Any Mums in silicone valley, CA?

[spongebobscardypants]

We have been offered an opportunity through my DH work to make the move over the pond. He works high up in IT and would be based in this area. For me to make an informed decision I need as much info as possible. I'm going to go over and take a look at the area and see if I like it. With two DDs I would need to make sure they have good schools and that we live in a family friendly area. Looking on Zillow is great to look at houses but I have no clue at what the areas are like. Is there any UK Mums there that can help me?! TIA

Really no one?

Oooh...we are in the same boat too :)

As far as public primary school here in CA (and the whole US), you are provided with a free, public education based on your home address. So, once you've decided where to live, you would contact the local board of education office and then begin the registering process there--no matter what time of year.

For school reviews you need to go to greatschools.org, I think that you have to read over all the reviews, especially the community reviews.

I was recommended Mountain View School and Palo Alto as excellent areas but again - it's a matter of research!

With any public school system, once you've signed a lease or closed on purchasing a home, and have all the correct documents, you can call their board of education office and make an appointment to register--any time of year.

I think rents in California are close to London prices!! Let me know how you get on with your research - where will hubby be based? It would be wise to look round there as a starting point and see about affordability.

Hi he would be home based but would run training courses around the palo alto area. I know rental is so expensive and we don't want to end up in a rubbish area!!!!

Hey spongebob, I'm married to a Californian and we lived in Santa Cruz for a while - just south of Silicon Valley. Spent a fair bit of time to the north too (San Francisco). Given that your DH is going to be mostly home based, I would advise looking at those two places, to be honest. Silicon Valley itself is pretty sterile. Either would be an easy commute. Santa Cruz has an amazing quality of life for families - right on the water, it's a university / surf town with some lovely houses and great schools, lots of people live an outdoorsy life. But it's a small town, about 50k people, and quite quiet. San Francisco is obviously pretty different! but if you're a city person it's a fantastic place, with a lot going on. Oakland and Berkeley are good options for towns with easy connections to SF, but not in the city proper (which is very compact).

Rents are incredibly high in San Fran, more reasonable in Santa Cruz but still high, and property prices sky high in both places.

Hi,

We moved to Silicon Valley three years ago. Trying to find an area to move to was difficult. We also wanted a family friendly area, with parks and was safe.

My husband also worked in palo alto so a short commute was a must especially as we had a young child.

We did like palo alto and mountain view but found them a little bit too suburban, expensive and 'posh'. We moved to San Carlos which is known as the city of good living. It has great parks, very family orientated, good schools and restaurants. It's not too far if you wanted to drive into the city and about 30 minutes in the morning to drive to palo alto.

Lots of areas here are family friendly, it's so different to the UK.

If you have any questions, I'd be happy to help!