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Just going to the grocery store it can be hard to find parking. You WILL be driving everywhere since there really isn't a functioning regional system that is useful for most people.
Same in Austin just not quite as bad. Parking is tough pretty much everywhere in central Austin. Even the grocery stores. Since I grew up in the suburbs and now live in Austin I can't even comprehend what it's like to use public transport or live in a walk-able city.
We're really researching the Oceanside-Escondido areas. Maybe things will be better there. Of course it will be harder to find jobs.
We looked on Zillow yesterday and there seem to be a lot of apartments that go for for $1,000- $1,250 all throughout SoCal. We could afford that. It's not much worse than Austin. Granted, a lot of apartments in that price range are studios which we're going to have to consider.
My girlfriend's brother rents a studio in Los Feliz with a pretty decent view of the city for $1,200..None of this aligns with what people are telling me online. What's going on? Are a lot of these listings bait and switch? How the heck is her brother living in a decent LA neighborhood for $1,200?
If it sounds too good to be true it usually is. That said, definitely consider a studio. My husband and I lived in one together for years until recently. It took a bit of creativity to make it work but it was worth it to save the extra money we would have had to dump into a one bedroom (granted we were in a decent neighborhood). I took all my calls in the bathroom. Fun times You might also consider housemates depending on your tolerance level, might make things slightly more bearable.
The demand is lower because lets face it, not many people are lining up to move to Ohio.
the point I was trying to make is if you really want to move to CA, Southern Cal specifically, home ownership in a nice neighborhood can't be your MAIN focus. You move here for the quality of life...beaches, weather, theme parks, hiking rails, mountains, night life, trendy dining/drinking, access to Vegas or local Casinos, ect...
Home prices shouldn't be what throws you off from moving here. If you really desire that HOME, then just live in Ohio and take weekend trips to the West Coast
I agree...I lived in socal for a few years and made a decent salary I guess but I knew I wasn't going to be able to purchase a house. That was ok with me, the beach and outdoorsy culture were worth it. You have to take a realistic approach...if your main priorities are a nice house in the burbs with super amazing schools and a new car (which is all fine) socal is probably not the place for you depending on salary. The Sacramento area is cheaper compared to southern california but I'm not sure if your budget would allow for home ownership with those prices or not.
Yes, LA and surroundings have bad traffic because they are densely populated and the public transportation is insufficient. Riverside is in the same general area as Los Angeles and has similar freeway conditions. You wouldn't find such bad traffic out in, say, Trona, or most other areas of California, for that matter.
As for a video, here's a short one from just a couple of days ago in Fullerton. My husband works very close to this location. The eastbound traffic is backed way up because of an overturned truck. At the beginning of the video you can see that the offramp is also backed up, because people are trying to get off the freeway to avoid the incident. This sort of thing is unfortunately common. The westbound traffic is flowing fine, but you never know when an accident, even a minor one, will ruin your commute. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Rclt77JmzU
I'm not finding a lot of videos with normal slow, congested, stop-and-go commuter traffic, maybe because who wants to film that? It's bad enough to sit through it.
You might like to look at a real-time freeway map showing current conditions, such as this one: Los Angeles and Southern California Traffic | abc7.com . Green means well-flowing traffic, yellow has slowing, red is very slow. Take a look around 8 AM or 5 PM PST on a weekday.
Thanks for that map of traffic! I did not even know about it! How do you think whether Google maps can show a real time traffic? Could you advice what application should i install to my android cellular to check the traffic? What speed does yellow/green/red color mean?
I suppose it`s not correctly to consider the traffic by the road accidents. It can be everywhere not just in California! Worse if there is a lot of traffic just by itself without any accidents. Just because of improper traffic managements as it happens in many Cities all over the world!
Coming from Ohio I am nostalgic for the cold, dark November days. But I think that's all it is...Nostalgia. If I went back today I have a feeling that I would immediately regret it.
Yeah just go back home for Thanksgiving week and you'll get sick of the cold dark November days real quick. I get it, but I have learned as much as I might like to go home again and have everything be the same it won't be. That sounds simplistic but it's true, people have moved on with their lives, and it will be very different than just coming home for a week to visit.
I'm from the midwest too (MI) and lived in southern california (orange county) and now I live in TX (but not Austin).
I have to say between all three locations I like TX the best--I don't like the 100 degree summers but I do like the mild winters, the people, cost of living, stuff like that. I could actually purchase a house here if I wanted to although the cost has gone up even since moving here a couple years ago.
California is better to visit than live (in my opinion). Most people I know who love CA and don't want to leave were born and raised there so I think maybe as a transplant you feel differently?
Not all of CA is super liberal though. Even orange county where I lived is actually not that liberal. You might like the Sacramento area. When you go east of Sacramento into gold country, it gets really pretty! That area is much cheaper than the bay area, LA area....but the downside is I'm not sure about the amount of high paying jobs compared to the other cities. And it's still pricey compared to OH cities.
As for rent, I noticed in my old huntington beach neighborhood there were a lot of 3plex, 4plex, and then small apartment complexes (like between 5-15 apartments in the complex) that would have signs advertising for rent but they would never ever be advertised online. They rented for cheaper than a lot of what I saw online. I noticed some of that when looking in LA too. They are usually a little smaller and older without onsite management but if that doesn't bother you, it could be worth looking into.
But all that aside what do you want to do? Truly in your heart? Do you want to leave Austin? Do you really want to go back to Ohio? Living near family is great but it's not a guarantee that they'll be willing to help raise your future kids (unfortunately).
And where do you see this relationship going? The long term prospects?
Are there any other places that you might consider where jobs in your field are plentiful if you really want to leave TX but feel lost as to where to go?
My girlfriend and I (both 27) live in Austin, Texas. She’s from California & I am from Ohio. We love it here but we both agreed that we would like to settle down closer to family or at least try living in another area before settling down. (We briefly talked about Colorado, Oregon and Sacramento/N. Cali)
In short, she doesn’t like the idea of Ohio because she grew up in Socal and now lives in Texas so she’s never experienced a real winter. She’s also concerned that it might be harder to find a good job and make good money in Ohio. With Columbus, Cleveland, Dayton and Cincinnati all as options I think we’d be fine. As for the harsh winters I can’t really help her out there. I love snow but it does get COLD.
On the flip side, I am terrified of California. The cost of living, the taxes, the politics, the welfare, the pollution, the traffic etc. I love the geography and the natural beauty but I just don’t see us ever being able to afford a house in a halfway decent area as our combined income won't climb above 100K in the foreseeable future. I do not want to be stuck in San Bernardino or Bakersfield.
After discussing the pros and cons of each state we have decided to start applying for jobs in Socal…specifically the SD area.
As for being terrified, am I over-reacting? Should I be worried? We’ve discussed these things in depth but I still have my doubts. I guess it’s not a huge risk since we don’t have any children yet. We could re-locate back to Texas or Ohio in order to buy a house if we really wanted to.
No need to be terrified in S cal, if you were going to LA. Different story, but San Diego is awesome! I love, love, North County San Diego, (I'm pretty conservative). Great beaches, nice people, good weather, fun things to do. The whole area has a really good vibe. And while the politics are crap, it doesn't carry over much in daily life. People aren't crazed about politics here, as you hear on the news, SD has a very laid back attitude. But things to consider, it's very expensive, Just do good research on housing before moving to the area. Take care.
Yeah just go back home for Thanksgiving week and you'll get sick of the cold dark November days real quick.
Dark? No light in Ohio?
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You might also consider housemates depending on your tolerance level, might make things slightly more bearable.
