Need urgent advice for moving to SD or not (San Diego: real estate, house)

[bhatia333]

Hi All,
I have been offered a job in SD by a wireless giant. The benefits are good. I currently live in Milpitas in SF Bay area. Although I am not directly related to the wireless field, I am more of a IT person. IT Jobs here are plenty in bay area. But its a high pressure situation a lot of times. I thought I wanted a laid back enviorment but now that the time to decide has come, I am really confused.
One of the big issues is that the salary I am being offered is almost 11K less. This makes a difference of almost $1000 in my net income per month. I dont know if this is the price I have to pay for easy going work (I think).
So my question is it advisable to move to SD considering that I am a techie.
Below are some of the points that I would like to think out loud and share with you...
1) Housing is more or less same (maybe a diff of 50K) between bay area and SD.
2) Beaches are more accessible in SD although its not that important to me.
3) Tech jobs are lesser in SD and if for whatever reason I dont like the new job, then I am stuck (one of my biggest fear)
4) Schools not important as we dont have kids as of now.
5) Lesser people from my ethnic background and community. Even though this may seem a little closed, but I feel that this is somewhat important.

Please advice. I need to decide by today.

Thanks in advance

[Sassberto]

Originally Posted by bhatia333

Hi All,
I have been offered a job in SD by a wireless giant. The benefits are good. I currently live in Milpitas in SF Bay area. Although I am not directly related to the wireless field, I am more of a IT person. IT Jobs here are plenty in bay area. But its a high pressure situation a lot of times. I thought I wanted a laid back enviorment but now that the time to decide has come, I am really confused.

I am not sure working at one of the wireless giants is going to be any less stressful for you. As far as I can tell, it's pretty much the same deal here.

[capoeira]

Originally Posted by bhatia333

1) Housing is more or less same (maybe a diff of 50K) between bay area and SD.
2) Beaches are more accessible in SD although its not that important to me.
3) Tech jobs are lesser in SD and if for whatever reason I dont like the new job, then I am stuck (one of my biggest fear)
4) Schools not important as we dont have kids as of now.
5) Lesser people from my ethnic background and community. Even though this may seem a little closed, but I feel that this is somewhat important.

Please advice. I need to decide by today.

Thanks in advance

1)Housing seems much less expensive in San Diego. Look at this nice house in Tierrasanta(good convenient area) for 700K. You can't find anything close to it in Sunnyvale or even San Ramon for 900K.

Home 4 Bedrooms, 2.5 BathsTierrasanta 92124 (broken link)

5)If you are South Asian San Diego definitely has less than Sunnyvale or Fremont. There is a South Asian oriented strip mall on Black Mountain Rd. north of Miramar. You can also do a weekend trip to "Little India" in Artesia(about 100 miles from SD).

There is a site called sandiegodesi.com that is down right now. You can use Google to look at their previous pages.

sandiegodesi.com - Google Search

6)San Diego is relatively safe from earthquakes compared to the double threat of the Hayward fault and the San Andreas fault in the Bay Area.

[kwaping]

There are plenty of IT jobs around, especially in the area immediately surrounding this anonymous wireless giant. What's your ethnic background? You might be surprised at the variety we offer.

[bhatia333]

I am from a South Asian background and what capoeira has mentioned is correct. I have been there a few times. But when you compare to bay area, its nothing... its a tough decision!!! aaargh

[sav858]

Hopefully you are pretty aware of the differences between here and the Bay Area, b/c some people will complain how it's not like NorCal or the Bay Area in some aspects. We aren't nearly as big or cosmopolitan as the Bay Area, which is what some people tend to complain about.

I grew up in the Bay Area and to me it seems more of a rat race up there. You have to make good money to enjoy what that place has to offer. San Diego is a more laid back, beach oriented lifestyle. If a more pleasant, laid back atmosphere is what you want out of living in a place then SD might be better for that. I'm not saying it's paradise and we all just hang out at the beach and never work, but it's just a different vibe; it's very laid back overall. I think housing is significantly cheaper than what you get anywhere in the Bay Area, you can live by the beach in a popular area for the same price as you pay to live in a not so nice or special area in the Bay.

[Victoria92008]

Ask for working interview. What if you hate it? and for 11K less?

[mini_cute]

My own experience here is that things do move much slower here in SD. As for having a more laid back job, I guess it really depends on the company and the position. But in general SD is truly laid back as many have described it. One of the factors which contributes to the comfort level here is that there is less traffic (compared to LA, OC and SF). The climate is also very comfortable. In my immediate neighborhood of Scripps Ranch, a suburb of inland north county, I see quite a few South Asians. In fact, my neighbor across the street is South Asian. Qualcomm is located in Scripps Ranch very close by. Not sure if that is the company who made you an offer but if you were to work there and live in Scripps Ranch, you could easily bike to work. That would make life very easy and comfortable and you will probably find more free time on your hands to do whatever you please. My partner and I find we have so much free time on our hands we often don't know what to do.

Although I like SF more in comparison to SD, I am afraid to leave this level of comfort behind. Everything is so easy here and most days so far are beautiful and sunny but not crazy hot.

[esmith143]

Housing most definitely is NOT the same, not even close. Milpitas is relatively cheap compared to, say, Menlo Park or Los Altos, because schools aren't that great. A good equivalent could be Mira Mesa (zip code 92126). Mira Mesa is roughly 30% cheaper than Milpitas.

11095 Pisces Way, San Diego, CA 92126 | $422,500 | Mira Mesa Real Estate

1869 Yosemite Dr, MILPITAS, CA 95035 | $615,000 | MILPITAS Real Estate

A similar house on the Peninsula in a non-ghetto area would easily top 800k and possibly run in the millions.
People often complain how expensive and unaffordable SD real estate is. They obviously have no idea how bad it is in the Silicon Valley.

11K difference is something like $500/month once you subtract all the taxes.

If you have kids, SD is superior to the Bay Area. You can buy a house and send your kids to a good public school and you don't need 250K combined family income to do that, and life's more relaxed. If you're single, life's more fun over there.

[mini_cute]

Sorry, I would like to make a correction to a previous reply.

Qualcomm is actually in Sorrento Valley or Mira Mesa I believe.

Nokia is the company that is in Scripps Ranch.

Anyway, best of luck!