Way OT: Apartment Complexes in Santa Clara/Sunnyvale

2,710 Views | 15 Replies | Last: 6 yr ago by rathokan
rathokan
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Anybody know of some nice, quiet apartment complexes in the Sunnyvale/Santa Clara area? Looking for 2BR/2BA for two residents at Kaiser Santa Clara (budget ~$3k/mo) They have to move in 6 weeks and don't really have time to apartment hunt, so trying to help them out. One lady Bear and one lady Bruin. Ideally, this place would be within biking distance (3-4 miles) from the hospital (Lawrence & Homestead). Searching on Craigslist is a bust. Are there services for this kind of thing?

Thanks in advance.
ColoradoBear
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It might be way more than 3k these days, but I had good friends that lived in the Cherry Orchard Apts at Mathilda and El Camino. Plenty of convenient stores/fast casual restaurants right next door, too.

I'm guessing one gets a much better deal from private parties, but that's hit or miss and if it's cheap, people moving out usually hook a friend up before it goes on craigslist.
Golden One
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Look on www.realtor.com.
TouchedTheAxeIn82
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Yikes, that's an expensive area, right next to the spaceship.
Golden One
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2870 Kaiser Drive is a new apartment complex that looks pretty nice. Prices start at about $2,900 per month. Close to the Kaiser Permanente Medical Centr.
https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/2870-Kaiser-Dr_Santa-Clara_CA_95051_M27374-52119#photo42
rathokan
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thanks guys. they already live in the area, but the owner is selling the condo in which they're living, so they gotta find a new place. major PITA as they wanted to stay their another 2 1/2 years. They don't want to have to move again, so that's why they're thinking of going w/ a commercial apartment complex instead of a private property. They are currently pretty close to the Cherry Orchard, but it's way $$$.
sandiegobears
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craigslist is a waste of time now. Try Trulia or Zillow. Most landlords post through services that then feed these websites. They have far more robust searching capabilities than craigslist.
TouchedTheAxeIn82
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These are all super close to Kaiser and an easy ride up Tantau.

https://www.apartments.com/city-gate-at-cupertino-cupertino-ca/wsznxlh/
https://www.apartments.com/sage-at-cupertino-cupertino-ca/36tbd4g/
https://www.apartments.com/shadow-oaks-cupertino-ca/zpxfkyw/

There are other apartment complexes even closer that appear to fit their price range.
TandemBear
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sandiegobears said:

craigslist is a waste of time now. Try Trulia or Zillow. Most landlords post through services that then feed these websites. They have far more robust searching capabilities than craigslist.
Hey, I'm curious to hear your reasons for saying this. I assume you mean it's a waste of time for someone looking to rent, right? I ask because I've used Craigslist to post apartments for rent for almost twenty years and have found it great. I realize the flake-factor on CL can be pretty big, but housing ads seem to be a different animal. Anything you could share would be appreciated. Thx.
BearEatsTacos
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sandiegobears said:

craigslist is a waste of time now. Try Trulia or Zillow. Most landlords post through services that then feed these websites. They have far more robust searching capabilities than craigslist.
This is really bad advice. I've apartment hunted more times in my life than I can count. This most recent time I relied heavily on Trulia and Zillow. I found that about 75% of the listings were inaccurate--either outdated, already rented out, with inaccurate rent prices, or bad pictures. The problem is both of these services scrape other websites without checking for other data, such as how old the posting is. In some cases, some "available" apartments were 3 years old. It wasted an incredible amount of time, and in the end I found an apartment through craigslist, which is what I've used for the past decade without fail.

If you want better search capabilities on craigslist, you can use a third party tool like padmapper, but if you know what you're doing, there aren't many features that Trulia or Zillow have that craigslist can't do.
Jeff82
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Try orchard Glen on Saratoga ave near Stevens creek. There's also a big complex around the prune ridge golf course.
iwantwinners
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If owner is selling, don't they have to give 30 day notice to vacate? Why two weeks
burritos
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How do people who aren't in the tech industry or have access to familial wealth manage get a toehold much less get ahead in the bay area?

As a newbie plumber, teacher, policeman, social worker, DMV office worker, postman, hairstylist; can you do "The millionaire Next Door" in the bay area and get ahead?
SmellinRoses
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Yes, for us looking for a tenant Padmapper/Zumper seemed more effective than Craigslist. Got the impression that the youngins don't do the Craigslist thing...
sandiegobears
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Pre-emptive OT:

I was a fan of padmapper when it came out years ago, great tool, scraped craigslist nicely. The reason that Trulia, Hotpads, Zillow, and many others might be rented is because that's what people use now. The proliferation of small property management companies with this last cycle (where for rent housing is very popular) and more tech savvy users (tenants and landlords) needing phone apps has resulted in the use of software like AppFolio. This management software and several others feed tons of website listings at the same time. The tools also help price because they have the data in-house. Craigslist doesn't even have their own app (though some 3rd parties have made them), and only recently did craigslist bother to improve their search to fend off the competition, but it's still primitive, and the site is full of spam. I just did a craigslist search for 2-bedrooms near my house and the same apartment complex had 40 of the first 42 listings!

Anecdotally, we tried a test: craigslist ad was 2 responses in 4 days, Zillow ad was 20 responses in 4 hours and it showed up on other sites very quickly (I think they data share). I think old-school, self-managed property owners may still turn to craiglist, but it certainly seems as if it's waning. As always, your mileage may vary.
TandemBear
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sandiegobears said:

Pre-emptive OT:

I was a fan of padmapper when it came out years ago, great tool, scraped craigslist nicely. The reason that Trulia, Hotpads, Zillow, and many others might be rented is because that's what people use now. The proliferation of small property management companies with this last cycle (where for rent housing is very popular) and more tech savvy users (tenants and landlords) needing phone apps has resulted in the use of software like AppFolio. This management software and several others feed tons of website listings at the same time. The tools also help price because they have the data in-house. Craigslist doesn't even have their own app (though some 3rd parties have made them), and only recently did craigslist bother to improve their search to fend off the competition, but it's still primitive, and the site is full of spam. I just did a craigslist search for 2-bedrooms near my house and the same apartment complex had 40 of the first 42 listings!

Anecdotally, we tried a test: craigslist ad was 2 responses in 4 days, Zillow ad was 20 responses in 4 hours and it showed up on other sites very quickly (I think they data share). I think old-school, self-managed property owners may still turn to craiglist, but it certainly seems as if it's waning. As always, your mileage may vary.
Excellent summary; much appreciated. Thanks!
rathokan
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Jeff82 said:

Try orchard Glen on Saratoga ave near Stevens creek. There's also a big complex around the prune ridge golf course.
yeah, they checked that place out last weekend, and it might be where they end up. one picture that came up on yelp that was a little disturbing:

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