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I am moving my family from Sacramento to Charlotte. We will probably be there by the end of july if not early august. We are buying/building in Southwest Charlotte (Palisades) and currently we are looking into private schools for my two children.
Self employed so I get the luxury of taking my work with me. My wife and I are concerned about making friends and connecting, and finding a good church...we are not into the southern baptist churches.
At any rate, we have been back to Charlotte a couple of times and it is an impressive city. The region is awesome, its geographically situated similar to Sacramento is what with the ocean one way and the mountains/snow the other and only a couple of hours either way!
I have family and friends that move out of california and look back and just shake their heads....they are much happier out of the state now. I hope the same goes for us!
Hi!...Leaving Sac/CA too?...we're from the Elk Grove area in Sac and are trying to get to NC by then end of Aug as well. We just listed our house last Thursday.
We have the same concerns...making friends, finding a church, private school, public school....etc. We are looking into the Waxhaw/Weddington area in Union County. We are actually flying out tomorrow to look around some more this weekend. I haven't heard of the Palisades in SW Charlotte maybe we'll look into that too. My husband will be working in that part of town so commute would be much better. We'll see.
Is there an exodus out of CA? I know CA is a big place but I'm seeing a lot of CAians wanting out. Just curious
There is an increase in "middle-class" flight out of CA due to the high cost of living in many CA cities. There are some areas left that haven't sky rocketed, but they tend to be in the desert or other undesirable locations. This state is huge, but most people prefer to live on the coast or at least a couple hours from the coast and our median home prices have reflected that desire. In my hometown, the median home price is 1.4 million and $800, 000 homes tend to be fixer uppers and or less than 1000 sq feet! It is ridiculous and it is driving a lot of us out of our home state CA. If I could stay I would, but I am tired of barely making it on around $80, 000 a year as a renter.
Location: Charlotte,NC, US, North America, Earth, Alpha Quadrant,Milky Way Galaxy
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Originally Posted by gmb
There is an increase in "middle-class" flight out of CA due to the high cost of living in many CA cities. There are some areas left that haven't sky rocketed, but they tend to be in the desert or other undesirable locations. This state is huge, but most people prefer to live on the coast or at least a couple hours from the coast and our median home prices have reflected that desire. In my hometown, the median home price is 1.4 million and $800, 000 homes tend to be fixer uppers and or less than 1000 sq feet! It is ridiculous and it is driving a lot of us out of our home state CA. If I could stay I would, but I am tired of barely making it on around $80, 000 a year as a renter.
Ouch- some told me Boston (where I live now, well until August thank God, then I am in Waxhaw, NC) was worse than CA. I tend to disagree- I've always though housing prices in San Francisco, Mountain View, etc. areas were outrageous. But as someone told me, "price is nothing more than an agreement between a seller and a buyer". If someone's willing to *buy* it for $800K, then someone will sell it for $800K
I often tell my friends a household income of $100K in Boston, isn't what it may be elsewhere...It's kind of like $50K in most other places in the country (in terms of what you can buy with it).
I was just curious about the flight out of CA. I always thought "CA was the place to be and most people will pay whatever to stay there..."
Ouch- some told me Boston (where I live now, well until August thank God, then I am in Waxhaw, NC) was worse than CA. I tend to disagree- I've always though housing prices in San Francisco, Mountain View, etc. areas were outrageous. But as someone told me, "price is nothing more than an agreement between a seller and a buyer". If someone's willing to *buy* it for $800K, then someone will sell it for $800K
I often tell my friends a household income of $100K in Boston, isn't what it may be elsewhere...It's kind of like $50K in most other places in the country (in terms of what you can buy with it).
I was just curious about the flight out of CA. I always thought "CA was the place to be and most people will pay whatever to stay there..."
Its just different now. Sacramento was a great place to raise kids when I was growing up, now those same neighborhoods are low-income, poor, and crime-ridden. The city is just plain filthy. People that live here have that horrible sense of entitlement and apathy, I cannot stand it. And if you aren't living in the low-income neighborhoods you have to move into these high-priced neighborhoods. These pricey neighborhoods are just as bad with the unbearable attitudes.
right now I temporarily live in Granite Bay, arguably one of the most expensive areas in the Sacramento region. I used to live in one of the poorest, a neighborhood called south natomas. Not surprisingly, the people act the same and treat each other the same in both communities. I could go on and on...
I think the people that are leaving Cali are the ones that remember what it USED to be like. There is no more grace in middle-income communities like where I grew up. Now everyone is competing to LOOK like they have money.
just my .02
oh and on a side note, alot of people I know are not going to retire and live in CA. My uncles that are retiring are all moving away. My in-laws plan on doing the same. I know of at least 3 other couples that will retire and move to places like Missouri, Florida, and Arizona. It is too expensive to retire in CA. again, my .02
Hi, yes I am in the north bay area, Sonoma county in fact and it is very beautiful here. I am moving to NM in 2 months. The reason, cost of living. I am ready to buy a home and there is nothing at all in my price range. It is absolutely ridiculous.
When I went to get some moving boxes at Uhaul, I was told they have a severe shortage of moving equipment because everyone is moving out and no one is moving in( gee I wonder why)
I was born In San fransisco and lived here most of my life, and I wish I could buy something and stay, no such luck. Oh I could stay and be a renter forever but I am tired of renting and will soon be 46, time to own something and plan for the future.
Bye bye california, the golden state that has just too much gold$$$$$$$$$$$$$
I was just curious about the flight out of CA. I always thought "CA was the place to be and most people will pay whatever to stay there..."
I think that mentality was true until about 5 years ago and then our housing prices just went through the roof. In the past, CA was still more expensive than most states, but if you were willing to pay a bit more for your house, you could still make it without the extra luxuries one may have in another state (huge house, boat, fancy car, etc) and still be a comfortable middle-class. My extended family live around the country and they all had bigger houses and nicer things than my family growing up, but our mortgage was always higher for a smaller house. It was okay to my family then because we were paying for the "weather" and the beach. Well, now it is a different story. You can't even find a condo in my town for under $600, 000 and it is impossible to even think about staying in CA unless you want to rent for the rest of your life. And that other person is correct, most of us leaving CA are the ones who remember what it use to be like living here and it just isn't the same. There is such a sense of entitlement, it is becoming ugly.
Location: Charlotte,NC, US, North America, Earth, Alpha Quadrant,Milky Way Galaxy
3,770 posts, read 7,543,620 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gmb
I think that mentality was true until about 5 years ago and then our housing prices just went through the roof. In the past, CA was still more expensive than most states, but if you were willing to pay a bit more for your house, you could still make it without the extra luxuries one may have in another state (huge house, boat, fancy car, etc) and still be a comfortable middle-class. My extended family live around the country and they all had bigger houses and nicer things than my family growing up, but our mortgage was always higher for a smaller house. It was okay to my family then because we were paying for the "weather" and the beach. Well, now it is a different story. You can't even find a condo in my town for under $600, 000 and it is impossible to even think about staying in CA unless you want to rent for the rest of your life. And that other person is correct, most of us leaving CA are the ones who remember what it use to be like living here and it just isn't the same. There is such a sense of entitlement, it is becoming ugly.
This is an interesting perspective. I was in Mountain View, CA a few years back for a (tech) project I was working on. I talked with a few of my counter-parts there about the housing market. I asked, "so how are you guys doing it?". Pretty much he told me there are those who don't care about price and can buy their homes *cash* (all the internet millionaires from the 90s). And there's 40 year mortgages and the like. Still boggled the mind, but I live north of Boston so I understand being priced out. I'm glad I bought before the tech market really took off. As I'm reading your posts, I really think the "dot-bomb" area created a lot of problems that you're still feeling today with the housing market in CA. It's sad to see productive people leave an area. And the same thing is happening MA. The "flight" is largely middle-class professional white collar labor (engineers, consultants, teachers, etc.) who pay their fair share of taxes. Unfortunately I don't think rising interests rates will cause a major RE correction. It seems like the $600K condo is the new "base price" and it'll just keep going up from there.
I think the dot.com industry helped increase our house prices and now it is snowballed even higher because the people who owned houses were able to make a killing on them, cash out and then buy a bigger house causing the demand to still be there. It is the first time home owners wanting to purchase a house and middle-class people who are tired of struggling that are being forced out. There are still die hard CA people out there willing to buy over priced houses with risky loans - the creative financing people are doing to get into a dump or a tiny house just blows my mind. I am not one of them. I am not a risk taker and I just don't feel it is worth it to stay in CA anymore. I think I would have a ulcer if I had a 40 year, interest only loan! But, there are people doing it and probably will continue doing it, so I highly doubt the prices will come down. I don't think they will appreciate at such an insane rate anymore, but I really doubt it will ever get back to a normal price. I also agree with your comments about the flight of educated, professional people. I think it could really impact places like Boston and CA.
Moved from San Diego, to Charleston then Charlotte. Wife had a hard time with the heat at first(we arrived in august-the hottest month here) but loves it now.
Yes, we have four kids, ages 10, 8, 5, and 18 months. We've looked quite a bit at the Providence area, as well as northeast Charlotte. I've spent a lot of time studying the schools and have some ideas, but I think it will all depend on how things are when we get there. There's also a lot of buzz about "redistricting," which I guess means that school boundary lines get redrawn frequently and kids get sent to different schools periodically.
I'm getting more nervous by the day about getting there before school starts, but there's nothing I can do until our house sells. I have visions about arriving at the Charlotte airport in August with 4 kids and no home, no car, and school starting the next day! But I know it will all work out - things always do.
Connie....
Just checking the status of your move....any luck in your home selling? Our's has been on the market 3 weeks now and not much foot traffic....lots of hits on the internet...we are considering on moving out and living in corporate housing that my DH's company is offering...we're still trying to decide.
Alley
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