To move or not to move is the question .. (San Diego: rentals, mortgage)

[mm123456]

Stumbled on this forum which has some insightful discussions..
Thought I will run by my thoughts and get some opinions which are not biased as with people you know it is hard to come by.

I am early in the early 40's (40 to be exact!) with 2 kids (3 and 1 yrs old) and settled in Scottsdale, AZ for the past 6 years. Bought a house at pretty much the peak but due to some diligence even after the downturn have the monthly payments under control (under or abt the rent in the area) due to additional money I put in to get it refinanced at current rates.
Was in the SF bay area before that for 5 years.

Make decent money (200K range) and best of all, get to work from home with some travel (20-30%). No debts except the mortgage (cars paid off etc).
Have no reason to move except for the fact that I have had an upbringing which involved moving every 3-4 years due to Dad's job (grew up outside the US). So the sense of being "potted" in one place doesn't come natural to me (if that makes any sense). Why I bought a house here, well the wife talked the gullible me into it

Have been pestering the better half to move and finally she agreed on a place she is fond of ..San Diego. She has also left it to me that she is okay being where she is so its not that we _have_ to move.

That got me thinking on my own ..
So best case, I rent out the place here which covers the mortgage and we move to San Diego. Try to sell it at some decent price when the housing market improves a bit i guess and take a not so painful loss.
Hassle no doubt. Property management and the works.

Will not save much if we were to maintain my current life style due to cost of living there but still manageable given we will rent for the first year atleast. The saving potential has been good here (lower State tax which accounts for 10K itself to begin on what i make).
We do have some savings in cash (~8 months of living expenses) that I am comfortable drawing from.

So with no daily commute, what would be a good area to raise a family at?
Carmel Valley for the schools I have been told?

Worth it?
Given in my shoes would you do it just for the "potted" feeling?
I need to grow up maybe ..

Thanks

[AADAD]

Follow your heart.

[earlyretirement]

mm123456,

Definitely your situation is different than many that are thinking about moving here. First of all, it sounds like you have a GREAT job and you can work from anywhere. As long as that job is stable and it's not likely that you could lose that job I'd say San Diego would be great for you and your family.

I'm similar in age to you as I'm my late 30's and I also have 2 young kids. So from that standpoint we have something in common.

We absolutely LOVE it here! From a quality of life standpoint if you're making $200,000 you will live well here. It sounds like you live a pretty good lifestyle and we do the same. In your situation I'd say that San Diego will be paradise for you and I can't think of a better place to raise kids and for them to grow up.

I'm not sure how upside down you are in your house or how easy it will be for you to rent it. You listed the best case scenario but also think about the worst case scenario. If you can't easily rent it out several months...will you be ok with that? So ask yourselves questions like that. Will you be ok eating away at your emergency savings paying the mortgage if you can't rent it out? That's the only caveat I'd say to beware of. I'm not sure how much your mortgage payment is but you need to think about worst case scenario as well.

With no debt at all besides your mortgage and 8 months of savings you're in a great situation! Just make sure you are banking enough for your future retirement. I know many people in your situation that are making great income but they don't have too much socked away for retirement. But considering you have 8 months of emergency savings that is great.

My feeling is if you are reasonably sure you won't lose your job and will continue to make that salary then there isn't really any reason to not move where you want to move considering you can work from home. Having no commute is GREAT.

Like you, I work from home now. I do have a remote office abroad but only have to go every 2 months or so. With technology it's amazing how much you can do from home.

With 2 kids you have to think about good school districts. Your 3 year old will have pre-school the first 2 years you are here. Poway has great pre-schools. Our daughter is in pre-school in Poway. Or you can think about the private options like Lifetime Montessori -- Welcome To Lifetime Montessori School's Official Website-San Diego, CA 92127 (our son will go there next year) as he is too young for pre-school at Poway where you have to be 3 years old.

Carmel Valley has excellent schools as well as Poway. We rented a townhouse a few months while we were waiting to move into the home we bought and Carmel Valley was very conveniently located. But we LOVE living where we ended up buying (Santaluz). It couldn't have worked out better so you might want to look in that area as well for rentals. Quality of life is amazing!

Feel free to PM me or if you end up coming to San Diego, look me up and lunch is on me and your kids automatically have kids to play with (our kids are 3.5 and 2 years old).