San Jose rent help/advice appreciated!

[ffemt]

Updated 6/10 with another question:
1. Can someone give me a good rundown on traffic times on the South Bay Area freeways? Good side streets to keep in mind to get across town? I do plan on going down for a week in July to put out advertisement and drive throughout the area and get a feel for the roads but any help beforehand would be awesome.

Hi,

My wife, soon to be born son, and I currently rent out a family member's house near Sacramento but will be moving down to San Jose within a few months for my new job and we're new when it comes to renting an apartment or studio. Anywhere in San Jose and the surrounding cities, 1br, bath, and kitchen. We just looked last night until 1am on Craigslist and wow..decent places were starting at $1300 and went up from there! In sac it's a sweet $750 and up. Any advice or help on safe areas, good location, and maybe past complexes you've rented from are greatly appreciated!

Also,
My wife's uncle runs a tile & grout install/cleaning/maintenance business in Sac and he recently purchased the franchise in San Jose so I'm the body he needed down there to run it. Discounts for CG members! Time to renew that counter or shower your wife keeps nagging you about :-)

[Wild West]

I've lived in Willow Glen most of my life, but have also lived in Almaden Valley and Downtown San Jose. Taking into account your wife and future baby I'd say the best and safest areas to live in, but will also cost more are the Rose Garden, Willow Glen and Almaden. On the other end of the spectrum are Downtown (north and east side), Burbank, the area around Senter Rd./Story Rd. and Alum Rock. In between you will find places like Santa Teresa, some of the South Downtown like Naglee Park and others.

But if you want to feel the safest for your family when your not home, Willow Glen and Almaden are tough to beat.


Good luck with looking!

[ffemt]

Thank you, that's a big head start in the search.

[Kageryu]

What part of town is your new job located in? One thing to watch out for is commute options, might help make the decision between two decent areas.

For example, most of the stuff along 85 is in decent neighborhoods, getting nicer as you go farther south and get closer to the hills. But, 85 sucks during commute hours, so it helps if you can find somewhere you can use the local expressways (Lawrence, San Tomas, etc) to get to where you need to.

[ffemt]

For the location anywhere central would be preferred such as near the airport where the storage unit will be. I'll be running a crew that gathers equipment there before rush hour to use at their jobs and from there I may head back to the apartment and schedule jobs or be driving throughout town giving quotes. Occasionally one of the techs will need extra tools I need to grab and that's when it would be nice to have quick access to the highways. Thanks!

[Kageryu]

cool, sounds like you might get to dodge most of the traffic peaks then. Sunnyvale has some nice areas in it, though the schools aren't as good -- but that means it's cheaper. Cupertino is the opposite. 280N gets bad in the morning, South bad in the evening. Same for 85. Dunno too much about 880 within San Jose, but up in the east bay it bogs down. 101 is terrible during traffic hours in general, but ok well outside of commute hours (like, before 3PM!).

[ffemt]

Thanks for all the help so far! Updated with a question on traffic times

[caliboysj]

I take 17/880 N every morning just before 8 AM. It's been plugging up lately right by the 280 interchange because a lot more people are getting on 280 N there these days.

All of the expressways are bad going north in the morning (san tomas , almaden, capitol, & lawrence) and the reverse direction in the afternoon. There's really no side streets you can take at rush hour that aren't slow, the freeways are most likely your best bet unless it's 101.
Basically as long as you don't have drive around during rush hour you'll be fine.

[ZirconJohn]

Born and raised in San Jose; lived there 40 years, most of my adult life in Willow Glen area. However I know the greater South Bay like back of my hand.

Moved the HALE away from there 18 years ago, thank you Lord, thank you Jesus

I have only three (3) points of advise for you and your family on where to live...,

1. Stay OUT of East San Jose
2. Stay OUT of East San Jose
3. Stay OUT of East San Jose

There... that should otter do it.

NOTE: I agree with Wild West post (above)... good post.

[devster55]

What ever you stay away from almaden terrace appts. They are horrible. People will park in your spots and then it takes forever to get a tow the rooms are super small, they have floor heaters so it does not heat very well and the single pain windows let the heat or cold out and the neighbors were loud at least mine were and my rent was $1650 for a 2 bedroom on the second floor.

[ffemt]

Taking down notes, thanks so far!

I was asked if other cities near SJ would work and I'd say anywhere within 10-15 miles of the airport would be good.

At first my brother and I will be doing all the estimates and actual work. Once I have workers under me then I my job will be doing bids, running tools and a helping hand where needed so having my apartment nearby for down time, taking phone calls, scheduling will be beneficial in case I need to split and make a run.

Also, here in sac we meet up at the shop for tools at 8ish... Then start actual work at 9am to 3-4pm or a tech will do one job till 12pm and then travel to their next job by 1pm. How do those start and mid day travel times correspond with Bay Area traffic?

[caliboysj]

Taking down notes, thanks so far!

I was asked if other cities near SJ would work and I'd say anywhere within 10-15 miles of the airport would be good.

At first my brother and I will be doing all the estimates and actual work. Once I have workers under me then I my job will be doing bids, running tools and a helping hand where needed so having my apartment nearby for down time, taking phone calls, scheduling will be beneficial in case I need to split and make a run.

Also, here in sac we meet up at the shop for tools at 8ish... Then start actual work at 9am to 3-4pm or a tech will do one job till 12pm and then travel to their next job by 1pm. How do those start and mid day travel times correspond with Bay Area traffic?

Anytime around 8 or 9 AM in the morning and you're going to be dealing with the brunt of the morning rush hour commute. In San Jose at that time, most of the heavy freeway traffic will be going North on 280, 101, 85, 87, and 880. 3-4 PM is not bad for the afternoon commute, but the traffic will start increasing at that time up until after 6 PM. Driving around anywhere here mid-day would be the easiest, 10 AM to 3 PM.

Just remember that San Jose is where a lot of the tech commuters live and also work. It's also the largest city in the Bay Area. Traffic here isn't as bad as it is in LA, but it's not the easiest to navigate around in either when it gets heavy during commute times. If you have specific questions just fire away. Like a lot of the other posters in this thread, I was born and raised here in San Jose and I've lived here all my life.

[ffemt]

San Jose rent help/advice appreciated!

How's living in the farther cities like San Mateo, San Carlos, Redwood City, Fremont, possibly even Pleasanton? Prices any more decent?

[lolkopter]

Milpitas and mountain view might be good options, you would be going against traffic.

[ffemt]

Copy, will look into those too. Also, what tools/sources have you guys used in the past to find decent apartments? So far my wife and I use Craigslist and a few other search websites online which aren't that great. CL seems to bring up the best matches thus far.