Just a couple questions for those that live over the hill. Gonna sell my house in San Jose and been thinking about moving to the Aptos area. Also been considering Scott's valley, Felton and possibly Ben lomand. Any thoughts from anyone that lives out there? Areas to avoid? Thanks.

 

Feel free to PM me if you don't want any of this public...


What's your budget?
Where do you work and how long are you willing to commute?
What are your goals... wants as far as a home goes?

I've went to high school in the area. My dad taught/teaches (Sub now) at Aptos High School. My brother graduate from Aptos. I currently live in what I call Watsalitas. I'm on the border of watsonville and Corralitos. Not to far from Aptos.

 

Scotts Valley is pretty rad. It stays a lot hotter than the other side of the hill but your commute to SJ is a heck of a lot shorter. You're crazy close to down town SC on the opposite side of the CF that is highway 1. Still close to the beach. I like it over there.

You have the availability of nice neighborhoods. Strip malls and restaurants. Etc.

Felton/Ben Lomand. It's really nice up there and you can find sweet houses for reasonable prices. It's very small town. So you HAVE to be in to that. It's a drive to get anywhere. A fun drive but a drive none the less. IPOZESTU. Mattsnow and a few others have lived up there. They'd have better input.

Aptos/Corralitos to me is perfect. I love it. The only bummer part is also a benefit. You don't get that neighborhood thing where I'm at... where you can get on your bike and go to the park or whatever. It's a little big more open. Less traffic. Etc. So it's good and bad. I love it. You're welcome to stop by and check out my place if it's an area you're in to. If I had a bigger budget I'd be in a house on Pleasant Valley or Day Valley. So sick out there. That's where all the doctors are... hell my doctor lives out there.

There's 3 subaru... well about to be 3 wrx wagons on my little street. LOL!

 

Lived in Aptos/Rio Del Mar for a very long time. Did the opposite and now live in Campbell.

Any areas in particular you're looking at? General rule of thumb for the area as a whole is the ocean side of the freeway = fog. It's one of the last places in the bay to burn off, whereas the mountain side of the freeway = sun. My parents got sick of the fog (lived at Hidden Beach in RDM) so they moved to the mountain side of the freeway near Cabrillo College a few years ago.

Overall Aptos is a great area and if you ride mtn bikes, it's even better with Nisene Marks park right there.

 

dont believe those guys,aptos is the pits!!

 

Hahha shut it you!

...oh and

 

I used to live off White Rd and go to the park on Freedom. Such an amazing area to live.

 

I keep seeing you in Moss Landing man. LOL!

Bo... I sent a text to you about a month ago about Beer Thirty... turned out it was a different Bo. LOL!

What do you guys say we do an old school Aptos throw back meet so this dude can come out here and get to know Aptos?

 

I love White Rd. My daughters always like... can we take the roller coaster road. LOL! I drive it every now and again when I'm trying to shave a few minutes off my drive.

I live off Amesti about a mile from the corner store.

 

LOL Thats pretty hilarious...I'll shoot you a PM with my number.

 

I live in capitola 2 blocks from the beach and absolutely love it.

Places to avoid......ummmm not too many....I travel to boulder creek pretty often for family and the area is very nice up there too.

Used to live in santa cruz almost into scotts valley. Perfect weather year round.

There are plenty of nice places in aptos off rio del mar as well.

Grew up here and not planning on leaving any time soon. I commute 120 miles a day for work just because santa cruz county is hands down the most beautiful place ive ever lived. Portland Oregon included.

 

Impressive. I couldn't do that commute, I would shoot myself. Nowhere near worth wasting my time and energy just to live over there.

I grew up in Capitola, but once I took a job on the other side of the hill I moved over here (took a while to find an area I liked however...) The fact that the whole area isn't the same as the one I grew up in made it that much easier to leave.

 

Yea there are some bad parts in capitola. But I live in a nice complex with nice neighbors. Ive worked over the hill for a number of years. Used to be bad but I work the swing shift so I dont hit any traffic what so ever.

I would much rather live in capitola for the price. Would be paying more than double to live on lawrence expressway and elko.......stink......lol.

Hearing the waves when you go to sleep is worth every bit of energy it takes to make it happen. Plus the weather and mountain biking. I dont know how I would survive outside of santa cruz county lol. Tried el dorado county, multinomah county and pajaro county and just cant do it for any more than 6 months. Lol.

 

i dont get why there's traffic from the fishhook all the way to Cabrillo every day around 1-3 pm.

 

#1 bad road design expansion. They need to go all the way to rio del mar with the 3 lanes......

#2 thats about the time when either people are taking lunch or going home.

Used to be waaaaay worse before the 3rd lane. I would take san jose soquel road home everyday from the summit. 45 mins to get into santa cruz from sunnyvale and then another 45 mins sitting on highway 1?! Eff that. I can walk home faster from the fish hook than driving.

9-10am going the other way is bad sometimes too. It seemed everyone was slowing down going under the new la fonda bridge. Now its just a waiting game until people get used to the 3rd lane that goes to morrissey blvd.

My commute is perfect now. I dont ever see brake lights. Leave at 130-145 get to work before 3. Leave at 11pm Home by 11:45pm. I still get a normal life except I get to sleep in