People who relocate to Silicon Valley from out of the area often are attracted to Los Gatos from what they've read about the town: low crime, great schools, scenic beauty, abundant parks, fabulous old downtown area, great community involvement and lots to do in town and nearby. There's some interesting history and architecture too. And on top of all of that, Los Gatos is only 30 minutes from the beach at Santa Cruz, twenty from San Jose and about an hour from San Francisco too. So (besides the cost of housing), what's not to like?

There are a ton of reasons to choose to live in Los Gatos. There are, however, a few things you should know as you decide to set down roots here.

First, the town's boundaries and the school disctrict boundaries are screwy. Just because the address is Los Gatos does not mean that it's really part of the town of Los Gatos (it might be in an unincorporated area, or perhaps the post office has fooled with the map to make mail delivery easier).  The mountain areas, for instance (zip code 95033) are not properly part of the town - so the residents there cannot vote in town elections. But truth be told, the mountain communities are both independent, and a part of, the life of the town of Los Gatos. 

Along these lines, being in Los Gatos (either having the address or really being a part of the town) does not mean you automatically get "Los Gatos Schools". The school district boundaries were set before the town's (final) boundaries were set. Much of the area was simply county when those lines were drawn. So you can drive from an area that has Los Gatos Schools (Los Gatos School District), through an area that doesn't (Union School District) to reach a remote area of town that - yes - has the school district again. Being in Los Gatos does not mean Los Gatos High necessarily. About 20% of the homes in the Town of Los Gatos have Union or Moreland Schools, not Los Gatos Schools. That said, Union and Moreland are excellent districts!

Second, there are 3 zip codes that go with Los Gatos properties, plus the zip code for PO boxes: 95030 is closest to the center of town, 95032 is on the northern end of town (used to be east Los Gatos but the post office redrew the lines a few years ago, so it's now both east AND west Los Gatos, but on the northern side of town) 95033 is the mountain areas (not part of the town per se), and 95031 is the zip code for all PO boxes. But don't let the zip codes rule your home search: some of the homes in 95032 are fairly close to downtown AND do have Los Gatos schools, for instance. And not all of the mountain properties are remote. It's just something to be aware of.

Third, yes it really is all that expensive. You will probably not find a single family home in Los Gatos for $800,000 or less. Single family homes (even on the edge of town) seem to start at about $900,000 unless there's an issue (high voltage lines, busy street etc.). Homes that are comfortable but not fancy of about 2000 square feet start at over a million dollars in the town. If you want that much home "with the schools" it will cost considerably more - perhaps $1.5 million or so. You can often buy more for your money in the mountains, though. There are nice townhomes in all school districts that are more affordable.

Finally, yes, we do have earthquakes - but they don't happen often and we don't obscess about them. The last big earthquake was in October of 1989. We try to be prepared (making sure foundations are bolted, securing tall furniture to walls, etc.) but since major earthquakes seldom happen, we don't lose a lot of sleep about it. Our homes are not brick because brick doesn't move and houses here need to have a degree of flexibility to literally roll with the punches. Maybe that's why we're relaxed: even our homes are! Be prepared - and then let it go. Weird, but true.

Resources:

(1) I have a website devoted to relocating to Silicon Valley with lots of information free for the clicking: www.Move2SiliconValley.com.  

(2) A nice resource for folks moving here (even those currently living in the area) is a Barclay's Locaide.  This is a map book that outlines all kinds of boundaries (town, school district, zip code) but also notes items of interest like earthquake fault zones, flood plains and liquification zones. Realtors use these religiously!  (NB that this does not take the place of getting a Natural Hazards Report, but it is a great asset.) The Barclay's Locaide is not available in all places but you can order the Santa Clara County edition online, and that includes Los Gatos. Also Barclays offers smaller wall maps of subsets of the county map, such as Saratoga and Los Gatos.

(3) There's a lot of information on the web (and in books), but often the best route to getting the information you need is to simply ask someone knowledgeable. Please call or email me if you'd like information about moving to Los Gatos particularly (or Silicon Valley generally). I'm here to assist you!