Relocating to Oakland from Chicago (Concord, Berkeley: apartments, lease, condo)

[jathank]

Hello folks,

I am considering a job offer (approx $9.5k) in the Oakland area. I'm married with no kids in my early 30's. My wife shouldn't have any issue finding a job in the 7.5k - 9.5k range, but she needs a few years to pay off her college debt.

For us this is a career/financial move as we'll get a 35%-40% salary boost with better career development, but we also understand cost of living is sky high in the bay area.

My rent budget is between 1500-1800 for a one bedroom or a studio. Currently I'm looking for places like Berkeley or the Castro valley area (We like city living but we're fine with suburbs too). We have a car but we can commute by public transportation.

Eventually I'll like to buy a small condo/townhouse/single family home.

I will really appreciate any suggestions or insights. I am not very familiar with the bay area so please let me know if I have any unrealistic expectations.



Thanks!

[nightlysparrow]

Hope you mean $95.5K and $75.5K - $95.5K

[WizardOfRadical]

Paking you and the wife in a studio????

Is this move really worth it????

[jathank]

Yeah, I meant 95k and 75k. haha

Originally Posted by jathank

Hello folks,

I am considering a job offer (approx $9.5k) in the Oakland area. I'm married with no kids in my early 30's. My wife shouldn't have any issue finding a job in the 7.5k - 9.5k range, but she needs a few years to pay off her college debt.

For us this is a career/financial move as we'll get a 35%-40% salary boost with better career development, but we also understand cost of living is sky high in the bay area.

My rent budget is between 1500-1800 for a one bedroom or a studio. Currently I'm looking for places like Berkeley or the Castro valley area (We like city living but we're fine with suburbs too). We have a car but we can commute by public transportation.

Eventually I'll like to buy a small condo/townhouse/single family home.

I will really appreciate any suggestions or insights. I am not very familiar with the bay area so please let me know if I have any unrealistic expectations.



Thanks!

Originally Posted by nightlysparrow

Hope you mean $95.5K and $75.5K - $95.5K

[BurnInTheMil]

Originally Posted by jathank

Hello folks,

I am considering a job offer (approx $9.5k) in the Oakland area. I'm married with no kids in my early 30's. My wife shouldn't have any issue finding a job in the 7.5k - 9.5k range, but she needs a few years to pay off her college debt.

For us this is a career/financial move as we'll get a 35%-40% salary boost with better career development, but we also understand cost of living is sky high in the bay area.

My rent budget is between 1500-1800 for a one bedroom or a studio. Currently I'm looking for places like Berkeley or the Castro valley area (We like city living but we're fine with suburbs too). We have a car but we can commute by public transportation.

Eventually I'll like to buy a small condo/townhouse/single family home.

I will really appreciate any suggestions or insights. I am not very familiar with the bay area so please let me know if I have any unrealistic expectations.



Thanks!

So I'm just wondering, why such a low rent budget? Making a combined income of $170K, you should easily be able to afford more, unless you have a lot of other expenses as far as debt goes...

Yes the Bay Area is expensive for housing, but I feel some people definitely over exaggerate. My wife and I live in Pleasant Hill, pay $2100 for a 2bd 1bath, and have a combined income similar to your situation. We NEVER struggle, always have plenty to put in savings, take trips often, etc.... We don't have a lot of debt though, so maybe that's the big difference.

[jathank]

Hey thanks for sharing your experience.

We don't have much debt and we should be able to afford more for rental. However, we feel like it's good to leave ourselves some financial buffer in case whatever happen. After we settle down we can always raise the budget for a better apartment after the lease expired.

Originally Posted by Greg10556

So I'm just wondering, why such a low rent budget? Making a combined income of $170K, you should easily be able to afford more, unless you have a lot of other expenses as far as debt goes...

Yes the Bay Area is expensive for housing, but I feel some people definitely over exaggerate. My wife and I live in Pleasant Hill, pay $2100 for a 2bd 1bath, and have a combined income similar to your situation. We NEVER struggle, always have plenty to put in savings, take trips often, etc.... We don't have a lot of debt though, so maybe that's the big difference.

[jade408]

Maybe you can afford Castro Valley on that bhdget. Nice parts of Oakland and Berkeley are out of reach at tgat price point. Studios are pretty rare and hard to find. One bedrooms are more like $2000-2500.

Your apartment will be much lower in quality than your Chicago-land place.

[BurnInTheMil]

Originally Posted by jathank

Hey thanks for sharing your experience.

We don't have much debt and we should be able to afford more for rental. However, we feel like it's good to leave ourselves some financial buffer in case whatever happen. After we settle down we can always raise the budget for a better apartment after the lease expired.

I totally understand, however $1500-$1800 unfortunately won't get much in the areas you're talking about (Berkeley, etc...). If you got inland a little, you can definitely get a 1 bedroom apartment in Pleasant Hill, Concord, Martinez, etc... for that range. I believe where I live, the 1bd 1bath is right around $1800.

If you like the Castro Valley area, right up the road about 10-15 minutes is Dublin, which is a great area as well, and 1bd 1bath start around $1800-$2000. And you would have access to BART.

[jade408]

Originally Posted by Greg10556

I totally understand, however $1500-$1800 unfortunately won't get much in the areas you're talking about (Berkeley, etc...). If you got inland a little, you can definitely get a 1 bedroom apartment in Pleasant Hill, Concord, Martinez, etc... for that range. I believe where I live, the 1bd 1bath is right around $1800.

If you like the Castro Valley area, right up the road about 10-15 minutes is Dublin, which is a great area as well, and 1bd 1bath start around $1800-$2000. And you would have access to BART.

Dublin and Pleasanton are not that cheap anymore. Apartments under $2000 are a bit rare.

[BurnInTheMil]

Originally Posted by jade408

Dublin and Pleasanton are not that cheap anymore. Apartments under $2000 are a bit rare.

For anything more than a 1 bedroom, you're correct. I just did a quick search on multiple sites, and you can indeed get a 1bd 1bath for $1900.