And the winner is...

Yes! We now have a house. I'm back in the UK now and wanted to get it all sorted before coming back, and so we've signed all the rental documentation for the house in Klipspringer Drive.

The complete address should you want to make a note of it is:
1677 Klipspringer Drive
San Jose
California
95124

I've put a whole load of extra pictures online (small slideshow on the right hand side) so if you want to see them click here.

I'll be back in California the week of 12th January so I'll go and get the keys then, and probably stay there for the week, even though there won't be any furniture. I'll then come back to Europe for a week, pack things up, and we'll move the week of 26th January.

Choices

So as things stand, I think we have the following choices...

Obviously something else could come up, but we would then risk the ones that are available going too.

• Klipspringer
• Woodleaf Court
• Vista Roma Way

It's getting close to the point where we are going to need to make a decision on what to do...

Quinto Way

The last house that I saw today was Quinto Way. It was quite a nice place, and very well maintained and renovated, but was a little quirky in the layout. It also felt a little like a bungalow!

The location was good in terms of distance, but I didn't love the street. It was a little scruffy, and while this house was not, the street felt a little worse than the house.

4 bed and 2.5 bath again, this house had a really nice kitchen and a conservatory (first time I've ever seen one of them here!) but the general size of the rooms was not great. I was also shown around by the owner who has it for sale/ rent which always concerns me a little as we could rent it and then it could get sold. She was open to month to month contracts though which could potentially be useful.

Well decorated, but the layout was a little quirky, partly I think because it was all on one floor. Not really convinced by this one at all, mainly due to the area.

Vista Roma Way

The house I saw at Vista Roma Way was very impressive. It's pretty new - I get the impression not more than a couple of years at most. It is part of a new development complex, in many ways not very different from the US equivalent of the estate where our current house in the UK is. Having said that, they way that they do estates in the UK is pretty different.

It was a 4 bed, 2.5 bath house, and is effectively an end of terrace. It's in a kind of gated community and is directly opposite the childrens play area and community pool. As residents, you automatically get use of these things.

The house was beautiful. Spacious, creative layout, lots of living space, upstairs laundry room etc. It was also beautifully decorated and felt a little like walking around a showhome. The downside was the outside space. Rather than a garden, it had a patio with an eating area and barbeque area, but not really a garden. This was offset by the fact that it was directly next to the kids play area and playground, and overlooking the community pool.

It also had structured cat5 cabling (which certainly appeals to some people, me included) and would make a certain safe first step. It's also available from 15th - 31st January so the timings line up well and we could avoid spending rent on a place for a month when we don't need it.

If this house was somewhere else, I'd go for it straight away, but the location and lack of garden does concern me a little. The playground is so close that you could easily imagine Louis playing there and you being able to watch him from the patio or house, but thats not quite the same as having your own enclosed space.

The location is also a little far out. Because its a new place, its not yet on google maps, but the location is approximately here, just off the Capitol Expressway, which I think is a little far.

Really very nice, but not sure that the location or lack or garden is what we need...

Woodleaf Court

I saw Woodleaf Court today. It's in West San Jose (here) but is probably one of the closest houses I have seen to my office. It's also in a really nice area, in a quiet cul-de-sac near a large park.

As with many of the other houses I've seen, it's 4 bed, 2. 5 bath. It's a bit older than some that I've seen and as such was a little bit tired. Mostly 70's style decor and not as modern as some places.

Having said that, the space was very good (with family room) and the garden was also excellent. The problem with renting a house like this is that you can't really do much to it to make it feel more modern, so I'm not sure if you could live with it or not. It would definitely look better than it does with our stuff in and the location and garden are big plus points, but not sure whether they are enough to balance against the negatives.

The garden was pretty large and had a covered patio area as well as a lawn area and fruit trees. The house is near the end of a small dead end road and so was a very nice location.

Overall, I'm undecided. The space, location and garden are all positve, but the style and age of the house (and contents) aren't so good.

Some more possible houses...

Here are some more houses I've driven by and will be seeing in the next couple of days.

Oak Knoll Drive
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/apa/954189228.html
Looks like an excellent location, right near a large park. The house is Eichler style which would be cool. Seeing it tomorrow at noon.

Bundy
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/apa/953125048.html
Too near to Santana Row and looks like a duplex, so probably no yard. Waiting to hear back from owner anyway, but will probably give this one a miss.

Woodleaf
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/apa/950285075.html
Looks very nice, good quiet cul-de-sac, also near a large park. Probably seeing it on Tuesday at some point.

I've also updated the google map with all these locations add, plus all the original ones so you can see where they all are from one place. You can access that here.

More to follow soon...

Fawn Drive

I also viewed a house on Fawn Drive today which is here. It was a really nice well maintained house in a decent area. It also had a pool!

Downstairs was a lounge, kitchen, laundry room and family room. The family room doubles as the fourth bedroom as there are only 3 upstairs. There is an integral double garage, and then out the back next to the pool is also another building with double garage (front to back) with adjoining workshop. The current owners had a classic Mustang and Corvette in there which unfortunately don't come with the house!

In the garden is a pool which looked very nice, but because of it and the workshop, it meant that there was actually not much garden left. There wasn't really anywhere to play, and because of the pool you wouldn't be able to let Louis play out there on his own. I think that while a pool would be nice, if you have to choose, a garden is more important.

Upstairs the 3 bedrooms were nice. One was en suite and there was also a family bathroom, but none of the rooms were particularly large. All in all, a very nice house, but probably not the one for us at the moment.

McBride Loop

I've seen another couple of houses today, so here are the details. The first one that I saw this morning is in McBride Loop. The details of the house are here and the location is here.

The house is pretty nice, its a good size and has plenty of living space, but is severely let down by the garden which is very small, and all patio. It would seem a shame to have such nice weather and not anywhere you can enjoy it.

Downstairs was a kitchen, living room, family room, laundry room and double garage, and upstairs were the four bedrooms (one en suite) and a family bathroom. The master suite was huge - big enough to have a sofa & armchair as well as the bed - and also had a really large en suite and walk-in closet.

It's a shame about the garden really, but I think it's enough of an issue to rule this one out.

My car for the week

So I got reasonably lucky with the hire car this week! Chances are you normally get stuck with something really poor, but on this occasion they must have taken pity on me as this is actually quite fun!

While it is a Mitsubishi, it's got plenty of poke, rear wheel drive and has been quite fun.




I'm not sure I would want one when we move, but it is certainly better than the normal entry level Ford Focus you get normally.

Klipspringer Drive

And so here is the feedback about the second viewing of another house that I looked at a few weeks ago when I was last over here. It's still available which is a little surprising, but it's still very nice. Rather than take more pictures, this time I took a video, although unfortunately it was already dark when I had the viewing and some rooms didn't have lights so you can only see some of it. You do get an idea of what the house is like though.

The house does have a bigger wow factor than the others that I've seen, primarily due to the double height ceilings in all the downstairs rooms. It makes the place seem very spacious and light, which is also assisted by the huge windows. The upstairs hallway has a gallery feel and you can peer over in to the lounge and dining room space.



But in terms of actual usable space, it is definitely smaller than the Hill Park Drive house I saw earlier today. It has no family room which would certainly be useful, and the garden is smaller. It is also about 5 miles further south which will make a longer journey to work, and means it is likely to be a little hotter. On the plus side, that does mean it'll be closer to the beach! It is also newer and so feels a little better maintained than the older houses I've seen, but not sure this is really an issue for renting.

While I think it is a very nice house and we could live there quite easily, I think the idea of a larger garden and a family room is very appealing, especially as the weather will warrant having some outside space to take advantage of.

Hill Park Drive

I went to see another possible house today and it was really nice. I could certainly see us possibly living there. It was another 4 bed in the Cambrian area and had plenty of space and a nice garden. The details of the house are here, and you can see it on a map here.

Downstairs it had a large lounge, dining room and then a kitchen with adjoining family room. Two sets of doors led out to the garden which had a covered area, a small deck for eating and then a lawn area. It also had an orange tree, lemon tree and pomegranate tree. Upstairs were the four bedrooms and a family bathroom. The master bedroom also had an en suite and a large walk in wardrobe. I've got a few more to view over the next couple of days, but this looks like a real option.

It was also near a nice park and is equal distance between downtown Campbell & Willow Glen. I think it would be about a 20 minute drive to work at peak times.

While there I also took the opportunity to video the house so feel free to take a look below and let us know what you think!

Possible houses

When I was in California in November, I looked at a couple of houses in the areas we want to live to get an idea of what was available. Two of the houses I looked at were particularly nice and I could certainly imagine them being suitable for us all when we move. Unfortunately, as is the way with the rental market, they were both available immediately and so I was reluctant to commit to anything when it would cost us another couple of months extra rent.

The first house was in the Cambrian area which is just between Campbell & Willow Glen, the two main places we are looking. We are looking at four bed houses so that we have enough room for people to stay, which we are expecting to be a fairly common occurrence.

This house was a good size and had an excellent garden complete with veranda, climbing frame and tree house. Inside it was a little tired, but perfectly livable.

Some other areas you look at you can get more space for your money, and there are also plenty of places with pools, but then you are compromising on location and these are the areas we like.

The second house I looked at was just a couple of blocks away from the first, and was a much more modern house. Also a four bed, the downstairs was open plan with double height ceilings, and the bedrooms were all upstairs. Its almost impossible to find a house without a double garage either!

While this second house was very nice, the garden was a little smaller than the first, but still perfectly adequate. It also didn't have a family room which would be a nice bonus to have.

One thing you do notice is that the houses generally are much larger than the equivalent in the UK. They are also almost all detached.

When looking for property, there is practically one resource that everyone seems to use, Craigslist, and it is very good. It's basically a free listings site, but is constantly updated and seems to be the only place to find rentals as they don't seem to have agencies for rentals - only realtors for property purchases.

I'll be back in Cali at the end of next week with a view to finding and signing up a property where we will live to begin with. As we are shipping our stuff out from the UK, it will take 6-8 weeks to arrive so there are some things (like beds!) that we will need to buy in the meantime, so having the house a little in advance will have some benefits.

So the date is set...

We now have a date! After months of paperwork, visas, babies, delays and general waiting, we now have a date to move! We'll be on our way on January 28th. Now that the paperwork is all in order, there are a million things to do, not least find somewhere to live!

We're in the process of finding someone to let the house in the UK and I'll be back in California for a week before Christmas to (hopefully) find a house in California. We've already been looking online and have narrowed down the neighbourhoods in which we are looking: it will either be Campbell, Cambrian or Willow Glen, all of which just are South West of San Jose (view map).

Kate, Louis & I all have our passports and visas done, and so we are just waiting for Chloe's documents to be complete. She is now the proud owner of a birth certificate & British passport, and we are awaiting her US visa to come back from the US Embassy in London. With a bit of luck, it will arrive back before Christmas.