TT,
Thanks for the feedback. I would take Campbell, SJ Almaden Valley, Cupertino of course as well. Sorry – I wouldn’t consider Fremont, Newark, Milpitas, most of SJC. Lots of crappy areas up here. The real trouble up here is that there in no place like South OC i.e. no Irvine/Mission Viejo-ish place within a 1-1.5 hr commute. That is the commute from Pleasanton or Danville, which are both really nice places that approach the OC median but have really horrendous traffic – think HB-Irvine 405S in rush hour, or better yet Westside LA 405 N/S anytime.

A crappy place in Palo Alto is $1M. I can get there in a few years on 3:1. Today I could buy a condo with no garage in Campbell. I’ll wait it out in my rental, sitting on my cash and trying to save more.