Want to move to Southern California, should we??? (Los Angeles, San Diego: 2011, apartment)

[Pattym05]

My husband and I want to move from the midwest winters to either Florida or California. We have 5 children one of which wants to attend college in either place in 2011. I prefer Southern California for the obvious reason(sun, water, excitement) is it feasible to live there with all the economy issues right now? We want to rent a home for about a year to make sure we are staying. Want a 4 bedroom with good schools, etc. looking to rent for anywhere between 1,500 to 2,000 a month.

[EscapeCalifornia]

How far from work can you handle being? That budget is a bit short for a 4 bedroom house in a nice area with good schools if you don't want to commute from some far off exurb. Rents are coming down so who knows what they'll be in two more years. What do you plan on doing for work here?

[Buburuza 1313]

i would not move...the budget is low for a good area,good school and 4 bedrooms,california is also more expensive compared to other states...i live north and i will move soon to south california,but the prices for good areas (4 bedrooms)are higher then you can afford...you could end in not so good area and you could be very sorry...where you live and what type of school your children are going to is very importante,more important than sun,water and excitement..and if you can not afford the complette package (good area,good schools)hier in california,then you better stay in a state where this type of money offer something better for your children..i come form europe and even withouht sun,there are a lot of possibilities for fun and excitement...california is very expensive and there are so big differeneces between neigborhoods and schools..huge differences...

[JohnG72]

Originally Posted by Pattym05

Want a 4 bedroom with good schools, etc. looking to rent for anywhere between 1,500 to 2,000 a month.

A combination of all three of those is not possible in most of Los Angeles Orange County, or San Diego.

It might be possible in Lancaster/Palmdale, Victorville/Apple Valley, or Inland Empire. None of those are near water nor excitement.

Reality is, if you have 5 kids and don't make $150K or more a year household income, forget about living in Los Angeles. Your living conditions will be substandard mostly due to the cost of housing/food/gas.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by JohnG72

A combination of all three of those is not possible in most of Los Angeles Orange County, or San Diego.

It might be possible in Lancaster/Palmdale, Victorville/Apple Valley, or Inland Empire. None of those are near water nor excitement.

Reality is, if you have 5 kids and don't make $150K or more a year household income, forget about living in Los Angeles. Your living conditions will be substandard mostly due to the cost of housing/food/gas.

Probably $150,000 would be min after the cost of living in much of the midwest.

To the OP, you didn't mention what hubby does and what about the job market? Remember it isn't very good anywhere. If you really do want to move I would suggest you give more thought to Florida. At least the cost of living is a little less.

Nita

[Calix]

Uh oh, another midwestern family that saw too many reruns of "The OC" on SOAPnet.

You'll have to tell your teenager that no, he or she is not Lauren Conrad or Spencer Pratt and no, it isn't just like "The Hills". For the mom's - no, life won't be like "The (So Called) Real Housewives of Orange County". At that budget one can assume you are making a little shy of $100,000K which after cost of living, taxes, other associated "sunshine" fees in CA and that size family, you'll be lucky to be living in "North County"; yep, Buena Park, Stanton, Santa Ana, and perhaps, even Garden Grove, yes, all close to fun and excitement, probably the best of the bunch compared to other parts of SoCal at that price. You should be fluent in another language other than English and your kids should toughen up a bit as North County neighborhoods can be rough on white midwestern kids, but not to worry, excitement will be part of their daily vocabulary.

The most exciting part will be living in your cramped two bedroom or perhaps bug infested three bedroom apartment, with the bonus of lots of fun music being blasted till early morning. Don't worry, you find plenty of new kinds of fun.

If apartment living is beneath you, you could move to the IE (Inland Empire) or worse yet, the high desert where gangs, trash, crime, unimaginable commutes, and intense heat create a new definition of quality of life that will have you begging for that "boring" midwest life and wishing for those winters of yours in no time. But hey, you'll have plenty of sun and water as the sweat pours from your brow.

If you love your kids, you will not move them to a crumbling state with vacuous ideas of sun, water and excitement just because you dislike a little snow or find where you live too boring. Otherwise, you'll up your budget and move to a community that will worth raising kids in.

In all seriousness, CA is not a place on the budget you described and will certainly find you quality of life substantially diminished. Though if your heart is set on CA, Orange County is truly the crown jewel of SoCal, but even then it is an island where the tide of destruction is rising higher every day.

[MisterDuke]

Just please don't move here then turn into one of those people who constantly complains how Californians don't have values and we are making your children become shallow and materialistic.

[Coldjensens]

$150,000 is light for a family of 7 living in Oragne County. Or did you mean that you will each earn that amount? That would be a comfortable income if you do not have much debt and do nto go out and buy new cars and facny clothing on a regular basis.

Based on your rental budget, I suspect that you mean $150,00 for the whole family. If you are not willing to share an apartment with another family, you need to increase your rental budget. You also need to factor in that almost everything will cost more than you are accustomed to, not just rent. Gas is more, food, except some produce items costs more, dining and entertainment cost more, taxes are higher than most places in the northern midwest, car registration, and maintainence are more, insurance may or may not be higher depends on your state. We spent more than double on health care in California what we spend in Michgian, that is in part because the insurance that we had in California did not cover as much, and in part because medical care simply costs more (and the quality of service was much lower).

There are a lot of positive things to be said for the glorious So. Cal. weather and the access to Oceans, Mountains, and deserts. Dining entertainment and cultural opportunities are unparalleled. However you pay a premium to live where a quarter of the people in the country want to live if they can, and it is not all roses and cheer. There are some big detriments in addition to the extreme costs.

No place is perfect. Everywhere has its trade offs. However Orange County is a great place to live primarily if you are not on a tight budget. On $150,000 a year you will be living paycheck to paycheck and not always making it. If someone gets seriously ill, a car breaks down, or some other crises occurs, it will put you on the ropes, you will end up borrowing money and then your budget will be stretched even thinner. If one of you loses their job even temporarily, it will be bankruptcy time.

If you are each earning $150,000 per year, then you can live very comfortably and happliy as long as you do not get caught up tine the keep up with the Joneses thing and keep things under control.

And yes. Unless you really stay on top of your children, and discuss and defray the common attitudes and morals that they will encounter, you may well have complaint about them becomming materialistic and shallow. That is the prevailing atmosphere, especially in the high schools. However it is not all pervasive. There are loads of really nice down to earth people in Orange County, however thay are not in the majority by a long shot.

I would not necessarily discourage you in your plans, but you need more money and you should go into this with your eyes open. We lived in OC for 18 years and had 5 kids and it was a blast. However we had a lot more money than what you are looking at (nearly, but not quite double) and we were not living high on the hog, sometimes, we struggled to make it to the end of the month and ended up staying home for a week or two and eating lots of spagetti and Mac & Cheese.

We moved to Michigan mostly for family reasons a few years ago, and while I personally miss California a lot, Michigan is a much more wholesome atmosphere for raising our kids and they are unquestionably better off here in my mind. I still spend about 15 weeks of the year in Orange County on business and stay in contact with our old friends and watch their children grow up. You can definitely raise good wholesome, balanced and deep children in OC, but it is more difficult, You will have to work harder at it and communicate with them better than many parents communicate with their children. The social atmosphere will be working against you.

Good luck on your decision. It is a tough one.

[centuries]

Originally Posted by Pattym05

My husband and I want to move from the midwest winters to either Florida or California. We have 5 children one of which wants to attend college in either place in 2011. I prefer Southern California for the obvious reason(sun, water, excitement) is it feasible to live there with all the economy issues right now? We want to rent a home for about a year to make sure we are staying. Want a 4 bedroom with good schools, etc. looking to rent for anywhere between 1,500 to 2,000 a month.

Sorry. For that rent, a 4 bedroom house, better buy your kids a gun because that's the neighborhood you'll be living in. The safer hoods run at a 67% higher cost of living than the national average. Your suggested target rent will get you a junior 1 bedroom apt.- less than 700 square feet - in RSM. If your total household salary is less than $70,000 you will be struggling to survive, most likely in a shabby place in a creepy, nasty hood. Dallas & Houston has a good job market and an affordable cost of living, with little tolerance for crime and/or gangs. Good luck, all the best!

[JesiJay]

My family and I will possibly be moving to Irvine, from Texas (I grew up in Ventura so I am familiar with the shallowness...LOL), and in working with a realtor I've found a lot of really nice homes there and in the surrounding areas for 2,500/mo rent (3 bedrooms).
I think if you were to up you rental budget a little bit you could find some nice homes to rent in nice neighborhoods, but then again you'd also have to think about everything else these folks have mentioned.