Almaden Valley vs Pleasanton (Santa Clara: home, town, out of state)

[roadwarrior101]

Originally Posted by Moddedintegra56

San jose is a much superior city than any of those tri valley cities though. South bay > tri valley, eastbay, etc.

San Jose is superior in what regards? If you're measuring it as being a bigger city with more amenities and jobs nearby, yes I'd agree. If you're saying its superior in terms of being nicer, I don't think that's true at all. Its pretty much bland strip malls and endless suburbia with the exception of downtown and a couple nice neighborhoods (e.g., Willow Glen). Overall, the tri-valley is much nicer with the exception of a few Silicon Valley cities (which aren't located within the SJ city limits).

[Wintermomma]

If you are going to stay in SV, I would focus on a place that is not in SJ city proper, meaning you have SJ city services and beholden to SJ decisions. So that would be no Almaden, no Willow Glen; as nice as I think they both are. We couldn't afford any of the adjacent cities so we ended up in a part of SJ that we liked very much, except, in the end it is still SJ and that is very regrettable. If I had to do over, I'd have waited, or bought something we didn't like as much in one of the other cities we toured homes in. Also, be sure to check school boundaries and ratings, wherever you are looking.

[OneOfTheRs]

Originally Posted by Wintermomma

If you are going to stay in SV, I would focus on a place that is not in SJ city proper, meaning you have SJ city services and beholden to SJ decisions. So that would be no Almaden, no Willow Glen; as nice as I think they both are. We couldn't afford any of the adjacent cities so we ended up in a part of SJ that we liked very much, except, in the end it is still SJ and that is very regrettable. If I had to do over, I'd have waited, or bought something we didn't like as much in one of the other cities we toured homes in. Also, be sure to check school boundaries and ratings, wherever you are looking.

Thanks for sharing your experience. We had resisted for years at looking at anything with a SJ address/schools because we thought services (everything from schools to police to parks & rec) would be better in a smaller city (and they are great in Santa Clara). But after years of waiting for 'the right home' to come on the market and now with freedom to be farther away we are looking at other areas.

As for schools--that is a great reminder for anyone reading this--school boundaries do not correspond to city boundaries. Sometimes that's good and sometimes not. There's no substitute for going to the district's website to verify.

We probably would have bought in Cupertino except we have been warned by many that it would be next to impossible to get the services we need for our son in the schools there... but that's a story for a different time

[sjnative]

Originally Posted by OneOfTheRs

Needing some advice, please... My husband's work is now mostly virtual so we would like to leave our Santa Clara apartment and buy a home where we can have space and good schools for our 8-year-old. We would still come to Santa Clara/North SJ twice-ish a week for my son's activities and my husband would likely commute to the south bay one week a month. So we don't want to be too far away...

It would appear that Almaden Valley is 15 minutes closer than Pleasanton during commuting hours, but is that accurate or is it based on the current, possibly temporary, lower-volume traffic?

We are looking for a 3000-4000sf home in the $2-2.5M range.

Bonus--we like neighborhoods that are walkable, good for bicycling, and have neighborhood pools. We enjoy Pleasanton's Main street--is there an equivalent in the Almaden Valley?

Thank you for any advice/clarity/etc to help us focus on one of these areas.

p.s. We are also considering Campbell and Willow Glen but they don't seem like areas where we can (safely) bicycle around. But they are way closer, so there's that.

If you're gonna be in the Santa Clara Valley at least 2 and as many as 3 days a week, I'd consider the Almaden Valley over Pleasanton.

Otherwise, commuting between Pleasanton and the SCV will take its toll.

You notice I say commute, and not the mileage; there's a big difference there, as the commute between the two can be a real grind, esp late on a summer afternoon when it's really hot and I680 is gridlocked going over the Sunol Grade. You'll be pointed uphill in stop n' go with the AC blasting. Yuck.

And 'commuting' doesn't mean only when the hubby drives it one day. I mean anytime you're going back to Pleasanton along with the evening flow of traffic, which can happen all too easily.

[NickB1967]

How much does your commute matter? If it matters a lot, pick Almaden Valley. The commute along I-680 and over to Santa Clara via Route 237 or Montague Expwy is *torture*.

Now Almaden Valley up to North SJ / Santa Clara can be snarled too, but at least there are several potential routes to take. For a commute from Pleasanton, you are essentially trapped in a "road pipeline" if something gets snarled.

Moreover, Almaden Valley is a nice and pleasant place. So it doesn't have a historical district (other than the way southern end hamlet of "New Almaden"). It is pleasant suburbia.

[bayareahouse]

Originally Posted by OneOfTheRs

Needing some advice, please... My husband's work is now mostly virtual so we would like to leave our Santa Clara apartment and buy a home where we can have space and good schools for our 8-year-old. We would still come to Santa Clara/North SJ twice-ish a week for my son's activities and my husband would likely commute to the south bay one week a month. So we don't want to be too far away...

It would appear that Almaden Valley is 15 minutes closer than Pleasanton during commuting hours, but is that accurate or is it based on the current, possibly temporary, lower-volume traffic?

We are looking for a 3000-4000sf home in the $2-2.5M range.

Bonus--we like neighborhoods that are walkable, good for bicycling, and have neighborhood pools. We enjoy Pleasanton's Main street--is there an equivalent in the Almaden Valley?

Thank you for any advice/clarity/etc to help us focus on one of these areas.



p.s. We are also considering Campbell and Willow Glen but they don't seem like areas where we can (safely) bicycle around. But they are way closer, so there's that.

I currently live in Pleasanton. The city has great elementary schools. It is full of parks and trails for biking. Highway 680 has been improved greatly so commute should be better going forward. Plus 3k-4k sf houses are less than $2M.

[bunty222]

Almaden Valley, any day. It's beautiful, close to nature and in South bay. There is not much of an extra commute compared to most places in South bay such as Los Gatos or Campbell or West San Jose or even Saratoga depending on where you want to go.

Almaden Valley is the most affluent zip code in San Jose and one of the most in the Bay area. Homes are larger, not cookie-cutter, lots of character, larger lots, upscale neighborhoods, and family-oriented. There is lots of nature and highly ranked schools.

With the Westfield Oakridge mall (160+ large chain outlets, cinemas) , Almaden Plaza (Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Costco etc) and Blossom hill commercial area (lots and lots of shops and eateries), all your shops, cinemas, restaurants are within 5-10 mins and very much bikable (on the local Los Alamitos Creek trail) from anywhere in the Almaden Valley. Plus, it is a short 15-20 mins drive to Santana Row, Downtown Los Gatos, Downtown San Jose, Dowtown Campbell and Pruneyard Shopping Center. Loads and loads of hiking, biking trails, jet skiing, boating - lots of outdoor living. ~35 minutes to the Santa Cruz beach

The term ”Almaden Living” is well known for a reason and there is a reason they say ”once one moves to Almaden Valley, they never move out!”. You can see this in the pride of ownership and the (life)long duration of home ownership in the beautiful neighborhoods.

[BRinSM]

Originally Posted by bunty222

Almaden Valley, any day. It's beautiful, close to nature and in South bay. There is not much of an extra commute compared to most places in South bay such as Los Gatos or Campbell or West San Jose or even Saratoga depending on where you want to go.

Almaden Valley is the most affluent zip code in San Jose and one of the most in the Bay area. Homes are larger, not cookie-cutter, lots of character, larger lots, upscale neighborhoods, and family-oriented. There is lots of nature and highly ranked schools.

With the Westfield Oakridge mall (160+ large chain outlets, cinemas) , Almaden Plaza (Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Costco etc) and Blossom hill commercial area (lots and lots of shops and eateries), all your shops, cinemas, restaurants are within 5-10 mins and very much bikable (on the local Los Alamitos Creek trail) from anywhere in the Almaden Valley. Plus, it is a short 15-20 mins drive to Santana Row, Downtown Los Gatos, Downtown San Jose, Dowtown Campbell and Pruneyard Shopping Center. Loads and loads of hiking, biking trails, jet skiing, boating - lots of outdoor living. ~35 minutes to the Santa Cruz beach

The term ”Almaden Living” is well known for a reason and there is a reason they say ”once one moves to Almaden Valley, they never move out!”. You can see this in the pride of ownership and the (life)long duration of home ownership in the beautiful neighborhoods.

someone sure loves Almaden! A couple of clarifications, Almaden has mostly cookie cutters homes though individual development seem to span across multiple decades, so it's not like the housing is completely uniform. Bottom line, architecture style is not a reason to move to Almaden, it's pretty standard suburban stuff you'll find anywhere in CA or the rest of the country for that matter (with the exception of New Almaden, but that's even further removed). Also, the comment about commutes compared to other cities is flat out wrong. The way to get to tech jobs is via the 85 freeway up towards the peninsula. Almaden is the furthest south of all locales mentioned and the 85 pre-pandemic is a notoriously congested freeway during commuting hours. Campbell, Los Gatos, and Saratoga will all have noticeably shorter commutes (unless of course you live way up in the hills) if commutes to Netflix, Apple, Google, or other larger tech companies north of Almaden.

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by BRinSM

someone sure loves Almaden! A couple of clarifications, Almaden has mostly cookie cutters homes though individual development seem to span across multiple decades, so it's not like the housing is completely uniform. Bottom line, architecture style is not a reason to move to Almaden, it's pretty standard suburban stuff you'll find anywhere in CA or the rest of the country for that matter (with the exception of New Almaden, but that's even further removed).

Agree. Willow Glen has a wider mix of architectural styles than Almaden.

But the public schools serving Almaden are generally better.

[joejerryronnie]

Interested to hear if the OP pulled the trigger or not. You certainly have your Tri-Valley vs Almaden Valley boosters on this thread and I’d take each with a grain of salt. For what it’s worth I have co-workers who live in both areas and they each seem to like their respective locales quite a bit. Commute to N SJ should be better from Almaden (60 min) than from Pleasanton (90 min). I’d spend some time looking at houses and hanging out a bit in each area to see which seems to fit your family the best.