I am a Silicon Valley native who loves the diversity, climate, and vibe of the Bay Area.
Growing up in San Jose in the 70s-80s was a treat in that I had a front row seat for the rise of Intel, HP, Apple,
Tandem, Seagate, Oracle, etc. The influx of people from all over the world, the way technology was changing
peoples lives, and the changing skyline of San Jose was something to behold.
The downside to this is $500k houses that are 40 years old and need to be razed or $750k houses in East Palo
Alto. Which was the murder capital in the U.S. in 1992-93
In short, I am your frustrated, pseudo geek who decided that the cookie cutter home in a major metropolitan area
was not for me.
So instead of buying into the crack pipe dream of home ownership in the Bay Area, I hit the pipe of home
construction.
The upside to home construction is that for less than $450k I get a 2700 square foot home custom home on 13
acres. This is a house that was designed to my specifications and whims.
The downside is the permitting process, cost overruns due to the 3x increase in workers comp costs,
sub-contractors going out of business, suppliers being late in delivering items, weather, earthquakes, and any
number of issues that are still to come up.
The big question is whether I would do this again. My answer to that is ask me after the house is complete. My
advice to others is this, "building a house may be cheaper and more gratifying but how much patience and
understanding do you have"
Contact info
Email: Leslie Miley
AIM: MrMiley
Yahoo IM: Lesliehm
Contact info
Email: Leslie Miley
AIM: MrMiley
Yahoo IM: Lesliehm
