Moving from San Diego, Ca

[merlin70]

Coming from Boston I think you will like it a lot. The weather is not great compared to CA but far milder than Boston. The costs of course are also far less. You can live very well with all the amenities of American life.

We found the schools excellent, our daughters went to Lake Windward elementary but the whole area is known for good to great schools.

Bottom line I think it is a good place for a family without the high costs of a lot of other places in the country.

[jmc]

Lb1, we are in a similar position to you and your wife in that we currently live in San Diego (Coronado) and are moving east due to the cost of living, desire to have a family, etc. My husband and I co-own a condo in Coronado and are selling it to our co-owners to move to Jacksonville, FL (job transfer for my husband), where we are in escrow on an amazing house. It's hard to leave San Diego, though! I like it here and have made great friends, but the big picture is it would be really hard to have kids here, and we have no extended family here to help w/ childcare, etc., so we're taking the plunge and moving east at the end of the month. I know it's a tough decision. Maybe you could visit that area for a little while first? Best of luck to you and your wife!

[reynold49]

You'll like Alpharetta. When I moved here two years ago I really explored the place. Small, new city. 25 years ago the place was all farmland, now it's filled with lovely homes usuall on 1/2 to 1 acre lots. Pleanty of open space, and the best part is that coming from California you can have a lot of house for what a small condo wil cost in San Diego.

[Zelia]

lB1,

I was raised in the Rocky Mountain West, so I'm very familiar with the West.

I do have a soft place in my heart for San Diego, which isn't the case for a lot of California.

I would imagine you're going to lose some money with your condo. In fact, it could be a sizeable loss.

If you're going to live in Georgia, I don't think it would be wise to rent your San Diego condo. I can't see where that would be a viable option. Living 100 miles from a rental property is not good, so living 2500 to 3000 miles from a rental property would be rather foolish. You would have to pay a property manager, and the ball is in their court because sooo many people are trying to lease their homes and condos in San Diego.

A couple of weeks ago I was surfing the net looking at San Diego real estate. Rental properties in San Diego are going for a song. It's unreal. I noticed one house in La Jolla had a list price of $980,000 ( maybe 2000 square-feet at the most ), and evidently the owner couldn't sell it, so he was willing to lease it for $2,200 a month. A million dollar house for $2,200 a month is quite a bargain.

Rental properties here in Atlanta are not that inexpensive. Most $200,000 homes in the suburbs rent for around $1600 to $1800 a month. Inside I-285 you'll pay more. Midtown and downtown two-bedroom condos, with 1500 square-feet, can rent anywhere from $2200 to $3000 a month.

I would suggest you think things over a lot. Have your condo appraised, and visit Alpharetta.

Life always has trade-offs. In the plus column you'll have a house probably four times the size of your San Diego condo, which would be nice for starting a family, and the cost of living here is much, much, much less. Metro Atlanta, including Alpharetta, is beautiful. Alpharetta is probably somewhat comparable to Rancho Bernardo.

In the negative column is the weather. Alpharetta has a pretty moderate climate, but it's not San Diego. Lake Lanier, the Chattahoochee River, or Lake Windward are hardly the Pacific Ocean.

You'll probably have to weigh in how much you'll miss your family. That could be a big issue or not such a big issue. At least you're not single. Being single and missing your family is not good.

If your company's office is in Alpharetta, your commute would most likely be under 40 minutes--probably less. If you worked in Atlanta, that's a different story--an entirely different story.

Politically, metro San Diego is Republican country. Likewise, Alpharetta is Republican country, too. Basically, the whole state of Georgia is Republican country except the city of Atlanta. Oddly enough, Democrats in Georgia are an endangered species. With the past midterm elections, Republicans in many parts of the country are an endangered species, but NOT in Georgia.

Good luck.

Z

[LLD]

Interesting comments Zelia. I was told the liberal parts of Georgia are Atlanta, Athens and Savannah and everything else is some degree of conservative. In fact Georgia voted more Republican this time around than they did in the last election.

[Zelia]

LLD,

The results of the Georgia midterm elections were a little surprising. Before the election, there was some talk that Governor Sonny Purdue might not garner 50% of the vote.

Sonny did well with an approval rating of around 63%. Gubernatorial Democratic candidates, Cox and Taylor, had a nasty, bitter primary fight which only made matters much worse. The blood started flowing and it never stopped.

I guess this thread is somewhat about California, so I will mention California at least once. California! Arnold was in big trouble a couple of years ago, so he veered to the middle-of-the-road. Sonny seemingly veers to the right with each passing day.

The issue of same-sex marriage is big here. It's more than big. Georgia Republicans seem to make sure that same-sex marriage legislation is intentionally vague, which keeps the issue alive for years, and years, and years, and years, and years, and years, and years, and years.

I don't think their strategy may work as well in the future. The demographics are going to be changing with a few more liberal folks moving here.

Athens is fairly liberal. Athens is in Clarke County, and Clarke County is the smallest Georgia county--geographically. It's probably not as liberal as it seems. I don't think the University of Georgia could be called a bastian of liberalism. Berkeley, California--it ain't.

Z

[lb1]

Zelia,

My dad keeps saying I just need to wait it out and things will swing back around. I know eventually it will, but how long is the question. The more I think about renting the condo, the more I think it's a bad idea. I know even if I lived in San Diego and rented it out myself and did all the repairs I will still have a big negative cash flow. I'm sure if I move to Georiga and use a property management company they will really give me a negative cash flow.

I was really hoping to not have to start raising kids in this condo, but it looks like it will be the best option financially. My parents just retired to Fallbrook which is about an hour from downtown San Diego. They have a large property up there that has a 1 bedroom guest house. They've always said we could live there if we wanted to. I know my mom would love it and my dad could use the help, they are remodeling the place and stuff. It would be like an hour commute though if I did that. It would take like 30 minutes to get to the coaster train, then 30 minutes on the coaster. I've thought about trying to sell the condo, and taking a loss, then moving up there to save money (pay off what we owe). My wife and I could start having kids and she would have help with my mom. Then eventually after we save enough we could buy a place of our own.

However I know that with my luck, as soon as I sell the condo, the market will swing back around. Then places will be even more when I try to buy again. I hear some people saying the market is going to start getting better next year since rates are going down, others say we haven't even come close to the bottom, we'll see. When I bought 2 years ago, I thought things would just slowly appreciate (not like it was during the boom though), then after a couple years we might have a little equity to help us buy a house. I didn't think it would go like this.

I really like San Diego and the only reason I would be leaving would be for a house, I have family and friends here, I'm not sure if it would be worth it. It's just frustrating being so house poor here.

[Zelia]

lB1,

The huge appreciation in San Diego housing prices is unreal. I would imagine it's going to take a while--maybe three or four years for real estate to return to more normal market conditions.

I don't know if it would be worth moving to Georgia just because of a house. I really don't know?

I was reading an article the other day. Some people buy a nice, big house with all of the goodies, and the article mentioned that it really, really doesn't bring happiness long-term. Yeah, you're happy for a while--maybe six months, but then the good feelings subside. Material possessions are never going to make a person happy for very long. A person buys a house with a two-car garage, but then you want a house with a three-car garage. Laminate counters aren't good enough, as you must have granite counters.

Here in Atlanta, white kitchens were in style 10 years ago--everything white. Now, they're out-of-style. Today, wood cabinets are the big sellers. When you really think about it, are you any happier with wood than white.

It would be nice for you to have a little bigger place to start raising a family. I assume you're fairly young--late 20s, so you could move in with your parents, and save some money in the meantime. You like San Diego, and your family is there, so you do have quite a few reasons to stay there.

Buying real estate in most parts of the country doesn't make much sense to me right now. I suppose there's a few places that are undervalued. If you buy something, you've got to plan on staying there six or seven years.

The Atlanta paper said it's officially a buyers' market here now. Atlanta is in pretty good shape compared to a lot of coastal cities, though. There wasn't wild appreciation here--good steady appreciation but nothing huge. Some Atlanta areas appreciated more than others.

Living in your parents' one bedroom guest house sounds great. That's ideal. Living under the same roof can create some problems, but you don't have to deal with that.

Concerning real estate prices: WHAT GOES UP WAY TOO FAST EVENTUALLY COMES DOWN. If you save some money, you'll be able to buy a house.

Good luck.

Z

[HELENE THOMAS]

i live in South Africa and would like to buy a property in San Diego for investment purposes. Any ideas on good areas and good prices as well as good real estate agencies who could take care of the property for me?

Helene

[FHMullane]

I moved from CA to FL and I would like to go back. I have been here for 10 years. FL is much like CA in that it is casual and a decent mix of everything. I find a lot of the east coast mentality "confining". CA is very different than anything in the east. I strongly suggest you rent out your SD place and rent a place in GA for say a year. Then decide. I think the people in the south are nice. BUT the "system" is different.