Priced out (Oakland, Stockton, Modesto: real estate, 2015, apartment)
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Have 2 months to move out of my current unit and I'm tired of overpaying on rent. Trying to find a unit is even more depressing because everything is priced way too high. I'm a 24 year old male who works in Alameda and lives in Oakland, I work graveyard in retail as an assistant manager and make roughly $50k a year. Trying to find a home or duplex or something with a yard for me and my 3 big dogs is nearly impossible anywhere in the East Bay.. Even "cheap" places like Modesto or Patterson or Stockton are ridiculous. Why pay $1,800 for a piece of **** in the Central Valley so damn far away in a probably unsafe place when I could buy the damn house and pay 1/3 on a mortgage.. I'm just looking for somewhere not to far from the Bay for a few years so I can commute to work and go back to school to eventually move on to bigger and better things.. Figured I might as well dip into my savings and just settle and buy an "investment" home and live there for a few years then rent it out and see how things go in this wild market.
I only want to touch about $50k of my savings so that qualifies me for a $300k home. Sadly that really doesn't get you much out here and realistically I would like to be more around $250k/$275k for comfortability level..
If this was a few years ago and I could have bought something in Oakland but now that's not even a reality. I could buy a nice home in the Central Valley, but then again I really don't want to.. That commute is going to be brutal even at odd hours, the heat is killer and there really isn't any life out there.
I've sort of settled on Solano County.. Not too far from everything, better weather than the valley and a better commute. Fairfield and Vacaville are nice places (from what I've heard or seen on my few trips up there). Lately I've been hearing good things about Vallejo but in the past Vallejo hasn't had a good reputation.. Living in or around Oakland my whole life has me thinking Vallejo will be alright..
Ultimately I'm stuck because I wouldn't mind to keep renting but I simply cannot afford it. I've been wanting to get out of the Bay Area for a long time now, but with no college degree and recently finding an OK job making decent money I can't let myself just throw that away to try something new. Been working since I was 15 to support my drugged out parents and siblings who followed their ways, I just feel as if I have nothing to show for it.. While everyone else my age was going to school or partying or just having a childhood I was working stressing how to support my family. I grew up to fast and I always envisioned doing big things in life and sure I have money saved and my car paid off but that doesn't mean anything and I feel as if I'm failing. I could buy a home in many states cash but here I can't afford to rent or even buy a dump in the ghetto neighborhood I grew up in. A big part of me wants to take my money and just go try something new somewhere else, but I can't find that courage.
I've been looking at listings online and might meet with a realtor to look at some homes in Vallejo I guess... Any info, advice, piece of mind appreciated.
Have 2 months to move out of my current unit and I'm tired of overpaying on rent. Trying to find a unit is even more depressing because everything is priced way too high. I'm a 24 year old male who works in Alameda and lives in Oakland, I work graveyard in retail as an assistant manager and make roughly $50k a year. Trying to find a home or duplex or something with a yard for me and my 3 big dogs is nearly impossible anywhere in the East Bay.. Even "cheap" places like Modesto or Patterson or Stockton are ridiculous. Why pay $1,800 for a piece of **** in the Central Valley so damn far away in a probably unsafe place when I could buy the damn house and pay 1/3 on a mortgage.. I'm just looking for somewhere not to far from the Bay for a few years so I can commute to work and go back to school to eventually move on to bigger and better things.. Figured I might as well dip into my savings and just settle and buy an "investment" home and live there for a few years then rent it out and see how things go in this wild market.
I only want to touch about $50k of my savings so that qualifies me for a $300k home. Sadly that really doesn't get you much out here and realistically I would like to be more around $250k/$275k for comfortability level..
If this was a few years ago and I could have bought something in Oakland but now that's not even a reality. I could buy a nice home in the Central Valley, but then again I really don't want to.. That commute is going to be brutal even at odd hours, the heat is killer and there really isn't any life out there.
I've sort of settled on Solano County.. Not too far from everything, better weather than the valley and a better commute. Fairfield and Vacaville are nice places (from what I've heard or seen on my few trips up there). Lately I've been hearing good things about Vallejo but in the past Vallejo hasn't had a good reputation.. Living in or around Oakland my whole life has me thinking Vallejo will be alright..
Ultimately I'm stuck because I wouldn't mind to keep renting but I simply cannot afford it. I've been wanting to get out of the Bay Area for a long time now, but with no college degree and recently finding an OK job making decent money I can't let myself just throw that away to try something new. Been working since I was 15 to support my drugged out parents and siblings who followed their ways, I just feel as if I have nothing to show for it.. While everyone else my age was going to school or partying or just having a childhood I was working stressing how to support my family. I grew up to fast and I always envisioned doing big things in life and sure I have money saved and my car paid off but that doesn't mean anything and I feel as if I'm failing. I could buy a home in many states cash but here I can't afford to rent or even buy a dump in the ghetto neighborhood I grew up in. A big part of me wants to take my money and just go try something new somewhere else, but I can't find that courage.
I've been looking at listings online and might meet with a realtor to look at some homes in Vallejo I guess... Any info, advice, piece of mind appreciated.
Find the courage and move to a cheaper state. Dont bother banging your head against the wall. You have a good head on your shoulders. You sound like your doing much better than a lot of young folks i know! A friend of mine grew up like you so i know the struggles you speak of. The fact you made it out makes you stronger and you will kill it in some state with an easier standard of living. A big determiner in picking the state seems to be weather. Keep in mind you have grown up with some of the best weather in the world. It is one of the reasons you are now priced out. If you simply cant handle ANY snow, ANY humidity, that will severely limit your options. If you can handle those things, then this is a big country....
Have you taken a look at foreclosed properties? I don't know what to advise you with rentals, because of your dogs. Moving to another state wouldn't solve that problem. Would you be able to maintain mortgage payments while going to school? You seem to have your act together, all things considered. Are you liberated from your family obligations now?
Find the courage and move to a cheaper state. Dont bother banging your head against the wall. You have a good head on your shoulders. You sound like your doing much better than a lot of young folks i know! A friend of mine grew up like you so i know the struggles you speak of. The fact you made it out makes you stronger and you will kill it in some state with an easier standard of living. A big determiner in picking the state seems to be weather. Keep in mind you have grown up with some of the best weather in the world. It is one of the reasons you are now priced out. If you simply cant handle ANY snow, ANY humidity, that will severely limit your options. If you can handle those things, then this is a big country....
+1, if I were in the OP's shoes I would be looking to move almost anywhere else. You can get a very nice house for $300k in most parts of the US, and as anyone who has actually traveled outside of California knows, there are many livable cities in this country.
are their transfer possibilities with your company. Either to the central valley or a cheaper area of the country. 300k could have got you a house in the bay area 5 years ago but now it's pretty much impossible.
I know it's hard to find doable rent in this area. My husband and I are moving also because of the ridiculous rent. I noticed you have three dogs. Did you have a nice backyard they can run around in? It's also hard to find a place to rent that takes dogs. The place I live in does take dogs, but you pay a charge per dog per month. I have never heard of that before I moved in here. This area is pricing people out all over. You may need to look at moving in to cheaper place to save money. Moving can also be expensive. If you move elsewhere you could get a house cheaper. Do your research for other areas, states and find a job too. Good luck.
It sucks that this has happened to you guys. The region is changing very fast and companies and current homeowners are doing nothing to prevent things from getting worse, i.e. they should be building serious amounts of new housing and/or new transit.
So people move further out, increasing prices out there, then drive further in for work, and traffic gets horribly worse.
Weather can spoil people. I can tell you that there are 10s of millions of Americans living happily in places that have inferior weather. The good things in life can totally overwhelm weather - community, a congenial pace of life, opportunity. There are people happy in places I can't believe possible, like the sticks in Alaska.
Good luck in figuring out what your next step should be.
The amount of rent I pay for a crappy 1 bedroom 1 bathroom apartment here is double the mortgage on my house in Phoenix, AZ which has 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and is 2000 sq ft.
I came here because I was caught up in the "I'll make a lot of money at this 'fabulous' job!" The job did not turn out to be what I thought and I kept thinking about my gross salary, not net salary (what I take home after taxes). Moving to the SF Bay area turned out to be a bad deal for me. I'm still here and stuck for a while, though. As soon as I can, I plan to move to another state where real estate prices are "normal".
If you move to another state, you might take a pay cut. However, look at net pay. You pay less income tax in another state and in the end, making $40K in AZ may be the same as making $50K in CA... and possibly more.
I'd move if I were you. Start over somewhere new. If you like the liberal climate of Oakland and this area, you will find a similar climate in just about any big city in any state regardless of whether the state is R or Dem. I bring this up because a lot of people are scared to move to red states thinking that the entire state is made up of Republicans. The Phoenix area is pretty liberal. The Boise area is liberal. Austin, TX is liberal. Atlanta, GA is as well. You can find a lot of what you had in Oakland and SF in just about any other metro area.
Visit the place before you take the plunge and move just to make sure that you will like it there. Try to have a job lined up or ask for a company transfer if that is an option.
The amount of rent I pay for a crappy 1 bedroom 1 bathroom apartment here is double the mortgage on my house in Phoenix, AZ which has 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and is 2000 sq ft.
I came here because I was caught up in the "I'll make a lot of money at this 'fabulous' job!" The job did not turn out to be what I thought and I kept thinking about my gross salary, not net salary (what I take home after taxes). Moving to the SF Bay area turned out to be a bad deal for me. I'm still here and stuck for a while, though. As soon as I can, I plan to move to another state where real estate prices are "normal".
If you move to another state, you might take a pay cut. However, look at net pay. You pay less income tax in another state and in the end, making $40K in AZ may be the same as making $50K in CA... and possibly more.
I'd move if I were you. Start over somewhere new. If you like the liberal climate of Oakland and this area, you will find a similar climate in just about any big city in any state regardless of whether the state is R or Dem. I bring this up because a lot of people are scared to move to red states thinking that the entire state is made up of Republicans. The Phoenix area is pretty liberal. The Boise area is liberal. Austin, TX is liberal. Atlanta, GA is as well. You can find a lot of what you had in Oakland and SF in just about any other metro area.
Visit the place before you take the plunge and move just to make sure that you will like it there. Try to have a job lined up or ask for a company transfer if that is an option.
Fantastic post... agree with you about 99%... except for the phx as liberal part. Arpaio much? I do agree though that a liberal can live a good life there, at least the fundies arent up in your grill like in the rural southeast. Live and let live for the most part... but liberal? Certainly not like austin, denver, seattle, pdx, etc.
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