Adviced on moving to CA? (San Diego, Long Beach: rental, look for a job, neighborhoods)

[jc76]

Originally Posted by rkb0305

These cities are more affordable than others, but for a reason. The weather is not great, and neither is the air quality. For the "California experience" that most seem to want, you really have to be near the coast, which is quite expensive. What is it about those 3 cities that you like, or are you just willing to settle for them?

Well, in comparison to Elkhart Indiana, the unemployment capital of the U.S., pretty much any area of CA is an improvement in my life. Not to mention I hate winter and we have winter from late October to mid May. The "HOT" that many speak of is welcome with open arms. I love the heat, i hate these long cold midwest winters.

[jc76]

Originally Posted by coyoteskye

Ocean or Mountains? Cold? Warm? Wet? Dry? Snow? Rain? Clean air? High altitude?
Liberal? Art? Music? People? Gay? Straight? Want peace and quiet? Nature? Nightlife? Sports? Mountain biking? Surfing? Skiing? Academic area? Lotta people? Small town? Big city? Medium size city? Combination of urban, suburban and nature. etc., etc.
Are you drawn to Southern CA? Northern?
CA is huge and diverse.
Don't let people discourage you from the move to California.
Statistics don't mean much if you're following your heart/inner compass which, to me, is the way to go.
I'd avoid the central valley unless you need to be there.
Even much of the Sierra foothills communities have really bad air until you get much higher up in altitude.

No snow! Moderate rain ok (not Portland style though). Air-don't care. Warm-Yes! Dry- Yes! Liberal-Sure. Art-Yep. Music-Yes! People-Sure. Gay-Dont care. Straight-Yes, I like girls...alot! Peace and quiet- no gun shots and i'm ok. Nature-YES YES YES! Nightlife-Sure. Sports-Nah. Mountain Biking-Yes! Surf- I wanna try. Skiing-Nope. Academic-N/A. Medium size city would be nice. Drawn to Southern California for sure I love the sun and warm.
Thanks, oh trust me I have an equal amount of "why California?" and "California! yeah!!!" so I can handle the naysay no problem. I know CA is where I want to be at this point in my life. Thanks for all your input:"-)

[jc76]

Originally Posted by Jonotastic

I wouldn't live in Fresno if you paid me $250,000 per year, I swear lol. Horrible city...far from everything, scratch that off your list. You are naming areas that are completely opposite. It's like saying, I'm considering living in Dublin, Venice, or maybe French Riviera. You have to be more specific besides somewhere smaller and nicer than LA, that basically leaves 99% of cities in California open.

Trust me I know where your coming from, I do in fact sound vast. This Summer will be a good time for me to explore many area of CA to find the perfect town/city/area for me

[timelesschild]

The San Diego area might be good too. Someone mentioned Oceanside earlier, and I'll second that.

[Jonotastic]

Originally Posted by jc76

Trust me I know where your coming from, I do in fact sound vast. This Summer will be a good time for me to explore many area of CA to find the perfect town/city/area for me

I'd also recommend San Diego, spend some time exploring the different suburbs/parts of San Diego. It's my favorite area in SoCal.

[AKgirlinCA]

I'm going to agree with the above.....San Diego is pretty much the best area in SoCal. If you can afford it...just stick to that area....

[coyoteskye]

Originally Posted by jc76

No snow! Moderate rain ok (not Portland style though). Air-don't care. Warm-Yes! Dry- Yes! Liberal-Sure. Art-Yep. Music-Yes! People-Sure. Gay-Dont care. Straight-Yes, I like girls...alot! Peace and quiet- no gun shots and i'm ok. Nature-YES YES YES! Nightlife-Sure. Sports-Nah. Mountain Biking-Yes! Surf- I wanna try. Skiing-Nope. Academic-N/A. Medium size city would be nice. Drawn to Southern California for sure I love the sun and warm.
Thanks, oh trust me I have an equal amount of "why California?" and "California! yeah!!!" so I can handle the naysay no problem. I know CA is where I want to be at this point in my life. Thanks for all your input:"-)

If you're open to the Central coast and not stuck on Southern CA then consider Santa Cruz county ... Aptos, Soquel, Capitola, Santa Cruz,(maybe parts of Watsonville).
It's expensive here but it meets all of your criteria. It's warm and sunny and beautiful from April/May through October with fog rolling in and out hugging the coast but with plenty of sun on the beaches too.
The winters bring the rain but that's good.
And there are many long stretches of beautiful sunny days in the winter between rainy stretches.
It's lush here with a beautiful combination of mountains, redwoods and ocean.
Santa Cruz is a small "city" but in 5 minutes you can be in pure nature.
San Francisco less than 2 hours to the north and Monterey / Carmel less than an hour to the south.
Check it out.

[rkb0305]

Originally Posted by jc76

Well, in comparison to Elkhart Indiana, the unemployment capital of the U.S., pretty much any area of CA is an improvement in my life. Not to mention I hate winter and we have winter from late October to mid May. The "HOT" that many speak of is welcome with open arms. I love the heat, i hate these long cold midwest winters.

If you can afford it, try so cal. If you can't afford it, you may do ok in the Central Valley (Fresno/Sacramento). Winter in Fresno is foggy. I don't miss that at all. Summer is HOT, and I mean HOT. 90's and 100's every day. But it is a dry heat... They had temps in the 90's in April this year (unusual) and I have experienced 100 in October.

[jc76]

Originally Posted by rkb0305

If you can afford it, try so cal. If you can't afford it, you may do ok in the Central Valley (Fresno/Sacramento). Winter in Fresno is foggy. I don't miss that at all. Summer is HOT, and I mean HOT. 90's and 100's every day. But it is a dry heat... They had temps in the 90's in April this year (unusual) and I have experienced 100 in October.

Hey 100+ degrees is A-OK with me. I'll take it. If there is even 1 or 2 days in Dec, Jan, Feb, March that I can sit outside or go for a walk...I'll take it. I am really open to many different areas of CA as anywhere there is a major improvement over here. Our Indiana summers consist of June-early Sept with super high humidity and tons of bugs to ruin even our good days here. So really, I am VERY flexible as you can see
PS- That's exactly why I am willing to settle for Fresno or the other "undesirable" areas of California, it's still an improvement to what I am used to.

[krock1dk]

Originally Posted by jc76

Well, in comparison to Elkhart Indiana, the unemployment capital of the U.S., pretty much any area of CA is an improvement in my life. Not to mention I hate winter and we have winter from late October to mid May. The "HOT" that many speak of is welcome with open arms. I love the heat, i hate these long cold midwest winters.

Elkhart County, IN does NOT have the country's highest unemployment rate, only compared to its size. The highest unemployment rate would be in rural West Texas and North Dakota.