Welcome to Silicon Valley--from the world wide web. I have experienced many changes in Silicon Valley including the traffic, the economy, and the daily lifestyle. I'm giving an amateur point of view of Silicon Valley.
Silicon Valley used to be orchards and open land. Today, the valley is sprawling with freeways, neighborhoods, commercial buildings, and business parks. Santa Clara County and the city of Fremont comprise Silicon Valley in my view. Some people believe Silicon Valley includes the city of Newark and parts of San Mateo County anywhere from Menlo Park to Burlingame. The name "Silicon" comes from the material Silicon which makes computer chips. The major companies headquartered here include Hewlett Packard (the first major high tech company in Silicon Valley), Intel, Cisco, eBay, Sun Microsystems, Apple, and the start-ups and dot-com companies many failed during the economic downturn.
The past Silicon Valley Life included the discussion on traffic, housing, and renting, and its updates were a supplement. I'm changing the format from an article format to a bullet format. My goal for the bullet format are to make reading Silicon Valley Life easier, to speed the updates, and to provide more information.
Now it's the end of 2001 and entering uncertain 2002. Anything bad that can happen does. Traffic is more light as layoffs are announced, there are plenty of homes and vacant apartments, and there is no overcrowding. Many people with no jobs are hanging on with their savings. What is going to happen? Be prepared for anything.
What makes the commute sucks are the bad drivers. These are the drivers entering a freeway by cutting the dotted, white lanes; blocking intersections; talking on the cell phone; and the temper tantrum, reckless drivers such as the "jam and cut forward" and running a red light on the metering lights. Don't break the carpool laws because the minimum fine is $271.00.
Some drivers listen to newsradio stations with traffic reports every 10 minutes so many workers can take alternate routes. (Silicon Valley veteran drivers know at least two alternate routes.) Some workers call their company to report traffic, and the announcement is communicated by email or voice mail.
Many Silicon Valley commuters drive solo because of one or more of the following reasons: Privacy (a big issue and personal preference for many), no co-workers living in the same area and/or having the same work schedule, need to drive clients, and run errands outside work. Public transportation? Some say public transportation never comes on time and some have lots of baggage to carry.
Today, many home purchases, especially luxury homes, are put on hold as buyers play the waiting game and the sellers watch their homes remaining on the market longer. Prices for homes are decreasing. Home builders are dropping prices and offering incentives as sales slow. Some have left Silicon Valley permanently because they lost their jobs. (I lost two neighbors for that reason: one neighbor and his spouse lost their jobs and moved back to Texas and the second neighbor lost his job and moved to San Diego because he found another job. In my neighborhood, I see lots of for sale signs.) Timing is everything.
Educated workers who make good incomes could afford a home 20 years ago are finding it difficult to afford homes today--even with the slowdown. Some have left Silicon Valley to find cheaper homes. The popular cities for workers living outside Silicon Valley are Pleasanton, Tracy, and any city in Central California. There are people living in San Martin which is about a hour to hour and a half southeast of Gilroy. The homes are cheaper, but the problem is there are not enough public services such as police and fire to serve the expanded population.
One housing alternative is condominiums which are a cheap alternative to purchase a home. A condominium is a system of ownership where each owner owns a unit or condo plus pay fees for common maintenance areas. Condominium buildings look similar to apartment buildings. Condominiums require less maintenance which attracts people with busy careers.
Two housing trends seen in Silicon Valley are Transit Villages and high density housing. Transit Villages are high density, single family homes build within walking distance of public transit rail stations and retail amenities. The second trend is high density housing. Like Transit Villages, high density housing are built such that my home's front yard and back yard are enough land to build one home. A high density home shares the driveway with other homes and the backyard is the size of a master bedroom. If lucky, a high density home may have a front yard. A high density home can be described as the size of about four to six studio size apartments and at least two stories high.
Demand for housing is expected to increase when the economy recovers. When one thinks of the long-run, there is a housing shortage because more companies come here and require more workers. Those more workers bring their families. Many people, today and tomorrow, can't afford a home as long as the cost of living remains the highest in the United States.
When apartments were scare, some apartment complexes charged new tenants 40 percent more than the beginning of year 2000. When an existing tenant moved out, the new tenant moving in experienced a much higher starting rent. With the housing shortage, landlords raise rents and can pick and choose their next tenants. With high rents, some companies have trouble finding workers and leave Silicon Valley to areas such as Central California where the cost of living and rents are cheaper for their workers.
For a few Silicon Valley workers, they lived in a Recreation Vehicle (RV). From working families, construction workers, and executives, RV parks have a waiting list. One RV park charged $640.00 a month which includes sewage, electricity, and water.
With the economic slowdown today, demand for apartments are easing resulting in rents decreasing and the supply of apartments increasing. Some tenants with high rents are trying to renegotiate. Landlords are offering move in specials such as free rent and an allowance for moving expenses. One factor for the rise in vacancy is companies halted hiring new workers and layoffed workers. Even with rents decreasing, some people still can't afford the high rents from the big increases in 2000.
More later.
Date Last Updated: Saturday February 23, 2002