Help me get out of Maine!!! (San Diego, San Francisco: fit in, apartments, rentals)

[Taboo25]

I just stumbled across this site earlier today and have found a ton of useful advice about moving and living in the San Diego area and wanted to post a little something about my situation to see what you guys all think. The short story is I'm a recent graduate from the University of Maine (Bachelors degree in English - no I dont want to be a teacher!) and am ready for a huge change. I grew up in New Hampshire and have never been to California but have heard wonderful things about living over there and would love to try it out. I'm incredibly sick of cold weather and want to live somewhere relatively warm all the time and a bit more liberal with more job opportunities than Maine/NH. I have a friend or two who really want to move out there with me so that will help a little bit with cost of living. I know this is a terrible time to be making a move like this with the economy the way it is, but I feel stuck and unhappy where I am currently and would like more opportunity in general.

My question is, where should I go? My two original choices are San Diego or San Francisco, but I think San Francisco might be a little too cold weather wise, so I'm now looking more into San Diego. I know I can’t afford to live IN SD, but what are some good towns outside of SD to live and possibly work in? I'd love to be around a lot of cool shops, an eccentric downtown, coffee shops, hipster lifestyle kind of place if that makes sense. I’m a very laid back person and would love being close to the ocean as well.

My plan is to find a job first (anything will do for now) and then move out there, but I’m a little worried that I’m going to have a hard time convincing an employer to wait for me to get out there, which will take at least a couple weeks if not a month (have to sell all the stuff that doesn’t fit in my car, find an apartment, and then drive out there before I can start working!) Oh and I have a pretty big dog and a cat that are coming as well so I know finding an apartment will be tricky too… And hopefully my horse will be making the trek over once I get settled in and find a place for him to live! Yikes, it’s a really scary thing to think about but it’s the only thing that I’ve been able to think about lately. I really want to make it happen, I’ve been doing a TON of research and want to make the right choices but it’s going to be a BIG process! The want is there, if I could be there right now I would, but it’s just all the before stuff that I’m having trouble with right now. Any advice on where the best places to live would be or any advice on anything at all would be MUCH appreciated!!

[kettlepot]

My advice/comments are as follows:

Ditch the horse. You won't be able to afford the upkeep.

Personally, I think you'll have better luck getting a job after you get here. I don't think many employers will be willing to hold open the kind of job that a BA in English will get you. If you had a PhD in Physics then yes, you could expect them to wait for you, but not for a BA in English. Therefore your friend and you should synchronize your moves, sell your stuff, come with at least 5k in the bank each to get through the first few months, and give yourselves credibility with potential landlords. I hope you have some job skills/experience.

Your preferred lifestyle requirements actually suggest that you should live IN San Diego, or perhaps La Mesa. There are no other cities in the county that meet your preferences that would actually be less expensive than these two areas. There are some rural towns out in East County that have interesting shops, and areas to board horses, and room for cats and dogs, but jobs are very difficult to get out there, the pay is low, and the choice of rentals is limited. If you want a rural town that caters to the weekend tourist trade with those kinds of wages then I'd change my advice. However, you mentioned "hipster", "cool downtown" with "coffee" and "interesting shops" and places like Ramona and Julian might have some of this, but you are still talking conservative ranch country.

If you do move to the city your best choice would probably be in the neighborhoods surrounding Balboa Park which have been much discussed on this forum:

Little Italy, Park West, Middletown, Hillcrest, Mission Hills, University Heights, North Park, Normal Heights, and South Park. Outside of those areas, look to Ocean Beach, and La Mesa. La Mesa probably isn't quite what you want, but it's a potentially cheaper alternative. Conversely, Ocean Beach is pricier, but comes with proximity to Dog Beach, which is a leash free beach specifically for dogs. If in the end, your animals are your priority over your desire for the accoutrements of a hip, urban lifestyle, then you might make a go of it in East County. But I suspect that in the end you'd have to make a long drive into the urban coastal areas for work. Yeah! More commuters driving 60 miles to work with gas at $4.50/gallon.

So, after you re-evaluate your situation against the facts above, we board denizens might alter our advice and make other suggestions.

[Prinny]

I'd say San Diego as well but that is just an opinion for someone just out of college w/ San Fran being so expensive and cramped and San Diego is really lovely and climate is great and so much culture like you'd have in San Fran.

[Taboo25]

Well ditching the horse isn’t really a possibility... I've had him for about 13 years, he's 24 years old, and I've always found a way to bring him a long. I know it's expensive (it's like another rent payment) but he's gotta come... I know it would be SO much easier if I could just leave him somewhere here but I just don't see that being feasible unfortunately...

That’s also kind of what I was thinking about the job situation.. I do have job/work skills and I at least have a degree in something, but I don’t really think I’m THAT special that an employer is going to wait for me to move out there. But I can’t see it being a good idea for me to move out there without already having a job set up, that’s way out of my comfort zone because I know how long it can take to land a job so that’s where I’m stuck. I might just start sending out my resume and see how it goes in the next few months and reassess the situation. I don’t have to make this move right now or anything and I’m not one to just jump into something without thinking about it and doing my research. I want to make the right choices and I want everything to be lined up before I make this huge cross-country move. I’ve even been thinking that it might be a good idea to move to somewhere like Boston (or Northampton, MA because I love it there) for the next few years because it would be easier on my horse and myself and I could get more work experience in a field that has to do with my degree and have a better chance in a few years for an employer out in SD to wait for me to move out there.

Thanks for the suggestions on where to live, I’ll have to look into those other places too. I don’t mind driving a little to get to things, I don’t have to live right in the middle of everything I want – actually I’d prefer to live a little ways away from everything. But I also don’t want to live too far with gas prices the way they are… Lots to think about, lots to research. I’m just going to start slow and see when the right time to move out there is going to be. Thanks for all the advice so far!!

[RD5050]

If the horse must come to, you might want to first check into accomodations for the horse, and then decide what area nearby the stable will be ok for you.

Here's a website to help get you started:

Horse Boarding Stables in San Diego, CA on Yahoo! Local

Also check San Diego Craigslist for lots of useful stuff, including apartments for rent. It's a great resource:

san diego apts/housing for rent classifieds - craigslist

[TristramShandy]

Believe me, you won't be alone once you get out here. It almost seems like a right of passage to be an East Coaster/Midwesterner and spend some post-college years in San Diego. Out of the first 100 or so people I met in San Diego when I moved out, I may have met 2 natives (and only another 10 or so who were originally from CA as a whole). San Diego is like an internal melting pot of the US (and many non-native Americans as well). The New England population is strong out here (I'm not a New Englander myself, but I did live for five years in Rhode Island before moving out here).

The horse part will just make your choices more limited - - you're already looking at maybe a loss of 70% of all apartments just by having a large dog. Still there are so many apartments out here, you'll find something. It's an experience. Throw logic to the side - - you won't regret coming out.