A Home With a View – Where to Find One in the Bay Area
With all this bad news about the mortgage crisis permeating blogs and real estate news columns, I decided to focus a few posts on positives – and here is one of them!
One of the most wonderful destressors in the world is to look out your window in the morning and see a wonderful view. The market of yesterday meant that a home with a view was financially out of the reach of most – but today’s falling home prices and bargains make this a more achievable goal .
If you have millions to spend, then the hills of Los Altos, Saratoga, or Palo Alto are affordable with sweeping views of the entire valley – and a sense of security in holding your home value.
But what if you don’t have millions? One town that I have lived in that has wonderful views – and condos now going for under $1M is San Carlos. The view from San Carlos is priceless, the town is quaint and full of wonderful shops and boutiques, and CalTrain means commuting is easy. Head up Melendy Drive and you will find several condo complexes with large floor-to-ceiling picture windows that capitalize on the tremendous views of the entire Bay Area.
If you don’t mind a long commute – there are many lower cost properties in the Los Gatos Mountains and Lexington Reservoir area with sweeping views. Just keep in mind that you are uncomfortably close to a fault line, and fire danger is ever present.
The town of Fremont is a simple commute away from Silicon Valley proper, and recent road work on 880 promises to make this commute even more doable. The Mission Hills of Fremont has many properties with beautiful views of the East Foothills – although many run in the $900K -$2M range – there are bargains to be had. Mission Peak is a popular destination for hikers, and these foothills have wild turkeys, deer, crickets, and bullfrogs – making it more like a country location than almost any area in close proximity to San Jose. These same East Foothills extend to Milpitas and East San Jose – where property values are less but the views are still wonderful.
The Mount Hamilton area of San Jose is a haven for amateur radio operators, as transmission here is clearer than anywhere else in the South Bay. Views here are also wonderful, and many property bargains are to be had – at the price of a straight-forward commute!
If you want a park view and don’t mind the heat, there are many beautiful homes in the Santa Teresa area of San Jose – which also boasts nice golf courses and easy light rail access.
If a view is important to you – keep shopping and don’t let the neighborhood home values deter you – bargains are to be had everywhere in this market.
[Photo Credit: http://cycling.stanford.edu: Mount Hamilton]
