Is it a good idea to move to Bay area from Boston? (San Jose: apartment complexes, rentals)

[newmom2013]

Hi,

My husband and I currently stay in Boston with our newborn daughter. Our salary together is around $150K. He has got an offer in San Jose but not much difference in the salary (but a better company with growth opportunity in future) and I can work from home. I want to know if it would be a good idea to move considering the cost of living - rent, daycare cost, etc. We will probably buy a new car soon so that's another cost to consider.

Please provide some inputs.

Thanks!

[newmom2013]

To add to this - We will need to rent at least a 2 bedroom apartment with 1.5/2 bath because of the baby.

[rkwalton]

Boston is a pretty awesome city as are some of its surrounding cities and towns in terms of lifestyle and education. San Jose does have a lot of hot companies and if your daughter is an infant, now might be the time to move vs. later when she's older. Basically, your husband could get the experience and you could always move back.

I can't speak too much to San Jose in terms of neighborhoods. I'm a San Francisco and East Bay person. I've been to San Jose so few times I can count the visits on one hand.

However, in terms of cost of living things like buying vs. renting is an issue. Will the company help with relocation? If so, how much?

One thing: the weather is better. But, to me, Boston/Cambridge and the surrounding towns are consistently ranked high for healthcare and education. If you're with a good company healthcare will be covered. I'm not sure about education in San Jose. I'll lurk so I can learn more too.

[Natural510]

The areas are comparable price-wise, though in San Jose I don't think you'd have nearly as many entertainment options as the Boston area. You'd also have the added expense of a car & insurance. I'd say the main question is how important this career change (and its possible advancement) will be for your family vs moving to a place which is less cosmopolitan/exciting but not necessarily cheaper.

[JohnSoCal]

The San Francisco Bay area is a great place to live. We lived there for many years and loved it ( Left in December, 2006 ). We go back to visit quite frequently because our son and family live in Monterey. I have visited Boston but never lived there. You can live pretty well on $150k.

[roadwarrior101]

Originally Posted by Natural510

The areas are comparable price-wise, though in San Jose I don't think you'd have nearly as many entertainment options as the Boston area. You'd also have the added expense of a car & insurance. I'd say the main question is how important this career change (and its possible advancement) will be for your family vs moving to a place which is less cosmopolitan/exciting but not necessarily cheaper.

Well, if you're looking at the city proper, yes. However, if you want to take weekend trips up to SF, Marin, Wine Country, Monterey, Tahoe or Yosemite (to name a few), I don't think you can beat the excursion opportunities.

[newmom2013]

Thanks for the inputs everyone. But do you think with $150 K, a family of 3 can leave comfortably in bay area?

[easybay]

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

Maybe post what you are paying now, so we can help compare the differences. When we decided to move from Texas, our decision was pretty easy because DH salary doubled. We were able to afford a house that was double what we owned in Texas (with the added bonus of being half the size), state income tax, gas prices being $.50/gal higher, etc. We would not have done it without the salary increase. Coming from Boston, you will probably find things in CA pretty similiar.........?

[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?

[easybay]

We paid $2800 for a 3 bdrm newer 1600 sq ft townhouse in Westgate area of San Jose (so a nice area), 3 years ago when we moved here. I looked for 3 solid days for rentals, this was the last one we looked at, and nicest - we only got it because we needed to provide 2 months security deposit, and 1st months rent, the other 20 people who signed in when viewing all wanted to rent it but didn't have $10,000 to put down up front. Rents have gone up since then. Before we bought, we were looking for something bigger and raised our rent to $3500 - we saw a house that we were going to rent, and when the owner saw how much interest there was in the property, increased the rent to $3800. We decided to buy instead. The landlords here are terrible. There are some really nice newer apartment complexes in the Rivermark area (where we were in corporate housing), that are probably renting 2 bdrm/2 bath for $2500-2800??? Maybe less? We were at the Carlyle. Good luck with your decision.