What do I have to do to afford California living?

[hgclyde]

Try the Long Beach area very affordable area in the LA basin. Median is around $400k look toward Bixby Knolls, the Plaza district, El Dorado Park Estates,and Los Altos. Also look at Lakewood, Downey,Bellflower and Whitter for options. The Inland Empire Communities of Riverside, Ontario, Moreno Valley, Fontana are also options affordablity (sic). Unfortunately, The further away from the city center the Cheaper it gets: That why many people move to Lancaster, Palmdale, Victorville,Apple Valley; Hemet,San Jacinto, Indio and Coachella near Palm Springs. Even Bakersfield is the way go if You work in the San Fernando Valley. Make sure to have a good paying job for you and your spouse earning about $75,000 and up ($100,000 to buy in Orange San Diego counties). For newer houses look toward The places I mentioned in the Inland Empire, High Desert, Palm Springs and Central Valley , Bakersfield to Redding as well. Hope that helps.

[Sage113]

I currently live in south central Florida and I am retired military, currently an entrepeneur looking to open another business and my wife wants to move back to California. She is looking for less humidity than you can find east of the Mississippii and loves California people who follow healthy lifestyles, sunshine and scenery. I'm interested in finding some great places to ride my motorcycle and start a business. We have the usual arguments about how expensive it is to live there so, we took a trip to check the place out. We actually met in Victorville, CA many years ago and I was also stationed in Sacramento for awhile so we're familiar with the state.

As I expected, there are expensive places to live as well as cheap ones. It all depends on what your expectations are and where your job is located (if you have one). I found out that anyone trying to live in or near Silicon Valley/San Francisco basin (by "near" I mean about 2 hours driving time), is gonna have a hard time renting or buying a decent place. That doesn't mean it's impossible. My daughter lives comfortably and works right across the bridge from Alameda. She also has a roommate who works and they live in an apartment in a semi-decent area for $850 per month. That's not my lifestyle anymore but for someone starting out who's travelin light, it's not that bad.

We traveled to Chico, a small college town north of Sacramento and found it to be fairly affordable with plenty of things to do, decent scenery, a lively downtown and nice weather (a little too hot in the summer for me). While there, we discovered a cute little place that was really affordable just up the mountain a ways called Paradise. Our hotel room was brand new and cost $58 per night. Apartment rents were around $600-800 and houses could be had in the 100s. Checking realtor sites, I see a condo for $137,900 and a single family house for $169,000. The bowling alley across from our hotel was selling pint glasses of beer for $1.75. Sounds pretty affordable to me.

If you simply want to get out of South Florida, consider moving about 150-300 miles north. From Sebring to Ocala to Gainesville, the prices are very affordable and you don't have that "3rd world nation" atmosphere. The house I'm living in now used to have my ski boat tied up to my small dock in the backyard (before the water got too low from the current drought). The canal leads to a small lake and a big lake. My house has 2400 sq ft with an attached mother-in-law suite, 4 bedrooms 3 baths, fenced back yard with orange and grapefruit trees and I bought it 3 years ago for $94,000. There are lots of alternatives to "South Florida", even in Florida. BTW, if Micky Mouse is dead, he sure has a bunch of people comin to Orlando!

Anyway, if anyone knows of a nice place to live in northern California that has nice people who are into healthy lifestyles, that is somewhat affordable with a good music scene, please let me know.

Life is what you make of it. Keep a positive attitude and positive things will come your way.

[sliverbox]

One thing to consider is that the recent housing boom was a freak in itself. Housing prices went up almost 50% in many places, even more in others. This was primarily a result of easy credit, exotic loans, and a desire from former investors to put their money after the 2001 crash. The prices are totally unsupported and I am a firm believer that the prices will more than likely come down perhaps in the double digits for the next 4-5 years minimum.

Prior to 2001, CA was actually almost inline with other states for middle to upper income residents. A person making 100k a year could easily afford a 300k house. I myself am one of those 6 figure income guys and with avg housing prices being in the 600k+ range in my area, I was rather disgusted to see that that salary would get me nowhere close to affording anything. The main reason I support the notion of massively falling prices iss that I Knew MANY who made less than I did and bought at near the peak off the prices. So if I couldn't afford, then they couldn't either, and hence all the foreclosures and short sales showing up in the local news.

In the meantime, Renting is an outright steal. There are still many rentals on the market. Most houses for rent in my area sit empty for sometimes 6 months at a time. So there is little pressure to raise the rental prices. You can actually rent for as little as 1/3rd the cost of buying, which means you would be saving way more per month than you would ever make in RE appreciation.Especially in a down market. Besides, appreciation doesn't mean anything unless you sell and move to a significantly cheaper area, which most do not want to do.There is a difference between paper wealth and what you actually save and put into savings. So I'd say for now, rent is probably the way to go.

All in all, in my opinion, if you can avoid all the typical pitfalls, like mortgages on overpriced houses, fancy cars, and so on, California is a good place to get a good paying job and save up a lot of money. After you've saved the money you can then determine if the state is really worth it to shell out all that saved income on a down payment.

[wileethe]

Originally Posted by mickey mouse is dead

Ok,
I'm an engineer with three years of experience, and since I was in 12 grade I always wanted to live in California. Ofcourse, one matures and find out that a salary of 70 K a year is not enough to afford it. So, is everyone a millionaire in California? Because I have been looking for jobs there in companies like Intel, Northtrop Grumman, Apple, etc., and the pay does not seem enough to afford a good quality of life. Even government jobs in SoCal don't pay enough. I still want to live there since I believe is the best state in the US, but how can I do it? What am I supposed to do? Is 100k a year enough to afford it? Would having an M.B.A help? Let me know, because I really want to move.

70K IS FINE FOR LIVING IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA...IF YOU LIKE LOS ANGELES.. JUST MAKE SURE YOU LIVE OUTSIDE THE CITY.. LIKE IN PASADENA..ORANGE COUNTY...ETC...FOR STARTERS..
CALIFONIANS LOVE NEW COMERS...AS LONG AS YOU STAY A NEW COMER AND DON'T BECOME PART OF THE CROWD YOU CAN MAKE IT ON ANY SALARY!

[wileethe]

Originally Posted by hgclyde

Try the Long Beach area very affordable area in the LA basin. Median is around $400k look toward Bixby Knolls, the Plaza district, El Dorado Park Estates,and Los Altos. Also look at Lakewood, Downey,Bellflower and Whitter for options. The Inland Empire Communities of Riverside, Ontario, Moreno Valley, Fontana are also options affordablity (sic). Unfortunately, The further away from the city center the Cheaper it gets: That why many people move to Lancaster, Palmdale, Victorville,Apple Valley; Hemet,San Jacinto, Indio and Coachella near Palm Springs. Even Bakersfield is the way go if You work in the San Fernando Valley. Make sure to have a good paying job for you and your spouse earning about $75,000 and up ($100,000 to buy in Orange San Diego counties). For newer houses look toward The places I mentioned in the Inland Empire, High Desert, Palm Springs and Central Valley , Bakersfield to Redding as well. Hope that helps.

AND DID YOU KNOW THAT THOSE THAT LIVE OUTSIDE THE LOS ANGELES AREA...LIVE IN VERY NICE HOMES...ON LESSER SALARIES AND ARE WHAT I WOULD CALL THE "MILLIONAIRES NEXT DOOR" COMPARED TO THOSE STILL LIVING IN THE CITY...PEOPLE THINK THOSE THAT LIVE OUTSIDE THE CITY HAVE "GOT MONEY" EVEN THOUGH THEY KNOW THE RENTS AND MORTGAGES ARE CHEAPER...

[Sorcerer68]

Originally Posted by wileethe

AND DID YOU KNOW THAT THOSE THAT LIVE OUTSIDE THE LOS ANGELES AREA...LIVE IN VERY NICE HOMES...ON LESSER SALARIES AND ARE WHAT I WOULD CALL THE "MILLIONAIRES NEXT DOOR" COMPARED TO THOSE STILL LIVING IN THE CITY...PEOPLE THINK THOSE THAT LIVE OUTSIDE THE CITY HAVE "GOT MONEY" EVEN THOUGH THEY KNOW THE RENTS AND MORTGAGES ARE CHEAPER...

What do you consider "in" the city?

[lookingtoleaveNY]

Wisteria,

I have been reading all of these posts on here and yours seems to resonate the most with my situation. Here goes. My husband and I have 3 young children and live in NY. We have been offered an entrance into my in-laws successful researching company in the Palo Alto area. I am nervous for various reasons, and am having a hard time getting over the "what ifs". What if something happens to the company, what if I hate California, etc. I am a small-town girl at heart and do not care for city life. I life in a town of about 30,000 people. The areas I am considering for relocation are making my jaw drop...up to and including 130,000.
I don't know if you are familiar with Santa Clara county or not, however it looks as though that is the area we NEED to be in. Are there any smaller towns/cities that could accomodate someone like me--who would like to have a small (but adequate) yard for my kids to play in, a safe environment in which to live, somewhat affordable, and preferably not have the ability to look into my neighbors window from mine???? I don't feel I am asking much, for the area in which I live, but CA may be a different story. I've visitied 3 times, and am not thoroughly sold on the San Jose, Palo Alto and definitely NOT San Fran area. I swear SF gave me panic attacks, waaaay too many people. Anyway, any input from anyone would be great! Thanks so much.

[Ultrarunner]

There are plenty of smaller communities around San Jose... just like upstate New York.

[Beachwood Cali]

It all really depends on what part of Cali you live in. You could commute to San Jose From say a place like Merced wich is basically a "Bedroom" town that most people with big money live in for cheap. But mainly to sleep in and on weekands. housing market is bad so you could buy a three bedroom from anywhere of $191,000- $275,000