Is There Rural Living Near Palo Alto California?

[webbmeister]

Possible change of lifestyle ahead. Wife is very possibly going to be asked to take a position at Stanford University. I am very proud of her! Is there anything rural near Palo Alto? Can mere mortals afford land there if there is? Property big enough to warrant the presence of our tractor, Thor?

Thanks in advance for any tips, leads, etc ...

Jim

 

[rancar]

Jim...

<font color=blue>Is there anything rural near Palo Alto? Can mere mortals afford land there if there is? Property big enough to warrant the presence of our tractor?</font color=blue>

To answer your three queries...

1) Not likely;
2) Only mere mortals who have annual salaries in the 7 digit range;
3) At best, maybe small garden tractor to cut your half acre of lawn.

Having said that, congratulations on your wife's potential job offer. If you go for it, it certainly will be a lifestyle change.

Bob

 

[Harv]

I'm in the East Bay and I see multi-acre parcels around the outer fringes of the 'burbs -- some even have tractors on them. /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

It's not uncommon to see horses and livestock being raised around here, so I gotta believe the acreage is available. How much does it cost? I'm afraid to find out.

You might check with <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/cgi-bin/compact/showprofile.pl?Cat=&User=glueguy&Number=177784&Board=rural&what=showflat&page=&view=&sb=&o=&fpart=1&vc=1>GlueGuy</A>, who lives in the south bay. He has 40 acres near the coast and works in Silicon Valley, I believe.

Congrats to your wife, and let me know if we're going to be neighbors.

 

[EdKing]

When I lived in Ca, I worked in Palo Alto. Just one bit of advice, try to avoid East Palo Alto. Unless they have cleaned the area up considerably, there were some very rough neighborhoods there, lots of drug traffic and gang activity.

 

[webbmeister]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I am now fearful in several ways:

-claustrophobia
-fear of being poor no matter how hard we work or how much money we make
-drugs, gangs, violence
-(my own imagination on this one) yuppies.

We will step cautiously!

Thanks,

Jim

 

[EdKing]

<font color=blue>-(my own imagination on this one) yuppies.</font color=blue>

Not your imagination on that one, I didn't mention them as I found them mostly annoying, but not dangerous. I used to have fun not shaving a couple of days, dressing up in my riding leathers, and walking through a yuppie mall glaring at people. The crowds would part as I walked by, and usually 2 to 3 Mall Gaurds would follow me around (at a respectful distance).

The cost of living is definitely higher out there. My friends mother in law got $120,000 for a rundown house in a borderline neighborhood. The house set on a plot about 100' by 40'. They have a tendency to reevaluate property values every few years so they can raise the already outrageous property taxes as well.

 

[JTD]

We lived in Palo Alto for ten years; 1991 to June, 2001. Our place was about 2 miles from Stanford, next to Los Altos and Los Altos Hills. The street was as rural as it gets there. There were about 10 lots on our street with lot sizes from 3/4 to 1 1/3 acres each. Ours was 0.95 acre and our neighbor owned 3 lots for a total of 2 1/2 acres. These are some of the largest lots in Palo Alto with typical lots being 50x100 feet near downtown. Near the foothills, where we lived, are the larger remaining lots. Unimproved acre lots are virtually nonexisitant. Los Altos Hills has larger lots ranging from 1 acre to (I think) 20+ acres. Woodside and Portola Valley also have larger lots. Hold your breath on prices because an acre lot starts at a cool $3,000,000 and goes up steeply depending on the site, size and view in LA Hills and Woodside. (This is CEO and company founder neighborhood. These prices were mid 2001 and probably are still a good estimate.) If any large Palo Alto lots are available, and they are rare on the market, expect them to start at $2,000,000 per acre plus the value of the improvements. The near coast is Half Moon Bay, about 25 minutes from Palo Alto but easily a 1 to 1 1/2 hrs trip in typical rush hour traffic. Larger plots are available there, but they run somewhere around $1,500,000 to $2,000,000 per acre. To find significantly cheaper large lots you have to head south and plan on 2 to 3 hr trips one way to Stanford during rush hour. Bottom line is you could use a small CUT on an acre lot but a large riding mower would probably be more useful in the long run. I rented Bobcats when I needed to do heavy work. Good luck. We sold our place to a physician couple who are at Stanford Hospital.

 

[webbmeister]

Re: Is There Rural Living Near Palo Alto Californi

Wow!

Is that American money?

Pam's (my wife's) offer is for twice what she makes now, but it is pretty clear that even with that and a reasonable salary for me, there is no way that we will not lose huge amounts of buying power. A nice step up in the academic pecking order, but a huge dip in quality of life.

We now both hold nice positions with a fine university (Northwestern) and bought Valhalla - truly a 3-acre piece of heaven - for $170,000 last year. The house will run about $525,000, and Thor, our tractor, cost about $19,000. That's $714,000 (a sum we consider huge!) for what would cost, by your description, about $5,000,000 to $10,000,000 in or within commuting distance of Palo Alto.

Food for thought. Yes, indeed, food for thought.

Ed, I think your idea of sport is hilarious. You are to be commended for keeping the yuppie population on guard and at bay!

Thanks you guys!

Jim

 

[Frosty]

Taxes (sales, income & property) are pretty steep in Calif too.

The best thing about Calif (IMO) is the coastal weather!

Land up north (100 - 200 mi) is more reasonable but "southern" folks are migrating up that way so those values are also increasing. The 75 - 100 mi commute is becoming more common.

Summary: EXPENSIVE

 

[JATO_RaT]

Wow Jim, that will be a big change in your life. I still don't know how folks over there do it. Housing in the Bay area is so out of sight that I know why 90% of all my neighbors are from there. I live in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. Lots of open land with many acres. My neighbors are transplants from there. After selling there, they purchased not only a good size piece of property, but a great house as well and still had money left over. The one thing about the Bay area is that while the prices fluctuate, they still stay high so your chances of buying high and selling higher are good. There are so many folks over there that the market demand stays high. The weather can't be beat. Stanford is an incredible University. If you can make it work, it will be an experience. Real Estate taxes are 1%. A $100,000 home will cost you about $1000 a year in property tax. While the state does have a income tax and a sales tax, about 15% and 7.5% respectively, your mortage expense will be a huge deduction on your taxes. Be forwarned, our little whimpy finger pointing governor is trying to raise taxes on us and will in all likelyhood be successful. I'll bet any governor in any state could beat up our little whimpy governor..... Rat