California dreaming… or hallucinating?

[(former)FormerSanDiegan]

Texas Leads California …

By a score of 14,602 to 6,732.
That’s a ratio of more than 2:1.

And the category is ….

Annual Per Capita Electricity Use (kWh).

Save the Planet. Move to California.

[(former)FormerSanDiegan]

Another Category where Texas leads California by 28%.

532.7 to 414.4

Annual U.S. Gasoline Per Capita Use

[(former)FormerSanDiegan]

Yet another category where Texas leads California …
Obesity

[img_assist|nid=2603|title=Fat People by State|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=213|height=500]

[(former)FormerSanDiegan]

Another category where Texas leads California …

Texas : 16.7%
California : 13.2%

This is the percentage of people living in poverty.

[(former)FormerSanDiegan]

The above facts (not stereotypes) indicate that Texas residents are relatively fat, wasteful, and poor, in comparison to Californians.

[(former)FormerSanDiegan]

California finally wins one …

Average Commute time:

California :25.15 minutes
Texas : 24.99 minutes

What do they do with those extra 9.6 seconds ?

[bigtrouble]

Make love to their fat wives, of course!

[gold_dredger_phd]

Who needs to live in a big city like New York or San Francisco.

Culture sucks!

Diversity sucks!

[PerryChase]

San Francisco is actually a medium city — smaller than San Diego in geography and population.

[kicksavedave]

I now might have a chance to repeat this same model again. I’m in discussions that could enable me to take a new position that would double my salary while depositing me in an area of CA that has housing prices that would enable a less than 3:1 homeprice to salary ratio (within 2.5 hours of SF). While I miss the heck out of OC and SD, I will NEVER indebt myself to the level I would need to in order to buy a nice home in a decent area there. I have come to fully subscribe to the notion of putting family financial health over personal indulgence – which is what a move back to SoCal would be for me given the current price environment and where the high paying jobs are. I like to fully fund my 401K, stock purchase plan, and have some left over for 529s, money market savings and taxable investements.

Does anyone else on this board share similar views?

————————————————–

YES, whole heartedly yes. Trust me, if I could afford a decent property in San Diego for anything close to 3:1 ratio, I’d be staying here forever. But even making a combined ~$170K, a 3:1 ratio gives us a selection of crummy condos, hideous tiny SFRs in run down neighborhoods, or nice properties in the land of commute hell. I will not spend an 2 hours a day in traffic (2 hours now, three hours in ten years) just so I have enough room for all my furniture.

I LOVE San Diego, but waiting for a $600K house to drop to $400K is insufferable. Rather, it looks like I’ll be moving (somewhere, not sure where yet) and finding twice the space for half that $400K price. With the $200K savings on housing, I’ll be taking awesome vacations, enjoying some expensive hobbies (flying, boating, skiing, etc), having the choice of public or private schools for my kids, and still saving a ton for retirement. What good is perfect weather when you can’t afford a pot to piss in?

The only question left is, where to end up? What is the trade off for surrendering perfect weather for financial viability? Brutal humidity and mosquitos the size of pidgeons? Snow storms from September to May? Flat dusty boring terrain with nothing to do for 750 miles? Decisions, decisions! 🙁

[ibjames]

I moved to San Diego from Milwaukee, WI. Milwaukee is a good place to live, and people generally don’t have too many bad things to say about it. Good schools, old traditions, and decent lifestyle.

We had a patio set, probably used it 5 times in two years. In the winter, can’t use it. Fall.. too cold.. rainy. Spring.. chilly.. rainy. Summer, hot, humid, buggy.

I could buy a nice house, and spend most of my time in it. To get people to go out is a pain, because no one wants to leave their house. Who wants to venture in the rain, or hang out when you are getting bitten by bugs, or have wet clothes from sweating from the humidity. Or pile on the clothes to sit on frozen car seats to venture to someones elses house because they didn’t want to go out either.

If you do go out, it’s to the mall or to the movies. Boating and bike riding and summer event, pack em in as much as possible. It’s May, but winter is around the corner. I rode a motorcycle, and I was like a weatherman in the summers I paid attention to the weather so much.

Can I get some Thai spicy noodles or pad thai? Can I try 10 versions of sushi and find the one I like best? Nope.. I never even met an asian person that spoke perfect english till my 1st job interview in SD!

The weather is a given, SD has great weather. I love it. The culture is great. We have that same patio set but never use it here also, because we are never home.

I participate in these forums because I would love to own someday, but it doesn’t define me. I suppose when the time comes maybe I’ll move to a place like Austin. My wife and I are going to vacation there to check it out, I’m in IT also. Maybe I won’t be able to leave the great things here and keep renting and just invest in rentals in Austin. We’ve been thinking about that too.

San Diego is a great place regardless. If we are having this discussion, then that means that something has to happen. If people just want to move because they can’t own. That means some serious change has to happen. I’m willing to wait it out. Owning a home isn’t everything.

[PerryChase]

I LOVE San Diego, but waiting for a $600K house to drop to $400K is insufferable.

No it's not…. patience, patience.  If you leave you'll regret it.  

kicksavedave, you're one of rare ones in San Diego who won't spend all his money on real estate.  Realtors will tell you that you can "afford" a million dollar house.  Get a teaser rate loan and when the market goes back up, you can sell.  Do that a few times then you'll have enough money to pay-off your forever dream house.  Remember, everyone wants to live in San Diego.  You can't loose.  

Seriously, it's like gambling.  Even if the odds are in your favor, unless you have enough cash to stay in the game, long term, you're out.  

 

[poorgradstudent]

I grew up in the south suburbs of Minneapolis. Fantastic city. Wonderful people. Good Economy. Reasonable politics (Both Liberals and Conservatives tend to hold more moderate, nuanced views of issues, and its generally considered impolite to push your religion or politics on someone else.)

And it’s cold as bloody hell about 4-5 months of the year. Oh yeah, and another 2-3 months of the year the mosquitos are a real issue. April and May do tend to be really nice.

Southern California, and in particular coastal San Diego does deserve a weather premium. It’s just amazing here that I can go running outside in late January. You never worry about your car starting in the morning. I love the nice weather here, and it was part of why I chose San Diego for grad school.

[BostonAndOC_RE_perspective]

Am I the only young professional working for a Fortune 500 company that is willing to chase opportunity wherever it takes me? Does no one else aspire to make a 7 figure salary? How many opportunities does one have in SD to find this kind of job?

First it moved me to Boston, now it’s about to move me to another less desireable area than SD/OC. I sure miss surfing Trestles and warm weather in January, but my personal satisfaction at having my career rocketing ahead, and the subsequent peace of mind the high salary brings my family totally outweighs the merits of paying the sunshine tax. I used to subscribe to the theory that I would do whatever it took to stay in SoCal my whole life. It’s amazing how fast I changed my tune once somebody “showed me the money”. Personal satisfaction in my career, and the welfare of my family, are now much more important to me than where I live.

In summary: High-paying ($200K – up) salaried jobs are very few and far between in SoCal. Consider what your true priorities are, and then create a strategic action plan to accomplish them.

[(former)FormerSanDiegan]

High-paying ($200K – up) salaried jobs are very few and far between in SoCal.

Aren’t you ignoring Los Angeles in this summary statement ?

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