Stuck in the Bay Area

[airmissle]

Hey everyone,

I moved to the Bay Area for work roughly a year and a half ago. I came from Albuquerque where I had a 3 car garage(which wasn't big enough). I spent most weekends working in the garage on many different projects. Welding furniture, working on cars etc. All of my tools and cars are still in Albuquerque in storage and its driving me nuts.

I have now realized I am going to be stuck in the Bay Area for some time because this is where the jobs are for what I do(Internet things). I am trying to figure out how to have a 2000+ sq ft shop within an hour drive of Sunnyvale(without breaking the bank).

I have started looking online for land down in Gilroy and Hollister but I have no clue what the process would be(or if its possible) to build a giant steel building on said land. My concerns are around permits and this wacky state. Ideally I would have a small apartment in the building where I would live.

I am also open to consider warehouse space but I have similar concerns there.


Any and all input would be appreciated.

 

[gte718p]

Good luck. I lived in Monterey for several years. Finding space at reasonable price, even out the Gilroy and Hollister way is hard. If you can afford the land, building should be relatively easy. A lot of the land that way is zoned agricultural so you can build agricultiral support buildings aka barns fairly easily.

On the plus side of your "situation" the Bay area has a lot of maker spaces so you can get access to really high end tools at a down right reasonable price.

 

[crab]

I have spent a lot of time in the bay area . Love the area but Sunnyvale is a rough commute from anywhere. Having a 2 hour commute kind of defeats the purpose of having a shop. You might consider renting garage space that you go to on weekends and a small place to stay during the week. If you can afford to buy in Santa Clara county you will probably make some money on the investment. I've seen guys make enough on a condo to come back to the Midwest and pay cash for a mansion. If you intend to stay in the bay area for a long time then you might as well bite the bullet now, it's not going to get cheaper.

 

[38Chevy454]

I did the opposite, left the bay area and live in Albuquerque. I could not be happier.

Back to your question, the big thing for you is to find enough land, which almost for sure means getting out side the city limits, unless you have a ton of money. I think you are on the right path, going south is nearest open areas. Commute will **** though.

One idea that some have pursued, is look at commercial space. If it has an office area, might be able to convert that to living area. You are the night security, wink wink. Get a PO Box for mail, so you are not "living" there. Or create a business name and act like it is a business, AirMissile Industries, for example. The problem becomes that most commercial space is not zoned for living in. Better if you own the space rather than rent.

 

[qdvuu]

I live in Scotts Valley and work in Silicon Valley. As others have noted, there's not much in the way of large acreage with easy commutes. Here are a few resources you may find useful:

techshop.com - It may be worthwhile to get a membership and use their tools. Also, apparently you can leave projects sitting in the parking lot (at least in the Redwood City location).

clubautosport.net - You can rent a workspace/storage space there.

Check out Ames Research Park at Moffett Field. Perhaps you can rent one of the industrial buildings, but you'd probably have to do it as a company rather than as an individual. I love the old gas station at the corner of Westcoat and Cody.

 

[jd_1138]

Maybe post an ad on CL looking for someone who wants to rent out their garage. You definitely don't want a long drive to get to your tools and projects.

Or buying a house with a garage would be a tidy investment.

I am from the South Bay Area/Silicon Valley. The prices are insane there. My brother and his wife pay like $2,100/month rent for a 2 bedroom house. And the landlords are pretty bad there because they know they can rent it out ASAP, so they don't provide any customer service. Their washing machine broke, and he refused to fix it (came with the house), and told them to go buy one.

They've been renting there for 15 years. I told him 15 years ago to instead just buy a house and build equity. They would've owned a house by now.

 

[Steevo]

For a while in the 1980's, I rented a commercial space in one of the many "industrial complexes" in the San Jose area. It had 1200 sq ft of open shop space, a 200 sq ft office with a bathroom, front and rear roll-up doors, and three phase power.
I parked a 26' RV inside, plumbed a drain from the holding tank to the shop bathroom, and lived/worked there for two years.
It wasn't cheap, but was less than a condo or a 2br apt. in the same vicinity.

 

[crab]

If you aren't paid enough to live the way you want to in the bay area but you can make enough to live like you want in N.M. then what are you doing there. I'm not being a smart ***, just putting things in perspective. Your cost are at least as important as your income, maybe more. I know people that have lived in the bay all there lives who could sell there little stucco and chicken wire house and move to the Midwest and never need to work again but they wont leave. I like the bay area but I can't afford to live there. Then there is the Ca. politics and the population density, no thanks.

 

[kbs2244]

Steevo has the idea.
"Park" an RV of some kind in a industrial or commerical building.
Owned or rented.

And do not feel so bad.
I just read a story about someone living in an 80 SF space in NYC.
That is a 8x10 room!!
And a work from home as well.
Had to do all the boat style space saving tricks.
(Desk under the bed, toilet stall as sit down shower, etc, etc)

 

[Marc Benjamin]

I seriously doubt that you as a transplant into Silicon Valley can find a 2000sq hobby space that you can afford. Even if you are making 100k/year in tech it's just very unlikely. Scratch unlikely, it's just not possible there.

Heck, people are renting their 1 or 2 (small) car garages out there as apartments nowadays for at least a thousand.

Your best bet is probably to find a garage share situation. Well till the owner wises up and turns the space into lofts.

 

[stang2007]

Moved out of the bay for just this reason, 500K will buy a porta-potty.

moved about 30 min away from Sacramento . open space, small city could not be happier. but then again my company set me up with a home office to work from.

anywhere with enough land that wont break the bank will be in the "bad" part of town.. IE Oakland, Hayward (not in the hills). south is prob your best bet, but lots of hoops to jump through for permits ETC...

 

[Modern Jess]

I seriously doubt that you as a transplant into Silicon Valley can find a 2000sq hobby space that you can afford. Even if you are making 100k/year in tech it's just very unlikely. Scratch unlikely, it's just not possible there.

Agreed. It's so unlikely as to be not possible. You could probably find a house with a smaller workshop in back (they're out there) but you didn't say what your budget is.

 

[Uncle Dave]

Trust me, there are are lot worse places you could be ''stuck''.

 

[Modern Jess]

Trust me, there are are lot worse places you could be ''stuck''.

This. Despite all the problems that the Bay Area has (traffic, housing shortages, etc), and all the problems that California has (most of which are greatly overstated), I don't think I'll ever be inclined to leave.

 

[ishiboo]

Hey everyone,

I moved to the Bay Area for work roughly a year and a half ago. I came from Albuquerque where I had a 3 car garage(which wasn't big enough). I spent most weekends working in the garage on many different projects. Welding furniture, working on cars etc. All of my tools and cars are still in Albuquerque in storage and its driving me nuts.

I have now realized I am going to be stuck in the Bay Area for some time because this is where the jobs are for what I do(Internet things). I am trying to figure out how to have a 2000+ sq ft shop within an hour drive of Sunnyvale(without breaking the bank).

I have started looking online for land down in Gilroy and Hollister but I have no clue what the process would be(or if its possible) to build a giant steel building on said land. My concerns are around permits and this wacky state. Ideally I would have a small apartment in the building where I would live.

I am also open to consider warehouse space but I have similar concerns there.


Any and all input would be appreciated.

You're screwed. I moved to Sunnyvale, then south San Jose, then Santa Clara.

Carefully consider the costs of living, working, travel, etc. when you consider the much higher wages of Silicon Valley. 2000 square foot shop without breaking the bank is not going to happen in the valley... Gilroy is an option but still $$. The further you go, the more you can afford.

 

[ishiboo]

Moved out of the bay for just this reason, 500K will buy a porta-potty.

moved about 30 min away from Sacramento . open space, small city could not be happier. but then again my company set me up with a home office to work from.

anywhere with enough land that wont break the bank will be in the "bad" part of town.. IE Oakland, Hayward (not in the hills). south is prob your best bet, but lots of hoops to jump through for permits ETC...

East Palo Alto... and even that's getting $$.

 

[ojahunzhe]

I think you are on the right path, going south is nearest open areas. Commute will **** though.

 

[crab]

East Palo Alto... and even that's getting $$.

East Palo Alto has changed a lot, not so bad or cheap anymore. Guess that land is worth to much to have a ghetto on it. South San Francisco might be worth a look, not to bad and a lot of small industry there. wouldn't be to bad of a commute, you'd be going against most of the traffic. Hayward is worth a look to. The bay area is one of the few places I know of where people will buy a house so they can bulldoze it and build a house, really. They've been out of land for a long time.

 

[Cobra_Bob]

I lived in Monterey and San Ramon. People kept moving farther and farther out...and the traffic got worse and worse. I watched them bulldoze down mountains and throw up neighborhoods almost overnight. Incredible area, but eventually overrun with people, their money, and their agendas. It was time to leave.

 

[My Old Tools]

Internet jobs are everywhere. Look in Dallas and Austin.

 

[eastbaysubaru]

This. Despite all the problems that the Bay Area has (traffic, housing shortages, etc), and all the problems that California has (most of which are greatly overstated), I don't think I'll ever be inclined to leave.

QFT. Plus, my family is all here and I actually enjoy spending time with them.

-Brian

 

[funks]

Concord? Livermore? Tracy? - Traffic will kill you though..

 

[Ted_Deits]

Garagae condo? How about a new facility in Monterey CA. ?

http://monstoregarages.com/index.html

 

[TAMPAGT07]

I just read a story about someone living in an 80 SF space in NYC.That is a 8x10 room!!

Yupp.....Thousands of people live on the "Island."

Rikers Island....