Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I was talking to a co-worker yesterday and one of the things that I told him (he recently moved here from the East Coast) is that I somehow feel I am being ripped off - living here. Another friend of mine gave me the "proximity to ocean, Lake Tahoe and Yosemite" excuse for living here, yet he has never been to any of these places yet, nor is he planning to do so in the foreseeable future!
The biggest hurdle for us to overcome at this point is, of course, selling our townhome. That's pretty much the only thing that is keeping us from starting to pack our stuff already. I've been doing lots of reading over the last few weeks on the subject of selling vs. renting and to be honest, I don't think I want to deal with the hassle of renting this place. Either way (rental management company or not) the rent will not cover my owning costs (mortgage + HOA + property tax), so I'll be paying out of my own pocket for years to come, if I am to wait for the housing market to pick back up.
At this point I am really tempted to just bite the bullet, take the loss (+100k) and forget about everything. Clean slate, no stress, no hassle. As you can see, I'm not the entrepreneurial/investor type... I'm thinking, even with a big loss, I'll still have a little cash left at the end, which I could use for a down payment in Austin. Otherwise, no cash, plus a monthly drain on this townhome, which could be quite big (when vacant) or somewhat small (when rented); also without a downpayment the new mortgage would be higher (if at all possible). Even if I manage to rent my townhome, I am projecting an additional cost of $500-$800 a month, so $6k-$10k a year x 10 years, there's my $100k loss that I could just take now and forget about it... On the other hand, in 10 years the market could be way up... or way down... darn it :-)
Any thoughts?
Last edited by Florinator; 05-10-2011 at 12:09 PM..
I was talking to a co-worker yesterday and one of the things that I told him (he recently moved here from the East Coast) is that I somehow feel I am being ripped off - living here. Another friend of mine gave me the "proximity to ocean, Lake Tahoe and Yosemite" excuse for living here, yet he has never been to any of these places yet, nor is he planning to do so in the foreseeable future!
The biggest hurdle for us to overcome at this point is, of course, selling our townhome. That's pretty much the only thing that is keeping us from starting to pack our stuff already. I've been doing lots of reading over the last few weeks on the subject of selling vs. renting and to be honest, I don't think I want to deal with the hassle of renting this place. Either way (rental management company or not) the rent will not cover my owning costs (mortgage + HOA + property tax), so I'll be paying out of my own pocket for years to come, if I am to wait for the housing market to pick back up.
At this point I am really tempted to just bite the bullet, take the loss (+100k) and forget about everything. Clean slate, no stress, no hassle. As you can see, I'm not the entrepreneurial/investor type... I'm thinking, even with a big loss, I'll still have a little cash left at the end, which I could use for a down payment in Austin. Otherwise, no cash, plus a monthly drain on this townhome, which could be quite big (when vacant) or somewhat small (when rented); also without a downpayment the new mortgage would be higher (if at all possible). Even if I manage to rent my townhome, I am projecting an additional cost of $500-$800 a month, so $6k-$10k a year x 10 years, there's my $100k loss that I could just take now and forget about it... On the other hand, in 10 years the market could be way up... or way down... darn it :-)
Any thoughts?
Cali real estate is mostly still overpriced - probably better to lose 100k now than 150k (including rental negative and depreciation) in a year or two...
Is your townhouse really worth $100k than you owe on it? Or is the "loss" a $100k less than the price you paid?
The town house is probably worth around $100k less than what I paid for it. My mortgage balance itself is a bit below what the house is worth right now, so from that perspective I'm not in too much trouble.
The town house is probably worth around $100k less than what I paid for it. My mortgage balance itself is a bit below what the house is worth right now, so from that perspective I'm not in too much trouble.
Could you, oh mighty collective forum brain, give me some figures on the cost of living in Austin?
I'm interested in things like utilities, say how much does an average family pay for an average house in electricity costs, to keep it cool during the summer? Say, a house around 2,000 sq ft. How about a pool? How much does a small pool add to the water/electricity bill? Garbage?
Good summation. I have been to Fredricksburg, I guess it is called Hill Country as honestly found it quite boring with nothing to do for young newly wed couples. Been to Enchanted Rock (don't know if it is part of hill country) and found it ok. Definitely can go there 3-4 times a year for small hikes and family picnics. Is there any other part/activity of Hill Country which I missed, which would be more suited for young couples?
How does Big Bend compare to Yosemite?
Port A/S Padre compare to Santa Cruz/Monterey?
TX wineries to Napa?
What I am asking is, which activities are common between CA locations and comparables in TX which you mentioned.
Have you checked South Padre out? I think you all might like it there's quite a bit to do my parents have a condo down there so I go all the time. There's Dolphin watching,Scuba Diving,Offshore Fishing,Parasailing and the beach of course.
Florinator, no you're not being delusional. My hubby recently convinced me too. It's going to be very very difficult for me to leave what I grew up with , favored and know from the Bay, however he's right we can do so much better else where. He's waiting for his official job offer- kind of like a promotion. Once he gets that, he's off to Austin. I will join him for a research trip, following a few trips back and forth with the fam and then the big move. Like you, he found out that the housing market is so affordable and the education system is top rated unlike the low rating we have in San Jose. Have you decided where you want to move to? Stay in touch, we may be moving as early as September/October. We are a family of 4; parents 37-45 and 2 boys toddler and 15yr. Ok on your point about the housing market--> What you have paid here (close to 600k) will get you a Mansion in Texas! It will cost between $200-350k in North Austin area for a beautiful, large (between 5-6BR) 2500-3500 sq. feet home, 2-3 garage, some with pools or enough to add a pool, located in a tree lined young family community with great schools and parks nearby! My hubby voted against buying some hole in the wall the Bare Area for $500k when he found out how we could be living in Austin. It's taken me 6months to come around & so what I suggest you do as I have told my spouse to do as well is--> you do what you can to help transition and make your family happy in Austin. You saw the light long time ago and have no obligations to the area, however your family does. So set up webcams for yourself in the new area and the family back home, set up skype and calendar some trips every few months. Anything is possible as long as you are on the same page!
This is my very first post on this forum and the title says it all... I have been reading some of the threads on this subject on this forum over the past couple of days and it seems to me that the opinions are overwhelmingly in favor of such a move. I really liked the one that said "what took us so long?"
I've been here for 7 years now, my wife and I got married 5 years ago, have a 2 year old and another one on the way, due end of June. With much effort and some luck (our small share of my wife's deceased parents' estate proceedings as down payment), we managed to buy a nice, new townhouse in mid-town San Jose, 1,665 sq ft, 2 car garage, nice upgrades, all in all, a nice place to live. We paid $578,000 and thought we did good. We are about 100 yards from the train tracks (because that's the only place around here where you can buy such a CHEAP townhouse) and I never thought I could hate the trains so much. It's not that the trains around here use technologies that are from a different century, and are loud and slow, but it is my firm conviction that most conductors are douchebags that simply like to torment us residents by blowing the horn 20 times at 11:30 PM while driving through the neighborhoods at 10 mph. The floor plan is nice and very fancy actually, we have neighbors downstairs, but nobody lives on top of us, which is good. But with a two year old that wants to run around all the time, it has turned out to be a problem (California building codes mind you). The neighbors are annoyed, so we're constantly stressing out if the lil' one starts to jump around in the evening...
And to add insult to injury, some of my friends seem to love paying taxes and getting nothing in return so much that they keep saying "oh, this is the most wonderful place on earth, I don't mind paying a little extra to live here". Well screw that, I do mind! There is no way I would send my kids to a San Jose public school, the way these schools are rating so far. And we simply cannot afford a decent house with a little bit of a backyard starting at $800,000 and do not want to get a fixer upper and spend the next 10 years fixing it up instead of enjoying living in it.
Over the last couple of years I've been entertaining the idea of moving somewhere else. I'd pretty much be fine anywhere it's not completely flat and boring, but my wife won't do Seattle (it rains too much) or Colorado (it snows too much) for instance. Because of my job, I need to be in a place that has a decent number of high-tech jobs.
Bear with me, now comes the Austin part... A few years ago my company opened an office in Austin and moved some of our operations over there. Only a few people actually moved, the whole idea was to grow the company over there, instead of here in Sunnyvale, CA. In this context, most employees were offered the relocation option, if we wanted it. So I did some research, took my family on a 4-day business trip last year in June to Austin, looked around, gathered some fliers from houses for sale and got an idea...
I simply cannot imagine how nice life could be to be able to afford a nice house (maybe with a swimming pool - one can dream, right?) without giving up an arm, a leg, a kidney and a part of my liver.Yes, CA has all these nice places, close by, scuba diving in Monterey, skiing in Lake Tahoe, mountaineering in Yosemite, but is it worth sacrificing this much all year round for a couple of weekends of activities here and there?
I just feel that at this point in our lives, we need a better place for our family, all I hear is that the schools in Austin are way better than CA, from what I've seen on the housing market it almost looks like it's too good to be true, so we're all set on moving later this year, if everything works out with my company and they make me a decent offer (I've already been told that there will be a pay cut - which is fine, considering that on average Austin cost of living is about 30% cheaper than San Jose).
The only thing that scares me personally is the heat (although my wife loves it, she always puts on gloves and boots when we drive to San Francisco!!!), but the hotel we stayed at in Austin had a swimming pool, and oh my god, does that change the perspective on things.
I am actually from Europe, so I don't have ties in CA, I am interested in politics, but not to the point where I let it affect my life. I personally think CA is very diverse, so it's easy to live here as a foreigner; but on the other hand most people are not very nice. Everyone tends to mind their own business, which is not a bad thing per se, but after 2 years I still don't know most of my neighbors names, from a 12-unit townhome building, let alone the entire community... I can't believe how many people I run into that won't even make eye contact, let alone say "hello". It saddens me when I see my two year old say "hi" to people only to be ignored about 1 out of 3 times.
My wife was born in San Francisco and raised in the South Bay, it took me a while to convince her that we should do this, and I think she finally realized that it's futile to attempt to build ourselves this kind of life around here. And I am making a decent living and she's got a job with good benefits as well!!! Sometimes I wonder, if we can't figure this out, how do the others make it??? Are our standards really that high? Are we that picky?
I would LOVE to be able to build a tree house for my kid, install some climbing structures in the backyard and some swings; these are the things that make me tick these days, so who cares about skiing in Tahoe? With all the money I could be saving in Austin, we should be able to afford one ski trip to Tahoe every year ;-)
What do you guys think? Am I being delusional?
Why do you think that Austin is the ONLY desirable city in Texas?
Why do you think that Austin is the ONLY desirable city in Texas?
I personally don't think that Austin is the only desirable city in Texas, but I'm a software engineer, so I have to consider the job market and from what I've heard Austin has a lot of hi-tech companies. Hey, I'd go to San Antonio too if my job took me there :-)
Plus, coming from liberal Bay Area, you wouldn't want the shock of the change to be too great
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
