want to move back to OC from Phoenix (Los Angeles, Irvine: photo radar, house)

[dldavis]

I hope all of you move back to the OC. It will be much better for us who want to leave. What happens is the Californians move to other states buy up a big house and then want to change our way of life, starbucks on every cornor etc. They also push their liberal ways. Leave the Red States alonge please. Why do you think it is so cheap here and we want it to stay that way. Californias please stay here, please!!!!!!!!!

thank you

[occa]

What About your next generation? They are keep renting, sharing forever!!!!

[oc ex]

Wow, I know just how you feel!! I lived in Huntington Beach all my live (50) years, and moved to Northern Cal. to buy a nicer home, and I miss OC sooooo bad!!!! I can't wait to sell this place and go home!!

Originally Posted by superkoz

We moved to Surprise, a suburb of Phoenix, almost two years ago from Irvine, CA. We were frustrated with housing prices in OC and at the time were renting a dump for $2K a month. However, we have a learned a very important lesson in life that I hope other young families will as well: owning a house is not everything. In OC, we had great friends, family, a million things to do, and pretty much everything at our finger tips. In a nutshell, we had quality of life. Out here, it is boring beyond words. If you are happy just staying inside your 3,000 sf house all the time, that's great, but we realize that we love diversity and especially miss the outdoor aspect that OC or pretty much anywhere in California offers. Today it is mid May and 101 degrees and will not cool down until October. That is one long summer. And so, we have decided to bite the bullet and pay more in rent to move back to OC and start enjoying our life again! To anyone who is considering moving anywhere just for a house, I would not recommend it. There is so much more to life than owning a piece of property!

[Charles]

Originally Posted by superkoz

Today it is mid May and 101 degrees and will not cool down until October. That is one long summer.

Didn't you know this before you moved?

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Twinkle Toes

I think a lot of people get caught up in the "cheaper", "better", "bigger house" syndrome. We did too. We really never had the bug to move out of CA but other family members did and brought back homes magazines and newspapers from different states. Like fools, we sold our beautiful home in Palm Desert, CA (for a really nice profit) and moved to San Antonio, Texas. YeeHaw!!! That's where everyone was moving to.

We had a GORGEOUS, huge home built (over 6000 sq. ft.). But guess what? We HATED Texas!!! All of a sudden there we were in a completely different culture with NO family or friends! Sure, we made some friends while we were there, but we sure did miss the old friends we had known for pretty much most of our lives. We missed the familiarity of things. The ability to just hop in your car and know where you're going and know where everything is - and get there quickly. Now, I know a lot of folks are probably going to jump all over me for this, but where we came from (Palm Desert) there wasn't a lot of traffic. We get to San Antonio and there's nothing BUT traffic!!! It was an absolute nightmare and my kids hated it too and couldn't wait to get back home to see and go to school with their friends.

Also, as hot as it is in Palm Desert during summer, it's got all that Texas rain and humidity beat ANY day!!! Moral of the story - the grass is NOT greener on the other side of the fence. We moved back home to CA and were lucky in that we sold our Texas home in about a month, so we never have to go back there for anything ever again!!!

Never take your friends/family for granted.

I can't believe anyone would make such a huge lifetime decision without researching their new destination to the nth degree. Anyone with an internet connection can get traffic, school, demographic, weather, cultural, employment, real estate, zoning, and planning data for just about any location.

I will admit that leaving our parents was and still is very emotionally difficult - and that was factored into our decision. But with the money we saved we (I, wife and three kids) visit LA four times a year and talk about four nights per week with them on the phone. Our quality of life is many times better. No traffic, no social problems (which if you frequent the LA forum is about one third of the topics), more jobs per capita, and cheaper housing prices (which is also about one third of the LA forum topics).

The Moral of Your Story is the grass wasn't greener.

We researched, collected tons of data, and analyzed everything about our move and we are happy.

Yes, we obviously had to make some trade offs, but the grass is thick and green and about ten feet tall.

[califantastic]

I'm sorry Charles but this thread is for California lovers only. I am going to have to delete your posts. There are plenty of other threads for people that are glad they left.

[sheri257]

Wow ... this thread is fascinating and, also, so refreshing. There seems to be so much California bashing on this board.

I guess because I'd already lived in a lot of places (including Texas) ... I knew California was home as soon as I got here.

So, I'm here to stay.

Welcome back guys!

[5FLgirls]

Different strokes for different folks. I can see how CA (OC specifically) is not affordable - but I can see all the positives - it is a great family place, diverse, provides many opportunties for kids, way too many activities, great weather, lots of sunshine, beaches, access to a huge job center (from LA to SD), lots of greenspace to hike, walk, ride bikes, and a little sleepy too in the OC. Traffic is not bad - go to Atlanta, Miami, Houston, etc. - at least traffic here moves. If you can live south/west of the 73 - things are too good.

People are funky - they can't enjoy or appreciate what they have.

[zenjenn]

True, Charles. When we were looking to relocate, Arizona came up (as it seems to for all Californians) and was quickly rejected. We didn't want to live in the desert, end of story.

We will be moving to northern Alabama and have researched the good and the bad. Part of me is concerned that we'll get there and find we don't like it - that my allergies will go haywire and that I'll be covered with mosquito bites and that I'll miss my soy-protein based whatever quirky California cuisine, etc. But I do think I'm going into it realistically.

Of course, I do not have a great number of friends and family here. I have a 3 members (spread all over the greater LA area), and a large number of friendly acquaintances and that's about it.

One thing I never understood is this thing everyone brings up about California being so much more interesting, and every place else is so boring. What is it that all you people do in California that makes it so much more fabulously interesting than anyplace else? This is a serious question, for families. My husband and I can't figure it out. We eat at some local restaurants, go to a movie once in a while, and go walking or hiking. Maybe once every month we'll take the kids to mini golf or a local theater show. This is what most families we know in California do, and this stuff is in pretty much any reasonably-sized city in the country. I mean are you people dining at 4 star Los Angeles restaurants and clubbing at exclusive clubs every weekend - attending every Getty exhibit and driving to the beach every Sunday? What exactly is boring about these other cities?

I really don't mean to sound snarky, it's an honest question.

[Caliguy2007]

I think alot of it has to do with the Great Variety of things to See and Do here in CA compared to other States.

I used to live up in Washington State and I honestly got to See and Do more eversince I moved down here.

Originally Posted by zenjenn

One thing I never understood is this thing everyone brings up about California being so much more interesting, and every place else is so boring. What is it that all you people do in California that makes it so much more fabulously interesting than anyplace else?