Milpitas, from a cleaner's point of view
Sunnyhills went up in 1955 as one of the first racially integrated subdivisions in the country, and those modest single-story houses are still there, alongside Parktown and the streets around Cardoza Park. They are straightforward: three bedrooms, two baths, a slab, a carport or single garage, and a back yard. Most have been updated once. They are the easiest houses in the city to hold on a schedule.
The newer Milpitas is stacked. Around Midtown and the transit center, three- and four-level townhomes and podium condominiums have gone up in volume, each with a tandem garage at the bottom and bedrooms at the top. Add an association wanting vendor paperwork, a fob for the garage gate and a visitor bay that fills by nine, and access becomes the part worth planning. Summitpointe on the hill is different again: bigger homes, longer drives, real views and real wind.
The building stock here
Flatland stock runs 1,300 to 1,900 square feet, built between 1972 and 2001, two stories more often than one, with carpet upstairs and tile or laminate down. Slab foundations, attached garages, small level lots, and in the later tracts an association covering the front landscaping. The transit-area buildings are newer and taller: 1,200 to 1,800 square feet over three or four floors, all hard flooring, with balconies facing the prevailing bay wind that collect dust faster than anything indoors.