The Silicon Valley real estate market is notoriously expensive. It isn’t easy, but you can find a Silicon Valley house for under $1 million – if you are willing to drive a little further to those tech centers.
Today I did a quick search and found that it’s not too hard to find a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house with at least 1200 square feet in the south county and very scenic communities of Gilroy, San Martin, and Morgan Hill. Other possibilities are in the Santa Cruz or Los Gatos Mountains, south San Jose, Evergreen, and parts of east San Jose – among others. Here’s a map showing houses recently sold with the above listed minimum criteria within the last 90 days.
Most likely areas for finding a Silicon Valley house for under $1 million
The map above shows sales within the greater area many would consider Silicon Valley, but if you’re looking strictly in South Bay, check the map below which shows hits from a similar search in December 2020.
If we open up our search criteria to any single family home and eliminate the bed / bath / SqFt criteria, more results appear in new communities, including Cambrian and Willow Glen:
Just because there are sales within this price range in any given area, that doesn’t mean they’re a “good deal”. Some of these sales needed a lot of repairs, or were in a 100 year flood plain, or had other issues that brought down the prices. For instance, when you start looking at mountain homes, there are a number of market-specific concerns to consider.
Bottom Line
The bottom line is that if your budget is $1 million or less, and a townhome or condo won’t do, there are places that are likely to work – it just probably won’t be in areas like Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Palo Alto, or Santa Clara.
Want a shorter commute? Or a certain school district? You might want to consider looking at condos and townhomes for the more “close in” location.
