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I was banned, so here goes- I started this thread.
I agree with the above and the facts suggest SD expense has nothing to do with it's weather or how ugly Texas is. SD simply has a bad job market for some(perhaps even most) occupations, skewed with much higher costs compared to other national cities.
There are even nicer beaches, and mountians in other states to boot. Who knoes what a FL beach does to SoCal?? Hint- Laguna Beach doesn't win.
But I am not trying to diss CA or SD. I do like the area, and am disapointed with the decisions people (older persons most likely)have made which mean the young up and comming will look to DC, Atlanta, SJ and Texas for the American Dream. "CA rest in peace"- RHCP
We're gone next month
What's up with the bitter tone? Are you surprised to find out that SD is not cheaper than where you came from? Where is that anyways, and where are you moving to from here?
Also, are you calling the job market here bad because you couldn't find your dream job? Fact is, the job market is competitive here. You do realize that folks are having a tough time finding jobs anywhere in this country and that it's not just a San Diego problem, right?
Yes, the jobs are flocking to Texas because the simple fact is, it's a cheap place to live and do business. Florida beaches? Yeah, whatever....boring.
Our beaches and mountains may not be the best, but let us know if you find a place where you can have both like we have here.
"CA rest in peace?"...lol...don't worry about us when you're gone, most of us will be doing just fine when you are gone.
I wouldn't call you stupid. But your lifestyle and mine are probably pretty different. You have no kids, and I'm guessing a second income as well. I have a kid and a wife who stays home. Your lifestyle makes sense given your income, mine... well... it's tougher to justify it just because of sunshine.
To me it's the difference between about 100k and 150k+ that really will make you or break you as a homeowner in San Diego, unless you have a ton of cash or equity already coming into the deal.
I had a conversation with some buddies at work. High-income, longtime homeowners. They truly believe that San Diego pays more than Dallas, Atlanta, or Houston. They don't seem to get that there's a world beyond.
You are exactly right. My SO and I will never have kids and our household income is in the 150k+ range so I'm not complaining. Trust me, we live modestly, but do enjoy vacations and entertainment. Although, we may make more more if we moved LA or Seattle, neither of us would consider living there.
It does bum me out knowing that families like yours are still leaving San Diego in order to live a better life. I just have ask, how do those people living in upscale areas like Carmel Valley, 4S, Carlsbad, etc, make it with their families? There is just two of us, and we don't have kids in soccer camp, gymnastics, cheerleading, etc, all of which cost money!!
Sass, know that if and when you leave, the San Diego will be forever lost.
Sass, know that the San Diego forum will be lost without you
It does bum me out knowing that families like yours are still leaving San Diego in order to live a better life. I just have ask, how do those people living in upscale areas like Carmel Valley, 4S, Carlsbad, etc, make it with their families? There is just two of us, and we don't have kids in soccer camp, gymnastics, cheerleading, etc, all of which cost money!!
heh thanks.... not leaving anytime soon, not before the kid goes to preschool at least. I actually do have a potential job opp on the horizon which could change things.. so keep em' crossed.
I work with a lot of guys with families in North County. Most of the more successful guys bought their houses long ago in more established areas of Solana Beach, Encinitas or Carlsbad. A large number of people live in the newer tracts of San Marcos, Vista and Escondido as well. Of the newer families, a lot are Asian and have live-in mother-in laws, with both mom and dad working as engineers or scientists, many pulling down 200k+. That group is especially present in 4S and Carmel Valley. In most cases, both Mom and Dad work. I don't want to do that until my kid can go to school, and we want to have another, so realistically it will be 5 years before my wife goes back to work.
My problem is that even though I can afford it, I don't want to live in those places. I want good schools and safe neighborhoods but I don't want to live in a 600k tract home that I could get for 200k almost anywhere else. Spanish in Kensington, Craftsman in Mission Hills or Point Loma, those are unique homes that you won't find anywhere but Southern California. I am willing to spend more money for that type of property but it's just too skewed against me. Even your 'hood, Kensington, which I absolutely adore, is still less than a mile away from the worst neighborhood in San Diego, and has no acceptable school for the kiddies. There's not even really a good park over there except the little one next to the freeway. I don't want my teenage son hanging around Adams avenue... my wife's brothers did that... and endured the gangs, getting robbed, etc. It's these type of issues that make SD so challenging for us.
Location: Silver Spring, Maryland / But still having San Diego / Eastlake withdrawal damn it !!!
340 posts, read 1,412,235 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sassberto
heh thanks.... not leaving anytime soon, not before the kid goes to preschool at least. I actually do have a potential job opp on the horizon which could change things.. so keep em' crossed.
I work with a lot of guys with families in North County. Most of the more successful guys bought their houses long ago in more established areas of Solana Beach, Encinitas or Carlsbad. A large number of people live in the newer tracts of San Marcos, Vista and Escondido as well. Of the newer families, a lot are Asian and have live-in mother-in laws, with both mom and dad working as engineers or scientists, many pulling down 200k+. That group is especially present in 4S and Carmel Valley. In most cases, both Mom and Dad work. I don't want to do that until my kid can go to school, and we want to have another, so realistically it will be 5 years before my wife goes back to work.
My problem is that even though I can afford it, I don't want to live in those places. I want good schools and safe neighborhoods but I don't want to live in a 600k tract home that I could get for 200k almost anywhere else. Spanish in Kensington, Craftsman in Mission Hills or Point Loma, those are unique homes that you won't find anywhere but Southern California. I am willing to spend more money for that type of property but it's just too skewed against me. Even your 'hood, Kensington, which I absolutely adore, is still less than a mile away from the worst neighborhood in San Diego, and has no acceptable school for the kiddies. There's not even really a good park over there except the little one next to the freeway. I don't want my teenage son hanging around Adams avenue... my wife's brothers did that... and endured the gangs, getting robbed, etc. It's these type of issues that make SD so challenging for us.
I thought I'd add my 2 cents to this conversation with Sass and SDurbanite. Sass I understand your position very well and your a San Diego native right? It seems to me that if you really wanted to stay in San Diego , that you want a safe area for your family, that you and your wife would sacrifice to buy into a nice neighborhood with great schools even if there "tract" homes. This wouldn't be my first choice either but if the whole family was for staying I would make the sacrifice myself...but thats me.
Also in these times isn't possible for you to shop around for a neighborhood that really fits your needs while the market is a buyers market right now. The Rolando area you live in now , I never visited that neighborhood when I was living in the area. Is it a nice neighborhood ? Or are you looking for a change altogether?
My wife and I have lived all over..she is military and as most of you know we just left Eastlake area of Chula Vista and loved the area...because of the sense of Community that was there and the people/neighbors were just great. Our kids aren't school age yet and we might want to have a third (and last by the way) child in the near future as well. It was THE safest area I've ever lived in my entire life and I'm 41 years old.
I grew up in the DC area and my wife in a small town in Florida. I always thought I'd raise my family in my home state of Maryland. It was a great place to grow up when I was a kid. But take away the weather factor of DC it's about the same to live here as it is in San Diego, but one main factor here is that CRIME is everywhere..no neighborhood is exempt from it. I don't just mean vandalism or auto theft, I mean "VIOLENT" crime...unecessary useless violent crime where criminals will kill for little or no money.
The area we settled in is a very nice (safe or at least so-called safe) neighborhood called Kensington , Md. Its right next to the prestiges neighborhood of Bethesda. We have only been here a few months and have had several rapes, attempted rapes and one old lady murdered in her home of Bethesda during an home invasion. It doesn't matter whether your in a low class neighborhood or high class neighborhood here the violence seeps in . Although many are concerned , most people here have the head in the sand attitude toward it or put there blinders on to it. "One person said the other day that it's simply part of life here now and that's that." Crazy I say. This area is just not a great area to raise kids like it was when I was young at all.
Nonetheless my wife and I can't wait till she get's her next orders (3 years) and we can get out of here. Hopefully back to San Diego , but right now almost anywhere at this point.
Sorry I'm getting away from the gest of this post. Like many that want to come to San Diego the grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence. The same for San Diegeons who are looking for a change in other places as well unless you really do your homework.
Having lived in a resort type area before (Florida) I understand the up's and down's of this kind of area. San Diego is in some ways very much the same as Sass has mentioned in several post and you have to account for that when coming to a place like that for a career. Everyone thinks that it's going to be great to have the dream job in a dream area....it doesn't always work out that way unless you really plan it out and even that can fail. I saw so many Northerner's come to Florida and think they would fish, surf and sun bath all day and just get a job like they had where they came from for alot less pay. Usually about half of them would pack up and go back north. They couldn't balance what they were really looking for with reality.
The reality of things are that its possible to live in San Diego or any other place for that fact . But you have to do you homework and figure out if you want to live like a King or very modest or somewhere in between? If you want to live like a King you better have a Kings resume to live that life then...simple as that.
Anyway its all about sacrifice and the person who started this thread simply doesn't understand the sacrifice or doesn't want to make it to adapt to living comfortably in San Diego on 6 figures.
Sorry for the ramble....hope it makes some sense....bunky
Rolando is pretty run down but actually is fine with me. I own a home there already but never had any intention of staying past 5 years or so. Eastlake, inland North County is just not an option. If it came to that, I would leave in a heartbeat. That is not to knock Eastlake, there is nothing wrong with it. But it is not the lifestyle I am looking for, not to mention the horrible commute to where I work in Sorrento / Carmel Valley.
You pretty much nailed it that living in "resort town" has it's plusses and minuses. What is so great about the "city" of SD is that it is more like LA used to be than a resort. That is the attraction I have to San Diego - the cute neighborhoods of cottages and small shops. Encinitas, Point Loma, Coronado, La Jolla, Mission Hills, those are my dream areas... "Old San Diego". Barring that I like Del Cerro, Mount Helix a lot. But 600,70,800k+ is just too far away right now. Maybe that could change, but I doubt it. The real problem for me in SD are the schools. There is no option for middle-class older area with good schools. You either live in a new area or in a rich area. Even Mission Hills doesn't have an acceptable school option... what is that saying about the livability of this city for a family?
San Diego is a desireable place to live. There will always be more qualified appplicants than there are jobs in SD. If you want high wages you need to live somewhere where there are tons of jobs and not enough people to fill them or just be in a profession that pays really really well like a dentist or plastic surgeon.
What I'm hearing from my neighbors in regards to schools is that they are sending their kids to charter schools. Lots of these charter schools seem to be springing up around the city. Some good some less so. Yes, there is the transportation hassle, but people in the older areas are no longer locked into a local school with a reputation for poor performance and a problematic student population.
I'd like to chime in a little bit about what Sassberto said about LA vs SD. I've been living in LA for 3 1/2 months now (for school-- USC) and took a trip down to SD once since I've been here, so I've now been to SD five times. Cost of living aside, I think San Diego really is Paradise-- well okay, it's not paradise, it's not a utopia, no place is, but San Diego really is the California that everybody dreams about. LA really does live up to the myth (as in popular legend-- not in the sense of true vs false) of California being a ruined place. LA really is an ugly, grimy, overcrowded, smog infested city where you breath in noxious fumes in the atmosphere every day. With over 17 million people in the greater LA metro area, this place really is a disaster, and huge swaths of the LA area are just absolutely dreadful. It's like if there was a book written about SoCal, the saga of the rise and fall of LA would be the whole story. But then there's an appendix, an epilogue-- San Diego-- where the beautiful, picture-perfect SoCal still exists.
San Diego is so much better than LA it's almost a crying joke to compare the two. Even the climate is superior. It's a subtle difference, but in those subtleties there is a world of difference. Nothing in LA even reminds of San Diego with the possible exception of the Rancho Palos Verdes/ south Redondo beach area. Both LA and SD have similarly sky high costs of living, but in SD you're at least getting a hell of a quality of life for your money! In LA, you pay sky high cost of living to get crap. All work, no play, nothing in return.
I was unsure before I came here if I was going to end up liking LA more than San Diego. I think I can still safely assert I still like San Diego far, far, better. However, I'm also realistic, I don't think I'm prepared to make the huge financial sacrifice necessary to live in SD. And LA though it has its moments and it surely has a lot of "stuff," is overall an absolutely dreadful place to live. I'm not planning on living in either one when I graduate next May. But if I were to ever come back to live in California, San Diego is just about the only city in the state I would consider living in.
[quote=Sassberto;5404485]
Rolando is pretty run down but actually is fine with me. I own a home there already but never had any intention of staying past 5 years or so. Eastlake, inland North County is just not an option. If it came to that, I would leave in a heartbeat. That is not to knock Eastlake, there is nothing wrong with it. But it is not the lifestyle I am looking for, not to mention the horrible commute to where I work in Sorrento / Carmel Valley.
/quote]
Sassberto,
Assuming you want your kid to go to a public school, you will not find good public schools in a place that complement your lifestyle. Good public schools and urbanny neighborhoods are inversely correlated. If you want to stay in SD and have your kid go to a good public school, then you will have to make sacrifices. I have a coworker from Boston and moved to Mission Hills because of the amenities and culture. He and his wife really dislike the public schools there. Always have complaints about the teachers.
Hope you get that job though, so you can stay in SD!
Last edited by ubringliten; 09-24-2008 at 11:45 PM..
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