From SoCal to NorCal (San Jose, San Francisco: rent, homes, neighborhoods)

[jeffredo]

Originally Posted by sacramento916

As a native San Franciscan, I can assure you that SF is NOTHING, let me repeat, NOTHING, like LA.

Monterrey is a tiny place. Your husband would be struggling.

You can't predict that.

[AllenSJC]

San Francisco is not like LA. For being in the same state, they are actually very different. San Fran is more like the West Coast version of Manhattan, if that makes sense.

Have you looked into San Mateo County? It's got some areas that have more of a "small town" feel. Of course, it's really expensive to live in, so that could be a problem depending on your budget.

Monterey sounds like the closest thing you're looking for out of the three you listed. Santa Cruz is a college town and beach town, like others said, not the best place to start a business IMO.

[uncertain25]

Okay, so it sounds like most people agree with me that Monterey would be the best option, aside from the fact that it might be harder when the time comes for my husband to start up his own business. I do think its one of the most beautiful places.

However, I'm hearing it said that NorCal is more expensive than SoCal? If that's true, may I ask why? As much as I love the cooler weather, most people I know prefer warmer SoCal weather and warmer beaches. I know San Fran is very popular and expensive. But aside from that, I thought NorCal was more affordable for costal homes. At least that's the info I have found here on city data. For example, it shows Monterey homes in the 500,000's, where in Newport Beach the average homes starts at 1 million on average. Yes it's true you could get a cheaper home in places like tustin. But I would not want to live in tustin. Tustin, where my mom lived for some time, is run down and not near the beach (from the parts I've seen). I would like to live, and my husband would like to start his business in a more upscale area.

We are not looking for a 6 bedroom home. 2 to 3 bedrooms is all we are looking for. We would like to spend between $300,000-$600,000. But we will be renting for a few years still before putting a downpayment on a home.

I did look at Salinas because it was very affordable and near Monterey, but it seemed run down, not as nice. I also looked at San Luis Obispo, where my uncle lived currently, but it kind of seems like (although pretty) in the middle of nowhere.

[tireeskye]

It's just a guess but i figure that starting a business in Santa Cruz county would be wiser than starting one in Monterey county ... if starting a business anywhere is wise these days. Not my forte though.
And S.C. proper is not at all just a beach / college town.

Also, you're considering two places (Monterey and Santa Cruz) that aren't the Northern California that you may be thinking of in terms of less expensive real estate and S.F. certainly isn't.
The Monterey Bay is at the "top" of the central coast and Santa Cruz county at least, technically anyway, is part of Silicon Valley.
This is expensive territory. People make long commutes everyday even from points south of S.C. to drive over HWY17 to get to their Silicon Valley jobs.
And S.F. ... well, it's a major U.S. city and it's in California and it partakes in the whole Silicon Valley scene.
Why would these areas be anything other than expensive?!
Sun and weather isn't the only thing that makes a place expensive.


Silicon Valley :




Monterey County Home Prices and Heat Map - Trulia.com


Santa Cruz County Home Prices and Heat Map - Trulia.com


San Francisco Home Prices and Heat Map - Trulia.com

[X_travelbug_X]

Salinas has a very high crime rate, I would not look there.

I think you would have no problem finding a 3 bedroom home in Monterey but it will be closer to $600,000 than $300,000.

I also do have to agree with the recommendation of San Mateo. It is also expensive but has a cute town area and would be an OK commute to San Francisco. (45 minutes on Caltrain). Your husband cold look for work locally, San Francisco, San Jose... More options.

[krudmonk]

Originally Posted by sacramento916

As a native San Franciscan, I can assure you that SF is NOTHING, let me repeat, NOTHING, like LA.

[Brenda-by-the-sea]

Originally Posted by uncertain25

However, I'm hearing it said that NorCal is more expensive than SoCal? If that's true, may I ask why? As much as I love the cooler weather, most people I know prefer warmer SoCal weather and warmer beaches. I know San Fran is very popular and expensive. But aside from that, I thought NorCal was more affordable for costal homes. At least that's the info I have found here on city data. For example, it shows Monterey homes in the 500,000's, where in Newport Beach the average homes starts at 1 million on average. Yes it's true you could get a cheaper home in places like tustin. But I would not want to live in tustin. Tustin, where my mom lived for some time, is run down and not near the beach (from the parts I've seen). I would like to live, and my husband would like to start his business in a more upscale area.

Is it true -- as a broad sweeping generalization -- that NorCal is more expensive than SoCal? I doubt it. There are too many other factors that come into play. And "NorCal" covers a lot of the state -- three-quarters of the coast by some people's reckoning. Some of the cheapest coastal property in the state is along the coast of Del Norte County -- you can't get more NORcal than that!

Most housing costs follow supply and demand. More people may prefer the warmer weather of SoCal, but if SoCal has more housing supply, it will more easily meet the demand and so it will still be less expensive. If you want to live in an upscale area, then it will be less affordable because that's a less common, more exclusive neighborhood characteristic. That's what "upscale" means, essentially...more expensive. There are upscale areas throughout the state so it really isn't a north-south dichotomy.

The supply-and-demand issue also affects individual homes. You might think that a 2-3 bedroom home should be far less expensive than a 6-bedroom home. But because there is more competition for that home size, the cost-per-square-foot for prototypical family homes is generally higher than it is for huge McMansions (build quality being equal).

Originally Posted by uncertain25

I also looked at San Luis Obispo, where my uncle lived currently, but it kind of seems like (although pretty) in the middle of nowhere.

Which is precisely what makes it such a desirable location. In a state of 37 million inhabitants, attractive slices of "nowhere" have become very few and far between.

[uncertain25]

Thank you everyone for the input. You had some good points Brenda-by-the-sea that I hadn't thought of. As far as living without the packed in sardine feeling I understand why people would love San Luis Obispo. And I myself love the idea of less people, less traffic, more open spaces or clean air. When I said "in the middle of nowhere" I just was thinking of my husband's dream of eventually starting his own business. I worry in a place like SLO there would not be enough people to keep a new business afloat. Maybe I am mistaken. Like in OC, there are so many surounding cities outside of say, Newport. OC is a great place for business, but then again we are back to the issue of paying $1 million for a home in a beach city, when we would like to pay $600,000, possible $700,000 if we found the perfect place. Just given the fact that we are not planning children and want to focus on business and careers and are only interested in a 3 bedroom at most, it kills us to think of paying over $600,000.

[SandyCo]

uncertain25, the problem is that you would have had to buy a house thirty or forty years ago to have the lifestyle you're looking for at a good price. The way things are now, even with the down turn in the housing market, housing along the coast is still expensive, because there's only so much coastline to be had. My preference would be Carmel, but I'm sure housing there is up in the stratosphere and well out of reach of someone like me.

Have you considered looking north of San Francisco? That might be an option. Then of course, there's always the other choice of traveling east just a bit. There are lots of nice cities and towns along the 580, for example - and you wouldn't be living practically right on top of the San Andreas Fault like you would be in San Francisco.

[tstieber]

Originally Posted by SandyCo

Have you considered looking north of San Francisco? That might be an option. Then of course, there's always the other choice of traveling east just a bit. There are lots of nice cities and towns along the 580, for example - and you wouldn't be living practically right on top of the San Andreas Fault like you would be in San Francisco.

The problem there is that you can go north of SF, but then you are very remote with small populations. And if you go along the 580, then you're basically back in suburbia, and you are too far inland to get the cold, foggy coastal climate the OP is looking for.

To the OP: I would say that outside of resort coastal areas like Monterey, for example, coastal property is cheaper in NorCal than SoCal because of the fog. But away from the coast, NorCal is generally sunny and very mild, so overall, NorCal is more expensive; there are many more high paying jobs, and since relatively few people live along the foggy coast, most real estate here, being more inland, is not discounted for the fog.

I agree with someone's recommendation of Pacifica. Or, you can look at Daly City or just south of both of these in Montara or Half Moon Bay. Those areas are markedly cheaper than surrounding coastal areas, more quiet and rural, yet still very close to major population centers of the Bay Area. You would be only 30 minutes to SF but worlds away. These are the coldest, foggiest parts of the area -- just what you're looking for, and therefore cheaper.

You should also note that NorCal's coastal weather is different from both SoCal and Oregon. It's heavily influenced by fog and marine layer, while Oregon is more influenced by actual rain storms coming from the jet stream. That's why we have the redwoods, which are drought tolerant for our rainfall patterns but thrive off of fog mist. You generally won't see redwoods in Oregon, but rather completely different trees. The nice thing about NorCal's coast is that if you do get burned out on the cold and fog, you can just hop over the coastal mountains and enjoy warm sunshine, so you get the best of all worlds.

I would start by looking on Craigslist for home prices and start comparing!