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Sorry I grew up in LA. You are flat out wrong. I would never live in Glendora, Eastvale, or Torrance. I would absolutely live in every suburb I listed in DFW. Like I said, higher standards.
As to the second part people probably do spend more times in their homes because they have more space and/or backyards. If you have a pool you don't have to leave your house to swim. In LA you likely have a $1.5M house or more if you have a pool. If you have a home theater you might be willing to wait for DVD release to watch at home rather than go to the movies. If your kids have separate bedrooms you don't have to "get out" to give them some space. If you have a home office you don't have to venture out to Starbucks or the library to work without being around people in your own house. You can also have a birthday party at your own house since you might have more space whereas in CA you may have to do it at a park because space is limited.
chiming in here moved from Houston to the bayarea
people don't be at home as much because its something to do every weekend, go to SF baker beach crissy fields have the best view in the US in my option BBQ having a party or just hanging out in the sand, go to lake tahoe skiing or boating, got to the napa quick drive best wineries in the country, drive to santa cruz a quick 50min drive from san jose, drive to sacramento go out downtown at night get a austin vibe, drive to montery, drive to oakland go to lake meriott go eat at some places by taking the bart, go hiking visit the redwoods road trip to LA, mailbu, hollywood etc etc etc etc etc
ALSO
the weather is usually perfect uo here, you can always hang out in your back yard its part of your house always have sliding doors open, vs texas is hot most of the months its not fun to just sit in your back yard. your home can be 15oo feet but you can have a nice setup outside also
in DFW you said starbucks movies that explains things where to go out to eat, mall ?????
Ah yes, the promised land!! But please note - the weather don't pay the bills!!!
That all sounds fine and dandy but having lived in the Bay area, you can rest assured that everyone has the same ideas for the weekends and the traffic to get to any of these spots (and God forbid, trying to park) is miserable.
Lake Tahoe - 6-7 hours on a weekend (what is normally a 3-4 hour trip); same thing or more for Yosemite. Parking in SF - will cost you an arm and a leg (and be careful not to step over the homeless folks in SF and jump around puddles of their excreta!). Drive to Sacramento - and do what? Road trip to LA for a weekend - forget about it - miserable traffic on the 5 or 101. On a good day, LA is 6-8 hours away.
All this might still work if you are single or married with no kids where you have full control over your time and schedule. Once you have a family, weekends are usually dedicated to kids activities (soccer or sports or whatever). At the end of the day, family activities are similar everywhere and the weather doesn't make a huge difference when you are sitting in your 80 hour a week start-up hoping to go IPO and make zillions so you can afford to live in the promised land (Bay Area). And also enjoy the atrocious taxes (to pay for all the welfare programs; also the ridiculous gas tax!) and fees (500 bucks for a red-light ticket?)
Also, yes, you can sit in your 1500 sqft crapshack and enjoy your really small backyard that you probably paid a million bucks for so you can live in a good school district. And don't tell me that people in SF don't go to Starbucks or the mall or movies!
Every place has its pros and cons. DFW is no utopia but provides a good middle-ground in terms of cost of living, activities, and yes, even weather (outside of 4 months a year or so).
The Bay area works great if you are 1)A CEO or VC type, 2) Early Google-aire or Facebook or whatever IPO lottery winner, 3) Have tons of cash to burn, 4) Single or couple with no kids in tech making 300K a year or more (once you have a family, even that is really low), 5) Are ok with having a mortgage OR 401K OR College savings plan
You can keep your Bay Area - good luck! My bank account thanks me everyday for making the move to DFW!
Quote:
Originally Posted by houstonview
chiming in here moved from Houston to the bayarea
people don't be at home as much because its something to do every weekend, go to SF baker beach crissy fields have the best view in the US in my option BBQ having a party or just hanging out in the sand, go to lake tahoe skiing or boating, got to the napa quick drive best wineries in the country, drive to santa cruz a quick 50min drive from san jose, drive to sacramento go out downtown at night get a austin vibe, drive to montery, drive to oakland go to lake meriott go eat at some places by taking the bart, go hiking visit the redwoods road trip to LA, mailbu, hollywood etc etc etc etc etc
ALSO
the weather is usually perfect uo here, you can always hang out in your back yard its part of your house always have sliding doors open, vs texas is hot most of the months its not fun to just sit in your back yard. your home can be 15oo feet but you can have a nice setup outside also
in DFW you said starbucks movies that explains things where to go out to eat, mall ?????
Ah yes, the promised land!! But please note - the weather don't pay the bills!!!
That all sounds fine and dandy but having lived in the Bay area, you can rest assured that everyone has the same ideas for the weekends and the traffic to get to any of these spots (and God forbid, trying to park) is miserable.
Lake Tahoe - 6-7 hours on a weekend (what is normally a 3-4 hour trip); same thing or more for Yosemite. Parking in SF - will cost you an arm and a leg (and be careful not to step over the homeless folks in SF and jump around puddles of their excreta!). Drive to Sacramento - and do what? Road trip to LA for a weekend - forget about it - miserable traffic on the 5 or 101. On a good day, LA is 6-8 hours away.
All this might still work if you are single or married with no kids where you have full control over your time and schedule. Once you have a family, weekends are usually dedicated to kids activities (soccer or sports or whatever). At the end of the day, family activities are similar everywhere and the weather doesn't make a huge difference when you are sitting in your 80 hour a week start-up hoping to go IPO and make zillions so you can afford to live in the promised land (Bay Area). And also enjoy the atrocious taxes (to pay for all the welfare programs; also the ridiculous gas tax!) and fees (500 bucks for a red-light ticket?)
Also, yes, you can sit in your 1500 sqft crapshack and enjoy your really small backyard that you probably paid a million bucks for so you can live in a good school district. And don't tell me that people in SF don't go to Starbucks or the mall or movies!
Every place has its pros and cons. DFW is no utopia but provides a good middle-ground in terms of cost of living, activities, and yes, even weather (outside of 4 months a year or so).
The Bay area works great if you are 1)A CEO or VC type, 2) Early Google-aire or Facebook or whatever IPO lottery winner, 3) Have tons of cash to burn, 4) Single or couple with no kids in tech making 300K a year or more (once you have a family, even that is really low), 5) Are ok with having a mortgage OR 401K OR College savings plan
You can keep your Bay Area - good luck! My bank account thanks me everyday for making the move to DFW!
so negative be realistic,
we live in San Jose for a year now with one child
I have no disrespect for TEXAS and we will be moving back in a year or two to be closer to family.
we make $220k and are very comfortable, to afford a home yes that is a different story how prices have got over the past years.
we get to all those places fine coming from houston I'm use to traffic isn't a huge thing if you get out early on the weekend.
I still like Texas you can get a new home, people are more friendly, and its home because of friends and family, but the bayarea has been a like action every weekend for us we planned to stay for a year but looking at 2 or 3 before were ready to come back. and pay in jobs doubled so were able to save more here vs when we were living in Texas.
I have no disrespect for TEXAS and we will be moving back in a year or two to be closer to family.
we make $220k and are very comfortable, to afford a home yes that is a different story how prices have got over the past years.
we get to all those places fine coming from houston I'm use to traffic isn't a huge thing if you get out early on the weekend.
I still like Texas you can get a new home, people are more friendly, and its home because of friends and family, but the bayarea has been a like action every weekend for us we planned to stay for a year but looking at 2 or 3 before were ready to come back. and pay in jobs doubled so were able to save more here vs when we were living in Texas.
$220K? I have no desire to live in a craphole in the Bay Area. When you can afford Los Gatos, Los Altos, Palo Alto, Hillsborough or Woodside let me know. Otherwise you have to live in a craphole with terrible schools. I laughed when I read Baker Beach. It is 65 degrees today and with the wind down there feels probably around 58 degrees. Nothing like enjoying a beach in 58 degree weather. I lived in the Bay Area for almost 20 years. I'll take DFW over it any day and did.
you guys got really offended having lived here before.
the guy said something about money in his pocket well the BAYAREA was a chance to buy a home for 300-400$ 7 years ago and sell it now for $1,000,000-1.5 mill a lot of places, wish I use to live here to take advantage.
a cold beach being bad well yes its always cold but was warm in SF a lot this summer, you can go to santa cruz or crisp field someone people actually like the cool weather just chilled outside FYI
you have to drive 5 hours to go to galveston beach so that makes no sense to complain about it being 60degrees at a beach.
I think the bayarea is overpriced I would never buy now here, but to complain and to compare it to DFW is foolish
right now 2017 yes its better with kids to buy a home in the suburbs in texas put them in school CA is very expenisve you either got in when prices or low or can afford it double now. but don't complain and try to make DFW better than CA because you can get a big home and have your kids in good schools
Offended? Nah. I just found the post ridiculous that all these people in CA are having fun fun fun while everyone in DFW is at Starbucks and/or the movies. We moved because pretty much everything is better in DFW other than weather for about 3 months. I'll take fall, spring and winter in DFW over CA. $1M? $1M gets you a dump. Try $3M for something decent. My closest friend lives in a house in Hillsborough and it is $4.5M and acceptable (not great). Of course he gets a crappy high school once his kids get to that age. Santa Cruz you cannot go into the water. It is freezing. I spend as many days at the beach now that I live in TX as I did when I lived in CA. About 14 per year except the beaches I visit are the Caribbean or Hawaii.
I can afford to live in both places and I chose DFW as it provides much better
TX Cuisine which really means BBQ and steakhouses.
Low property taxes
Low income taxes
Better politics
Less socialism
Much much cleaner
Newer infrastructure
Nicer people
Much much more community feel where I live
Better traffic
World class airport
Well laid out freeway system
Central location in US
Much better facilities like hospitals, doctors offices, etc
Much better middle class options
Great job market not focused on one particular sector
Incredible schools in very affordable areas (when compared to other large metro areas)
Teachers can actually live in the communities they teach in
One's ability to live in a nice city (suburb) near where they work if they choose to do so
Fiscal conservative values
Emphasis placed on public schools in suburbs throughout DFW
Lack of natural disasters comparatively speaking (earthquake and hurricane specifically)
Great weather (Like the fall, spring, and winter here better than CA). Hate the summers comparatively speaking.
So you are correct that to compare the two is foolish. In the end you have to live in an absolute craphole that I wouldn't consider living in which is where you likely will spend 50% of your life (12 hours per day)
How old is your child? If your child is not in school, and you don't need to own or rent a home in a 'good' school district, you can get by on 220K sure. Just wait till you need schools - try 3500-4K a month rent for a 2 bedroom in a good district like Cupertino or Palo Alto (or 1500-2K a month for a private school). Rents have also been jacked up big time with the prices - this is a function of the ginormous liquidity bubble 2.0 that we are in and the upcoming crash should deflate things a bit.
Doubling of pay is great for you but not the norm - the pay difference is not that drastic and does not even come close to making up for the cost of difference.
Also, this is a DFW board so let's keep the comparison to DFW. DFW not equal to Houston...
Quote:
Originally Posted by houstonview
so negative be realistic,
we live in San Jose for a year now with one child
I have no disrespect for TEXAS and we will be moving back in a year or two to be closer to family.
we make $220k and are very comfortable, to afford a home yes that is a different story how prices have got over the past years.
we get to all those places fine coming from houston I'm use to traffic isn't a huge thing if you get out early on the weekend.
I still like Texas you can get a new home, people are more friendly, and its home because of friends and family, but the bayarea has been a like action every weekend for us we planned to stay for a year but looking at 2 or 3 before were ready to come back. and pay in jobs doubled so were able to save more here vs when we were living in Texas.
It is a true fact that the Bay Are beaches are way too cold throughout the year and you need a wet suit most times. So, yeah - we have to drive to Galveston but it's not like you can use those beaches through the year either. Besides, unless you live in Half moon bay or something, you have to drive to the beaches there too.
And I don't think you could get homes for 300-400K 7 years ago in any half decent area there (not even a condo possibly). And those crapholes will not have homes at 1.5 million now - that is a bit of an exaggeration and exactly the mentality that I dislike about the Bay area (oh my home will magically double in 5 years just because I'm in the promised land). It's all a function of the global liquidity bubble, tech bubble 2.0 and overseas investment (mainly China).
Quote:
Originally Posted by houstonview
why did you move after 20years ?
you guys got really offended having lived here before.
the guy said something about money in his pocket well the BAYAREA was a chance to buy a home for 300-400$ 7 years ago and sell it now for $1,000,000-1.5 mill a lot of places, wish I use to live here to take advantage.
a cold beach being bad well yes its always cold but was warm in SF a lot this summer, you can go to santa cruz or crisp field someone people actually like the cool weather just chilled outside FYI
you have to drive 5 hours to go to galveston beach so that makes no sense to complain about it being 60degrees at a beach.
I think the bayarea is overpriced I would never buy now here, but to complain and to compare it to DFW is foolish
It was 2007, and values in DFW dropped by about 5-10% starting in July of that year. A 50% price drop is unprecedented.
From where was this place here in Texas that is actually dropped in 5-10%?
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