[quote=davidaaronhart…]I completely disagree with some of your statements. I think any buyer with children should be concerned with teacher pensions. Currently CA ranks 47th in spending per student and this coincidentally strongly relates to achievement levels. Do you think the schools here are going to get better or worse? I have lived away from the beach and I did miss it, but that being said I also found many things to do that were just as fun. I have surfed for the last 25 years and I know i am not going pro anytime soon, its just another hobby I have lots of them. currently financial stabilty and my children are more important. I have no desire to sit in traffic for multiple hours a day commuting back and forth from Rancho Bernardo. I am curious as to where these top notch schools are where one can find a Single family home for $350k in San Diego County? I am also curious for someone who has never lived somewhere how do you know the traffic is horrendous? Lastly in regards to wages there are far more companies leaving California than there are coming here to setup shop. How do you think that is going to effect the market longterm?[/quote]
david, do you know the formula used to calculate teacher pensions in AZ school districts?
I have an aunt who taught in “Buckeye” (what was once very tiny … now part of the PHX exurban “megalopolis”) for 34 years. Now retired, she and her spouse were able to buy a HUGE spread in a “flyover southwest state” and now “farm” a few goats and poultry in their “leisure.” She also built a cedar art studio/gallery in a wing in their house, where she indulges her lifetime oil-painting hobby.
Even though food, utilities and property taxes are expensive (by CA standards) where they now live, neither she nor her spouse will ever have to go to work another day in their lives, thanks to her “AZ teacher pension” :=D
Two summers ago, she took us in her pickup for a 2+ hour grand tour of all of her leased grazing land :=D
They made enough by selling their long-owned Buckeye parcels to a residential builder (who immed subdivided it) to buy the 100+ AC property in rural flyover America. Those days are now gone in the (grossly overbuilt) PHX area.
Oh, one thing she DID tell me about the school where she taught was that even with all the federal money it received for educating Native American children (from on and off reservations), many of her students had so many “life issues” that it was difficult for them to pay attention in class, get their work done and their graduation rate was dismal. She told me that this problem was prevalent in schools all over the state.
Of course, nearly ALL of them were on the “free breakfast and lunch” program and all the teachers were trained in various “social work” functions so they could direct the parents/guardians of their students to the appropriate agency(s) for assistance.
I drive through PHX up to eight times per year (4 RT’s to rural “flyover America”), either staying on I-10 to Las Cruces, NM or connecting with I-17 to Flagstaff to I-40 (thru to ABQ, NM for the night). I’ve had to get off both I-10 and I-17 multiple times in PHX (even on a Sunday) and take surface streets to the next fwy due to sitting still for 45 mins + in miles-long traffic jams and accidents.
david, are you stating here that you only tried to find a $350K property in and around Rancho Bernardo? Have you investigated other, lesser-expensive areas in SD County which would be up to a ~30 min commute for you to RB? And how far did you plan to commute to work in AZ if you lived in that 4-5/3/3 *newer* house that you posted about? Of course, you have no idea how far your spouse would have to commute in PHX, because she doesn’t even have a job there yet. Do you?
Why don’t you ask yourself what kind of jobs (low-paying boiler-room, anyone?) CA “lost” to the state of AZ. Good riddance. The working conditions sucked and they didn’t even pay a “living wage” here and they don’t pay one in AZ either.
All I’m saying here is that the “grass isn’t always greener” somewhere else if one or both of you already have a good job in SD County. Especially NOT in AZ! If you have only “shopped” for a house in areas where they are $450K+, of course you haven’t found a $350K house!
Simply put, you have been shopping in the wrong areas in SD County for your price range.
