Help! Want to relocate to Northern California 2010 (San Jose, San Francisco: for sale, apartment complex)

[Ready2migrate]

Any advice or info about what's north of Sonoma that has weather that's similar but middle class housing under $160K ? I don't like it over 100 in the summer , or humid, and we're fleeing the snow, so we never want to see it again unless we drive to it !. Maybe we are directionally challenged and need to look in Sacramento area or south of San Fran...any thoughts ?

[coyoteskye]

Originally Posted by Ready2migrate

Any advice or info about what's north of Sonoma that has weather that's similar but middle class housing under $160K ? I don't like it over 100 in the summer , or humid, and we're fleeing the snow, so we never want to see it again unless we drive to it !. Maybe we are directionally challenged and need to look in Sacramento area or south of San Fran...any thoughts ?

South of San Francisco (anywhere on or near the coast) is not less expensive than the Sonoma area!!!
You're entering the Bay area ... San Francisco ... Silicon Valley, etc.
Then you get down just below S.F. .. Santa Cruz area (very expensive) .... over the hill is San Jose ... again, Silicon Valley territory ....$$$$$$$!!!!!!!!
There are less expensive areas south of the Monterey Bay ... quite south of Big Sur that may suit you (i'm not super familiar with the areas but others on this forum are) but still, 160K ... no way.
Here are a couple of links to give you a sense of housing costs in CA.
The first is CA Craigslist.
Craigslist is really good for getting an overall sense of cost of living in various areas.
Choose the area you're thinking about on the list and check it out.
The second is a web-page (in this case for Santa Cruz county) that will give you another "picture" of the cost of housing here.
The tab "states and trends" provides these county maps regarding housing prices.

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

Santa Cruz County Home Prices and Heat Map - Trulia.com

Here's another map of Humboldt county ... north of Sonoma.

Humboldt_County-heat_map/

[Ready2migrate]

Thanks !,it's funny to feel embarassed about your income,when it's average for your area !
will check out the links ! I'm glad I asked..it would be awful to just assume and find out how tragically wrong we were

[coyoteskye]

Originally Posted by Ready2migrate

Thanks !,it's funny to feel embarassed about your income,when it's average for your area !
will check out the links ! I'm glad I asked..it would be awful to just assume and find out how tragically wrong we were

Oh man ... no need for embarrassment ... it's California "who" needs to be embarrassed.
It's crazy ... truly.
I'm just a little ole renter.
And yeah, it's really good you asked.
The places in CA where you could afford to buy a home are most likely not where you want to be ... not even close ... you'd miss N.Y.. you'd even miss the humidity 'cause you'd be in temps well over 100 in the summer with terrible air quality and a whole slue of social woes.

[coyoteskye]

And the other option is to rent.
If your really drawn to CA and you can afford around $1800-2000 a month for rent, you'd be able to find a nice house in the Santa Cruz area, for example .... the best place to be imo ... top of the Monterey Bay on the central coast, less than 2 hours south of San Francisco, beautiful weather from roughly April - October (although it's Nov. 3 and it'll be about 80 today and sunny), rain in the winter but with long stretches of beautiful days between the rains, liberal, open, friendly, powerful and beautiful nature.
You'll never experience the humidity of the northeast here ... or anywhere in CA!
Just a thought.

[humboldtrat]

Originally Posted by Ready2migrate

Any advice or info about what's north of Sonoma that has weather that's similar but middle class housing under $160K ? I don't like it over 100 in the summer , or humid, and we're fleeing the snow, so we never want to see it again unless we drive to it !. Maybe we are directionally challenged and need to look in Sacramento area or south of San Fran...any thoughts ?

$160K for a house will be a hard nut to crack. There are many rural places in northern California such as in Lake or Mendocino counties that are very nice but the downside is that there are very few jobs available. Check out the Sierra foothills east of Sacramento and Stockton - towns such as Placerville, Jackson and Sonora. Once again, jobs are limited in rural areas.

100 degree heat isn't all that bad since the humidity is usually low most everywhere in CA.

[coyoteskye]

Originally Posted by humboldtrat

$160K for a house will be a hard nut to crack. There are many rural places in northern California such as in Lake or Mendocino counties that are very nice but the downside is that there are very few jobs available. Check out the Sierra foothills east of Sacramento and Stockton - towns such as Placerville, Jackson and Sonora. Once again, jobs are limited in rural areas.

100 degree heat isn't all that bad since the humidity is usually low most everywhere in CA.

Not to be a spoil sport but the average home price in El Dorado county is over 400K!
And i'm into these maps so here :
El Dorado County Home Prices and Heat Map - Trulia.com

and Tuolumne County:
Tuolumne County Home Prices and Heat Map - Trulia.com

Better prices but talk about heat!
Even without humidity 100 degrees is hot.

[Snort]

Given your price range and weather requirements, you might be looking at Cretin City.

[MrSaturn]

I strongly advise against buying a house in California for the next few years. There are still a ton of foreclosures yet to go out, and more to come when the option-ARMs default starting next year. Housing prices are nowhere near the "3x annual income" rule yet.

However, rents are going down now. A decent 1br in Sonoma County can go for around 1000-1400/month. I live in Santa Rosa, and am renting a 2br for 1200 in a nice apartment complex. Average house price is around 300k, and average income is 50k- you do the math. It doesn't make sense to buy. It almost never hits 100, and rarely goes above 90. The fog doesn't last long if at all, but winters are pretty wet (rains about half the time from Dec to Feb).

If you're here long term, I strongly advise renting before buying. Or just renting and forgetting about buying until prices become reasonable.

[Ready2migrate]

I'm not familiar with "the option ARMs default starting next year"
Could you explain ?
My first impression is that with all the forecolsures, that it would be a kinda good time to buy, but you think that the house prices will yet go down in the future ?