and sprawling city so I'm sure it can be a little overwhelming. There are lots of other family friendly areas of SJ but to answer your overall initial question about Blossom Valley being problematic...I'd say no. It does have some sketchy pockets but overall is actually a pretty decent area. I had lots of friends who lived in the area when I was in high school and I also lived there myself for a few years.

San Jose and the Bay Area in general is full of good neighborhoods that are directly adjacent to bad neighborhoods. Sometimes you can literally cross a freeway or intersection and everything changes.

[Jane M]

Originally Posted by mstnghu2

Just south of Blossom Valley is Santa Teresa which is a good part of town. On the other side of the mountain ridge from Santa Teresa is Almaden Valley which is a very nice part of town with high performing schools. AV is actually one of my favorite areas of SJ.

I can vouch for this as I lived in Santa Teresa for 5 years and absolutely loved it. However, it is a bit more built up and congested than it was when I lived there. Commuting from ST or AV can be hard, but again, probably has changed since the SIP order.

[Heidi60]

Part of the problem is that the light rail station brings homeless to the area and they fan out from there. Many employers are now wanting their employees to permanently work from home which might be a good idea because the house won't be empty during the day. Areas formerly safe are no longer so always check the S.J. P. D. crime reports.

There are many other threads about the lack of quality public schools in the area so if you are bringing children, plan on paying for a private education which is expensive.

[Wintermomma]

I lived there and liked it, but the schools, in general, are not great which is what keeps costs down. Read further on greatschools.net; they're patchy. You can find some good ones.

The traffic was BAD (but right now, maybe not-so-much). I drove to Los Altos and it went from 35 minutes to 55 minutes in the 18 months I lived there as the economy bounced back. My husband drove to Santa Clara and it was not as bad.

It's pretty there, the main reason we left was the commute.

I wouldn't say it's necessarily less safe than other areas of San Jose; but all of San Jose is patchy and criminals have cars. I agree with what others have said in terms of better areas than others.

Also, in terms of homeless, there are encampments all over San Jose; all areas and it is getting worse, so just be prepared. There used to be one big encampment off the beaten path but then officials shut it down without offering alternative places to build one so now they just migrate all over, get kicked out, find a new spot, get kicked out, return to the other spot. They generally seem to focus on Cal-Trans property (along/under/near freeways) as they get to stay longer there.

[amr090]

Does anyone know how Frost Elementary is in the area? Looking at homes near there.

Is the area just south of 85 East of 87 and north of Santa Teresa road a good area?

Any idea how long they typical commute is to Cupertino with a normal rush hour commute? Google maps says 17 min WITHOUT traffic so I’m thinking double?

[amr090]

Any thoughts?

[Moddedintegra56]

I remember back in 2012 blossom valley single family detached homes were only in the low 400s. Now they at least 700 on a smaller end home no remodel. As someone said the neighborhood generally seem ok and the overall area of South San Jose but the schools are MEH. not good but also not bad. And why prices are how they are