Where is the best place to live if you work in Palo Alto but don't like it there? (San Jose: houses, job transfer)

[JenniferInILL]

I will be relocating because of a job transfer to Palo Alto. I know that Palo is a nice area but it honestly isn't really my style. A little to pretentious in a hippie, politically liberal, eductaionally snobby kind of way (no offense, those are all great qualities just not for me.) Where should I start looking here are my guidelines:

Willing to drive 40 mins each way
Housing costs up to $1,600,000
2 children age 16 and 7.
want GOOD schools but I don't care if they are status school districts
I would like to live near the ocean
my 16 year old wants a big obnoxious house with a pool and a school where football (cheerleading!) is big.
My 7 year old wants to be able to ride a bike to her friends house and walk to school.


I was thinking maybe Santa Cruz, but was told the commute was pretty brutal. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

[humboldtrat]

You're right about the commute to and from Santa Cruz as being brutal.

For $1.6 mil, you could live anywhere in the area. Check out Redwood City (the western part), San Carlos, Belmont or San Mateo. It's all middle to upper middle class, nice and safe suburbia - and all within less than a 30 min commute of Palo Alto. The schools in San Carlos (White Oaks School District) are very good. The beaches (Half Moon Bay) are about 30 mins away.

[ElleBebe]

Sharon Heights in Menlo Park is a great area - there are two schools, public La Entrada (grades 4-8 so your 7 yr old could bike or walk in a few years) and there's a private K-8 school there too (name is blanking but it's Catholic). The area feeds to Menlo Atherton High School, which has a decent football team (my husband played there in high school) and a cheerleading squad; MA is a rather good public school if you're on the honors track, just so-so if you're not (we used to call the non-AP/honors classes "ghetto classes"). Depending on where you work in Palo Alto, it would be a 15-30 minute commute, no freeways involved.

If you want to be really close to the ocean, Half Moon Bay is about an hour drive from Palo Alto (and Santa Cruz would be at least an hour, longer with rush hour traffic, over Hwy 17 which is not an easy highway to drive). Otherwise, Woodside is over the hills from the ocean; it's an upscale area, very rich people live there but I don't think finding a house at $1.6 mil would be a problem. Lots of horses/equestrian stuff, huge lots and giant houses. Woodside is beautiful, trees and forest, hills, windy roads. There's Woodside Elementary (K-8) and I'd assume that it feeds to Woodside High School but I'd recommend trying to go to MA or a private school instead.

Other areas with "big obnoxious houses with a pool" - check out Atherton, or Portola Valley (feed to La Entrada or Hillview Middle School, and MA HS). I grew up in Ladera (a small community between Portola Valley and Menlo Park) and it's a wonderful close-knit community, middle upper class, tons of kids.

[sonarrat]

Rather than living by the ocean, how would you feel about living by the bay, in Foster City or Redwood Shores for example? They meet all your other requirements, and you could still hop on 92 and be at the beach in 20 minutes.

[maaci]

Los Gatos may be an option. I don't know how from it is from the ocean. I do know that they have really good schools with lots of sports. It is a 30 minute drive to Palo Alto during rush hour, so I am told. I haven't made the drive yet. When we visited schools there were lots of bikes outside, so I think it would meet your 7 old's requirements.

[DMenscha]

Woodside or Atherton.

[Rexicana]

Scotts Valley? It is about 10 minutes closer than Santa Cruz, but the schools are rated highly and it is 10 minutes to the beach. You would still have to deal with 17 though . . . .

[vdy1985]

How about Pacifica?

[t_thibaud]

If you need a "big obnoxious house", you're best off going further south along Hwy 85. You won't get very much for your $1.6m in Atherton, and even the other, less-astronomically priced options mentioned above won't give you much for your money. In Sharon Heights, you'd get a beaten-up old ranch house that would need at least $50k of investment to make tolerable. Ladera, which would be a wonderful choice, would probably stretch your budget as well.

I'd stick to Los Gatos, preferably along Hwy 9, which is one of the prettiest drives around and which will allow you to skip the nasty bottlenecks each am and pm on Hwy 85 (generally around Winchester Blvd to Camden). 20-25 minutes to the beach (take Old Santa Cruz Hwy and then Soquel San Jose road).

[Saraaaa]

Los Gatos schools are very good and it's a pretty safe neighborhood too.