After having lived here for nearly a decade, I can honestly say that I really enjoyed living here. If we hadn't expanded our family and wanting more space, I would have kept living here. We lived in a 2bdrm/2bath unit for such a long time, everyone was asking when we'd upgrade (for what reason though?), but honestly, it was just perfect for our living situation so we never felt the need for more.
Things I liked about Mission Terrace:
- Solid wood construction. This meant that we didn't even hear when our neighbors moved in and out. One time, we went to greet our new neighbors who we saw moved in and they were so stunned that we even lived next door! You literally can't hear your neighbors. It's quite lovely and rare to find now, haha.
- We could see the Great America fireworks weekend celebrations in the summer. It was the best view just sitting by our window and watching them for free and in peace.
- On clear days, the view of the western mountain range was a great reminder of the beauty of the south bay.
- Since it's a single condo building, our unit stayed a lot warmer in the winter. Once, we even felt the need to turn on the AC during the winter! So I definitely feel like we saved money on heating costs.
- Our specific unit had a fairly open living room design so it was nice to be able to prep and cook while watching tv and easily chat.
- The high ceilings of the units make every room feel much more spacious.
- The community is pretty quiet, which I enjoyed.
- While Mission Terrace is on the path to the stadium, the city planned it well so that we are not troubled by any stadium events or patrons. It was nice to be able to feel the lively energy from the event attendees without having to participate in the craziness if you didn't feel like it.
- I liked that the complex is within walking distance to the post office, Rivermark village, and that we had public access to Agnew park (which is located on Oracle's campus across the street).
What I didn't like:
- If you're facing Lafayette, depending on which unit you're in, that train can be LOUDDDDDDD. You get used to it though. For the better part of my decade living there, I got sooooo used to it that I couldn't tell you when the train came. It does get tiring to have to always explain the loud train to visitors though, haha.
- Neighbors really keep to themselves for the most part. This was both a pro and a con for me. I liked the quietness but there felt to be a lack of community.
I still have great memories of living here as the pros really outnumbered the cons. On another good note, when we sold, the HOA was getting better and better, which I was sad to be leaving and missing out on the good changes to come. Hopefully they continue to improve the community. Shout out to Patti Hoster of Community Association Management (CAM) who helped us deal with our incredibly inquisitive buyers who had a million and one questions. She was really great to work with.
(Previously I would have given Mission Terrace a 3 but the new management bumps it up to a 3.5. Since Yelp doesn't offer half star ratings, I'll generously round up to a 4, lol.) read more