Moving to NorCal?

[FrekeChild]

AMC, I'm on the southern end. It's hot and politically conservative!

Gypsy, those restaurant/grocery costs are crazy! We had dinner with 3 other couples this weekend. Nice place in the city (not posh). 2 apps to share, 6 entrees, 1 celebration cake, 1 bottle of wine to share, 3 cocktails/beers. Total was 100 per couple with tip. I am feeling sticker shock when I read about 70 bucks for pizza and salads. We pay $18 per ticket for Art Institute so that's same as MOMA. But the food costs are shocking. Isn't CA an agricultural state?

CA is a high cost of living state. It's also a VERY large state. Land in any of the areas with great jobs is ridiculous so yes, we have farms but most are in the central valley. What does that mean? Shipping. Which means GAS and commuting which equals $$$$ added to the price of that produce. You can get GREAT grocery prices in the centra valley. You just won't find any jobs out there.

We do have lovely farmer's markets though and in terms of produce in the summer you can get some nice deals. But you have to understand that a lot of it is organic and 'small farm' produced so it's not CHEAP frequently, just more affordable than the grocery store (and 1000 times better tasting). But milk, eggs, bread, meat... all of it is expensive.

Tickets to the aquarium are 35 a person: http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/vi/tickets.aspx?c=tn

I live in probably the cheapest area in CA, and I can tell you that produce HERE is cheap. I can go to the local Mexican market and pay less than $20 for 30-40 pounds of produce, plus some kind of meat product (ribs, etc) and tortillas. For instance, I can get 4 Hass avocados for $1 there. I can go to Vons, and it's maybe a dollar per avocado. Which is still cheaper than our best prices in NM, at maybe $1.50-$2 per avocado. But I'm at the southern end of the agricultural area, so that stuff has 1. minimal area to travel from and 2. cheap rent, etc.

Also, there is a lot lot lot of oil money out here. I see some really big diamonds floating around down here in the nice areas.

 

[amc80]

AMC, I'm on the southern end. It's hot and politically conservative!

Ah, I think I know exactly where you are My ex was from there so I spent a lot of time in that lovely town.

 

[tammy77]

Thank you for the responses! Very helpful!

minousbijoux, I had heard about the traffic there (although more about LA traffic than Bay Area) and I will mention this point to DH. Also, I was researching homes on trulia and noticed some suburban listings mentioning easy access to BART. I did read about the school lottery system and wow, I don't even want to imagine the uproar that would cause if someone suggested it here! OMG, people would be pissed.

tammy77, Sacramento isn't on our list at all, hehe. You mentioned the schools in your town are great. Does your town have the lottery system as well or has that been proposed at any point? The towns we have been looking at are Los Gatos (sounds totally like our kind of place!) and the LAMORINDA areas. Most listings in the Los Altos and PA area are too $$$. Haven't done any research on parts of the LA area, mostly because the possibility of DH finding a job there is low.

Sorry I didn't get back sooner. We live in San Ramon and we don't have any lottery issues at all. It's pointless because the schools in the city are ALL good. You just go to the one you're residence is assigned to. We looked at Dublin/Pleasanton, San Ramon, Walnut Creek, Lafayette and Orinda/Moraga. We just lucked out on our condo by hitting it off with our landlady who bought so long ago (1980's) that she charges WAY less than fair market value.

Regarding BART, I've used it and it's pretty convenient. I get on in Dublin/West Dublin when I ride and it takes me about 45 min to get to SF.

 

[FrekeChild]

AMC, I'm on the southern end. It's hot and politically conservative!

Ah, I think I know exactly where you are My ex was from there so I spent a lot of time in that lovely town.

Lovely?! Lol....

(Really, it could be a lot worse, I actually like it more than I sound like I do right now, but I'm sooooooo homesick right now, it's ridiculous. We eat so much more produce now...)

ruby, for the record, I'm about a 4 hour drive to the Bay Area/San Jose.

 

[kenny]

I recommend the northern San Diego area, Del Mar, Carlsbad, Encinitas, Leucadia etc.

 

[Dancing Fire]

[quote="FrekeChild|1362506973|AMC, I'm on the southern end. It's hot and politically conservative!

[/quote]


Freke,are you OK??...

 

[FrekeChild]

[quote="FrekeChild|1362506973|AMC, I'm on the southern end. It's hot and politically conservative!

Freke,are you OK??... [/quote]
Yup. I just keep my head down and pretend I like Rush Limbaugh. So far, so good.

 

[Dancing Fire]

[quote="FrekeChild|1362506973|AMC, I'm on the southern end. It's hot and politically conservative!

Freke,are you OK??...

Yup. I just keep my head down and pretend I like Rush Limbaugh. So far, so good.[/quote]


just don't mention the name Chris Matthews..

 

[webdiva]

A vote for SoCal here. I don't like the beachy areas, but like the areas the regular folks live in like the LA Fairfax district, Mid-wilshire, Silver Lake, Eagle Rock. Regarding how friendly folks are, I find that when I'm in a chatty mood, people will chat with me. If I'm not, I can left alone. We know all our neighbors, we attend neighborhood council events and have met so many new folks, and I volunteer for a couple of organizations and its easy to meet new people. If there's someone suspicious in the area, my retired neighbors will question them. They've all lived here 10-25 years, we're the newbies!

Hubby is a local and I find the people who grew up here are friendlier and chattier, the people who moved from other areas are not as chatty. Mom visited from Toronto and keeps saying how nice people are here, especially at stores. It probably helps that we walk everywhere and have our big friendly dogs with us most of the time.

The trick to not hating LA is to live close to your office or in the opposite direction of traffic. And to take advantage of the great hikes within 5-30 minutes of the city. There's nothing like a sunny hike overlooking the city in the middle of winter! There are parks hiding everywhere the most locals have never been to, and it's fun exploring!

Plus, we have fantastic restaurants, especially cheap ethnic restaurants. I can giant delicious samosas in the middle of the city for $1 each! The fresh veggies available fuel a whole host of market fresh inspired chefs. And awesome outdoor seating for us and the pooches.

Houses in the better school districts are within your price range, we have great prices on food at ethnic markets, fresh and easy and Trader Joe's. Property taxes are 1.25% of the purchase price of the house. We walk or ride our bikes everywhere within a few miles of our house. Public transportation isn't great unless you live on a metro line. You learn to drive places in off hours or take secret back roads.

Best of luck whatever you decide! If you can rent out your home and rent here for a couple years, it would be a fun adventure to try out the area!

 

[rubyshoes]

Thanks for all the amazing advice and suggestions, everyone!

DH and I came to a decision. We would like to move to CA for a period of 4-5 years and then come back to IL. He is going to start looking for jobs there in 6 months time. If/when we get a good offer, the plan is to rent out our house here (we have a depressed market here anyway) and rent a place there as close to his job as possible. We can always shorten or lengthen our stay if we like it but the plan is to think of it as a short-term adventure. Hubby also thinks it will be better for his career to get a vertical position there rather than here as most SV companies have a LOT of cache/pedigree compared to IL companies. When it's time to return home, he'll have a better resume to show for his CA stay. And we'll have had a chance to experience life on the West Coast.

 

[sonnyjane]

Thanks for all the amazing advice and suggestions, everyone!

DH and I came to a decision. We would like to move to CA for a period of 4-5 years and then come back to IL. He is going to start looking for jobs there in 6 months time. If/when we get a good offer, the plan is to rent out our house here (we have a depressed market here anyway) and rent a place there as close to his job as possible. We can always shorten or lengthen our stay if we like it but the plan is to think of it as a short-term adventure. Hubby also thinks it will be better for his career to get a vertical position there rather than here as most SV companies have a LOT of cache/pedigree compared to IL companies. When it's time to return home, he'll have a better resume to show for his CA stay. And we'll have had a chance to experience life on the West Coast.

I think that's a great plan. I live in Southern California and have been here for a little more than 4 years. As many others have said, there are a lot of pros and cons. While I enjoy living here right now, this is absolutely NOT where DH and I would like to have a family or spend our retirement years. It's great for an "adventure" and then you can always relocate if you like!

 

[rubyshoes]

Thanks Sonnyjane