Indianapolis going OC California (Irvine, Orange: credit, relocate, real estate)

[IndyGoinCali]

My husband and I are in our mid twenties and possibly moving out to OC from Indianapolis, IN for work. He will be working in Irvine for a tech company, and I will be looking for a job once we are out here. He will be carpooling with his brother in Dana Point. We are looking to set up camp in the San Clemente area. I'll be looking in the floral design or photography fields. We do not have children and aren't planning soon. He will be starting out at $60-$70 K with gauranteed growth potential, and I will be working full time also. Any info that may help us out would be great. We haven't seen anything really posted about southern OC on here and we are defiantely curious. We know we can't afford to buy for a couple of years, so we are budgeting at most $2000 a month in rent. The biggest problem is that we have two dogs, a lab & a bordie collie, so their size definately hinders our choices. We're expecting to be making $100k with both salaries, but thats no gauranteed. It seems that the truely HUGE difference in cost of living has to do with Real Estate & rent. Gas is the highest in the country here & Chicago, so thats no new shocker to us. Any recommened neighborhoods, complexes, flroal & photog companies, or general advice like utlities and internet/sattellite/cable costs would be great! Thanks!

[kturbe]

San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano are nice areas, San Juan you might find rents a little cheaper. Keep in mind the closer you get to the beach the higher the cost. Regarding utilities if you go with Cox you can get a bundle deal for phone, internet and cable. Southern Calif Edison is your elec. and they offer some savings deals over the summer by controlling your a/c, etc. and if you are going to live next to the beach take advantage of them.
Blessings,

[CAGirl71]

I have lived in OC for 46 years (age 54) am thinking of moving to Indianapolis, want to swap information? I'm looking for rental info apt or house or even room for rent, utilities, groceries, gas and how to live in the slowest paced areas that still have a lot of jobs. I'm in administrative assistant field and out here make about $13-$15/hr but willing to take less money if I can make ends meet out there with lower living expenses. I live in Orange at present but have lived elsewhere in the county, never in San Clemente but am familiar with it. Irvine is where a lot of the good paying large companies are and about 50% of the jobs for OC and growing quickly. San Clemente is more an upscale seaside community by the ocean very pretty but expensive. Gas out here for the cheap stuff is running about $3.25-$3.50 a gal, direct tv or cable between $60.00/$75.00 mo, average utilities for electric just for an apartment not running the A/C is about $60-$100 a month, AC is usually necessary at least 2 weeks in the hottest parts of the summer and it fluctuates a lot - some people last year paid between $200 and $500 or more (some I know of $900) to AC their homes all day and night for a month, this is the highest year we have ever had since I've lived here though, we use a lot of fans in houses here and ceiling fans to try to cut down the cost, water I'd have to check on, we don't pay that here. This sort of gives you a start with information. If you want more I'd be happy to write to you and exchange information on this forum or at dianavolkel@yahoo.com

[IndyGoinCali]

CAgirl71,
Are you looking to buy or rent? Renting can be as much as buying. We are asking $140,000 for our house in NW Indianapolis in an older subdivision, which is about average price for a 3 bed 3 bath on a pond. We are located in a great area. You can get to everything easily, and you can get away from everything really easily also. I love the location. You can be downtown in 15 mins, or on a farm in 15 mins. NW Indy is a great location for work also, there is a ton of Admin work in the area, if you are interested I know of some places that are always looking, that start @ $11.00 which is pretty good for Indy. The cost of living is cheaper, but so is the pay, honestly finding a job even with extensive experience starting at 13-15 probably isn't likely. The avergage admin asst (what I'm doing right now, and am only @ $12 w/ two years at the same company under my belt) job will advertise $9-11 depending on experience. Public transportation is ideal here, the traffic can be bad, but you will also have to get used to slower driving. 80 mph is the max people are usually going on the expressways here. You can build really inexpensively here, but I WOULD NOT reccommed it. You will NEVER be able to sell your home. Why would someone buy your house when they can build the same thing brand new for the same price? Our relatives had to forclose on a house they built just because they relocated. The house was a very nice house too. So I would not reccommend building at all. You will probably have gas heat & water, electric AC, & a water/sweage/trash fee. All together you're looking at about 60-150 a month depending on size.

[CAGirl71]

Dear Indy,

Thanks for the info. I am looking to actually rent a room in a house unless apts there are really reasonable. Here I was paying $1,300 for apt and utilities and now most apts have gone up in last couple of years since I've been roommating, and now the apts alone are $1,100 to $1,300 and then + the utilities and those have also gone up. One of the reasons I opted for roommating is that every year my expenses just to stay in the same place would increase almost $100 a month, yet my pay would not. I could not continuously absorb these kinds of increases in my budget. Living as a roommate has been much better, so far one year only had to absorb a $5.00 increase in utilties, which I must say is pretty decent. What I can't believe is that you are selling your house for under $200,000! Houses in Orange, and thee are just run of the mill, nothing special houses are going for $500,000 - $625,000 and that was about a year ago so may be different now. Renting a house now is upwards of $2,500-$3,000 a month for a 3 bedroom and not in very good areas. So it sort of sounds like to me CA is way more expensive on the real estate side, while not being that much less on the wages side. Most admin jobs are still running $11-$13 which is better than a couple years ago which it was hard to get them out of the $10-$11/hr pay wage. Some are now $14/$15 hr. I have 30+ years experience so I try to sell it for a higher wage. Even still, there have been repressed times here I've had to take $10/hr jobs (sad with all that wonderful experience being worth nada). Sounds like work is plentiful there for admins which has been such a concern for the places I've looked. I want a slower pace of life, a more rural place to live if possible, without being to far from work - can that be done there? I'm curious about the admin work you do - is there a lot of multi-tasking and rushing you to get stuff done or can you work at your own pace if you work quickly? Here companies work lean, most have had to downsize and that means more work for the people who are there to do than they can really do at a comfortable pace. I'm trying to find a place that might not have this mindset or set of circumstances. What is your opinion about this in the admin jobs there? I have family who lives in Anderson IN and I've been out there in the summer so I kind of have an idea what it's like there then, but can you tell me what the weather is like in the winter. No snow driving here ever, but is there snow out there. I don't think I could drive in heavy snow. I've been a CA resident all my life and am spoiled. Send me more questions if you have 'em I'll answer for ya. Thanks for giving me a little better idea what it's like there.

[Ramsfan]

IndyGoingCali, I've never been to Indy but from what I've heard be ready for culture shock, but, I'm sure your aware of that. Hope you make a good paycheck if your going to live in San Clemente or San Juan Capistrano. But then again cost of living is high here in OC. Just live smart with your finances and you can do it here, no problem.

[CoastalHomeSeekers]

I just ran a search on the mls for rentals up to $2,000 per month that will consider pets and 22 homes came up. Most of the time, your ability to have pets will depend upon the big picture - rental history, credit scores, etc.

You can set up a search on indeed.com and receive a daily email of all job opportunities posted in a variety of places. I just did a search for floral design in and around 92672 and 3 positions came up.

Hope that helps