Refusing to buy a nice house...

[Rich#6]

If there wasn't idiots in the world the rest of us would never get ahead.
congrats!

[emperor_black]

The seller was a bit of an idiot too. In Jan 2008, the cost of the house according to Zillow was in the high 800K. But he waited until september and lost almost 200K. Well, I ain't complaining.

[AK47]

I wish I saw this thread earlier. I know the real estate in the bay area like the back of my hand. I know nice and great neighborhoods or just nice houses in bad areas.

As for the school situation even though the school may be rated good the district your in is flooded with illegal immigrant children. Your child's education will take a hit because of this. If I were you I would really look into private school for your child. Budget and cut expenses, do what you have to do but get him in private school ASAP.

You would be shocked at what these kids are exposed to in these public schools around here. My friend had to pull some strings and got his kid out of the Milpitas school district and got him into the Palo Alto school district since he could not afford private school.

Best way to go is Catholic 1st-8th then get your kid in one of the competitive high schools like St. Francis or Bellarmine. High Schools only get worse in the area if you stay in public school. I take it you want your child to go to a 4 year university in the future correct?

[emperor_black]

My friend had to pull some strings and got his kid out of the Milpitas school district

I did not realize some bay-area jcf'ers might come across this thread... the house I was complaining about...the neighbor with a bad lawn was in Milpitas, however, the one I ended up buying is in evergreen. The elem school is evergreen elem school with a 900+ API. I hope its a good school.

[Spivonious]

While I agree that some public schools don't encourage the kids to learn as much as some others, I strongly believe that you get out what you put in. If you encourage your kid to be a good student and strive for knowledge, it won't matter what school he goes to; he'll get into the 4-year college of his choice. I went to college with some total idiots!

Anyway, congrats on the house EB! I could never afford to live there. How many square feet, by the way?

[AK47]

I did not realize some bay-area jcf'ers might come across this thread... the house I was complaining about...the neighbor with a bad lawn was in Milpitas, however, the one I ended up buying is in evergreen. The elem school is evergreen elem school with a 900+ API. I hope its a good school.

Go to the school and ask the principal if you are allowed to sit in on some of the classes. Pay attention to the demographic of the kids in the classroom not just the teacher. Pay attention and see if any of the kids in class look properly groomed etc. This sounds weird but you are trying to get a feel of what kind of children attend this school. If the class is being held up because none of the children can speak English properly your child's education will suffer. Those API scores mean nothing the teacher's union is very hip to getting those test results high by getting certain kids not to take or take the test to insure proper funding thanks to the No Child Left Behind crap.

[AK47]

While I agree that some public schools don't encourage the kids to learn as much as some others, I strongly believe that you get out what you put in. If you encourage your kid to be a good student and strive for knowledge, it won't matter what school he goes to; he'll get into the 4-year college of his choice. I went to college with some total idiots!

Anyway, congrats on the house EB! I could never afford to live there. How many square feet, by the way?

Its not just that but you have to consider what your child will be exposed to by his peers especially if allot cannot speak English and come from third world countries. Also take into consideration if your child is the only Anglo in a predominantley Hispanic school. All these factors come into play.

[emperor_black]

Spi, the house is 4 bed/2.5 bath, 2200 sq.ft built on 6800 sq.ft land. Its 12 years old.

AK, those are nice recommendations. Right now, my kid is just old enough for pre-school and I'm already cringing at the thought of having to spend 12K for her. I looked up the ethnicity and according to greatschools.net, the ethnicity is 62% asians and 14% hispanic. In the evergreen area its mostly Vietnamese, chinese and Indians. In my family everyone has a graduate degree and I feel its gonna be ok. We will bring her up with good values.

[Rich#6]

My town just got voted best place to raise kids in the US, too bad I don't have any kids.
You guys pay too much for houses out there, I only paid 200k(needs a lot of work)

http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/nov2008/pi2008117_238652.htm

[emperor_black]

My town just got voted best place to raise kids in the US, too bad I don't have any kids.
You guys pay too much for houses out there, I only paid 200k(needs a lot of work)

http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/nov2008/pi2008117_238652.htm

Well, for 200K, I can get a trailer and live like fett. :ROTF: in fact, once I and the mrs. wandered into a trailer park not realizing the fact and was approached by someone selling one for 185K. But it was a beautiful trailer park with lakes, fountains...like R.V camping in a meadow.

The price you pay for houses in san jose are 200K for the house and 500K for the 77 deg weather in mid Jan.

[Cygnus X1]

Yoly chit.

Y'all don't want to know what I paid for a 2100 square foot brick ranch here. And the schools are very nice, with the key-a lot of parental involvement.

SC overall has a bad record for public schools, except a few very bright spots.

OK, it was around 90K when I bought it, going for 120K now.
Glad I live here, and not there.
Yup, it's paid for.

[cookiemonster2]

Sadly there are no guarantees with neighbors. I had a nice quiet neighbor who kept his yard up. He moved and the new guy is noisy and let his yard go to heck.

[Cygnus X1]

And that is something I neglected to add, cookie2...
my neighbors are of two types...well settled and easy to know, or new people who get the drift pretty quickly.
We stick together.
I don't even know, or care, what their politics or associations are.
But like family, we are neighbors first, and look out for each other.

[Rich#6]

cyg your lucky, we are lucky where we are at now our neighbor on the one side my wife has known them for 20+ years( we bought my wife's grandmothers house). The old place the one neighbor's family is rich but my wife and I stopped him from raping the 12 year girl that lived on the other side of him. After he went to jail his cousin moved in. She was great until she got divorced and her new husband was the head of a lowrider car club. Some were cool some were scary. They all screamed like little girls when my one dog would grab their sleeves over the fence though. hehe!

[Cygnus X1]