Relocation to NorCal (San Jose, San Francisco, Fremont: sale, to rent, mortgage)

[TooColdMA]

Hi Eveyone,

I'm looking to relocate to the San Francisco Bay area from Massachusetts, preferably to the East Bay. Applying to HR jobs with no call backs and no luck and I have a Bachelor's degree!

I wanted to know if Brentwood is a good place to raise kids (Teenage and pre-teen)? Only place I see with halfway decent housing prices. Any advice would be great.

Thanks

[Chuck5000]

Brentwood schools are not great. Look at GreatSchools - Public and Private School Ratings, Reviews and Parent Community for ratings. Do searches for Brentwood and other towns here on this forum.

HR? Not a great Bay Area field because it does not pay that well, except at very senior levels. Sounds like you're executing the job search in a very old-school way - that won't cut it here. You basically have a commodity skill set. You're behind the curve....tons of people have moved here in this gold rush and it's very competitive for even non-tech jobs - that's why I suggest the need for a network here unless you have differentiating skills. And then, you have the housing issue.

Probably the best move is to not relocate here at all unless you will definitely get a job, earn 80k minimum to start (if you're single - which would enable you to do a share pretty well near SF or get your own place in the distant burbs) , and be on a trajectory to make well over 100k.

And then, if you want a family, the middle class is not easy to reach here without a ton of money. you need a partner to get to a household income of 150k to 175k merely to rent somewhat adequately in a fringe suburb with OK schools. Note that homes are much smaller here than in the East, and good suburban school districts are much more rare.

To purchase a home, you'll need 250k-300k household income bare minimum for a distant suburbs with OK schools. (Or, have a lot of family money.) You'll need and pay more if you want "great" schools. Seriously. You can't imagine how difficult the housing issue is.

There are many good job markets in the USA. If you want good weather, you'd have a much easier time in LA, honestly. Look at Research Triangle in NC, Wash, DC. Seattle is good. Austin TX is good.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by Chuck5000

To purchase a home, you'll need 250k-300k household income bare minimum for a distant suburbs with OK schools. (Or, have a lot of family money.)

That's quite an exaggeration, especially for "distant suburbs with OK schools".

[sav858]

Brentwood schools are ok/mediocre to good overall. It's a decent place to raise a family right now. Things I would be really concerned with is commute, it's very far from job centers, and also the crime/sluminess of Antioch spreading eastward eventually.

[Chuck5000]

Originally Posted by sav858

That's quite an exaggeration, especially for "distant suburbs with OK schools".

Not an exaggeration at all. I know many people in this boat, me included, that have these numbers crunched. Look at some other threads, look at other posters here. You may want to define what a distant suburb is, and what is a good enough school.

For me and people I know, I'm talking Walnut Creek, San Ramon, Pleasanton and parts of San Jose and Fremont - at the distant edges. If you're talking about Concord, it's an OK place and I'm sure a lot of great people live there....and in Brentwood, too. But nobody I know is moving there yet, it's the above towns that are the frontier.

To calculate salary needed, what's your formula? To me and everyone I know, we want to pay a mortgage, save a bit (not a lot) for retirement and other things like braces for the kids teeth and the occasional b-level trip, and not cut it down to the last dollar every month.

To save for a down payment, 20%, and then comfortably pay a mortgage on a house that costs 900k+, and save, and pay for kids, how much do YOU think you need to make in the Bay Area? Where do you live and when did you buy your home?

If the original poster does not care about saving money, or wants to be based in the far East Bay, then I'm wrong. If you want to live in Tracy, OK, you're right. Then you can earn well less than 200k. But that's beyond the fringe.

Most professional-class people are in this boat as I describe it; they do care about saving money and don't want to live in the crazy far distant suburbs and commute 90+ minutes each way.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by Chuck5000

Not an exaggeration at all. I know many people in this boat, me included, that have these numbers crunched. Look at some other threads, look at other posters here. You may want to define what a distant suburb is, and what is a good enough school.

For me and people I know, I'm talking Walnut Creek, San Ramon, Pleasanton and parts of San Jose and Fremont - at the distant edges. If you're talking about Concord, it's an OK place and I'm sure a lot of great people live there....and in Brentwood, too. But nobody I know is moving there yet, it's the above towns that are the frontier.

To calculate salary needed, what's your formula? To me and everyone I know, we want to pay a mortgage, save a bit (not a lot) for retirement and other things like braces for the kids teeth and the occasional b-level trip, and not cut it down to the last dollar every month.

To save for a down payment, 20%, and then comfortably pay a mortgage on a house that costs 900k+, and save, and pay for kids, how much do YOU think you need to make in the Bay Area? Where do you live and when did you buy your home?

If the original poster does not care about saving money, or wants to be based in the far East Bay, then I'm wrong. If you want to live in Tracy, OK, you're right. Then you can earn well less than 200k. But that's beyond the fringe.

Most professional-class people are in this boat as I describe it; they do care about saving money and don't want to live in the crazy far distant suburbs and commute 90+ minutes each way.

So you're basically talking about upper-middle class suburbs with great schools. You can live in places like Pleasant Hill and Concord for well under $200k per year.

[TooColdMA]

Location is key. I do like San Ramon and Dublin areas the cost of living is crazy high though , but the chance for employment opportunities is greater than where I currently live (Western MA). Education is at the top of my list. There has to be a place that can meet my needs.

[nightlysparrow]

Originally Posted by Chuck5000

If you want good weather, you'd have a much easier time in LA, honestly.

Agree.

[Chuck5000]

Originally Posted by TooColdMA

There has to be a place that can meet my needs.

There is a housing affordability crisis here, so there actually may not be a place that can meet your needs. What are they specifically? What job center do you need to be near? What is your maximum stretch price? What is your maximum door-to-door commute? Because in the Northeast, you can get much, much more house and schools for your money. I suspected from the start that your expectations were colored by that. I'm from NY, I know from experience.

If you think that Brentwood is the only place that you think is affordable (I just saw that Brentwood's median house sale price is just under 500k) but it may be too downscale for you. If that's your maximum, and you need decent schools (not awesome schools) you are indeed priced out of this region.

If you can go to 600,650, or 700, you could look at a places like San Leandro, Concord, maybe Castro Valley (but homes there are variable; the nice ones there cost the same as San Ramon). I suspect that this is the minimum price point for the quality you want. Look at the bottom end of the other towns I mentioned. Look at Livermore if it's not too far (it is too far to commute to SV or SF) but it's a nice town, though some districts are mixed. I didn't check.

And you say that location is key - location is exactly why those towns I mentioned have 30, 40, 50 year old modestly renovated 3 bedroom, 2 bath houses of about 1600 to 1800 square feet and cost 750, 850k+ -- they have decent (def'ly not great) location. For "great" location, say, in San Mateo county, with access to both major job markets, those 800k houses cost 1.2. Really, these 750k to 1m homes in the Bay Area are not "upper" middle class....except in the Bay Area. Real upper middle class homes by Northeast standards - renovated, 2000+ sq feet, more than 3 bedrooms in the Bay Area cost 1.5m+.

[jribe]

Originally Posted by TooColdMA

Hi Eveyone,

I'm looking to relocate to the San Francisco Bay area from Massachusetts, preferably to the East Bay. Applying to HR jobs with no call backs and no luck and I have a Bachelor's degree!

I wanted to know if Brentwood is a good place to raise kids (Teenage and pre-teen)? Only place I see with halfway decent housing prices. Any advice would be great.

Thanks

how much experience do you have in HR? And which type of HR? I hate to say it- but it is super competitive here- a Bachelor's doesn't just get you a job, they want experience too..

What kind of budget do you have and what are you salary requirements? That would help answer where you may look for living/jobs