Working at Microsoft, living near the Silicon Valley campus

Who this page is for

This page was written for you if:

• You are moving from the Redmond campus, from another state, or from another country, and you are starting from zero here.
• You already work at Microsoft and rent nearby, and you are ready to own.
• You are weighing a shorter drive against more house, more yard, or a calmer street.
• Your family is arriving after you, and everyone needs the full picture in one sitting.

One thing to settle early: many roles at Microsoft here are built as a mix, some days on campus and some days at home, and each team keeps its own rhythm. That mix changes the housing math more than most people expect. A drive you make five days a week argues for living minutes away. A drive you make two or three days a week can fairly trade for more space, a better school line, or a lower price further out. Ask your manager what your team truly expects before you draw your circle on the map.

How to use this page: every section opens with the plain answer, then gives the detail under it. Read the short answers for the whole story in five minutes, or settle into the sections that matter to you. When a question is yours alone, call me and we will work it through.

The short answer

• The campus in your own city: live in Mountain View. The drive shrinks to minutes, Castro Street gives you a true downtown, and Caltrain runs north to San Francisco and south to San Jose from your own station.
• Best balance of price and choice: Sunnyvale. The widest range of homes of the four areas, prices a step below the school towns, and a short hop over the city line to campus.
• Village calm with top schools: Los Altos. Quiet streets, a small town heart, and schools at the very top of the state lists, at a premium price.
• School driven, freeway easy: Cupertino. Families come for the high schools, and Highway 85 carries you up to the campus side of the valley.

The rest of this page proves each line of that, area by area, number by number.

The four areas compared

Drive times are typical ranges in a car from the middle of each town to the Microsoft campus in Mountain View, and they stretch on rainy days and school mornings. Prices are approximate medians drawn from the city guides on this site.

Getting to campus

Campuses on the north side of Mountain View sit in green parkland, and the trail network leads almost to their doors.

By car

The campus sits on the north side of Mountain View, near Shoreline Boulevard and the baylands, with Highway 101 along one side and Highway 85 ending just south of it. From Sunnyvale, Mathilda Avenue and Highway 237 or Central Expressway do the work. From Cupertino, Highway 85 runs straight up the valley. From Los Altos, most drivers come through town on Grant Road and Fremont Avenue, or take Foothill Expressway toward Highway 280 and 85.

Two habits help. Learn a second route for the days the first one jams, since the Shoreline ramps and the 101 interchanges carry the morning load. And know that the pressure builds after about half past seven in the morning and again from about half past four in the evening. The drive times in the table above already carry those hours inside them.

The Microsoft shuttle

Microsoft runs shuttles and buses for its employees in the Bay Area, and for many people the shuttle is the reason a home works. A home near a pickup point can turn the drive into reading time, and it can make an area that looks a little far on paper feel close in daily life.

Here is the honest part. The routes and stops live on Microsoft internal pages, and they shift as teams grow, so no outside page can print them for you, this one included. Treat the shuttle map as a first weeks question. Ask your team where the nearest pickup sits to a home you like before you fall for the home, and tell me the pickup points that matter to you. While we search, we will weigh those points alongside schools and price, because a home that fits the shuttle fits your life.

By bike

The Stevens Creek Trail is the quiet hero of this commute. It runs from the Cupertino side, through Sunnyvale and Mountain View, and ends at the baylands a short ride from the campus gates, all of it away from traffic. Inside Mountain View, Shoreline and the baylands paths finish the trip. If cycling to work matters to you, homes near the trail deserve a place at the top of your list.

By train

Mountain View station, right downtown at Castro Street, is the Caltrain stop for this city, and light rail stops on the north side of town shorten the last stretch toward the campus. Many riders pair the train with a bike or a shuttle link for the final mile. If your weeks include trips up the Peninsula or into San Francisco, living near the station turns the train into part of daily life rather than a special expedition.

The money picture

What homes cost by area

In round numbers: Mountain View starts the four at a median of about $2.2M, then Sunnyvale at about $2.53M, Cupertino at about $3.1M, and Los Altos at about $4.9M. Condos and townhomes sit well below those medians and are the usual first rung. Estates sit far above them. A median is a middle point, not a promise, so we will always price a real home against the recent sales on its own street.

Renting first or buying first

Renting first suits you if you land soon and know nothing here yet, if you want to learn your team's true campus rhythm before you choose a distance, or if a large part of your pay arrives later in the year and you want it counted at full strength.

Buying first suits you if you know the valley already, if your family wants to settle once and stay settled, or if you would rather put rent money into your own walls from the first month.

There is no single right order. Most Microsoft families I meet do one or the other with clear eyes, and both paths can be right. What matters is choosing on purpose, not by drift.

Buying while paid partly in stock

A large share of pay at Microsoft can arrive as stock awards that vest over time and land through the year. Lenders in this valley know that pattern well, because they see it every day. In general terms, a lender looks at your base pay, your bonus history, and the pattern of stock that has vested and landed over the past couple of years, and treats steady vesting as part of your income picture. Awards that have not vested yet usually count for less than stock that has already been landing.

So gather your offer letter, your pay records and your vesting schedule in one folder, and put the full picture in front of a lender who works with tech pay, early, before you fall for a home. This section is general education, not a promise about any one loan. Your own numbers will decide what you can carry, and a good lender will show you those numbers plainly.

Closing costs and taxes, the basics

• Closing costs. Beyond your down payment, allow roughly one to two percent of the price for the bundle of loan, title, escrow and recording charges. The exact figure depends on the loan and the home.
• Property tax. In Santa Clara County the yearly tax runs at about 1.2 percent of the purchase price, and it resets to your price when you buy. It is billed in two parts each year, and it is one of the most predictable costs of owning here.
• Insurance. Lenders require home insurance, and the price follows the home and its setting. Older homes and homes near the hills can cost more to insure than newer homes on the flat.
• Monthly dues. Condos and townhomes carry monthly association dues that cover shared costs. Single family homes in these four areas usually have no dues, or small ones.

These are the shapes of the costs, in general educational terms. For advice on your own taxes and money, sit with your own tax professional; for the numbers on a real home, sit with me.

The buying journey on a relocation timeline

1. Weeks one and two: learn the ground and the rhythm. Settle in at work, learn how many days your team truly meets on campus, get the shuttle map, and drive the four areas at school run hour and again at seven in the evening. Write down what your family will not give up.
2. Line up the money. Talk with a lender early, put your full pay picture in front of them, and get your approval in writing. Sellers in these towns expect to see it with the offer.
3. Tour with purpose. See homes in two or three areas on the same day, so the trade between price, space and drive becomes real instead of theoretical.
4. Watch the rhythm. New homes land through the week and most open homes run on weekends. Good homes in these towns often take offers about a week after they list.
5. The offer. Price is only the start. Strong offers here often carry short timelines and few conditions, and many homes draw several offers at once. We will study the recent sales on the street before we set your number.
6. Closing. Once an offer lands, closing usually runs about three to four weeks, with inspections, the appraisal and the loan work packed inside it.
7. Keys and settling. Move in, set up the shuttle run, the trail ride or the school run, and breathe. My help does not end at the keys. Call me for the plumber, the gardener, or the permit question.

Family life in the four areas

Castro Street in the evening: dinner outside, a slow walk, and the train home when you want it.

Schools, in one view

The school picture by area is covered in the cards above. One warning matters more in Mountain View than anywhere else on this page: three districts meet inside this one city, and the line between them can turn on a single street. Two homes that look identical on a map can feed different schools at every level. Before you offer on any home, we confirm its assigned schools by its exact address, together, in writing. It takes ten minutes and it protects the whole reason many families choose these towns.

Parks and the outdoors

Shoreline Lake Park is the crown of the north side: 750 acres of lake, sailing, trails and wide sky, a short ride from the campus. The Baylands Nature Preserve adds wetland trails at the edge of the Bay. Cuesta Park anchors the south of Mountain View, Rancho San Antonio County Park brings hill trails and a working farm to the Cupertino and Los Altos edge, and Baylands Park gives Sunnyvale its own open water and lawns.

Daily life

Each town has a heart you can walk. Castro Street in Mountain View, with its restaurants and the Sunday farmers market at the transit center. Murphy Avenue in Sunnyvale, the old main street. State Street and Main Street in Los Altos, with the market in season. Main Street in Cupertino for food and everyday errands. The Village at San Antonio Center covers the bigger shopping runs, and strong public libraries serve all four towns.

Weekends

Summer concerts at Shoreline Amphitheatre play within sight of the campus side of town. The coast at Santa Cruz sits inside the hour when the ocean calls. The Stevens Creek Trail carries long flat rides from the hills to the Bay, and the foothill trails above Los Altos and Cupertino carry the hikers. Families here do not run out of Saturdays.

Questions Microsoft employees ask

Your first month checklist

• Ask your team how many days a week it truly meets on campus, and get the Microsoft shuttle map from work.
• Drive each finalist area at school run hour, then drive it again in the evening, on a campus day.
• Ride a stretch of the Stevens Creek Trail, or walk Castro Street on a Saturday morning.
• Pick the schools that matter to your family and learn their exact boundary lines, address by address.
• Put your full pay picture, base pay, bonus and vesting, in front of a lender and get approval in writing.
• Set your true top number: the price plus the tax and insurance that follow it.
• Tour homes in at least two areas on the same day.
• Spend one evening in the downtown of each finalist area.
• Ask me for the recent sales on any street you fall for, before you offer.
• Save my number now, so the first question costs you nothing to ask.

A word from me

For more than twelve years I have helped families buy and sell homes in these towns, from first homes to grand estates, and I give every home the same care. My clients have left me 104 five star reviews, and the homes I have helped sell here add up to more than $250M. The numbers I trust most are simpler: my phone rings when a past client has a question, years after the keys.

If you are weighing a move to this campus, or a move across town, let us talk it through. One call, no pressure, and you will leave knowing the areas, the numbers and the next step. Call me on the Peninsula line at (650) 274 1134 or the South Bay line at (408) 389 6939, or write to me at SIMON@SPSILICONVALLEY.COM.

I am glad you found this page. Wherever you land, welcome to the neighborhood.

Simon Sahi
Real Estate Agent, Signature Properties
CA DRE #01953287