Moving to SJ area for work... location advice?

massimiliano

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Hi team, need to lend your hive mind for this...

so, after four years in NC, I got word I shall move to San Jose area for work...not 100% sure yet but likely.

Money of course will be a concern, but I'd put a rent budget around +3000$-ish top for a two bedroom apt.

Now, big question is... given a reasonable commute distance from my office in SJ, would anyone recommend a nice town, with a bit of lively scene/bars/music and multicultural population?

How about Campbell?

I guess I'm open to everything, but I'm trying to avoid finding myself in those families neighborhoods/communities, usually made of only one kind of people (WASPS, Indians, Chinese..Italians lol) Cary-style.

appreciate any feedback thanks!

Massi
 

LoneSage

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Good luck to you on the apartment hunt. Last month I was told my rent would hike 4% for renewal. This morning it turned out be 64% higher.
 

massimiliano

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Good luck to you on the apartment hunt. Last month I was told my rent would hike 4% for renewal. This morning it turned out be 64% higher.

Wait, thought you were in China?

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Kid Panda

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Cary, NC? That place has to be the most pretentious place on the planet. Good for you gettting out of that dump.
 

massimiliano

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Cary, NC? That place has to be the most pretentious place on the planet. Good for you gettting out of that dump.

yeah, totally agree, but I never lived there, fortunately I realized pretty quickly to steer away from those communities, and found a place in downtown Raleigh... not bad, but quite "conservative", especially coming from Europe you know.
 

DuffCon

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Hi team, need to lend your hive mind for this...

so, after four years in NC, I got word I shall move to San Jose area for work...not 100% sure yet but likely.

Hi, native Californian here. I’m Bay Area born and raised and so I feel I can contribute. Honestly, if I wasn’t anchored here by carrier and family I would be loading a Uhaul right about now. The south bay is so ridiculously overpriced and the whole area is so overcrowded. I grew up here and traffic is unreal. My dad used to work in the city and could get there from our house in concord (about 30 miles) in about 40 minutes on average in the 80s. These days, you can’t even get to the freeway from my old house in 40 minutes, it’s that bad.

I’m one of those lucky bastards that lives in the same city I work in, so it’s not that bad for me.

Want to buy a house in your life time? Hope your family is rich, because that’s what it takes these days.

Unless you want to live in the hood, then you only need one arm, you can save the leg for when you get robbed, because the crime is off the chain around here. Since minor offensives don’t get prosecuted, the cops give zero fucks about your stolen laptop or broken window.

Hope you enjoy homeless zombie crack heads wandering around everywhere because homelessness is a major issue. Everywhere you go in Silicon Valley you can see tents tucked away in the corners near some of the wealthiest companies on planet earth.

TLDR? The Bay Area is totally fucking overpriced and congested with all of the issues of a major city throughout the region. Stay away unless you’re rich.


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ForeverSublime

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Just moved here as well, not much experience - but been in the Bay Area for a decade. SJ is mostly suburban and industrial.

If you want to get specific, SOFA district in the Downtown area, perhaps? I'm working around here, but still there aren't many people on the street on any given day that I'd call it lively. Lots of bars, galleries and comedy clubs. Not sure about the music scene around here. I'm making an assumption, but I believe the internal lunch cafes in the buildings (coupled with the heat) give people little reason to venture out for lunch. Anyway, it gets suburban quickly outside a few blocks.

Maybe Japantown area. Haven't spent time there, but appears lively compared to other places.
 

massimiliano

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Thanks for the replies, this is all very interesting... the few times I have been in SJ I got that suburban/industrial vibe as well... not a fan.

I guess the ideal would be finding a downtown somewhere with a bar/venue and from there meet people.... the first year will anyway need to learn about other places I guess..

if I have to flip a coin, I'll go to Campbell... they have a Mini tuner, lol, at least I may go to the track with them.
 
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GohanX

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Cary, NC? That place has to be the most pretentious place on the planet. Good for you gettting out of that dump.

Being a local, I still have no idea why everyone that wants to move to the RDU area seems to go straight to Cary. I want to nuke it from orbit.
 

LoneSage

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IT guys make bank in Cary. That place has zero soul but making bank there can make it worth it。
 

GohanX

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IT guys make bank in Cary. That place has zero soul but making bank there can make it worth it。

Yeah but you could also live in Garner near actual good peeps without being raped on rent and the commute would be about the same.
 

massimiliano

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it's basically a status, being there means you pretend you care about family values, while actually bragging about where you send kids at school or (implicitly) how much your house is worth.

this kind of posers don't use cars or watches to show off, but they simply found other means.

most of them are terribly unhappy, given the social pressure they desperately wanted to be part of... alcohol consuming is definitely high, period.

it's basically the place to be if you never left the classist highschool mentality...
"Containment Area Relocated Yankees"
 
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Lastblade

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I would rather find another job than move to California. Way too expensive there (and I live in NJ, near NYC) where even low 6 figures are considered impoverished.
 

opt2not

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The Bay Area is way too expensive, unless you are getting into a blue chip tech company like Apple, Google or Facebook.

That being said, I just moved away from there about 7 months ago. We were in Santa Clara paying $2500/mo for a 2bd/2ba (900 sqft) apartment. Santa Clara is about 30 mins away from downtown San Jose, it's a quiet suburb with a bunch of newly built apartment communities. It's safe, and sleepy, not much to do there tbh. But it's cheaper than living right in San Jose.
 

massimiliano

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I'm struggling understanding... is the bay area all suburbs/neighborhoods?

Maybe the "small town" downtown is simply not there by design?

What are the mingling activities for single people there? meetups instead of, dunno, walking into a dive bar with live music?

I'm still learning about the US btw, maybe it's simply not there
 

opt2not

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I'm struggling understanding... is the bay area all suburbs/neighborhoods?

Maybe the "small town" downtown is simply not there by design?
A majority of the Bay Area is made up of small suburban cities. It might not be the type of suburb you're used to, it's not "boony", there is still urban sprawl made up of mainly residential areas, parks, strip malls/plaza's, and are considered "cities"...just not the sky-rise, hustle and bustle, people walking around type of cities.


What are the mingling activities for single people there? meetups instead of, dunno, walking into a dive bar with live music?
In the suburban cities, not much. Most places close early, and there isn't much of a "night life" outside of San Jose or San Francisco. That's the extent of what I know, as I'm married and didn't put much effort into finding out what the mingling scene is like.

I'm still learning about the US btw, maybe it's simply not there
Some of the small suburb cities do have little downtown areas to check out. Sunnyvale has a small historical downtown strip that has a bunch of bars and restaurants. It's pretty decent, but again, places close early - 11 or 12pm on a Friday :(

Santa Clara doesn't have anything like that, but it does have an NFL Stadium (called Levis Stadium, where the 49'ers play), and a Six Flags amusement park.
 

ForeverSublime

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I take it that since you're moving you have to be at the office every day. If you plan on not living within San Jose, traffic flow may be worth considering.

101 Northbound is backed up if you're heading to San Jose for work, and Southbound when you leave. I'm not sure about other highways/directions. I think there are 4 major highways that all meet at San Jose - 101, 880, 280 and 87.

If you live anywhere within San Jose, you should be able to get downtown without any traffic problem. Even if you're a few miles away, you can take local streets that'll get you there quickly. Driving is an engrained part of the culture here. One of my considerations was to be close enough to work to ride a bike, and when I showed up to work the first day they asked me where I parked without a pass - everyone gets parking passes - even though the rail line has a stop directly in front of the office.
 

massimiliano

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Thanks guys, very valuable feedback...I think I'll go into one of those long stay hotels for at least a month/two, so I can take time to find a place...
 

LoneSage

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mass is your company relocating you or is this a personal choice? Just curious, because if it's a relocation they should be footing the bill for EVERYTHING.
 

NeuroticMoose

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I guess I'm open to everything, but I'm trying to avoid finding myself in those families neighborhoods/communities, usually made of only one kind of people (WASPS, Indians, Chinese..Italians lol) Cary-style.

That's pretty much all of the San Jose area, if you don't mind beating traffic every morning there are some better options about 25 to 45 minutes away from the central mass of nonsense that is San Jose, while still being close enough that you can enjoy the good parts of San Jose without actually having to live there.

Also Downtown San Jose is basically a dumpster fire, it's a mess of modern office buildings mixed in with abandoned storefronts and drunken vagrants and young people without any kind of direction in life wandering around at night, there's some great restaurants and some neat shops around that area, and whatever the place that used to be The HP pavilion is called now is a sweet venue, but I do my best to stay the hell away from downtown when I'm visiting the area to take care of family.
 
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massimiliano

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mass is your company relocating you or is this a personal choice? Just curious, because if it's a relocation they should be footing the bill for EVERYTHING.

Yes, got promoted and the move is part of the deal, so it's not unilateral.
We agreed on a relocation budget, up to me how I spend it. This formula did work well when I moved from Italy, I guess this time should cover the whole thing, which would be already a good thing!

It won't be easy for sure, but I think the hassle is worth.

Thanks Moose, yeah, definitively 25/30 minutes from work is reasonable to me...definitively got that vibe fomr SJ downtown (but pretty much everywhere I have been, except from SF) :(
 

LoneSage

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Yes, got promoted and the move is part of the deal, so it's not unilateral.
We agreed on a relocation budget, up to me how I spend it. This formula did work well when I moved from Italy, I guess this time should cover the whole thing, which would be already a good thing!

It won't be easy for sure, but I think the hassle is worth.

Dude, nice! :buttrock: Proud of you man, living the American dream.
 

massimiliano

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*alright* guys...I said fuck it, took an apt in downtown SF, mission-bay...not bad as tenderloin, feels safer/way less junkies. Close to the Caltrain station, so I can take the "bullet" (...) train to SJ few times a week... wish me luck, it's crazy expensive but after ~4 years in Raleigh I feel like I need to go back to a city...worst case, it's just a year (^_^!)
 

evil wasabi

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*alright* guys...I said fuck it, took an apt in downtown SF, mission-bay...not bad as tenderloin, feels safer/way less junkies. Close to the Caltrain station, so I can take the "bullet" (...) train to SJ few times a week... wish me luck, it's crazy expensive but after ~4 years in Raleigh I feel like I need to go back to a city...worst case, it's just a year (^_^!)

Time to buy a VanMoof bicycle to get around.
 
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