Is it a good idea to move to Bay area from Boston? (San Jose: renters, daycare)

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by E2W

Need to balance between child and your work futures - I admit that I moved to SJ due to work prospects but if I have a kid now, I would raise him/her in SF or move back East.

All love for SF aside, would raising children in SF really provide for a more family-friendly atmosphere than San Jose?

[easybay]

I think the ball is with the OP now, what kind of lifestyle are you expecting? Are you expecting the "keeping up appearances", spending-money-when-we-feel-like-it, whole foods, pottery barn, Nordstrom, restaurants three times a week lifestyle...or do you often live more modestly...watching grocery bills, trader joes, JCPenny's, Target, eating out once a week... if appearances and luxuries are not as important to you, you will be fine here! And with that said, even on 150k here you can splurge on some of those luxuries.

Agreed, BUT, once you are making 150k and have a certain lifestyle, it's pretty tough to go backwards and face it, when you move SV you do have to downgrade your life. We make double what we made in Texas, the price of our home doubled, and the size of the home went in 1/2. Do we have a fantastic lifestyle here? Yes. Is it the same as in Texas. No. To buy the home we had in Texas here would cost a minimum of 2M - probably 3M.

[JohnSoCal]

Originally Posted by easybay

Agreed, BUT, once you are making 150k and have a certain lifestyle, it's pretty tough to go backwards and face it, when you move SV you do have to downgrade your life. We make double what we made in Texas, the price of our home doubled, and the size of the home went in 1/2. Do we have a fantastic lifestyle here? Yes. Is it the same as in Texas. No. To buy the home we had in Texas here would cost a minimum of 2M - probably 3M.

In other words it is all about money and nothing else. Of course California isn't the same as Texas, and I am glad it is not. There are many other factors other then how big a house you have that contribute to the quality of living. When we moved back to San Diego from SE Florida, we had to downsize our home because of cost even though I got a 20% raise to move to San Diego. However we gladly made the move because of the other factors. We were still able to live comfortably in San Diego which is all that was important as we were much happier there. If I want to move somewhere, I don't worry if it is more expensive, as long as we can afford to live there.

[easybay]

I want to know if it would be a good idea to move considering the cost of living - rent, daycare cost, etc.

Words of the OP. We are asking her whether it is worth it to her whether she is prepared to downgrade her lifestyle to live in Silicon Valley.

In other words it is all about money and nothing else.

Huh? You moved to San Diego for more money too. Also - if you don't live here, why do you feel compelled to voice your opinion about what we are all experiencing? Why not espouse your wisdom onto the poor souls of San Diego?

[easybay]

In other words it is all about money and nothing else.

Yes. We are here for money and nothing else. We had an opportunity to come here, and to set us up for our retirement. I'm looking forward to the day when we get to cash in and say adios to California.

[JohnSoCal]

Originally Posted by easybay

Words of the OP. We are asking her whether it is worth it to her whether she is prepared to downgrade her lifestyle to live in Silicon Valley.



Huh? You moved to San Diego for more money too. Also - if you don't live here, why do you feel compelled to voice your opinion about what we are all experiencing? Why not espouse your wisdom onto the poor souls of San Diego?

Yes, I made more in San Diego but not enough to offset the higher COL. However it was worth it.

I lived in San Jose, Los Gatos, Cupertino, Sunnyvale, and Livermore for many years. Left in December 2006. I also visit the area frequently as our son and family live in Monterey and I have many friends in SV.

You are just a whiner. Why don't you move back to Texas if you think it is so much better.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by newmom2013

We are currently paying $1400/month for a nice 2 bed,2bath apartment in one of the suburbs. My daughter is not going to daycare yet but the daycare cost around here is between $1200-1500/month. From the other posts, it seems like rent as well as daycare cost is much higher in bay area. Any thoughts?

You will NOT get a comparable 2BR anywhere in Silicon Valley for that price. That's more of the price for a 1BR and even that is on the lower end of the scale (as in "adequate" 1BR but not nice or new). You might be able to make up for the higher rent with lower utilities costs, as both heat and air conditioning are less necessary here than in Boston, but I wouldn't count on it. Sales tax is also almost 9% here. Gas will also be higher and few people can rely on public transport here so you'll need 2 cars.

I don't know about daycare costs, but I suspect they're about the same.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by JohnSoCal

In other words it is all about money and nothing else.

Um, no , not at all.

It is human nature to not want to have to reduce your lifestyle. We feel the pain of loss much more strongly than we feel the pleasure from gains. It's the way our brains are wired.

While it it certainly possible to live a decent life here on 150K, their 150K income probably goes further in Boston than it does here, and that's mainly because the rents here are higher. The only area where they'll get a break in utilities, and that probably isn't enough to make up the difference with the same higher cost of almost everything else.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by bigdumbgod

All love for SF aside, would raising children in SF really provide for a more family-friendly atmosphere than San Jose?

This is what I was thinking. They have some kind of bizarre lottery system there for the public schools for starters, not to mention the higher rents and more daily hassles of living in SF when raising kids.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by StandingRoomOnly

I think the ball is with the OP now, what kind of lifestyle are you expecting? Are you expecting the "keeping up appearances", spending-money-when-we-feel-like-it, whole foods, pottery barn, Nordstrom, restaurants three times a week lifestyle...or do you often live more modestly...watching grocery bills, trader joes, JCPenny's, Target, eating out once a week... if appearances and luxuries are not as important to you, you will be fine here! And with that said, even on 150k here you can splurge on some of those luxuries.

Well said.

150K here is certainly more than most families earn...so you can certainly live a decent lifestyle here on that. But with children it's going to be a fairly ordinary, "run of the mill" lifestyle (unless you don't care about saving for retirement or your kid's college).

Whether renting or buying, the housing costs here are truly brutal (even worse than Boston) and the only time the price increases slow down (and then by only a little) is when the economy totally tanks and unemployment spikes. Property tax rates here are lower (so I hear), but because home prices are so high, the actual dollar amount you pay will probably be the same.