For people relocating to Silicon Valley, there can be some significant surprises (beyond the ˜sticker shock of our home prices in the San Jose area). Here are a few pointers to help you in your transition:

• The school district boundaries do not follow the boundaries for the city or town
  • For instance, in the Town of Los Gatos there are 3 school districts
  • So being in Saratoga could mean having Cupertino Schools or Moreland Schools or Saratoga Schools. Part of San Jose has San Jose Unified Schools, but in some areas its Union Schools or other districts.
  • The reason for this confusing situation is that the school district boundaries were drawn before all the cities and towns in Santa Clara County were clearly defined (or the boundaries expanded)
• The mailing address city or town may not be the ˜actual location of the property
  • This is a rare situation, but sometimes the mailing address will say ˜Los Gatos when in fact the home is part of San Jose or Campbell. This has to do mostly with postal routes or with unincorporated areas using a mailing address for a long time and then being incorporated.
• We have ˜expansive clay soil here and water is a big issue. (Please see related post on buying hillside homes in Silicon Valley.)
• Most of our housing is ranch style tract homes. Were sorry about that. Developers went nuts in the post WWII boom and created massive urban sprawl, one of the only things that isnt so delightful in the Valley of Hearts Delight.And just a few non-real estate surprises too:
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