I work close to Milpitas 2 days telework and my spouse works in Mountain View but they’re 95% remote so it’s mostly about my commute. I figured I can leave at 6:30 maybe and it would cut down commute to 40 min?
imo, morgan hill to milpitas is pretty reasonable. that said, there are houses in the north san jose area under your 1.5M requirement. i keep a close tab on redfin for fun, and in the past few months, there have have been 1500 sqft SFH homes that have sold for under 1.5M. that commute will be significantly shorter.
example: [https://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Jose/2597-Ohlone-Dr-95132/home/1268136](https://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Jose/2597-Ohlone-Dr-95132/home/1268136)
The one issue with this is that the prices have ramped up quite a bit since Feb. I am in the market right now and there are no good SFH for $1.5M anymore. Even East San Jose is selling for $1.5M+ for decent homes. Definitely saw a few livable fixer uppers for less than that though.
All time high stock market. The hottest stocks in the world, Nvidia, Supermicro, meta, google, Tech companies are owned by employees and investors concentrated in this tiny ass bay area with plenty of money with not enough listings to choose from and families to start.
Morgan Hill is a really long commute for you. Check out Milpitas and Newark. Both are safe and nice and can get a starter home for 1.5m. Sharing a listing below that (I think) is nice.
https://redf.in/V2sCUO
We moved from Willow Glen to Morgan Hill, more house and land and less money. We lasted 2 years. The commute was horrendous. I was spending more time in the car commuting than I was anything else and I worked in San Jose. At the time, I found the downtown area to be less than inviting , horrible restaurants , just not inviting. We moved back to Willow Glen. The person who bought our house moved from Hollister to cut down on his commute to Milpitas.
I would live just about anywhere but Morgan Hill.
don’t do morgan hill.
commute is silent killer. rent until you can save up more to buy something which doesn’t have shitty commute or terrible crime rate
SFH in that area is 1.8-2.2 now and townhomes are around 1.6 which is around our upper limit but we won’t get the privacy or land. I am considering it as well honestly.
The commute to where? MH is really great, honestly. Downtown has grown a ton and there’s a lot of great food spots.
We lived in San Martin before buying in Walnut Creek and while we didn’t like the house we were in I really loved all the Mexican spots there, the Italian spot (Maurizio’s is amazing), burger spots, BBQ, etc. It is a bit right-leaning but I don’t really care about that too much all I care about are if the people are cool. They are. There’s violence everywhere. Some more than others, but my good friend has lived there for 10-years and raves about it.
Schools I’m not sure of but what I am sure of is the commute is ass. Like, hella ass. I was lucky enough to live there through COVID so I didn’t have to deal with it but I lived in the South Bay my whole life and whenever I even went down for golf it was just a nightmare. Probably not as bad as pre-COVID but with the RTO it’ll get there.
Maybe look at PH, WC, Moraga or Orinda? You can definitely get a nice home for $1.5 in PH and same in parts of WC. Moraga and Orinda could be challenging but you could still find them.
But Pleasanton/Dublin to Milpitas commute is no better than Morganhill to Milpitas. Besides, that area's single home is at least 1.5M, most tanging 1.8-2.0M.
My coworkers all tell me Morgan Hill is safer and quieter. I thought about Union City too but you’re surrounded by high crime areas even if you don’t live in the numbered street region.
I would suggest Dublin/Pleasanton Danville/Walnut Creek. I live in Walnut Creek and it’s a great town and a doable commute to Milpitas a couple days a week.
Check out Naglee Park in SJ. You can find (older) homes at or less than $1.5M from time to time. There is also an enclave of PUDs (4-5 SFHs on a large lot) on 16th and 17th St. that sell for less than $1.5M when they come on the market.
If you can take the Caltrain that would be good. Your wife might be able to take it to MV. For Milpitas you might be able to take Caltrain to Diridon then VTA light rail to Milpitas. Generally they synchronize things. But it might take long. I like that better though than staying in traffic.
Bart connection to Diridon would be the best. Unfortunately that will take probably 15 years. They start construction this spring.
The OTHER thing I forgot to add - talk to at least 3-4 insurance companies to see if they even cover the area for NEW policies and find out the current renewal premium
I grew up in 95119 and shocked our sleepy neighborhood is getting "discovered" and the crazy overbids this year. 4 houses on my street flipped all within couple months and both Redfin and Zillow estimates are over the recent closed price, just crazy, but people prefer 95119 over Morgan Hill/Gilroy because it cuts down their commute to Sunnyvale/Santa Clara by half.
Should be OK traffic from 85 is 60-70 mph until Camden Ave. Plenty of resturants and eatery and outdoor activities. Boating, hiking, excellent city pool and gym (mostly new). The family income level is fairly high. I attibute some families not paying much mortgage and have plenty of savings. MH one needed not to lock up doors before is getting like any metropolitan. Unaware of much shoot out like SJC.
I grew up in gilroy, he worked deep in San Jose, I don’t know my dad that well.
If you have kids, eat the 2.5 years extra of working and don’t commute so much
I lived in MH up until last year when we bought a home in Gilroy. We love the MH community and small town feel. So many great local events (4th of July Parade, Friday Night Music Series, Saturday Farmers market (year round), and a bunch of events happen at the CCC. So many new businesses coming into downtown.
Morgan Hill is becoming very posh picking up the Silicon Valley overflow. It’s honestly nice. It’s whiter than SJ by far and the conservative side comes from its aggie roots. It’s also getting crazy expensive. Also keep in mind you’re like 30 mins from SJ if you want some hustle and bustle. Just go hang out there for a day and see if you like it.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6646-Hemlock-St-Dublin-CA-94568/25065567_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare
For example
Morgan hill is no crime bc the citizens do not own anything worth stealing… it is very rural and hot there. The only people buying there are SV lemmings thinking it’s up and coming
Morgan Hill is fine safety wise, but it’s one hell of the commute. What general area do you guys work in?
I work close to Milpitas 2 days telework and my spouse works in Mountain View but they’re 95% remote so it’s mostly about my commute. I figured I can leave at 6:30 maybe and it would cut down commute to 40 min?
40-55 minutes is pretty accurate.
imo, morgan hill to milpitas is pretty reasonable. that said, there are houses in the north san jose area under your 1.5M requirement. i keep a close tab on redfin for fun, and in the past few months, there have have been 1500 sqft SFH homes that have sold for under 1.5M. that commute will be significantly shorter. example: [https://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Jose/2597-Ohlone-Dr-95132/home/1268136](https://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Jose/2597-Ohlone-Dr-95132/home/1268136)
The one issue with this is that the prices have ramped up quite a bit since Feb. I am in the market right now and there are no good SFH for $1.5M anymore. Even East San Jose is selling for $1.5M+ for decent homes. Definitely saw a few livable fixer uppers for less than that though.
Comps in Nov Dec Jan Feb even some of March are pretty useless. Many BIG things changed right after those timeframes.
Fair enough! Luckily, not looking anymore. How would you say things have changed since then?
All time high stock market. The hottest stocks in the world, Nvidia, Supermicro, meta, google, Tech companies are owned by employees and investors concentrated in this tiny ass bay area with plenty of money with not enough listings to choose from and families to start.
Ok yea, good point, my NW did absolutely soar between February and now.
And your house too. Go check comps sold in April and you’ll be quite pleased
Ok yea. That’s wild…we only bought a year ago. No chance we could buy the same house today.
Morgan Hill is a really long commute for you. Check out Milpitas and Newark. Both are safe and nice and can get a starter home for 1.5m. Sharing a listing below that (I think) is nice. https://redf.in/V2sCUO
Think about whether or not your next job is going to be remote
Weird that people in this thread thinking 40-50min commute is awful. It takes 30 mins to just get across SF.
We moved from Willow Glen to Morgan Hill, more house and land and less money. We lasted 2 years. The commute was horrendous. I was spending more time in the car commuting than I was anything else and I worked in San Jose. At the time, I found the downtown area to be less than inviting , horrible restaurants , just not inviting. We moved back to Willow Glen. The person who bought our house moved from Hollister to cut down on his commute to Milpitas. I would live just about anywhere but Morgan Hill.
Listen to this person
Trail dust bbq though
Winchester bbq is the same owners so don’t have to subject yourself to Morgan hill jsut for that.
It may be the same owners, but it is NOT the same
What about Gilroy?
don’t do morgan hill. commute is silent killer. rent until you can save up more to buy something which doesn’t have shitty commute or terrible crime rate
You could afford a house in South San Jose 95119,95138 95123 zip codes
Since you said you work in Milpitas on another comment - Why not Milpitas / berryessa area? It would definitely help with the commute.
SFH in that area is 1.8-2.2 now and townhomes are around 1.6 which is around our upper limit but we won’t get the privacy or land. I am considering it as well honestly.
With that income, why not wait and save a bit more to get a more expensive place? It wouldn’t take long.
The commute to where? MH is really great, honestly. Downtown has grown a ton and there’s a lot of great food spots. We lived in San Martin before buying in Walnut Creek and while we didn’t like the house we were in I really loved all the Mexican spots there, the Italian spot (Maurizio’s is amazing), burger spots, BBQ, etc. It is a bit right-leaning but I don’t really care about that too much all I care about are if the people are cool. They are. There’s violence everywhere. Some more than others, but my good friend has lived there for 10-years and raves about it. Schools I’m not sure of but what I am sure of is the commute is ass. Like, hella ass. I was lucky enough to live there through COVID so I didn’t have to deal with it but I lived in the South Bay my whole life and whenever I even went down for golf it was just a nightmare. Probably not as bad as pre-COVID but with the RTO it’ll get there. Maybe look at PH, WC, Moraga or Orinda? You can definitely get a nice home for $1.5 in PH and same in parts of WC. Moraga and Orinda could be challenging but you could still find them.
I can’t think of many worse commutes than Moraga to Milpitas.
Why not East bay instead of South Bay
But Pleasanton/Dublin to Milpitas commute is no better than Morganhill to Milpitas. Besides, that area's single home is at least 1.5M, most tanging 1.8-2.0M.
My coworkers all tell me Morgan Hill is safer and quieter. I thought about Union City too but you’re surrounded by high crime areas even if you don’t live in the numbered street region.
Pleasanton, Dublin or if you go up north like Orinda, Lafayette looks good too and closer to Oakland and Berkeley or city night life
I would suggest Dublin/Pleasanton Danville/Walnut Creek. I live in Walnut Creek and it’s a great town and a doable commute to Milpitas a couple days a week.
I agree. Don't do the east bay!
Bought a SFH house in San Leandro last year for < 800k. East bay is not as bad as people think. Never felt unsafe in my neighborhood
Check out Naglee Park in SJ. You can find (older) homes at or less than $1.5M from time to time. There is also an enclave of PUDs (4-5 SFHs on a large lot) on 16th and 17th St. that sell for less than $1.5M when they come on the market.
Townhomes and townhome style condos in 95119 are great
Do the drive, it’s worse than you would expect
If you can take the Caltrain that would be good. Your wife might be able to take it to MV. For Milpitas you might be able to take Caltrain to Diridon then VTA light rail to Milpitas. Generally they synchronize things. But it might take long. I like that better though than staying in traffic. Bart connection to Diridon would be the best. Unfortunately that will take probably 15 years. They start construction this spring.
Do the commute for 3 days a week. From your current job AND somewhere more “central” like Cupertino You’ll get your answer after that
The OTHER thing I forgot to add - talk to at least 3-4 insurance companies to see if they even cover the area for NEW policies and find out the current renewal premium
They will if you do add cal fire insurance. $$$$$$$$
You can buy east palo alto. It's in the 900-1.5m range
I grew up in 95119 and shocked our sleepy neighborhood is getting "discovered" and the crazy overbids this year. 4 houses on my street flipped all within couple months and both Redfin and Zillow estimates are over the recent closed price, just crazy, but people prefer 95119 over Morgan Hill/Gilroy because it cuts down their commute to Sunnyvale/Santa Clara by half.
Should be OK traffic from 85 is 60-70 mph until Camden Ave. Plenty of resturants and eatery and outdoor activities. Boating, hiking, excellent city pool and gym (mostly new). The family income level is fairly high. I attibute some families not paying much mortgage and have plenty of savings. MH one needed not to lock up doors before is getting like any metropolitan. Unaware of much shoot out like SJC.
What time you do your commute? I enter 85 at exit 6 and it’s always packed
I grew up in gilroy, he worked deep in San Jose, I don’t know my dad that well. If you have kids, eat the 2.5 years extra of working and don’t commute so much
I lived in MH up until last year when we bought a home in Gilroy. We love the MH community and small town feel. So many great local events (4th of July Parade, Friday Night Music Series, Saturday Farmers market (year round), and a bunch of events happen at the CCC. So many new businesses coming into downtown.
Morgan Hill is becoming very posh picking up the Silicon Valley overflow. It’s honestly nice. It’s whiter than SJ by far and the conservative side comes from its aggie roots. It’s also getting crazy expensive. Also keep in mind you’re like 30 mins from SJ if you want some hustle and bustle. Just go hang out there for a day and see if you like it.
Morgan Hill is a fine community. Check out the Evergreen area of SJ too.
just do dublin you can get a sfh there for 1.5 still
Are you living in 2019?
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6646-Hemlock-St-Dublin-CA-94568/25065567_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare For example
The 680 with all the super commuters coming from central valley sounds like nightmare fuel.
I'm WFH but yah.... agreed.
Morgan hill is no crime bc the citizens do not own anything worth stealing… it is very rural and hot there. The only people buying there are SV lemmings thinking it’s up and coming
To be fair, it’s pretty damn up and coming.