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.

Tonight 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 criteria.

Most likely areas for finding a Silicon Valley house for under $1 million

 

 Where to find a house for under 1 million

 

When I loosened the criteria (such as showing all bedrooms), more homes and areas opened up, but some were very small, or needed a lot of repairs, or were in a 100 year flood plain, or had other issues.

The bottom line is that if your budget is $1 million or less, there are places that are likely to work – but probably won’t be in Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Palo Alto, or Santa Clara.

Want a shorter commute? You might want to consider looking at condos and townhomes for the more “close in” location.