Why DON’T people hate California? (Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz: condo, scorpion, school)

[Huckleberry3911948]

Enormous opportunity
Beauty
No winter

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by Sparrow_temp

You got one thing right in this post. It's the weather!

You don't have the freedom to be yourself. Even a Democrat that doesn't abide by every progressive principle gets attacked. If you're open about being a conservative or a Republican, you're shunned or attacked. This is not freedom. We're in a one-party ruled nanny state that seems to care more about illegal immigrants than its own citizens. So the only freedom here is that if you are an ultra-left progressive, you can say things that would have you marked as a lunatic in most other states.

They were trying to lock people up for giving out straws here in Santa Barbara county. This state is crazy. I've got a good job here and could live here indefinitely but I don't want to. That good weather only goes so far to counter the crazy.

Yeah! Not like living in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana where everybody is embraced!

[john3232]

Another vote for the weather especially in San Francisco. I've never been a fan of hot weather and grew up with mild summers and winters. You also don't need a car to get around which is a plus.

On the other hand my wife doesn't like SF especially having to ride Muni. As I mentioned in an earlier post I own a rental home in SF which is a nice cash cow. Unfortunately, the rental laws continue to favor renters and it's no longer worth the hassle.

I'm going to sell for 2 million and cash out while the value is still sky high. I think Prop. 13 is on borrowed time anyway. Once that goes so goes 35% of my profits. So my wife and I will be moving to Gilbert AZ which has beastly summers but the wife likes the weather and our retirement funds go a lot farther.

I will always return to SF from time to time since it is where I grew up and went to college.

[Howest2008]

Originally Posted by RoadLessTraveled2015

What areas of California are a good place to live where cost of living is not high like SF, SD, or LA? For example, what areas have a comparable COL to Atlanta, Austin, Denver, Phoenix and are good places to live?
How are Modesto and Fresno? Expensive? Bad areas? How are jobs there?

California first-tier cities

Los Angeles , San Diego,

San Jose, San Francisco , Sacramento , Long Beach

,Oakland Anaheim , Santa Ana.

Do not live in Los Angeles ,San Diego, San Jose,
San Francisco , Oakland.

Do live in Sacramento, Long Beach, Anaheim , Santa Ana.

Do live in California second-tier cities...

Fresno, Bakersfield, Riverside ,Stockton , Chula Vista Irvine, Fremont , San Bernardino , Fontana, Oxnard , Moreno Valley.

Huntington Beach, Glendale, Santa Clarita, Oceanside, Garden Grove...

Rancho Cucamonga, Santa Rosa, Ontario, Elk Grove, Corona, Lancaster, Palmdale, Hayward , Salinas,
Pomona, Sunnyvale, Escondido, Torrance, Pasadena....

These cities match up very well as far as COLA to the cities that you mentioned.....

[john3232]

Originally Posted by Howest2008

California first-tier cities

Los Angeles , San Diego,

San Jose, San Francisco , Sacramento , Long Beach

,Oakland Anaheim , Santa Ana.

Do not live in Los Angeles ,San Diego, San Jose,
San Francisco , Oakland.

Do live in Sacramento, Long Beach, Anaheim , Santa Ana.

Do live in California second-tier cities...

Fresno, Bakersfield, Riverside ,Stockton , Chula Vista Irvine, Fremont , San Bernardino , Fontana, Oxnard , Moreno Valley.

Huntington Beach, Glendale, Santa Clarita, Oceanside, Garden Grove...

Rancho Cucamonga, Santa Rosa, Ontario, Elk Grove, Corona, Lancaster, Palmdale, Hayward , Salinas,
Pomona, Sunnyvale, Escondido, Torrance, Pasadena....

These cities match up very well as far as COLA to the cities that you mentioned.....

I don't think you can find a 3 bed/2 bath 1500 sq ft home with good public schools for $280,000 in Stockton, Hayward, Sunnyvale, Fremont or Santa Rosa. (Don't know much about the other areas)

I own rental property in Chandler, AZ. where I the believe the median income is roughly 80,000 and the median cost of a home around $300,000. But you also have Gilbert or East Mesa where you can find a nice 3 bed/2 bath home with decent schools for less. My point is a couple with two kids can have a nice life on $65,000 a year.

In San Diego (where I once lived) I believe the medium income is 63,000 yet the median cost of a home roughly 530,000. I don't know how people do it. Yes, the weather is great. However, you either take out a huge mortgage assuming you can get a loan for such an amount or become a life-long renter.

My guess is within 20-25 years the current shrinking Cal. middle class (except for government employees) will be almost gone. At which point Cal will truly be a State of the haves and the haves nots.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by john3232

In San Diego (where I once lived) I believe the medium income is 63,000 yet the median cost of a home roughly 530,000. I don't know how people do it. Yes, the weather is great. However, you either take out a huge mortgage assuming you can get a loan for such an amount or become a life-long renter.

Or, depending on when they bought, they acquired enough equity in their former home(s) to afford the one in which they're currently living. Not everyone takes out huge mortgages -- or even qualifies for them.

[john3232]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

Or, depending on when they bought, they acquired enough equity in their former home(s) to afford the one in which they're currently living. Not everyone takes out huge mortgages -- or even qualifies for them.

True especially if you bought in San Diego say around 2000. Yet there is an an ever increasing number of those in SD for example who will never be able to afford a home.

My guess is many with a ton of equity may decide to cash out and leave the State. Pocket 350,000 and you easily buy a home in the Phx metro or NV and still have a bit left over.

The median income in San Diego I believe is around 62,000 and when the average price of a home is over a half a million dollars your options are limited.

It's not surprising there many Cal. transplants living in the Phx metro. 60-70 grand a year gets you nowhere in many parts of Cal. but you can live quite nicely on such an income in the Phx metro.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by john3232

Another vote for the weather especially in San Francisco. I've never been a fan of hot weather and grew up with mild summers and winters. You also don't need a car to get around which is a plus.

On the other hand my wife doesn't like SF especially having to ride Muni. As I mentioned in an earlier post I own a rental home in SF which is a nice cash cow. Unfortunately, the rental laws continue to favor renters and it's no longer worth the hassle.

I'm going to sell for 2 million and cash out while the value is still sky high. I think Prop. 13 is on borrowed time anyway. Once that goes so goes 35% of my profits. So my wife and I will be moving to Gilbert AZ which has beastly summers but the wife likes the weather and our retirement funds go a lot farther.

I will always return to SF from time to time since it is where I grew up and went to college.

Beastly summers? And did anyone tell you the summers last a couple of months longer, than in most other places? 5 months of beastliness, and having to stay indoors, refrigerating yourself, vs. year-round wonderful weather. How about retiring to somewhere in CA? Gold country?

OP, are you one of those LL's who converted a SF house to a trip-plex, and you stay in one of the units yourself, when you visit? Just curious. Seems like a good way to have your cake and eat it, too.

[semispherical]

Originally Posted by Sparrow_temp

You don't have the freedom to be yourself. Even a Democrat that doesn't abide by every progressive principle gets attacked.

I'm a pretty middling Dem. Never been attacked, either by my more progressive friends or by my much more conservative neighbors, though a Tea Party acquaintance of mine tried to peel an old Obama election sticker off my bumper. He seemed offended that someone had a different point of view from his.

If you're open about being a conservative or a Republican, you're shunned or attacked. This is not freedom.

Sure it is; "freedom" doesn't mean that only you get to express yourself. And around where I live (also in CA) you are a whole lot more likely to be "shunned or attacked" for expressing skepticism about conservative "values" than for being too "progressive."

We're in a one-party ruled nanny state that seems to care more about illegal immigrants than its own citizens.

Seems as though you are inviting people to disagree with you. Is this what you call being "attacked?"

So the only freedom here is that if you are an ultra-left progressive, you can say things that would have you marked as a lunatic in most other states.

You express extreme views in a nasty, confrontational manner and everybody else is supposed to be nice?

They were trying to lock people up for giving out straws here in Santa Barbara county.

Wow – is this the best you can do? Even Fox News has walked it back (Santa Barbara backpedals on jail time for plastic straw offenders | Fox News) And Santa Barbara ≠ California.

This state is crazy. I've got a good job here and could live here indefinitely but I don't want to. That good weather only goes so far to counter the crazy.

This is such a stereotypical hating-on-CA post. It's too bad you are so unhappy -- hoping you find your way out soon.

[john3232]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Beastly summers? And did anyone tell you the summers last a couple of months longer, than in most other places? 5 months of beastliness, and having to stay indoors, refrigerating yourself, vs. year-round wonderful weather. How about retiring to somewhere in CA? Gold country?

OP, are you one of those LL's who converted a SF house to a trip-plex, and you stay in one of the units yourself, when you visit? Just curious. Seems like a good way to have your cake and eat it, too.

Actually it's only July and August when it gets outrageously hot. 116 in Mesa last week. But it's a trade-off that many are willing to make. My mother is a retired public school teacher who moved to Mesa three years ago. Sure she liked the SD weather but 1650 got her a one-bed apartment off Park and Washington which is a nice area. However 1325 gets her a 3 bed 2 bath home in East Mesa with a garage. Shopping, post office, church as still close by.

About SF: The home has the original floor plan which is a selling point. Right now SF homes are going through the roof and one reason is the Chinese money. Canada, Australia and New Zealand which are all popular destination for wealthy Asian immigrants have introduced a tax on non-citizen buying property. San Francisco has always been a prime location and is even more so because the US doesn't have such a tax law.

How long will this last? I don't know but when I saw what my neighbors two doors down got earlier this year for a similar floor plan I'm cashing out. I'll be moving to AZ as well.