What could this San Jose couple afford for $1.5 million?

Nishant Singh and Apeqsha Dudani met as students at Santa Clara University. Upon graduating, they didn’t stray far.

“We never moved out,” Singh joked.

Although Singh had grown up in Mumbai and Dudani in Dubai, they both fell in love with the South Bay, spending their weekends hiking the Santa Teresa Hills or discovering new restaurants — and both decided they wanted to build a life here. They found jobs at tech companies — Singh, 30, is a data engineer and Dudani, 32, is a business analyst — and up until March, they had been renting a two-bedroom in Santa Clara, not far from a group of close college friends who also stuck around.

But the apartment started to feel small when, in January, the couple learned they were expecting a baby. With their daughter due in July, Singh and Dudani decided to take the leap and buy a home in the Bay Area. “We thought, since interest rates were high, there wouldn’t be a lot of buyers,” Singh said.

Don’t be so sure, their agent, Jeet Dholakia, advised them. Even with interest rates around 7%, the Bay Area market was still flush with buyers, and there would be fierce competition for homes in their price range, between $1.3 and $1.5 million, just below the median home price in Santa Clara County of $1.8 million.

Singh and Dudani had a few priorities — they wanted a single-family home with at least three bedrooms and enough space to host their parents for long visits. Since both had attended public schools, they also wanted to live in a good school district. To find something that checked all their boxes, and stayed under budget, they began considering nearby cities, including San Jose and Fremont.

“That’s the thing about the Bay Area — you can’t get everything, but we didn’t want to sacrifice things like space and school,” Singh said.

Here were the options they considered:

No. 1: Split-Level in Cambrian Park

This four-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath home was built in 1966. It boasted a spacious interior — with 1,996 square feet — plus a patio and fruit trees in the backyard. The Singhs liked that it was in a coveted San Jose neighborhood — near Cambrian Park — close to good schools. But it was also on a somewhat busier street, which could have made backing their car out of the driveway difficult. They could also hear some of the street noise from inside the house. It was listed at $1,499,000.

No. 2: Home with a Sun Room in Fremont

The previous owners of this 1,434-square-foot home, built in 1962, had recently added new flooring and recessed lights, updated bathrooms and upgraded the kitchen with stainless steel appliances. The bedrooms were spacious, and it came with a bonus sunroom not included in the square footage. Unfortunately, because of the sunroom, the living room didn’t get as much light. The home was located a short walk from a nearby elementary school, but far from some of their friends in Santa Clara. It was listed at $1,298,000.

No. 3: Ranch with Lots of Space in South San Jose

This four-bedroom, two-bathroom home was built in 1968 and came with limestone floors in the kitchen, a large, bright living room, and solar panels already installed on the roof. The home was in a school district that they liked, but at the south end of San Jose, it was far from their community in Santa Clara. The home was the largest option they looked at — 1,755 square feet — and was listed for $1,339,000.

So which one did they choose?