If you are thinking of moving to Cali... (apartment, cheap house)

[Taraaa17]

really do your research. The fact is to live here comfortably you need money. Then, even if you have the money you have to think: Am I getting my moneys worth? I'm leaving Cali in January because I want to buy a house at a reasonable price in a nice neighborhood. California used to be a great place to live. Now it is over populated, too expensive, and has lost it's appeal. Sure we have great weather, but trust me when I'm stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on the 91...and leaving a job that gives me a paycheck that will never be enough...and I get home to my street filled with a massive amount of children running around like ants....the last thing on my mind is how great the weather will be tomorrow!

[greatbasinguide]

California is a thousand miles long and 300 miles wide. If we placed it on the east coast it would include New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and more, with a weather diversity much greater than those states, with topography much greater than those states. To say that one does not like "California" which California are you speaking of?

[Taraaa17]

Ok I see your point. I am speaking of Southern California. I only know of that area so maybe Northern Cali is different. I'm sure at some point it will all become the same. I know one thing....I did not find a place in California that could give you a 3 bedroom, 2 bath in a good area for $200,000.

[Angel Bear]

I have no worries about relocating myself All is going to work out perfectly Yay!

[jcp123]

We moved from NorCal (Bay Area to be exact) to Texas last year. I have thought off and on about going back, mostly because that's where I was born and raised, and it's home to me! I will agree it's a tough place to live, but it certainly has redeeming qualities. I am somewhat conflicted in this regard because I love Texas, too, but it's mostly for reasons like housing prices and cost of living, and that's not the basis on which I want to completely base how I live my life.

I will also say that the vast majority of the folks that make up the exodus from California are from the LA area; out of the dozen or so Californians I've met here, we are the only ones not from the LA area. It seems to me that other parts of California are reasonably stable in this regard.

In the meantime, after I finish college, I'd like to get a travel trailer and tour the country, live in different places, see all that we have to see. And, if I find a place that I'd really like to settle down in, be it California or anywhere else, I figure it's a cheaper way to go with IMHO a higher quality of life than apartment living.

[Need_affordable_home]

Originally Posted by Taraaa17

Ok I see your point. I am speaking of Southern California. I only know of that area so maybe Northern Cali is different. I'm sure at some point it will all become the same. I know one thing....I did not find a place in California that could give you a 3 bedroom, 2 bath in a good area for $200,000.

Im sure theres some rural town with nice $100k houses. Ive heard stories of people buying rural CA land in the middle of nowhere for just a few thousand an acre, most are speculators who oneday in their lives hope to strike it rich. Others are settling down, building a small house or bringing in their mobile home onto the acres of land and forming new towns. If you want to live in a location half desirable, yes your looking at $250k plus for a 3/2 starter house. Yuba city comes to mind.

Florida is much like that. You too can get rural land in the middle of nowhere for just a few thousand an acre. Theres no good houses for under $100k anywhere in florida. Personally in my opinion and frankly your better off getting a nice 3/2 1200-1600 square feet mobile home for far cheaper than those "junk" $100k houses on tiny lots. You can purchase an acre of land outside Ocala for $30k complete with power, well and septic. Then another $30k gets you a nice 3/2 1200-1600 square feet mobile home. Much cheaper than the real house route. I might go that route as a snowbird or when I get old and can no longer tolerate Pennsylvania winters, live permanently in Florida in a nice mobile home(houses nicer than mobile homes cost too much and cheap houses are uglier than mobile homes and still cost more!)