My fellow Californians..Are you struggling with the possibility of leaving? (San Diego: crime rate, home)

[Judy & Randy]

Originally Posted by SSIwillbebrokeby2010

Huckleberry, I believe I know why the soothsayers say that about the coast in 2012 Oct.
It is based on the Mayan Calendar. Check it out online, a quick search will tell you about the Mayan date for the catastrophic event.
I visited Yucatan, Mexico with my family, as I am Mayan and saw the very information that this date is based on.
It is all whether you believe in it or not. But, you know the scientists, geologists are telling us, so it could very well be.

Back in the `70's my hippie sister lived in OC. They all bought into a soothsayer that said LA was going to slide into the ocean 1 year then, so she believed it, moved from her rental and drew all her $ out her bank and headed up to Atascadero. Of course it never happened, just like the big scare of what was going to happen on 1/1/2000. Remember ? To be quite honest, the older I get and live thru unexpected earthquakes, volcanic eruptions(Mt. St. Helens), etc. I've found the "experts" really don't know much more of this stuff than us. But if you want to believe it, go ahead.

[Crazykasim]

Dallas, more specifically Richardson, TX. A very diverse city, with 2600 sq ft homes for $200,000. WOW... I already put in for a transfer

[deuterdu]

Originally Posted by Gal On The Move

Fellow Californians,

Just wanted to hear from those of you in my situation.

My husband and I are considering leaving magnificant California. Though we love it to death, we don't know if it's smart to stay. We live in Sac, which I consider to be California's greatest deal (financially speaking). We want to buy a home but we haven't seen anything we could be happy with for less then $300G's.

We've been thinking about moving to San Anotonio because you can get a great house for much less then $300G's. We've also heard it's a great place to raise the family we want to start.

But, I'm so in love with California!! Has anyone had this debate with themselves, and if so what did you decide? Move and have more financial security, a great home, a nice car without the yearly super high registration cost? Or, stay and do well, live in a smaller home, enjoy Cali's beauty?

I think we are leaning more towards moving. Especially since we have no family here. But it hurts!

Conflicted people please share!

Thanks

I have lived in Texas before (Austin). I think North Carolina has more to offer. We left Folsom CA and moved to Cary North Carolina. Raleigh area has best schools in the nation including colleges. Cost of living is great and Cary (suburb of Raleigh) has ranked 5th overall best place to live and 8th safest city in USA. Consistently ranked top city for 10 years running. San Antonio is nice too but Raleigh has a ton of jobs available. Also, there are a lot of Californians moving here from the bay area. Therefore there isn't as much culture shock for us native Californians!


Here is some info:

Raleigh, Raleigh, Best Place To Live, Raleigh North Carolina, Business Relocation, Business Expansion
Cary, North Carolina Real Estate, Cary Relocation - RelocateAmerica (http://www.relocateamerica.com/north-carolina/cities/cary - broken link)
MONEY Magazine: Best places to live
MONEY Magazine: Best places to live 2006: Cary, NC snapshot

Good luck in whatever you decide. I love to visit Ca but glad I don't live there anymore!

[havasulady]

Made a mistake. Moved away 15 years ago from Southern California to Arizona and I am home sick for California. I wanna come home. Thinking of relocating to Lompoc, CA.

[Roma]

California here we come!!!

We moved out of Calif about 3.5 years ago. We are young retirees. I was 38 and my husband was 40 at the time. We didn't move for the same reasons as I see a lot of you guys moving out of Calif are. We moved to retire on a lake with some land in Texas. We didn't hate Calif and it wasn't the cost either. We wanted land and a lake. We searched the county in the little time we had and choose Texas for a few different reasons.

But......We don't like it here in Texas after living here for awhile for many reasons.

We just listed all of our properties here in Texas for sale. As soon as our home sells we will be moving back to Calif. I can't wait. I miss it so much!!!! We will never leave Calif again. My husband and I are both originally from Ohio but we have California running through our veins!

[sinaloa]

We moved out of california 3 years ago, Its beautiful we live in the hill country we a have 4,000sq ft house and great income, But We want to go back so bad, no matter wahat you do California is California, The people are so different we have tried to make it work but Texans are always trying to make you feel like you are invading their country and hate Californians

[deuterdu]

If the materialistic attitude in California wasn't so prevalent I may have stayed. I don't want my kids learning that garbage.

[robertpolyglot]

Originally Posted by sinaloa

We moved out of california 3 years ago, Its beautiful we live in the hill country we a have 4,000sq ft house and great income, But We want to go back so bad, no matter wahat you do California is California, The people are so different we have tried to make it work but Texans are always trying to make you feel like you are invading their country and hate Californians

Sinaloa, do you think this is because you might live in a smaller hickish area...I mean, I couldn't imagine this happening in a sprawling suburban neighborhood in HOU or DFW. Correct me if I'm wrong, someone....

[tellchris]

I read a lot of post...but not all. I grew up in Cali. Bay Area and Sac. I moved away for the past 12 yrs. I've lived in Seattle, Dallas, Raleigh & Austin.

Raleigh and Austin are amazing. Dallas-horrible and Seattle is also great.

Needless to say, most of this is just based on opinion. For instance, Dallas has high crime, crazy weather (hot, humid, stormy) and huge property taxes. Not a lot to do outside of movies, restaurants and shopping. But the people are great. Also, nothing to do close by. You must get on a plane to see water or mountains. But the Big D als0 has a great business climate.

Raleigh is beautiful. Lots of mountains and beaches close by. Smart friendly people. It's the new south. And it's affordable. Great place to raise kids and economy is awesome. High humidity, but 4-seasons.

Austin is ultra hip, funky and eclectic. Affordable housing but huge property taxes. The city rocks, but the region just sucks. No ocean or mountains. We do have hill country, nice...But not Yosemite or Tahoe. The people are awesome, laid back, educated. While many feel like Austin is the south, really it feels more like the West...So many Cali folks are moving here.

But, we (x-Cali folks) do struggle with living in TX. Big & Boring. Once you leave Austin, it's all downhill.

Yes Cali had issues, but it's hard to put a price tag on the climate and all the things to do.

We may move back....?

Seattle is awesome but expensive and the weather is horrible.

So, I say all that to say this...Every place had it's pros and cons. My wife and I miss going to Tahoe or Yosemite, or SF and Nape. Our kids ( 7 & 5) don't get to experience all that. We hate humidity and the fact that it can be in the 90's in the middle of OCt and it's in the 90's at 2am in Summer.

[McHopper]

....Texans are always trying to make you feel like you are invading their country and hate Californians[/quote]



This is SOOOO TRUE about Texans!! Most have never been out of their state and they are actually proud of that fact.
I lived in Austin years ago and whenever I would say anything at all to a Texan, they'd hammer me about being a Yankee and moving into 'their' state because obviously it was the most perfect place on earth.
I had moved there from the midwest. Austin was nice with its hills and trees, but it gets blazin' hot and humid for 5 mos of the year. We moved away after deciding that we wanted our kids to be able to graduate from a public school knowing how to speak and read English. That didn't seem to happen in Texas unless you paid for private schools.
Now that we have no kids at home, I have considered moving back but that memory of how nasty the native Texans were to outsiders who didn't have an accent makes me remember how miserable it felt. Why put up with that?
Now that I'm in CA, I find that people are more like me. Friendly enough to wave but not suffocating. I don't like to be overly 'neighbored'. Here, I don't feel coerced into anyone's idea of conforming. For the most part people have positive attitudes here.
We've lived in SD, MN, OK, TX, AZ and now CA and CA has managed to be my favorite so far.
Housing is coming down drastically to where an average Joe can buy an affordable home again. Property taxes are being lowered accordingly. Produce is still cheaper and of superior quality, with no tax on food as in some states. If a person really tries to live smart, like LIVING WHERE YOU WORK so you don't have to drive as much, you can live cheaply in CA and just visit other places fairly cost effectively.
All that said, when its time to quit working, we may move. There have been a lot of places we've vacationed that I think I'd like better, but we will do our homework first before we jump.