Bike to Work Day 2009

Kev and Jamie on their bikes

This is a shameless plug for  Bike to Work Day in Silicon Valley tomorrow, Thursday May 14th, when commuters  are  encouraged to leave their car at home and bicycle to work instead.  This is of course in the hope that this will not just be a one-day event but a life-changing habit. And it’s fun with many participants not only committed to biking but also to helping make it a really enjoyable  day for everyone.

As the Wave magazine puts it :

The best part is the 70 “Energizer Stations” that the coalition sets up all over the valley, where cyclists can receive prizes, biking information and, of course, refreshments”

I”m fortunate to work from home so I won’t be joining the crowd, but I will recommit to getting on my bike to run local errands instead of grabbing the car keys from now on.  My husband, however, does bike to work every day, a 9 mile trip from Sunnyvale to Oracle on Great America Parkway, and it shows.  He figured out long ago, that with his demanding sedentary job behind a computer screen, cycling to work was the only way he was going to be able to keep fit – and he looks as good now as the day I married him!  And I can’t say that for myself….

There  is, of course, another excellent reason to bike to work besides exercise, namely to reduce your carbon footprint on this world we live in.  As the EPA states:

“the transportation sector accounts for approximately one-third of greenhouse gas emissions and is the fastest-growing major source of greenhouse gases”

this, in a country who is the largest consumer of oil in the world today : 20.4 million barrels a day!

According to Ecobridge, an organization committed to finding solutions to global warming – from its readers  (go on, send in your idea) :

“Vehicles with poor gas mileage contribute the most to global warming.For example, according to the E.P.A’s 2000 Fuel Economy Guide, a new Dodge Durango sports utility vehicle (with a 5.9 liter engine) that gets 12 miles per gallon in the city will emit an estimated 800 pounds of carbon dioxide over a distance of 500 city miles”

And if you’re convinced that your car is not a huge contributor to the carbon footprint, check out Terrapass’s website where you can enter your car’s details and find out just exactly how much you do contribute.

Now that you’re rethinking your commuting strategy, where to go for a good bike?  Well, there’s always, Craigslist, if you know what you’re looking for.  Otherwise we have an abundance of bike shops with expert advice before you buy :  Walt’s, The Off-Ramp, Bicycle Outfitter, Performance Bicycle and Sports Basement are all close to my home. Most of them also offer bicycle classes and rides for anyone wanting to get together with other cyclists.  If you’re still not sure whether cycling to work is for you, borrow a bike from a friend and try it out.  Hey, you never know, you might be able to get rid of that second car!!

My retired brother is currently cycling from Yorkshire (northern England) to Rome in Italy.  It’s his second big bike ride – he cycled to Northern Italy last summer and we follow him on Twitter as it’s his only way of communicating with everyone on his cell phone.  The way he describes his current journey through France makes me want to jump on my bike and cycle to the hills!   Maybe one day Kev and I will join him – it’s a lovely thought!

I have already blogged about my newly-equipped bike which I retired a little in the winter months, but now that summer looks like it’s peeking through, I think I can forget about the car for another few months!

Please let me know if you join the cycling crowd tomorrow – I’d love to hear how it all goes. And if you have any cycling trips planned or undertaken, I want to hear your stories!!

Happy cycling!

Stay cool, stay green!

Photo Credit - Orson

Last month we had a heat wave here in Silicon Valley. The record-breaking temperatures reached up to 100 degrees – and it was only April!  Just a few days of reminding us what summer’s going to be like, how we start to complain about the incessant heat, how we rush to switch on our a/c, and how we long for just a few clouds to blot the horizon.

This reminded me of the steps we should be taking to reduce the heat in the home, WITHOUT rushing to turn on the a/c, steps which I learnt as a Brit relocating to Silicon Valley from England 14 years ago, steps I had to learn as we didn’t have the luxury of a/c in those days.

I enjoyed reading Greenlagirl’s blog on tips to stay cool without the air conditioner and recommend everyone to read it, both newcomers and long-time residents alike.  It doesn’t hurt to be reminded of ways in which we can reduce the carbon footprint as well as our electricity bill by keeping our homes cool without the a/c.

What made a huge difference for me when we relocated to Silicon Valley, was keeping the windows closed and curtains/blinds drawn to keep the rooms cool and dark.  In England, my mum would always open the windows wide on a sunny day “to let in the warm fresh air”, but when you’re talking about 60 to 70 degrees outside, that works!  However, if the temperature outside is higher than the temperature inside, keep the doors and windows closed to stop the hotter air coming in.  Sometimes it can be dinner time before we can open the doors and windows again.

We have air-conditioning now, installed when we remodelled our home 4 years ago.  But it’s hardly ever used.  We still follow the basic rules for keeping our home cool and it’s rare the a/c is turned on.  We can stay cool AND green!

Why it pays to live in Silicon Valley!

Photo Credit : Karl Gohl

I learnt a new word yesterday – STAYCATION!

It was while I was out for our weekly hike with my friend, Lisa, at Rancho San Antonio.  After a fairly hard climb, we reached a point where there was a breathtaking view of  Silicon Valley.  The sky was a perfect blue, the vista was crispy clear and we just stood and took it all in.   We both had the same thought : “Aren’t we blessed to be living in an area where, just 10 minutes drive from your home in suburbia, you can be enjoying the beautiful wooded countryside?    Where else could you be sitting in commuter traffic one minute and then the next be completely alone in these wonderful natural surroundings, where, after a short climb, you can witness  amazing views from San Francisco down to San Jose?  And with gorgeous weather as well!

After appreciating what we had in that moment,  in spite of the doom and gloom awaiting us back home -  friends without work, friends who are sick, friends with mortgages they can’tpay, cars with dead batteries (that part we didn’t know till we got back to the parking lot!) – we both agreed that one of the huge benefits of living in Silicon Valley is that you didn’t have to go too far to have a wonderful vacation.  No long plane rides to the resort, no 3 day car trips to the mountains, we have it all HERE.   I’ve blogged about the reasons to relocate to Silicon Valley before, but as a way of saving money – that one I hadn’t considered!

So as Lisa explained to me, staycation is a term coined today as the ability to take your vacation trips from your doorstep instead of booking a hotel/resort/condo/cabin and going there by plane/car/train for your vacation!  And that’s what’s so great about living in Silicon Valley.  No need to go on vacation – it’s right here!  We have the coast, beaches, surf, sailing, wind-surfing, fishing, whaling, hiking, mountain biking, all manner of snow sports, theme parks, then there are the obvious – San Francisco, Carmel, Monterey, Santa Cruz, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, Disneyland (OK – a five hour drive) … the list is endless!  Think of all the money you save by using your home as your base and taking day trips to all these places!

And friends and relatives?  You don’t have to go visit them either, they’ll all come to you for their vacation!  Moving to California from England was a hard decision for us  – leaving everyone behind, but I needn’t have worried.   Are you kidding?  A free place to stay in a perfect place with perfect weather?  We can’t keep them away!  Every summer we’re taking in visitors and have such fun showing them around this glorious area.  Saves us a trip to visit them!!

Have I missed any places you can “staycation”?  Let me know!!

It wasn’t that long ago that I thought our relocation business was in danger of closing down. During the Dotcom crash of the early 2000’s, some of our clients went belly-up, some just cut back on outsourcing and some even laughed at us and said “Why would we pay to bring someone to California to work for us when there’s a magnificent pool of executives out of work right here?” And yes, more U-Hauls were being hired to move people OUT of the Bay Area than to bring people IN.

Somehow we struggled by and got through those years to come out the other side with more business and new clients as companies got back on an even keel and started hiring again from far and wide. So it was gratifying to see in the San Francisco Chronicle this week that the US Census Bureau confirmed that not only has the population rate risen in California by 1% from 2007 to 2008, but Silicon Valley (Santa Clara County) specifically saw a rise of 2% in the same time frame.

Silicon Valley has an attraction to many, whether it be the lure of the pot of gold – through taking a start-up public, finding venture capital for that business you’ve been cultivating through enterpreneurship and innovation, or because here is where you’ll find both the huge variety of high-tech companies looking for your particular gifts, as well as the plethora of motivated people, talented in those fields which you may need in your venture.

I’ve already blogged about the 10 reasons to move to Silicon Valley, but I’d love to hear your thoughts.

What do you think the reasons are for this increased population in Silicon Valley?

And thanks to Mary Pope-Handy for sharing how to create the nifty graphic above!

Sign of the Times?

They do say a picture tells a thousand words, and in the relocation world, this one says it all!

You would be forgiven for thinking at first glance that a bunch of Cupertino Schools were being built behind this sign, but actually another community of new homes is sprouting up in Silicon Valley!  So look at this sign again and let’s find out more about these new homes :

Do we know how much they cost ?   No!

Do we know the square footage?   No!

Do we know how many bedrooms they have?    No!

Do we know the size of the yard?     No!

Do we know whether they have granite countertops?   No!

Do we know how many are sold already?   No!

SO – what do we know?  They are in the CUPERTINO SCHOOL DISTRICT! Yeah!!  And why are Cupertino schools so sought after?  Is it :

Low teacher to student ratio?   No!

Small, intimate environment?   No!

Great sports teams?   No!

Exceptional art and music curriculae?   No!

Modern facilities?   No!

Involved parents?   No!

High test scores?   YES!!!

House sellers today know what’s important to house buyers.   SCHOOLS!  and high test scores in those schools!  If you’re a family with school-age kids looking to buy or rent a home, it is assumed the school district is the most important criteria on your list.   And as relocation specialists for Silicon Valley, we know this is nearly always the case.

I have to admit, it was really refreshing (and easier!) for us to relocate a wonderful family last week from Boston who did not have school age children. We found a beautiful home for a family of 4 to rent – Mom, Dad and their 2 year old and a 1 month old baby.  They did not need to know about the schools.  They just wanted a friendly, family-oriented community where they could rent for a year or so and spend some time looking to see where they would like to eventually buy a home.  I’m sure that’s how it used to be years ago, well before I moved here in ‘95 – when finding a home meant a family community, local parks, quiet streets, friendly neighbors, you get the picture!

But even this family will be looking at school districts before long.  And when they do, I hope they come back to California Concierges for advice on the right schools for their kids. Yes, test scores are important but so are all the other aforementioned criteria.

And we never forget that.

If you want to know more about how we can help you successfully relocate to Silicon Valley, email me at tlawrence@WeRelocate.com.

Silicon Valley in pictures?

It’s hard when you’re thinking of relocating to a new area which is unfamiliar to you. You want to know what it looks like  – how are the homes, shops, streets, schools compared to where you live?

Aside from travelling there and driving around, taking in as much as you can visually, as well as emotionally and practically (can we afford this area? What are the schools like?), there is not much you can do to get the “feel” of a place… Until now. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology I can load photos of all the areas in the Bay Area of any interest onto my website, not just the “tourist” areas, but the places that families and individuals who are moving here would like to see – streets, parks, schools, shops.

So I’m beginning my tour of the Bay Area with Sunnyvale – easiest place to start as I live here. Check out the photos of this wonderful town on the cities page. And let me know what you’d like to see there. If there’s anything in Silicon Valley that I can point and shoot at, consider it done!

Anything to help my customers get themselves situated in this beautiful part of the world!

Heady Inauguration to Housing Desperation

We started today with a spirit of hope in Obama and his new administration. Yes, he has his work cut out, but, just like the lame horse who comes through to win the race in the end, many of us are backing one man whom we believe will get to the finish line. He has a huge, nay colossal, task ahead of him, and yes, very few people would wish to be in his shoes, but the hope and faith of many go with him.

So yesterday, the pomp and circumstance of the Inauguration, the dreams and aspirations of millions, today the crashing reality of the economic depression echoed in Mercury News‘ story of doom and gloom in the Bay Area housing market.

To paraphrase : 50% of all houses sold are due to foreclosures according to one survey by Dataquick. The median sale price of all homes dropped 31.8 percent from last January to December, the largest decline they’ve ever recorded. Realtors’ inventory is flooded, and there’s no sign of the job market improving with companies like Intel announcing its closure of its Silicon Valley chip factory. So not good news for many homeowners in this area, if you’re trying to sell or have a mortgage beyond your means.

The only people who may feel warm and fuzzy about this market are those looking to move into Silicon Valley and buy a home. House prices are not only lower than they have been in several years, they are negotiable, and if you have the good fortune to be one of the few who has been offered employment in this area recently and are thinking of moving here, buy now and good luck to you.

As Silicon Valley’s premier relocation company, we have plenty of expertise to help you find the perfect home and move into your perfect neighborhood. Silicon Valley is still a GREAT place to live!

I end with a quote from Peter Carey’s article in the Mercury News and the Dataquick’s table below :

DECEMBER HOME SALES AND PRICES

In some counties, purchases of previously foreclosed homes helped drive sales higher last month compared to December 2007. In the most expensive counties, sales slowed. Median prices fell across the region. Data measure sales of resale houses, unless noted otherwise.

County or area	Number sold	Chg. from Dec. 2007	Median price	Chg. from Dec. 2007
Alameda	1,134	95.9%	$350,000	-36.7%
Contra Costa	1,384	152.6%	$240,000	-48.4%
Marin	114	-20.3%	$675,000	-19.2%
Napa	89	97.8%	$370,000	-30.7%
San Francisco	180	-19.6%	$652,500	-11.8%
San Mateo	343	-3.7%	$565,000	-26.1%
Santa Clara	877	21.6%	$457,000	-38.2%
Santa Cruz	121	31.5	$429,000	-36.9%
Solano	623	185.8%	$215,000	-41.1%
Sonoma	427	98.6%	$320,000	-26.7%
Bay Area	5,171	69.6%	$330,000	-46.8%
Santa Clara condos	249	6.9%	$300,000	-38.0%
Bay Area condos	1,009	25.8%	$247,341	-48.5%
Santa Clara all	1,265	0.0%	$436,000	-33.4%
Bay Area all	6,889	36.0%	$330,000	-43.8%

Santa Cruz County is not included in the Bay Area totals. Data is based on completed sales of previously owned single-family houses or condos as recorded by counties in December 2008. The Bay Area and Santa Clara County “all” figures are for new and resale houses and condos, combined.

2008 Best Cities for Relocating Singles

It was back in May that I blogged about 2008’s Best Cities for Relocating Families. Well, Worldwide ERC and Primacy Relocation have done it again, this time compiling a list entitled the 100 Best Cities for Relocating Singles.

San Francisco, San Mateo and Redwood City ranked #8 on that list. At #29 came San Jose, Sunnyvale and Santa Clara. Out of the largest 100 U.S. metro areas, that’s fairly reassuring for any single male or female when considering relocating to the Bay Area or Silicon Valley.

When we, at California Concierges, are presented with a client who is single for relocation to this area, we look at a totally different set of criteria to help him or her assimilate into their new home than if we are dealing with a family.

Families need neighborhoods populated by other families for their kids to play with, quiet (preferably tree-lined) streets, some sort of back yard, especially if a dog is part of the package, decent schools, grocery stores within a mile radius, a short commuting distance so the spouse spends as little time as possible away from family and probably looking to purchase a property within their first year of arrival.

My most recent client was a single male from Pittsburgh and his criteria for his new home were : a rental apartment close to a downtown street with lots of restaurants, close to Caltrain so he could easily get to San Francisco at the weekend, commuting distance not an issue, and he didn’t even ask about grocery stores!

Likewise, Worldwide ERC and Primacy Relocation used specific criteria focussing on the individual when compiling this survey :

- Population criteria, such as the local single population aged 25 to 34, male to female ratios, diversity, density and growth.

- Economic criteria, such as the cost of living, job growth, higher education costs and availability of rental property.

- Quality-of-life criteria, such as prevalence of restaurants, bars, health clubs, sporting events and concerts, weather, crime rates and the percentage of the population utilizing online dating and subscribing to magazines targeting singles.

“It’s well known that the success of a relocation is strongly reliant on the transferee’s ability to assimilate into the new community and recreate his or her support, social, medical and lifestyle networks,” said Cris Collie, CAE, Chief Executive Officer of Worldwide ERC. “Our newest ‘Best Cities for Relocating Singles’ survey provides substantive information for companies whose ranks of renters, a group largely comprised of singles, have been on the rise.”

Yes, needs are different for every client that comes our way, even within those social groups. And we’ve been asked everything, from “I need an apartment with a bicycle path just outside” to “We need a high school with a lacrosse team”. A successful relocation is totally possible when you have someone working on your side of the tracks! Check out our website for tons of information about this area if you’re thinking of relocating to Silicon Valley.

And, in case you’re wondering, top of the list of the 2008 Best Cities for Relocating Singles was Boston and Quincy, MA, with Grand Rapids and Wyoming, MI, coming in at #100.

#1 on your list – Find a home!

Without a doubt, the hardest part about relocating to a new area is finding a home.  Once that is checked off the list, everything else will fall into place.  As Pliny the Elder once said (a LONG time ago) :

“Home is where the heart is”

and no more is that true than when you have to leave yours.

There are many homes for rent and for sale in Silicon Valley. The real problem lies in which areas to search for it.  Without any help or guidance on the huge variety of neighborhoods here, all of which may seem suitable – good commuting distance from work, decent schools, affordable prices – it is extremely difficult to know where to look and ultimately where to live.

When I think back to the homes we nearly bought in other neighborhoods, I feel so grateful that by some amazing luck we ended up in a neighborhood which we really liked and which we can now easily call home.

So how do you find these lovely neighborhoods?

Research, research, research. Talk to people, ask your new colleagues before you move here, visit schools if you have kids, ask for parents’ references from the principal so you can contact them, drive around and check out the streets and homes and ask yourself -

Are the houses being looked after?

Is the yard in front just dead grass or well landscaped?

Are there old cars lying around waiting to be worked on or do people keep their vehicles in good shape?

Is there a good park nearby where we can walk to?

You’ll be surprised how easy it is to get a “gut” feeling about an area.  Get out of your car and walk around, ask anyone you see about their neighborhood, people are generally very open to chatting and giving you information about where they live, positively or negatively.

You can also use a relocation service whose job it is to find you your new home, and will take your specific criteria into account.  Their job isn’t done until you’re happy. And they’ve done this before – many times.

We moved a family recently into Sunnyvale with four kids and a dog and cut their searching time down to a totally manageable amount.  With ample preparation, conversation and research beforehand we were able to pinpoint 6 homes for them to look at in the perfect area – one day to find a home!  The priceless look from the grateful Mom is still etched in my brain!

But if you want to go it alone, check out these websites for ideas on homes, rentals and purchases, neighborhoods and prices.

For rentals:

• www.rentnet.com
• www.search-for-apartments.net
• www.move.com
• www.apartments.com
• www.apartmentsearch.com
• www.craigslist.com
• www.rentals.com

And f you want to buy a home straight away, or just get a feel for the market here, go to www.mlslistings.com – a great way to find out what homes are on the market, what they look like, where they are and how much they want for them.

And if you have any stories about moving to this area and finding your home, let me know!

Good luck!

API – Are Parents Interested?

It’s September. Our kids have just returned to school and we’ve just found out how well – or not – our schools did last year according to the API (Academic Performance Index) scores printed in the San Jose Mercury News last week.

Do we feel proud? Or disappointed? DId we check the neighborhood schools to see if we came out on top? Or did we glance over at our friend’s school in a different school district to see if they did better than ours? Does it really matter? How important are these API scores?

What are they anyway? And why do we care? Steve Leung on his Silicon Valley Real Estate Blog gives an excellent summary :

The API (Academic Performance Index) scores are considered the cornerstone of California’s Public Schools Accountability Act of 1999, and measure the academic performance and growth of the state’s schools according to a range of academic factors.

API scores were introduced in California in 1999 to provide a means of measuring a public school’s academic success from year to year. Those of us who already have children in these public schools may be mildly interested in how our schools are doing and take a certain pride if those numbers have gone up from last year. We may even feel a little smug at the realisation that our house prices may have increased at some corresponding percentage.

But consider those who are moving into Silicon Valley with children of school age – how do they decide – how would YOU decide? Purely on API scores? Remember the Wall Street Journal article “The New White Flight” of November 2005 which talked about Monte Vista High School in Cupertino? Now there’s a school for you which continues to reach the 900+mark every year and where the growing Asian American student population is the main factor in these high scores – but also where several white parents decided to withdraw their children from the school and move them to a high school with lower scores. They did not want their child to be 100% focussed on academics or feel slighted or even stupid that they did not get an A, only an A- in that test.

At the end of the day, it’s all about YOUR child. Where would he or she thrive? Do you want him/her sitting next to a high achiever? Maybe so – maybe that competitive edge will keep her on her toes and strive to do better. Or maybe that A+ student sitting next to her will only make her feel stupid and fairly worthless. Is your child more interested in sports and extra curricular activities or does he do best on a balance of both?

The Great Schools website which is a wonderful resource for checking out particular schools has an interesting page on how to choose your school. Factors from extra curricular activities to student diversity to technology should all come into play when making that choice.

So yes, check out your school’s API scores, feel proud that your child has contributed to that success, if success it is. But if you’re relocating to Silicon Valley, don’t let API be your only guide.