Bay Area to Dallas - Cost Benefits ? (Plano: sales, to rent)

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by jdallas

If your employer is going to maintain the bay area salary, it won't take long for them to realize they can replace you for a substantial savings. If you do move, I'd suggest you start making connections and look for a different job right away.

Where do you come up with this stuff?

[richard88]

Originally Posted by Texas Minded

+1

This.

What's the old saying? "If something seems too good to be true..."

Not trying to bum anyone out. I'm just the paranoid type by nature.

+2

In bayarea, it is mainly tech area jobs. I'm in one now and losing the face-to-face communication with your boss & colleauges is really bad, it is not impossible to work around, but definitely losing the competitive edge compared to your other colleagues.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by bayarea07

Pardon Me, If this question has been answered before but i would love to understand on what cost benefits have people seen overall in moving from bay area to Plano/Frisco
We are family of four with just one earning in the family , thinking of moving to Dallas,TX for cost reason and the move will not be supported by the employer even though the employer has promised to maintain bay area salary.

DM me your salary, where you live now, whether you rent or own now and where you'd like to live around here and if you'd like to rent or buy here. I'll do the COL and tax difference calculations for you - I have access to fresh academic quality COL data and the tax differences are easy to calculate.

I'll DM you back.

Spitballing not including tax differences if you are a renter a $100K salary here is the rough equivalent to $140-145K there. If you are a buyer the numbers can vary a lot but the difference is usually greater.

[bayarea07]

DM'ed you my details

Originally Posted by EDS_

DM me your salary, where you live now, whether you rent or own now and where you'd like to live around here and if you'd like to rent or buy here. I'll do the COL and tax difference calculations for you - I have access to fresh academic quality COL data and the tax differences are easy to calculate.

I'll DM you back.

Spitballing not including tax differences if you are a renter a $100K salary here is the rough equivalent to $140-145K there. If you are a buyer the numbers can vary a lot but the difference is usually greater.

[Colt .45]

Originally Posted by numbersguy100

A king who has lost access to the beach, wine country, mountains, and any natural beauty to speak of. If these aren't your things then you will have a decent bump in your take home pay at first (before, as other mentioned, you are replaced for someone cheaper or closer), but if those things don't matter to you I'm not sure what you were doing in the Bay area to begin with.

Can you swim in the Bay though? seems like the water would always be too cold. At least in DFW we have tons of huge lakes you can swim and boat in, and of course camping.....Cant argue with Wine country and Mountains, although to me personally Mountains are overrated...I'll take flat prairie land anyday, which btw is a natural beauty to some people.....

[Kosmonova]

You don't swim in the bay... You swim in the ocean. It is frigid though.

[bayarea07]

Originally Posted by Kosmonova

You don't swim in the bay... You swim in the ocean. It is frigid though.

15 Years in bay area and we have not once swam in ocean or the bay :-)

[BayTexan]

We moved from the Bay Area and I go back quite often as I work for a Bay Area company too! And every time I go back, I am so thankful I moved - my only regret - why I didn't do it sooner! I mean $4000+ a month to rent a 2-3 bedroom in Cupertino or some good school district - are you kidding me?! And let's not even talk about the home prices!

Yes, you will miss the beach, mountains, Yosemite blah blah blah - this is exactly what my friends told me when I left. And I asked them - well, when did you go last? :-) They had blank looks on their faces (given work schedules and how crowded they get during long weekends/holidays, you go once in a blue moon anyways!) ... With the amount of money you save, you can fly back on vacation and enjoy the sights! At the end of the day, life is about work, kids, school, activities, friends, family right? Unless you have deep family ties or you want VC funding for a start-up, there is no reason to live in the Bay especially if you have kids and are a one or even two IT income family (this coming from someone who lived there over 15 years). The weather doesn't pay the bills Yes, the job market is hot but having been through the dot bomb, I think we are very close to another implosion (and the boom and bust cycle that is Silicon Valley).

Anyway, back to Dallas - yes, it gets hot in the summer and somewhat cold in the winter. We live in Plano and really enjoy it here. It's very diverse with outstanding schools and extra-curricular activities and housing though having gone up in the past few years, is inexpensive compared to the Bay Area. 5-600K will get you a nice 3-4000 sq ft house with a pool and 4-5 bedrooms etc. Where can you find that over there - the same house in a good school district would probably be 2-3 million (and 1 million will only buy you a crap shack with 1500 sq ft that is probably 50 years old or a fixer upper!). And even in this market, you can still find homes in different price ranges in Dallas.

And if you are keeping your salary, that's an automatic ~10% hike since there is no state income tax here. Yes, property taxes are higher but the values are lower (2.25% on a 500K house is pretty much the same as 1.2% on a 1 million house right?). Gas is definitely cheaper. Groceries and other stuff are about the same. Insurance maybe slightly higher and utilities also (as you use the AC all summer etc.). But, overall, my wife and I (both working) are able to save a lot more and have a much better quality of life than we did in the Bay Area (and our kids absolutely love it here). We just did our taxes and excluding Federal taxes (which are pretty much the same for both places), we are paying probably only about 30-40% of the taxes we paid in CA (including property taxes).

So, yes, it's a trade-off. But if you want a decent quality of life with the ability to own your own home in a large diverse metro area with a good job market and lots of amenities (4 professional sports teams, excellent airport etc.), then DFW certainly fits the bill (where you can afford to have a home, 401K, college savings plan as opposed to the Bay area where these may be mutually exclusive unless you are a Google or Facebook gazillionaire )

Sorry for the rambling post but hope it helps. Feel free to DM me for more information and good luck with your decision!

[richard88]

One more thing need to add though....you trade the earth-quake for the tornadoes....

[Colt .45]

Originally Posted by richard88

One more thing need to add though....you trade the earth-quake for the tornadoes....

Gimme tornadoes anyday, at least with Tornadoes you get SOME warning.....I dont know how Californians do it knowing anyday, anytime could be the big one, with no warning at all......