Santa Clara vs Mountain View vs Sunnyvale (Irvine, Torrance: rental, house)

[noy29]

Wow. Thank you for all your responses. I really did not expect these number of responses. This forum really rocks!

How much more would the same home in Sunnyvale or Santa Clara costs if I buy or lease/rent it in Mountain View?

[sonarrat]

Mountain View will run about 10-20% more for any given property, whether you're buying or renting it. Add an extra 30% for Los Altos.

[gooski]

I used to live in Sunnyvale near the Cupertino side (Homestead/Hollenbeck); good schools (Homestead High) and you're close to many restaurants in Cupertino or downtown Sunnyvale.

Mountain View west of El Camino Real is also a very nice area. Personally, I'd go Sunnyvale>MV<Santa Clara (West of El Camino) only b/c MV homes are more expensive especially as you get closer to Los Altos.

[clairdelaluce]

Sunnyvale is very nice. School quality is a big issue. There are at least three elementary districts, Sunnyvale and Cupertino Union, and Santa Clara.

High Schools have (I think) two districts. Freemont Union and Santa Clara.

Your best bet is to go to Freemont Union High School website and get boundaries maps. Look for homes within the boundaries of Homestead High. Avoid Freemont High if education quality is a big issue for you.

Some of the Sunnyvale elementary schools are very good, Cherry Chase, Cumberlain ....
but on the whole the Cupertino Union Elementary and Middle schools are better.

To get a house in Sunnyvale with Cupertino Elementary Schools, Cupertino Middle school and Homestead High is going to cost you a premium.
It is also a very pretty part of town. Second best I think is Cumberland Ele, or Cherry Chase Ele, Sunnyvale Middle and Homestead High.

Check School websites first, get boundary maps, map out areas you want, get zipcodes and put them into mlslistings.com and take a look at possibilities of houses for sale. 94087, 94086 I think.
Good Luck

[treedonkey]

I lived in all three Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, and Mtn. View at different points over about 12 years there in the Bay Area...

You'll have to research this on Realty sites to make sure it's still accurate, but during my tenure there, Mtn. was definatelt the most expensive, then Sunnyvale, with Santa Clara being a little sheaper than the others. Of course, it really jsut depends on which neighborhood you choose, but their were definately more apartments, duplexes, condo complexes and other "affordable" alternatives.

That said, it logically follows that Mtn. View is what many people would consider 'nicer' than the other two, having a bigger, more developed downtown, nicely landscaped street, has a conneneient stop to catch the Bullet to SF, and is very close to some mighty big tech comes (ahem, google, ahem) of its own. That said, if I ever had to move back there again, I would probably choose Sunnyvale again just because I know it well and it's sort of a happy medium for me. But there's also some really NICE neighborhoods in Santa Clara, especially the eastern part, and it's a hop, skip and a jump from downtown SJ.

In any case, you will find plenty of parks, bike lanes, some great restaurants (especially for asian, indian and mexican food) and fairly easy access to freeways and public transit.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by noy29

My wife and I have decided to move with our three kids. We have a job offer already at Santa Clara and we have narrowed our choices to Santa Clara, Sunnyvale and Mountain View. I have read most of the threads here but I still do not have a grasp regarding the difference in these three suburb cities and which one will be relatively cheaper to live in. Any advice out there?

Personally, I like Mountain View the best. But it is also the most expensive. Next best would be Santa Clara, followed by Sunnyvale.

As others have said, these places do tend to "bleed" into each other. All 3 have a lot of "suburban sprawl wasteland" but Sunnyvale is the worst for cookie cutter sprawl. Also, I don't know about the schools, but I would say Sunnyvale is not that great for public services. Their library is small and outdated. I work for San Jose's library system, and we get TONS of people from Sunnyvale who use our main library because theirs is crappy.

Santa Clara also has a nice new library and also a pool.

All 3 could potentially be good places. Since I'm speaking in generalities here, there could definitely be exceptions to the general thoughts I've outlined.

[Cali-girl]

May want to read this Wall Street Journal article if you have children of school-age:

White Flight in Silicon Valley As Asian Students Move In - WSJ.com

Just a thought.

Best to you,
~Cali-girl

[treedonkey]

Originally Posted by Cali-girl

May want to read this Wall Street Journal article if you have children of school-age:

White Flight in Silicon Valley As Asian Students Move In - WSJ.com

Interesting article, and fairly balanced in its approach to a sensitive subject. Regarding the trend toward 'white flight', I don't see why it's so taboo for whites to admit that they're moving to or away from a given area for racial reasons.

I mean, after spending a lot of time on this forum, I'm regularly seeing threads with subjects like 'Latino neighborhoods in such-and-such a place?', or 'Asian (or Indian, or African-American, or whatever) communities near such-and-such city?'. No one seems to mind those sorts of posts. In fact, one time I chimed into one of those threads to say that I thought it sounded a little racist to seek out certain neighborhoods just to be surrounded by those of your own kind. Needless to say, I got my head bitten off for saying that, but one person did explain that people of a certain race, especially recent immigrants, may have more familiar options and better local support in their own particular ethnic neighborhoods. That sounded reasonable, if not entirely understandable, to me.

I still feel that people of ANY race should just live where they want to live, allowing things like proximity to work or other important amenities to be the deciding factor, and not worry about the skin color or cultural background of those in their neighborhood. However, I have come to understand that some people are just more concerned about race then others and that doesn't necessarily make them bigots. People should feel safe to admit their reasons more moving away, even if it is because their schools and neighborhoods have become 'too Asian'.

[Cali-girl]

Originally Posted by treedonkey

Interesting article, and fairly balanced in its approach to a sensitive subject. Regarding the trend toward 'white flight', I don't see why it's so taboo for whites to admit that they're moving to or away from a given area for racial reasons.

I mean, after spending a lot of time on this forum, I'm regularly seeing threads with subjects like 'Latino neighborhoods in such-and-such a place?', or 'Asian (or Indian, or African-American, or whatever) communities near such-and-such city?'. No one seems to mind those sorts of posts. In fact, one time I chimed into one of those threads to say that I thought it sounded a little racist to seek out certain neighborhoods just to be surrounded by those of your own kind. Needless to say, I got my head bitten off for saying that, but one person did explain that people of a certain race, especially recent immigrants, may have more familiar options and better local support in their own particular ethnic neighborhoods. That sounded reasonable, if not entirely understandable, to me.

I still feel that people of ANY race should just live where they want to live, allowing things like proximity to work or other important amenities to be the deciding factor, and not worry about the skin color or cultural background of those in their neighborhood. However, I have come to understand that some people are just more concerned about race then others and that doesn't necessarily make them bigots. People should feel safe to admit their reasons more moving away, even if it is because their schools and neighborhoods have become 'too Asian'.

Hi treedonkey!

Thank you for your post. To be honest, I really had to think twice about posting this link for the very reasons you stated in your first and second paragraphs.

But I took a risk to post anyway (it is after all, the Wall Street Journal) mainly for two reasons:

1. I am a renter and the people who rented a townhome before us (previous tenants) are asian (specifically Korean-Americans). The mom is really really nice and told me they were moving OUT of Irvine because they felt the school (University High) had become TOO asian and their 10th grade son (I'll just call him "Jason" for the sake of simplicity) was already being pressured to join asian gangs in that locale, believe it or not. Really really sad. She felt that there were NOT ENOUGH whites to counterbalance this unfortunate trend and so they were moving to Placentia so "Jason" could attend Yorba Linda HS.*

2. It is a known fact in Irvine (UC Irvine is something like 42%+ asian) that many asian parents, the mother in particular, are bullies to their kids and exert all sorts of parental pressure on them not just to excel, but to compete and to view other Americans as competitors to be destroyed for the sake of superiority. This attitude does not lend well to students growing up and learning camaraderie, true friendships, or working together collectively to achieve common goals. Very destructive actually.

3. My young kids went to school in Irvine and it took multiple visits to a psychotherapist to undo the mental and emotional damage done to them as students in that District due to the abuse the teachers inflict upon caucasian students. (Just so that you know: these teachers were all caucasian - however they're "White-Outs" - white people who hate other whites.)

My kids are not dumb, they're 3.5-4.0 students, but when the majority asian students are getting 4.05+, and receive admin and teacher accolades with the rest getting nothing at all in terms of postive reinforcement, then school became a destructive environment. My middle son actually went through a personality change and putting him in private school along with the therapy brought his sunny personality back. What a huge relief that was.

*What happened to "Jason"? Ans: the family moved to Placentia, enrolled him in YLHS, within 2 weeks "Jason" was SEVERELY beaten almost to death by a group of Hispanic male students who falsely accused him of "looking at them the wrong way" and who then repeatedly hit him on the head with a cinderblock and fractured his skull. You cannot imagine his parents' grief (well, maybe you can). "Jason" was hospitalized in the ICU for a week and remained hospitalized for an additional two. His mom decided at that point to homeschool him - you can probably understand why.

Some things just need to be said.

Thanks again,
~Cali-girl

[treedonkey]

Originally Posted by Cali-girl

My kids are not dumb, they're 3.5-4.0 students, but when the majority asian students are getting 4.05+, and receive admin and teacher accolades...

That just made me think of an old Simpsons quote where Principal Skinner says, "Well, Edna, for a school with no Asian kids, I think we put on a pretty darn good science fair."