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21^#

發表於 08-5-8 07:39 |只看該作者

Any moms here live in Saratoga??
If so, how do you like the area and the schools there?

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meeemeee

複式洋房

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22^#

發表於 08-5-9 11:14 |只看該作者

Hi SY_Mom,

I heard different things from different parents (including my sister-in-law who had daughters in Challenger)about the school. I only got ONE message out from different comments...it's all about your kid's personality and if he/she cam adopt the Challenger way of learning & its curriculum. Some kids do well while other kids fail. It's not about the kids' intelligence/ IQ/EQ/talent. Some kids I know did just so so at Challenger and were not happy in that environment. After they transferred to another school, they had a huge improvement in all areas and became very positive & happy.

You can keep asking for people's opinions and I'm sure you will continue to hear different things (pros & cons). But please remember, those people's opinions were JUST based on their own kid(s). Their experiences with the school(s)/feelings only applied to them/their family/their kids but it may not apply to you/your family/your kid.

I know people with kids in all kinds of school systems (Montessori Schools, Challenger, Christian Schools, Catholic Schools, Public Schools (low rating to top rating). No one knows your son better than you, so pick the one that fits his personality.

warmest regards,
meeemeee

原文章由 SY_Mom 於 08-4-27 15:14 發表
meeemeee,

those're the ones that we have to pick one soon in order to avoid the extra 2-month non-refundable tuition deposit. we'd already turned down the one in campbell which also asked for $2600 ...

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23^#

發表於 08-5-9 12:16 |只看該作者

meeemeee,

thanks for yr detailed info.

i think most kids have no problems with the challenger's ways if they start their preschool there at the very beginning. however, there might be a big adjustment to them if they come from a different school environment, esp. developmental preschool.
my son is in a montessori chrisitan preschool starting from 3. when he switched to the current preschool from the christian preschool where he went to at 2, it took him some time to adjust.

we'd enrolled him for their summer school to see if it works for him. it's at a different campus though, coz there're no spaces available for summer at the campus that we picked. if he doesn't fit in, we'll need to "execute" our back-up plan.

i want him to try, coz it seems to me that the kids from challenger are disciplined and well-behaved. also, their reading cirriculum is pretty strong. i think their kindergarten's reading level might be at the 2nd grade level (compared to public schools).

原文章由 meeemeee 於 08-5-9 11:14 發表
Hi SY_Mom,

I heard different things from different parents (including my sister-in-law who had daughters in Challenger)about the school. I only got ONE message out from different comments...it's all ...

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24^#

發表於 08-5-10 17:29 |只看該作者

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babygigi

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25^#

發表於 08-5-12 02:10 |只看該作者

搭訕
babysiu, 我見YBlog有個Blogger用你用緊你張BB相﹐但我稔BLOG主唔係你黎的...

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26^#

發表於 08-5-12 15:17 |只看該作者

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27^#

發表於 08-5-13 00:55 |只看該作者

原文章由 babesiu 於 08-5-10 17:29 發表
３０萬咁平？我朋友果間係Daly City十年前都三十幾萬．你地想搵樓做mortgage搵佢囉．佢好熟咖．

$300K is a minimum. Of course, Daly City is more popular area, particularly for Chinese; it's close to SF but lower in price. For DC, the minimum should be around $4XXk now (has just dropped a bit recently). My hubby is looking for houses in DC and Union City these days. We have checked out some houses in DC - a 4B2B with a big backyard costs around $500K but needs a lot of fixing works. Some of them even are cheaper but the neighborhood is not that good. So, I think that it takes some time for us to really buy a real house for our family.

花旗太太生活在花旗國，留意時差，你問我未必即時答到。

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28^#

發表於 08-5-13 01:26 |只看該作者

rose-mag,

per mrs. chao (another mom in here), the houses in union city are pretty good-deal wor ....
for the houses in daly city, i would prefer the ones closed to skyline blvd.

原文章由 rose-mag 於 08-5-13 00:55 發表

$300K is a minimum. Of course, Daly City is more popular area, particularly for Chinese; it's close to SF but lower in price. For DC, the minimum should be around $4XXk now (has just dropped a bit ...

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29^#

發表於 08-5-13 02:09 |只看該作者

原文章由 SY_Mom 於 08-5-13 01:26 發表
rose-mag,

per mrs. chao (another mom in here), the houses in union city are pretty good-deal wor ....
for the houses in daly city, i would prefer the ones closed to skyline blvd.

SY_Mom,
Yes, I know that the price of houses in Union City has dropped a lot recently. Actually, my hubby targeted at UC first as he has friends living there. If we move there, he can hang out with them all the times. Just started from a few weeks before, he started to check also Daly City as it's closer to SF where our parents live. He has just checked out some houses in West Lake. There are 1 next to a school and another one closed to Bart station.

But, we still have not made up our minds to buy a house yet. First of all, he's going to be 50 soon and it's a little bit risky to buy a house at such an age. Secondly, my mom will not come to live with us so I have to think about babysit issue for both my son and my daughter. Thirdly, my hubby is the type that he would like to wait and see and that's why I said that it may take some times for us to really buy a house

花旗太太生活在花旗國，留意時差，你問我未必即時答到。

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30^#

發表於 08-5-14 17:09 |只看該作者

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31^#

發表於 08-5-15 03:18 |只看該作者

原文章由 babesiu 於 08-5-14 17:09 發表
其實而家入市都係時候因為減咗咁多息．遲ｄ次按問題明朗化後，樓市可能掉頭升，咁就買貴貨喇．仲有你話你先生已經五十，如果要做mortage銀行唔知易唔易批喎．

...

Yes, it is a good time to buy a house as the prices have been reduced in many different cities. My hubby's friend is a realty agent and he's our advisor on checking the neighborhood and the information of individual houses. So far, he also recommends us to search now. He also bought his new house 2 months ago with good deal in a nice neighborhood. My hubby is going to be 50 but he has a very good credit score. We have initially checked with 2 different banks and we received advance approval on mortgage already. The terms we were given are quite good. But, we just wonder should we buy a house or just keep rent the current apartment (maybe waiting for someone move out and rent one more in the same building so that we can have more space for the kids in the future). Even though we can put more down payment, my hubby may have to delay his retirement to pay off the house or my son has to take up the mortgage later. It's always a dilemma - to buy a house in good school district and send the kids to public school or stay in SF and send them to good private school. We're still debating.

花旗太太生活在花旗國，留意時差，你問我未必即時答到。

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32^#

發表於 08-5-15 11:10 |只看該作者

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mrschao

別墅

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33^#

發表於 08-5-15 12:18 |只看該作者

Rose-mag,

In terms of weather and environment, I vote for Union City over Daly City. You can hang out with me in UC!! But you also need to consider where you and your husband work, as well as the advantage of having your parents close by if you stay near SF city. Child care is definitely a big issue. A big chunk of your income will go to child care on top on mortgage.

I also vote for buying instead of renting. Maybe it's traditional Asian mind set, I think it's always better to own your place.

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34^#

發表於 08-5-16 00:04 |只看該作者

原文章由 babesiu 於 08-5-15 11:10 發表
我覺得買樓都係積累財富既方法之一（provided你唔係摸頂買啦）．供滿咗可以賣樓套現轉租．但如果係租，個個月比出去二，三十年後間屋都係人地既．你退咗休都仲要搵錢交租喎．．．．不過美國既情況可能同香港唔同既．

...

babesiu,
The situation is a little bit complicated - the apartment building we are renting now is belonged to my 62 and my hubby has a share in it. But, my 62 is a typical old Toyshan Chinese and he will not let us live there for free (actually, our rent is higher than some of the tenants who live there for so many years). For some reasons, my hubby and I do want our own house instead of keep complaining to my 62 and 99 not fixing this or that in the apartment. The traditional old toyshan Chinese in here are mostly cheap even to their children. However, since my mom is helping me to take care of my daughter and the daycare fee of my son is only $800 per month, I really dare to make a decision to move now. I want to wait until my kids going to pre-school but it talks about 2-3 years' time and its' hard to predict the property prices at that time.

花旗太太生活在花旗國，留意時差，你問我未必即時答到。

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35^#

發表於 08-5-16 00:43 |只看該作者

原文章由 mrschao 於 08-5-15 12:18 發表
Rose-mag,

In terms of weather and environment, I vote for Union City over Daly City. You can hang out with me in UC!! But you also need to consider where you and your husband work, as well as the adv ...

mrschao,
I know that the weather in UC is better, at least warmer and not so foggy. You know, when I know that my hubby is considering UC, I'm quite happy as we can meet each other and have playdates for our kids. My husband works in San Mateo and commuting only takes very short time as he starts working at 7am. Traffic would not be a problem. However, if I still work in SF, it may take me a lot of time on commuting. Yes, childcare is an issue. Since my mom takes care of my daughter pretty good, moving out of SF means that I need to find daycare for both Spencer and Amanda. Amanda is really picky on letting people feed and hold her. She will not let anybody other than my mom to feed her and she's very seletive on letting people to hold her. She cries crazy if she does not want that person to hold her or feed her. Also, daycare out there in UC or nearby area should be much more expensive than in SF. So, I'm still 15/16 on the decision of moving out of SF. However, I and my hubby do not like the school system in SF. A lot of my friends told me that investing on daycare now means saving on sending kids to private school later.

Well, just like your case, finding the house you like and at the right price may take a long time. Particularly that my hubby is very picky and undecisive, I think that it may take some times for us to physically own a house.

花旗太太生活在花旗國，留意時差，你問我未必即時答到。

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mrschao

別墅

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36^#

發表於 08-5-16 06:01 |只看該作者

Rosemag, childcare center in UC will be well over $1000 a month for each child. My sister is paying $1600 a month for her 1.5 year-old boy. I am paying around $1300 for two, but my kids are a little older. Home-based may be cheaper. It'll be best if your mom is willing to move with you and help you for a couple years.

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37^#

發表於 08-5-17 01:45 |只看該作者

rose-mag,

actually we hv a relative who's paying around $700 a month for a 3-bed/2 bath apartment in richmond district. and that's an incentive for them not buying a house although they've lived in SF for a long time.

however, per my personal experience, it might be wise for u to buy asap as the house prices are going up eventually. for a house that costed $1m 5 years ago, now it could costs $1.5m in the top school district. that means the property tax is going up too. we're kinda regret that we were too busy to buy another house and moved 4 to 5 yrs ago.

do u think yr mom can stay with u in the new house during the weekdays and help taking care of yr kids and go back home in SF for the weekends? one of our neighbors do that.

原文章由 rose-mag 於 08-5-16 00:43 發表

mrschao,
I know that the weather in UC is better, at least warmer and not so foggy. You know, when I know that my hubby is considering UC, I'm quite happy as we can meet each other and have playdat ...

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mrschao

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38^#

發表於 08-5-17 07:35 |只看該作者

I also agree to buy asap. Houses around top schools are always of high demand. Just keep looking and if you see one that you and your husband like, don't hesitate or wonder if pricse will drop more later. If you are buying for 自住 not investment, price value will increase in the long run.

原文章由 SY_Mom 於 08-5-17 01:45 發表
rose-mag,

actually we hv a relative who's paying around $700 a month for a 3-bed/2 bath apartment in richmond district. and that's an incentive for them not buying a house although they've lived in ...

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