moving to california, help me! (San Francisco, Santa Rosa: for sale, apartments, rentals)

[andreita30]

warning, this might be long...i'm moving to california with my boyfriend and 9 year old son. my boyfriend is a union construction laborer and is trying to get transferred there because we've always wanted to live in cali. i need some advice,any advice or tips on anything would be great, but i really need to figure out what would be the best place for us to live, at first i want an apartment and then if we love it we would get a house,now when i've checked apartment ratings for help almost all the apartments have bad reviews but they seem great(fitness room, pool)so i dont know what to do or believe. we are looking in the $1200-1300 range.we love hiking,being outdoors,riding bikes,swimming,beaches,reading(great library and nearby bookstore is important)we're vegetarian(so traders joes or farmers market would be nice)since i have a son safety and a very good school is important also diversity is important. i couple of places we have on are list are los angeles but i dont know what part,thousand oaks,santa clarita,san diego,santa rosa. can anyone tell me which of these would be best. i've heard alot of negative things about california, which kind of scares me a little. right now we live on long island so the money you need to spend to live there won't be a shock to us, but my son goes to a great school so that needs to continue there, we hate cold weather,so nice warm weather is important and the town we live in now is nice but too quiet(boring),too small and no diversity at all. please help, i am a worried mommy mess! to the brave people who read this whole thing, thanks in advance for the help!

[Charles]

Where's boyfriend going to get a job?
School Performance Maps
HousingMaps

[andreita30]

in one of the areas i mentioned probably, i know i need to find out first and that he should live close to his job because the commute is awful but right now he's in the process so i need to figure out things in advance this way we know what areas are bad and which ones are no good

[robertjohnson]

Do the math. Do it now before you go.
Sit down with boyfriend (For your sons sake, get married) make a list of your expenses.You will need help from people already here with that. When your done add 20%. Now compare that with income from the new job.
I'm in a similar situation in a much less costly area of N. Calif. and we live moderately low(rent for 3/1 is $1000). Our expenses are between $3500 and $4500 per month.
In checking labor stats for Cal. I found the majority of 'good' jobs pay between $14 & $22 per hr. After taxes that's somewhere between $1800 and $3000. This is the math part I mentioned.
Another thing to consider. The illegals have pushed back the pay rate of the trades to 1980 levels. It's difficult to compete with young guys paying $75 a week to sleep in garages. And Spanish is a must in so. cal.
Hopefully you have something going that I haven't considered that would make this a good move for you. I love the Los Angles area. It's an amazing place. If you can pull it off do it. Best of luck.

[LQQKOUT]

My brother lives in California and he is a union construction worker, been with the Union since he was 21 he is now 38 and has been out of work for six months this year. He drives the earthmovers, since the economy has taken a toll on California, one of the hardest hit states my brother since 2005 as been layoff for about 80% of that time. So make sure you are prepared. Not sure what your hubby does but it's rough. Again my brother has senority and all but is layoff as I am typing this.

[andreita30]

thank you for all the advice given so far but i feel like you guys are telling me i shouldn't go,are there any positives? my boyfriend makes $30 an hour and has been in the union for 9 years, new york is just as expensive and we've made it here

[majoun]

Originally Posted by andreita30

thank you for all the advice given so far but i feel like you guys are telling me i shouldn't go,are there any positives? my boyfriend makes $30 an hour and has been in the union for 9 years, new york is just as expensive and we've made it here

The Bay Area is a bit better off than Southern CA albeit not by much.

You did mention Santa Rosa - that's a great part of the state (and still truly Californian) but unfortunately jobs are a problem there.

[coyoteskye]

Originally Posted by andreita30

warning, this might be long...i'm moving to california with my boyfriend and 9 year old son. my boyfriend is a union construction laborer and is trying to get transferred there because we've always wanted to live in cali. i need some advice,any advice or tips on anything would be great, but i really need to figure out what would be the best place for us to live, at first i want an apartment and then if we love it we would get a house,now when i've checked apartment ratings for help almost all the apartments have bad reviews but they seem great(fitness room, pool)so i dont know what to do or believe. we are looking in the $1200-1300 range.we love hiking,being outdoors,riding bikes,swimming,beaches,reading(great library and nearby bookstore is important)we're vegetarian(so traders joes or farmers market would be nice)since i have a son safety and a very good school is important also diversity is important. i couple of places we have on are list are los angeles but i dont know what part,thousand oaks,santa clarita,san diego,santa rosa. can anyone tell me which of these would be best. i've heard alot of negative things about california, which kind of scares me a little. right now we live on long island so the money you need to spend to live there won't be a shock to us, but my son goes to a great school so that needs to continue there, we hate cold weather,so nice warm weather is important and the town we live in now is nice but too quiet(boring),too small and no diversity at all. please help, i am a worried mommy mess! to the brave people who read this whole thing, thanks in advance for the help!

Santa Cruz might be a place you'd like but i have heard that the schools are not the best but i don't have kids so i dunno.
From late April - end of October is beautiful, warm and sunny although fog does roll in and out right along the coast.
But fog can be lovely ... natural air conditioning and it's good for the hair and skin .
Winter is the rainy season (Nov-April) and it does rain but not as intensely as way northern CA and there are long stretches of beautiful days between the rain with temps between low 50's to upper 60's (generally speaking).
Lots of hiking, biking, mountain biking, surfing.
I'd love to be a kid here.
When i say Santa Cruz, i'm speaking of the entire county (it's all good which includes Santa Cruz, Capitola, Aptos, Soquel and Watsonville.
Watsonville is less expensive and there are parts that are good but parts that are not, crime wise.
I don't know about each individual towns school system.
I'm thinking Soquel schools might be better but that's just my sense based on no hard info.
I recommend the central coast so as to avoid the insanity of southern California.
San Francisco and points not too far north are good as well but the coast is expensive until you get well north of S.F.

craigslist: santa cruz classifieds for jobs, apartments, personals, for sale, services, community, and events

That's to give you an idea of what rentals go for in the county.
It is expensive and i sacrifice in some other areas of life to be able to afford living here but it's worth it.

[andreita30]

what about areas in l.a. does any one know the best areas, i like noise and things happening around me unlike most people i guess but not really dangerous areas i love new york city if that helps and i think its good to raise kids a round alot of culture i am seriously thinking thousand oaks and about san fran isnt have a huge amount of homeless people and crime

[LQQKOUT]

Positives about So Cal:
The winter weather
The Sun Sets
Some of the beaches (more southern or northern coast beaches are better)
Hwy 1 road trips
Having everything within a 1 - 3 hours road trip (ie desert, mountian, beaches...vegas)
The Shopping
Knott's Berry Farm (a must see) go everytime I am out there visiting family