For those thinking about moving to San Diego - CLICK HERE (Los Angeles: housing, vacation)

[goldminer]

I hope your not a Realtor !
I would be moving from Lovelock,NV to San Diego County not the city I am looking at Fillmore, Valley center and Alpine Looking for clean air room for Horses lots of room!!
A not to insane commute to a real urban area (used to live in LA) husband actually drove from Orange County to Downtown LA 5 days a week....... Good Schools, Culture ,Trees,grass and more health continuous people that don't smoke on playgrounds
or thinks gambling at casinos and getting drunk as entertainment nevada seems so
full of the gambler stereotype. I actually miss the Californian stereotypes !

[Where'sTheBeach?]

My boyfriend are planning a move for after he graduates with a computer engineering degree. I'm a teacher, so I can get a job pretty much anywhere, but he needs to be somewhere where there's a demand for him. Here's how it breaks down:

Here, we want to escape-

cold, dark winters
old, sad mill buildings with their sad history
old, tiny roads that are unnavigatable when it snows
cranky people (for him; I'm from here, so I don't notice. I'm one of them, I guess!)

There, we hope to gain-

sunlight
more time near the ocean (we live in MA, and it's a painful commute to the beach on the Cape, but we have to be near the beach or we start to twitch )
more outdoors, hiking, beautiful scenery
juice bars and healthy food, which we do NOT have here
healthy-minded people
a less sleepy neighborhood (for him. I'll move closer to a city, but only if I'm gaining warmth.)
Atmosphere. It looks like a very upbeat, colorful city. There's a "feel" that we feel is "us."
open-minded people (I hope!)
No MCAS (our state test. School here, at least where I teach, has lost all it's creativity. I don't blame kids who hate coming to school. We treat them like numbers, literally being given kids who are low income or minority because they will affect our scores more than others)

What we will miss-

Our family, many of whom live here, but some of whom will probably be making the move with us. My father and stepmother love the sun and beach as well. She also has rheumatoid arthritis and needs to escape the cold.
The history, especially in the architecture in small, quaint fishing towns like ours.
Watching the snow fall, but we can drive to snow, right?
The seasons
The seafood. I'm sure you have seafood there; I hope it's similar. No clambakes or creamy clam chowder, though, I don't think.

If we could move tomorrow, we would! We are scared to make the move before he graduates, because right now, I am working overtime in every program at school as I can to cover us while he goes to school. I don't know that that would be available there. I've heard that the water is very cold there, but it's cold here, too, so I'm not sure what to expect. I want to swim as much as I can, but I rarely see anyone doing anything other than surfing in pictures. I want to throw on a wetsuit in February and run into the water, but I'm not sure if that will make me seem crazy there. I'd love to do it here, but I would probably die pretty quickly.

[Katimae]

My husband and I are looking to move to San Diego from the bay area (Palo Alto) within the year. I am a nanny and my husband is an accountant. We moved to California 2 years ago and chose this area because we had jobs lined up and an apartment provided by my employer and we were told a huge pack of lies about life out here. When we got here my job (office manager) was not in an office, but in a rat infested warehouse with no other employees except for a group of non english speaking construction workers (it was a construction company). My husband's office smelled like body odor and cat urine and neither of us were ever paid on time. Our apartment was a studio in a building with a mold problem and there were 8 people living in the studio above us. We got new jobs and found a new apartment, but it doesn't change the other bad things. The beaches are unuseable here, freezing cold, usually foggy and windy (nobody goes to the beach for anything other than dog walking). The cost of living is sick here (we pay over $2000 a month for our small 2 bedroom one bath and that was a steal). The people here are so snobby, Oh-so intellegent and full of themselves (Stanford university- need I say more). The traffic is a disaster and public transpotation on the peninsula is a joke. The weather is horrible, it pours all winter and it's freezing, no matter how warm it is during the day you need heat at night, even in the summer and every morning starts out freezing cold and cloudy.

so basically, we want friendlier people (we don't care if they are shallow... better than stuck up!) better weather, and beaches we can enjoy!

[Joey81]

[quote=LookingtoLeave;3139624]

Originally Posted by iriegirl

About prices, I was on the online edition of the SD Union-Tribune just last night and there was an article about housing prices decreasing. Do any of the locals there know if that's true?

This is true but it's all relative; though if you have a good paying job (50k+), you can live in SD. As your income rises you can look into places like La Jolla or Rancho Santa Fe, where the average family income is $350k (highest in the US).

[T-Dutcher]

From Michigan to El cajon /LaMesa

[hanna_house]

My husband and I currently live in Michigan. We are 30 with no children and love natural beauty and spending endless days at the beach. Unfortunately, in Michigan you can only do so for about 3 months out of the year. We are not into winter sports and are tired of the long, cold months. We don't dislike the area we live in, but feel that we are ready for something fresh and new. We've basically been everywhere on the Eastern side of the country and thought it was time to explore new territory. We chose SD because it seems more laid back than LA and warmer than SF.

[David103]

I am from New Jersey. I am getting married Sep 7, 2008.
We are planning on moving to La Jolla, San Diego the first week of Oct.
We are so excited about the move.
I never want to see snow again.
Right now I am a computer systems engineer consultant for Pfizer.
I will be looking for a new job once we move.
I look forward to making new friends on here.

David

[MAK802]

I'm Maggie, David's fiancee. We want to move to a warmer climate. We are planning on getting a bulldog, named Porkchop, after we move and take him to dog beach daily. I never want to see snow again!! I look forward to meeting people on here and hearing all about your wonderful city!!

[badroach10]

Hey Everyone,
I am a soon-to-be college grad from Buffalo, New York. I am about to get a degree in Business (Finance/Marketing) and I'm looking for a place where I'll find a decent job (not necessarily one that pays millions) and a place with cool people and culture. I've been in Buffalo my whole life and there's things I love about it, but in all honesty, I feel like I've done everything there is to do here. And yes, I've even checked out the architecture and museums that anyone from the area knows get rave reviews. That's all fine and dandy on monday afternoons and I really do enjoy that stuff, but as far as nightlife and things to do for twenty-somethings, there's really nothing. I'm bored. Oh yeah and just like anyone else, I'm so sick of the snow that we're notorious for. Lastly, unless you wanna get into telemarketing or collections, the job market here is atrocious. Is San Diego any better?

I'm looking for:
A Nice Job
Culture
Good Weather
Cool People
Things To Do

[GratefulDeb]

I am moving from NJ as a single mom with my two teenage daughters on July 30th. I will have no friends in SD so I am up for meeting you guys when you get out there. Lets stay in touch. You can e-mail me with any specific questions at dwatts@sfr1.com. I can try to help answer any questions about the actual move and the area. I am also moving to La Jolla/UTC. What area of NJ are you from? I'm from West Orange.