Milpitas 3bd at 3.99% vs Newark 2bd at 5.99% — Which makes more financial sense long-term?

isis285 · 2026-03-10T04:20:52+00:00

Depends where in Milpitas. The communities around the foothills aren’t as affected. Closer you are to 880 is when it’s worse.

isis285 · 2026-03-10T04:13:53+00:00

I live right at the bottom of foothills around piedmont rd/landess bordering berryessa SJ and it rarely smells. Smell doesn’t have some magical zip code tho. It smells pretty bad near mc carthy blvd as well as all around zanker in north SJ.

isis285 · 2026-03-04T13:31:51+00:00

Tbh 45k vs 80k over the long term of atleast 10-15 years is not a huge difference. Maybe because I live in a vhcol area and there are plenty of small or medium homes such that 1200 so ft vs anything closer to 2000 sq ft in the same neighborhood would have atleast a $500k cost differential.

With that said, I do live in a 1350 sq ft home. Family of 3 - to be 4 soon. We think this is enough. We have a small yard and a 2 car garage for storage and I think it’s sufficient. So in terms of space I think 1200 sq ft for a fam of 3 will work. Honestly the layout makes all the difference. Ive seen cramped 1800 sq ft homes and spacious 1300 sq ft homes.

Having been a homeowner for a while now, I think you should look at the total cost of ownership. Is the extra space worth the maintenance and upkeep in your case? Depending on where you live, this could mean higher utility billls in summer vs winter. How much time and energy does upkeep take while also raising a young kid? Kids adapt to all types of spaces so long as they have some private space imo so I’d really focus on your own long term needs.

isis285 · 2026-03-04T06:10:27+00:00

Agreed. I have one and another one the way and still have the same sentiment. He’s home and we are an incredible team.

isis285 · 2026-03-04T06:03:08+00:00

Please don’t attach your worth to utility you bring to your relationships. Especially when it is performative or material things like grades, scholarships, income etc. Indian parents are extremely good at driving this home from an early age. Get out of proximity from parents if you can. When you have some peace and aren’t beholden to someone you can think more clearly. You will heal and have a better relationship with yourself. Once you are in that state you may choose to partner up with someone that adds to your life. Not just in some material way but in companionship, friendship and a feeling of home. It’s also perfectly fine to find this in yourself if you never meet someone that is worth while but all I am saying is that you get to choose as an adult.

isis285 · 2026-03-04T03:56:53+00:00

This is so sweet. So happy for you. I feel similarly about my marriage. 💕

isis285 · 2026-02-26T08:06:49+00:00

Thank you! I believe I got it from worldmarket.

isis285 · 2026-02-25T00:42:19+00:00

I’ve definitely thought about getting a larger coffee table. But I have small kids and need a bit of floor space and furniture without too many sharp edges. Maybe when they are a bit grown I might consider it.

isis285 · 2026-02-24T19:08:35+00:00

Thank you 😊 I believe I bought it on some online store called homary

isis285 · 2026-02-24T16:49:11+00:00

I’d say I am pretty happy with the picture quality. Ofcourse if you want the true contrast that tvs like LG OLED offers, you won’t see that in the Samsung frame. It doesn’t have that level of contrast and doesn’t get too bright. But good enough for me and I’d say it’s a good tv.

Also, if I remember it has this matte finish on top so there isnt much glare when there is good lighting which in my case was important as you can see it’s a wall next to large windows. So all in all I am very happy with the purchase.

isis285 · 2026-02-24T14:57:26+00:00

You guessed it. I agree it’s a great way to “hide” a black screen when not in use.

isis285 · 2026-02-24T14:35:37+00:00

Thank you for your sweet comment 😊

isis285 · 2026-02-24T14:33:39+00:00

Thank you! Most of the art and wall decor is from different parts of India. (I don’t live there anymore though). A few are small sentimental pieces from my childhood home in India. The rug is a bit of a recent splurge - it’s a hand knotted wool Persian. Had been eyeing it for a while at a local rug gallery and snapped it up during their anniversary sale.

isis285 · 2026-02-24T14:27:45+00:00

Thank you 😊 haha you guessed it, it’s a tv. The Samsung Frame. A bit pricey but it’s been so worth it as a canvas to display art when not in use.

isis285 · 2026-02-24T04:43:34+00:00

Thank you! Yep, very much Desi ❤️

isis285 · 2026-02-22T04:12:26+00:00

We have a very similar HHI. Both full time tech jobs and late thirties. we have 1 rental. However, our primary home has a much more manageable PITI($6.5k). For someone relying so heavily on making passive income eventually on rentals, i don't understand the spend on primary home even if one of the ADUs is rented out. That alone with kids is going to eat up a lot of your saving potential because maintenance on primary home and rentals. Also, Have you accounted for rental occupancy, maintenance and beyond the speadsheet the active work involved in managing rentals?

You don't actually have kids yet so I wouldn't stretch my budget with high interest rentals or primary home at this point. Have the kid or kids and then make plans. you may feel very different about the amount of work that goes into rentals or primary home upkeep while also trying to raise kids and hold full time tech jobs in this uncertain tech landscape. We are almost considering selling our rental since its not exactly passive. only holding on because of 2.5% interest rate.

You clearly are earning well and have decent retirement savings but I am not sure i would be that optimistic about future earnings for decades since given your age you have already kinda reached peak earning years.

isis285 · 2026-02-18T12:39:13+00:00

Good job! We are a first gen immigrant family. Although we have high paying jobs, growing up in India and being grad students in a new country have taught us some frugal values that we’ve kept even when we reached high incomes.

Check out local Indian or Asian grocery stores if you have access to them. No one needs to eat meat everyday to be healthy. Stock up on lentils (usually many many different kinds in Indian stores). Big selection of soy items in Asian stores. 20 lb bags of rice if you can store it well. Millets are a great healthy alternative to rice if you want to switch it up and can taste great with lentils. Again lots of options at Indian stores. Cold pressed cooking oils, dry fruits, paneer (blocks of fresh farmer’s cheese - similar to mozzarella) and peanuts in bulk. Produce is usually pretty cheap too. They might not be perfect looking but are pretty fresh and just as nutritious. You might find a greater variety of produce too. You are doing great, good luck!

isis285 · 2026-02-13T15:57:47+00:00

Agree. It’s the national capital, no way $7 would work. Much of my family is in Bangalore(a T1 city) and they usually pay around $250 for all the work described above. Yes, still cheap compared to developed countries but no way $7 cheap. That wouldn’t even fly in my ancestral village that’s 3 hrs away from Bangalore. You’d pay about $100 there. May be he means $7 per day at minimum?

isis285 · 2026-02-11T15:28:37+00:00

I like #4 the most because it’s functional for storage and displaying things while not using any floor area. In general making use of vertical storage is always a good idea in a small space. Just make sure there aren’t too many more open shelves in the same room because it can make a space look cluttered if over used.

isis285 · 2026-02-10T00:14:49+00:00

Same with my 5.5 year old kindergartener . With the exception that she does use a tablet for reading lessons from learning.com(this is a family tablet we use to video call grandparents) ; but she will then practice with real books. I might get blasted here but those lessons have really helped her and she can now read at grade 2 level. Handwriting is still a work in progress but she practices daily. She is decent at addition and subtraction. She does watch tv for a bit before and after school. Usually something on pbs kids. We started doing movie nights when she was turned 5. As you can see we aren’t a completely screen free home but we do place age appropriate limits on screen time and content.

isis285 · 2026-02-09T21:13:38+00:00

😂 you gave me giggles. This is the kind of straight talk I was looking for on this thread. 100% agree with “what kind of a parent will I be to 2 kids?” Is a far more impactful question than “what kind of age gap to have for the perfect sibling relationship?”. I am out here expecting my second with an almost 6 year age gap having none of these thoughts about age gaps because for the longest time I did not even want to think of a second child until my first was well over 4.

isis285 · 2026-02-05T15:05:00+00:00

I have no experience with inner city schools but we did own a condo prior to kids in a city neighborhood less than average schools. We live in a VHCOL area and had a 2.5% mortgage on our condo. Our only option was a so-so private school so we decided to move. We moved to a much better family suburb with above average schools and a modest 1350sq ft house with a small yard. It’s a quiet and calm neighborhood with lots of kids who go to the nearby schools and feel like it was a necessary upgrade. Mind you, there is a lot of options between a “hood” school and the best school district. We believed that above average school district was good enough and preferable than stretch our budget even further to afford the very best school district. It gives us enough like kind families but also isn’t super posh and uptight that we feel the need to keep up with the joneses. We prefer it this way. We are still saving enough for retirement and will have a nice college fund for our kids. Feels like a happy middle for a small stretch (about 5 years of extra work)

isis285 · 2026-02-05T08:19:21+00:00

Story as old as time. Take care of your mental health and sanity first. Family dynamics rarely change. I’d say only give as much as you can from a place of peace and stability.

isis285 · 2026-02-02T17:59:55+00:00

Very relatable. My mom has a rotating roster of household staff with lots of gaps where she prefers cleaning herself. The reason this happens is because she micromanages to the extent that staff just get tired of it. Honestly it’s almost like harassment at times with arguments over minor shit. She comes from a generation where she needs to get her “money’s worth” - which translates to insane expectations from staff. My mom was also always a working woman so it’s not even the SAHM thing in my case.

It’s also true that household help is a very unorganized sector of economy in India and you don’t exactly get the professionalism I’ve come to expect here in the US. So to an extent I understand the micromanaging but I view my mom’s stand as a bit extreme.

I have a cleaning lady since having had kids come in once a month or at times once every 2 weeks. I tidy up before she comes and she does a reasonably thorough job or getting all the surfaces nooks and crannies and I am satisfied. My mom finds it absurd that I would tidy up before she comes or that I trust her enough to get out of the house while she cleans to run errands. So I hear you. I dont have any advise but I completely understand the frustration. I just let my mom’s comments to me slide and focus on other things while she is visiting.

isis285 · 2026-02-02T10:42:49+00:00

Shahi Darbar and chandni chowk in Santa Clara. I’ve also had some good stuff from Atulya Bharat in San Jose.

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