Just the facts please.... (Santa Cruz, Ukiah: 2009, mortgage, daycare)

[shellybsw]

I was born and raised here on the east coast where I currently live. I did live for a while back in the early 90's in both the Bay area and Humboldt County. I would love to move back. I'd prefer to move to either Santa Cruz County or Humboldt County.
My husband is very attcahed to where we live. He is not one to leave the place where he was raised or his family. Also, he fears the typical things east coasters fear about CA. Cost of living is way to high, weather issues (earthquakes, mudslides, etc.)
So, I guess what I am asking is for any advice or "spin" if you will, that I can give my husband to plead my case for moving back out west. Anything, a better housing market, good job oppotunity, statistics refuting the fact that CA will soon fall offf into the ocean , any of these will be helpful.
I am a social worker, he is a plumber, we have 3 children ages 6, 3, and 1. We have a home to sell here, and in our area it is a nice home (3 bdr, 3 bth, 2 car garage, family room, fireplace, deck) but in CA what we'd get for it (about $300,000) wouldn't buy us a one room shack I fear.

Thanks so much.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by shellybsw

I was born and raised here on the east coast where I currently live. I did live for a while back in the early 90's in both the Bay area and Humboldt County. I would love to move back. I'd prefer to move to either Santa Cruz County or Humboldt County.
My husband is very attcahed to where we live. He is not one to leave the place where he was raised or his family. Also, he fears the typical things east coasters fear about CA. Cost of living is way to high, weather issues (earthquakes, mudslides, etc.)
So, I guess what I am asking is for any advice or "spin" if you will, that I can give my husband to plead my case for moving back out west. Anything, a better housing market, good job oppotunity, statistics refuting the fact that CA will soon fall offf into the ocean , any of these will be helpful.
I am a social worker, he is a plumber, we have 3 children ages 6, 3, and 1. We have a home to sell here, and in our area it is a nice home (3 bdr, 3 bth, 2 car garage, family room, fireplace, deck) but in CA what we'd get for it (about $300,000) wouldn't buy us a one room shack I fear.

Thanks so much.

What's wrong with where you live now?
If you sell and then buy, it is an out of pocket expense costing something like 8%-10% of the home sale. You have $25K-$30K laying around?
Yes housing is expensive but maybe not that much more than the east coast - depending on where.
Sounds like you'd be pulling your kids away from their grandparents? Regardless of their "We want you to do what's best", they'll be crushed (this is from personal experience).
Are you expecting one income (stay at home parent) or two (daycare)? My wife stays home with our four kids and one income with several kids is not that easy.

Based on everything you wrote, I'm with your husband.

[laysayfair]

Originally Posted by shellybsw

I was born and raised here on the east coast where I currently live. I did live for a while back in the early 90's in both the Bay area and Humboldt County. I would love to move back. I'd prefer to move to either Santa Cruz County or Humboldt County.
My husband is very attcahed to where we live. He is not one to leave the place where he was raised or his family. Also, he fears the typical things east coasters fear about CA. Cost of living is way to high, weather issues (earthquakes, mudslides, etc.)
So, I guess what I am asking is for any advice or "spin" if you will, that I can give my husband to plead my case for moving back out west. Anything, a better housing market, good job oppotunity, statistics refuting the fact that CA will soon fall offf into the ocean , any of these will be helpful.
I am a social worker, he is a plumber, we have 3 children ages 6, 3, and 1. We have a home to sell here, and in our area it is a nice home (3 bdr, 3 bth, 2 car garage, family room, fireplace, deck) but in CA what we'd get for it (about $300,000) wouldn't buy us a one room shack I fear.

Thanks so much.

Why do you want to move to California? You don't want to take your 3 kids out of their nice home and put them in a "one room shack", do you? You have to do what's best for your kids. Why do you think that means California?

[shellybsw]

Honestly, I don't like where we live now. I thought that relocating while they are still young would be best, so I don't have to pull them out of school and away from their friends and so forth. I have always wanted to move back to California. I never really wanted to move back east, but I did so for family obligations. I wound up staying here because I met my husband.
My husbands father passed away 3 years ago and his mother has since remarried. The kids don't see her nearly as much as they did before and she and my husbands relationship is a lot more starined now. Still, he would stay here out of what I call 'family guilt'. They would still be able to see her. In this day and age it is very easy to maintain a close relationship with people at a great distance. I just don't believe that is always necessarily the right thing to do by staying within close proximity to your parents your whole life. Now his sister has announced that she wants to move her family to Florida. She wants us all to move. My husband will never move to FL, he hates it there. But I thought this might be the time to bring up relocating in general.

I certainly would not move them out there, or anywhere, if I thought that it would be a financial hardship on them, or hardship in any way. I only mentioned the housing cost to demonstrate one of my husbands many arguments for not liking CA. Even if we had to downsize a bit, would that really be the end of the world? I feel like the trade-off would be raising them in a more clean, friendly, diverse environment. That is kind of why I was asking for suggestions.
Thanks for the input.

[humboldtrat]

Check out Willits and Ukiah in Mendocino county. It has about the same feel as Humboldt, Santa Cruz and other coastal counties. Housing in Santa Cruz county isn't "cheap" anymore, but would probably be affordable in Mendocino county.

[timelesschild]

We are making a similar move. We found that the job opportunities are wonderful in CA, and that the salaries were approximately double.

That doesn't make up for the housing being approximately quadruple...LOL... but the opportunities are ENDLESS in CA, whereas they are limited back East. That's just us. Can you do a search to see what plumbing is paying in Central CA or wherever you are targeting, and see if you end up making more money?

[Soccersupporter]

Originally Posted by shellybsw

Honestly, I don't like where we live now. I thought that relocating while they are still young would be best, so I don't have to pull them out of school and away from their friends and so forth. I have always wanted to move back to California. I never really wanted to move back east, but I did so for family obligations. I wound up staying here because I met my husband.
My husbands father passed away 3 years ago and his mother has since remarried. The kids don't see her nearly as much as they did before and she and my husbands relationship is a lot more starined now. Still, he would stay here out of what I call 'family guilt'. They would still be able to see her. In this day and age it is very easy to maintain a close relationship with people at a great distance. I just don't believe that is always necessarily the right thing to do by staying within close proximity to your parents your whole life. Now his sister has announced that she wants to move her family to Florida. She wants us all to move. My husband will never move to FL, he hates it there. But I thought this might be the time to bring up relocating in general.

I certainly would not move them out there, or anywhere, if I thought that it would be a financial hardship on them, or hardship in any way. I only mentioned the housing cost to demonstrate one of my husbands many arguments for not liking CA. Even if we had to downsize a bit, would that really be the end of the world? I feel like the trade-off would be raising them in a more clean, friendly, diverse environment. That is kind of why I was asking for suggestions.
Thanks for the input.

California housing is not affordable but is has gone down quite a bit. If you want to be house poor then CA is the place to be. If you can stick it out for 10+ years you will make some decent money on your house but you will still face the same predicament, Where do you go to spend that money you made on your CA home? It will be a stressful time but well worth it in the long run assuming you can hang in there a long enough and you avoid the next CA housing crash.

We spent our entire lives in CA, raised 4 children, 2 still at home and decided to cash out and move to TX where we could relax a little. We definitely benefited from the CA housing bubble. We got out at near the top but just like in all gambling there had to be a loser. Hopefully the people that bought out house will make out okay in 5-10 years.

[dellany]

Did you ever move?
If not My family and I might have a solution for you.

let me know

[jc76]

Originally Posted by Soccersupporter

California housing is not affordable but is has gone down quite a bit. If you want to be house poor then CA is the place to be. If you can stick it out for 10+ years you will make some decent money on your house but you will still face the same predicament, Where do you go to spend that money you made on your CA home? It will be a stressful time but well worth it in the long run assuming you can hang in there a long enough and you avoid the next CA housing crash.

We spent our entire lives in CA, raised 4 children, 2 still at home and decided to cash out and move to TX where we could relax a little. We definitely benefited from the CA housing bubble. We got out at near the top but just like in all gambling there had to be a loser. Hopefully the people that bought out house will make out okay in 5-10 years.

That's exactly what a family I met did 2 years ago. Sold their 500K 2 bedroom home on a tiny lot in the westwood area and moved to our dumpy little midwest town, bought a mansion and still had 300K to put in the bank. Seems right now more people are leaving CA than moving to. But once the economy picks up things in CA will be better.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by jc76

But once the economy picks up things in CA will be better.

Once the economy picks up in CA it might be too late to get into the housing market.

There's a window opening, and not just in CA.


Mortgage rates approach all-time lows -- latimes.com


"Thanks to sinking home prices, these 5 homebuyers were able to score deals in areas they couldn't previously afford."

from

Lured back to prime neighborhoods - A downtown pied-a-terre (1) - CNNMoney.com