by Mary Pope-Handy | Aug 19, 2017 | Rental homes
Shared housing is a way that many Silicon Valley employees work around the high cost of renting a home here. A bonus is that if you’re relocating to the San Jose – Cupertino – Palo Alto area or nearby, it’s that much easier to meet people in a communal living situation. For many, that means renting a house with a number of other people. In some cases, it translates renting a bedroom in a house where the only other residents are members of the same family. Either way, it helps to beat the high real estate costs, and may enable those who choose to live in a group setting to save faster to buy their own home.
To many, shared housing seems like a new concept, but I remember doing it when I was just out of college and teaching in the Los Angeles area, where rents seemed sky high to me at the time. When I returned to grad school, I did it again. Both experiences, though, convinced me that a longer commute and living along OR a shorter commute and living in a smaller space (a studio apartment) was a good trade off. Of course, this was in the 1980s, and we did not have web tools to help us to screen and find like minded roommates or house mates. I suspect it’s a lot better now.
Not having used any of these shared housing services, I cannot endorse any, but there are a number of sites to find house mates or communal living, and there are some companies which specialize in matching people to openings. If any of my readers can endorse a company or site, please let me know by email and I’ll update this article with that information. My word of caution, though: never send money by wire to someone you don’t know for an apartment or home you have not seen. There is a very serious problem with wire fraud, and you do not want to put your hard earned money at risk. Be safe out there!
Read more on the Silicon Valley real estate market:
Read about the various real estate markets by area within Silicon Valley: http://sanjoserealestatelosgatoshomes.com/
Get market stats for San Mateo County, Santa Clara County, and Santa Cruz County: http://popehandy.rereport.com
by Mary Pope-Handy | Aug 6, 2015 | Real Estate, Rental homes
This week, the San Jose Mercury News ran an article with a starling statistic: the median list price of 2 bedroom apartments in and near Silicon Valley. Here’s a look at the numbers:
- San Mateo County $2884
- Santa Clara County $2552
- The San Francisco Bay Area as a whole (all 9 counties) $2451
- Alameda County $2172
- Contra Costa County $1825
These numbers are the median for the whole county in question – so in Santa Clara County, it will be a lot more if you are in Cupertino or Palo Alto or Los Gatos as opposed to the Alum Rock area of San Jose or Morgan Hill or Gilroy.
Houses are worse still. Small homes may be found for $2500 to $3000 in many areas. Places with better schools may run $4000 to $6000 per month for a home with better schools. Want the best? It’s likely to be $7000 – $8000 for a good sized, comfortable (do not read “elegant”) house with better schools – or more.
Update on August 25: I’m hearing that 1 bedroom apartments in Cupertino are running at around $2300 per month and a 2 bedroom at around $3000 per month.
Read the article in the Merc:
Bay Area rental crisis squeezing out middle class
by Mary Pope-Handy | Sep 18, 2014 | FAQs, Rental homes
A few times a month I get phone calls from people considering a relocation to Silicon Valley. In most cases, a trip out to Palo Alto, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Cupertino, San Jose, Menlo Park or somewhere else in the South Bay or Peninsula is planned. These questions always arise:
What should we see when visiting Silicon Valley?
What neighborhoods should we consider or tour while there?
First: know which part of Silicon Valley where the possible employer is located
Silicon Valley covers a lot of ground – most of 2 counties (Santa Clara County and San Mateo County) and snippets of a couple more, which the Silicon Valley sprawl now inching north toward San Francisco. The first thing to know is where the potential job is located. There’s a huge difference between Oracle in Redwood Shores, Apple in Cupertino or Cisco in North San Jose, let alone some of the more far reaching Silicon Valley areas like Scotts Valley, South San Jose (at the intersection of Hwy 85 and 101), over in Los Gatos (Netflix) or inching up the east Bay in Fremont or Hayward.
Second: know your commute tolerance and have your priorities organized
Everyone would like to live close to work (under a half hour commute) but if you are juggling multiple priorities such as having a house & yard for kids, needing good public schools, and bringing it in at less than $2 million, you may have to sort out which of the important priorities is the very most important and go from there. For many, the commute gets longer in order to provide the other things (a house not a condo or apartment, better schools, lower price). Most people say that they would like a commute of 30 minutes or less. Often they end up with a longer one after seeing a few areas and properties.
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by Mary Pope-Handy | Jan 5, 2014 | About Mary, FAQs, Rental homes
Although normally I prefer to take photos than be featured in them or in videos, many of my Realtor friends from across the country have been telling me that our blog readers would like to see us on video (and not just read our typed words). So I’m caving in – and saying hello! Hope you enjoy this 4 minute video, shot from my home office in Los Gatos.
by Mary Pope-Handy | May 17, 2013 | Rental homes
Finding a rental home in Silicon Valley can be challenging. Where to look? Can a Realtor help you? (Not very much.)
In many areas of the U.S., real estate agents actively work the rental market. In those areas, owners are willing to pay a commission for the service, and houses and condos are listed in the local multiple listing service.
Not in Silicon Valley, though. Instead, it’s a land of “for rent by owner”. A few properties may be on the MLS (see link below), but hardly any. Far less than 5%.
Please beware that there are many scams around rentals. Be extremely careful! Some scams ask for money upfront, before you can even see the property. Many of these homes are actually for sale, so Google the address to check.
Sometimes we Realtors have “courtesy rentals” where we share wants and needs without being paid (as a courtesy to our clients). Don’t count on finding a property this way, but if you have a Realtor you’ve been chatting with, it’s not a bad idea to let him or her know what (specifically) you are wanting and if he or she hears of something, can get back to you with that match. Odds of that working are less than 1% so use the list above, or drive around where you’d like to live! If you’re a corporate relocation situation, your hiring company may be able to assist you with additional resources.
What do rentals cost? One source of info is Rentometer.com. I found it to be a little low in some areas but still a good starting point.
www.Rentometer.com.
Related reading:
Why is it so hard to find a rental home in Silicon Valley now?
Finding Rental Housing in San Jose, Santa Clara County and Silicon Valley
by Mary Pope-Handy | Nov 12, 2012 | Rental homes
At the moment, many people relocating to Silicon Valley are reporting that it’s harder to rent a home than to buy one. What’s the reason for that?
Two things are happening that create pressure:
- There are a lot of companies hiring, and many high tech people, especially, are moving to Silicon Valley
- People who have lost homes in foreclosure, or who had to do a short sale to avoid it, are not able to buy for at least a few years. They may double up with family or friends for awhile but eventually do rent.
With demand increasing like crazy, rents are increasing like crazy too. It’s the old tale of supply and demand: more demand than supply exists in the rental housing market today.
Just watch out for the scams! If a price sounds too good to be true, it probably is. I wrote about this not too long ago, please have a look:
Scam: Online ads for houses listed for sale are sometimes scraped and offered as rentals by those wanting your money!
Finding a place to rent – how do people locate one in Santa Clara County? Where can you find properties to lease or rent? I have a list of resources on my Valley of Hearts Delight blog – please click on the following link.
Finding Rental Housing in San Jose, Santa Clara County and Silicon Valley
What about a broker or agent? Can a Realtor help you to find a rental home in Silicon Valley? Most of the time, a real estate sales person will not be of much help in finding rental properties, and that’s because they aren’t usually listed in the MLS (and the MLS is the way in which we are paid).
Sometimes, though, a rental is listed on our Multiple Listing Service (MLS). You can check it out directly at www.MLSListings.com – just select rental under “type”. The vast majority of rentals are online via Craigslist, though, and a real estate agent has no role in that type of rental property. Just beware of the scams, mentioned above, and always google the address of the property that looks interesting to see if it’s for sale also. If it is listed as for sale, the odds are that it’s not really for rent.
On occasion, members of the real estate community will know of a “courtesy rental” property, meaning that a client wants to rent it out but not necessarily put it on Craigslist or the MLS. Instead, it’s word of mouth. You do not need to call every real estate professional in town to ask if they have any courtesy rentals. Instead, turn to your trusted Realtor and ask him or her to inquire for you. Most agents are very happy to send out the request within their company and to top agents or managers of others nearby to ask on your behalf (but it’s no good if 10 Realtors are all circulating the same request, so please don’t give in to temptation and ask everyone for this favor.)
Shared housing is a way that many Silicon Valley employees work around the high cost of renting a home here. A bonus is that if you’re relocating to the San Jose – Cupertino – Palo Alto area or nearby, it’s that much easier to meet people in a communal living situation. For many, that means renting a house with a number of other people. In some cases, it translates renting a bedroom in a house where the only other residents are members of the same family. Either way, it helps to beat the high real estate costs, and may enable those who choose to live in a group setting to save faster to buy their own home.
