Can a family really settle down in SD? (Corona, Coronado: bridge, time)

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by Sassberto

You can find those same TH's in Carmel Valley and Scripps ranch for 2500, so it's not so bad if you are willing to live (potentially forever) in an condo/TH/apartment. I haven't shared a wall with my neighbors for 15 yrs and hoping not to ever have to again, in fact I'd prefer another 20 feet between us :-)

Yep. While we were waiting to close on our house, I rented a 3 bedroom townhouse in Carmel Valley. We paid $2,700 a month and this owner had NO problem at all getting that. In fact our house renovations were done sooner than expected and she allowed us to leave earlier and paid back our pre-paid rent.

I agree I'd NEVER want to share another wall with my neighbor but surprisingly in Carmel Valley while we were there a few months we never heard our neighbor at all.

[shmoov_groovzsd]

Originally Posted by earlyretirement

All the others as usual provide great advice. I know this question is asked and answered all the time.

"Long affordable lifestyle". I think that is a good way of asking "am I going to run out of money in the long run".


Also, I see posts here on Citydata once in a while that say you can easily move here for not too much money but odds are these people don't have kids and they don't have to worry about being in a good school district. That's the big wildcard factor to me.

Of course salaries on jobs are lower on almost every field out there. The one small exception I've seen is on some CEO/President type positions in some companies. However, the vast majority wouldn't qualify for a job like this in San Diego.

.

Really nailed it. Since we have lived in SD (over 8 years), I have never felt that it was generally a great place to have a long lasting career per se. We are still pretty young (mid 30s) and as far as I am concerned, although 'right now' we are in great shape financially/business wise and foreseeable future, there can always be an unfortunate set of circustances that happen or life change (having kids) that can alter course.

Many colleagues I know MUST both be working to make ends meet. Guess what has happened so far when one of those high paying incomes disapears? So far, I have NOT heard many great stories. Stress, worry and desperation.
Several of them have been asking about anything open in my company politely and its awful to hear the struggles, especially when companies (inluding mine) are simply not hiring. At some point in SD, you MUST build enough professional capital to offset losing an income, like starting your own business. I think in SD, if you have the expertise in a field and the local connections, the sky is the limit.
The feeling I get here in SD is that once a large company dumps workers, there are very few companies running parallel to that level expertise. Lots of one trick ponies here. GREAT one trick ponies, but super specific.
Just from waht I have seen in almost a decade is that companies will move out and the workers will not go. Or for companies that move in, they may need a talent pool in the hundreds, hire like crazy and simply downsize in a decade. That's just bad all around, but something I think any career minded individual needs to respect and understand when moving here especially in tech. Of course this can apply anywhere when a company moves or an industry consolidates, but saving for it here will go a long away simply because the cost of housing can send people to the poor house pretty quickly if they bite off more than they can chew for the sake of "X" reason. I think SD is a GREAT place to live, but pushing your own finances over the edge can be very tempting because there are some marvelous places to set up shop here.

So earlyretirement is spot on with kids/no kids being such a wildcard factor. Or as Sassberto has said,unless you are coming here with a family in tow and capital, can you have some freedom in choosing where to buy and raise kids vs starting from scratch.

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by shmoov_groovzsd

there can always be an unfortunate set of circustances that happen or life change (having kids) that can alter course.

Many colleagues I know MUST both be working to make ends meet. Guess what has happened so far when one of those high paying incomes disapears? So far, I have NOT heard many great stories. Stress, worry and desperation.
Several of them have been asking about anything open in my company politely and its awful to hear the struggles, especially when companies (inluding mine) are simply not hiring. At some point in SD, you MUST build enough professional capital to offset losing an income, like starting your own business. I think in SD, if you have the expertise in a field and the local connections, the sky is the limit.
The feeling I get here in SD is that once a large company dumps workers, there are very few companies running parallel to that level expertise. Lots of one trick ponies here. GREAT one trick ponies, but super specific.
Just from waht I have seen in almost a decade is that companies will move out and the workers will not go. Or for companies that move in, they may need a talent pool in the hundreds, hire like crazy and simply downsize in a decade. That's just bad all around, but something I think any career minded individual needs to respect and understand when moving here especially in tech. Of course this can apply anywhere when a company moves or an industry consolidates, but saving for it here will go a long away simply because the cost of housing can send people to the poor house pretty quickly if they bite off more than they can chew for the sake of "X" reason. I think SD is a GREAT place to live, but pushing your own finances over the edge can be very tempting because there are some marvelous places to set up shop here.

So earlyretirement is spot on with kids/no kids being such a wildcard factor. Or as Sassberto has said,unless you are coming here with a family in tow and capital, can you have some freedom in choosing where to buy and raise kids vs starting from scratch.

Shmoov,

Great post! Definitely you will see once you have kids, life changes and priorities change. You will also find that no matter how much you budget on paper, you will probably spend more on any given category with kids.

I am a VERY detailed planner and budgeter. Very detail oriented. But I've found being a parent, I've blown every single budget I set on paper having to do with the kids.

- Babysitters
- Extracurricular activities (ballet classes, swimming classes, horse riding, whatever)
- Clothing
- Food
- Toys
- Entertainment (Educational) - Books, learning materials, etc.
- Entertainment (Non-Educational) - Seaworld, Zoo, Play places, etc.

Sure I'm confident that people stick to their budgets with their kids but my point is it's very easy to go over. About the only expense that I wrote down and was set and didn't change was pre-school as I know it will be $900 per month per kid. (I'm still bummed that my son was born in December so I have an entire extra year of pre-school).


Definitely I do think the key to a city like San Diego where the labor market isn't good or low paying is tons of experience and a PROVEN long term track record in whatever field but ALSO local connections (or national connections that can refer you to THEIR connections here in San Diego). That is key.

So so true about lots of "one trick ponies" here in San Diego. That's probably the best way of putting that. I met a few people like that. Where they were working a fairly decent job and making a good salary but then the company decided to exit out of San Diego or outsource to another area and these people have to downscale to another job paying no where near what they were making.

It's never a good idea to over-leverage and live beyond your means in any city. But I think there are a higher % of people that do that in San Diego and then get in trouble. Because at least in other major metropolitan cities if you are living beyond your means and lose your job, it's much easier to find another job making similar income but I think here in San Diego it's tougher.

I was just in my Country Club pool this afternoon. My wife and I met another couple. This lady was SO excited because my wife and her are from the same place and they were so happy. Funny but this lady asks, "do you guys plan on staying in San Diego for the long term or only passing through". She asked this even though we told her we just bought a house here last year!

I thought this question was VERY telling about San Diego. She told us she made so many friends since living here for the past 12 years but many left after only a year or two or three. We've experienced this with other people in our kid's school. She explained that she invested so much time and energy into these friendships with people she met only to have them leave San Diego after a year or two.

I thought this lady's question was SO spot on target how it can be here in San Diego. She was so excited when we told her we are here at least until our kids are done with high school and probably beyond as well.

[Think4Yourself]

Originally Posted by Outofthematrix

What is sunshine tax?

I've mostly heard it called the sunshine discount. Salaries are set by supply and demand and generally lots of people want to move to highly desirable places thus the supply of labor in a desirable place (or willing to move to a highly desirable place) often exceeds demand for such labor. Thus the wages go down. This difference in wages is often called the Sunshine Discount.

[Outofthematrix]

May I ask what do most of you do career wise?

[Everest209]

Originally Posted by Encinitan

It means we pay more (or settle for earning less at work, however you want to look at it) to live in the sunshine. It's sort of a joke, a way of saying it may expensive to live in San Diego, but at least the weather can't be beat.

I know I probably just caught bad luck, but I visited SD for the first time last weekend. I got there at night and was like "what's this muggy bs?". Then the next day it was uncomfortably hot. I went to get a break from the Nor Cal heat, no such luck. At least Petco was beautiful, as was the view on the Coronado bridge.

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by Everest209

I know I probably just caught bad luck, but I visited SD for the first time last weekend. I got there at night and was like "what's this muggy bs?". Then the next day it was uncomfortably hot. I went to get a break from the Nor Cal heat, no such luck. At least Petco was beautiful, as was the view on the Coronado bridge.

Yeah, we had some hot and humid temperatures the past 2 weeks. But the last few days has been beautiful. Yesterday was the first day we were able to turn off our AC and the house thermostat has said 75. It's been great.

It does get hot here a few weeks during the summer but I admit it was stickier and more humid for comfort the past few weeks.

[cruitr]

Originally Posted by Outofthematrix

What is sunshine tax?

Sunshine tax defined: Sunshine tax - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[millr]

Originally Posted by cruitr

Sunshine tax defined: Sunshine tax - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

My boss actually used this term when I asked for a raise. His use of it wasn't very apt though, as I was comparing my salary to that of others in similar roles in San Diego.

What would be an analogous expression for people who want to live in NYC for whatever personal reasons?

[NYSD1995]

Originally Posted by millr

What would be an analogous expression for people who want to live in NYC for whatever personal reasons?

"If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere"