Oregon to California, who's done it (Oakland, Loomis: for sale, rentals, crime)

[raindude]

Hey everyone, I've tried really hard to tolerate the weather of Portland for almost 7 years and I cannot win. I'm used to normal rainfall and some sun. 270 cloudy days a year will kill even the most optimistic viewpoint, and the term "sun break" is a joke. I really love NorCal and California in general and am considering living in the Loomis region. I'm used to liberal, crazy politics being from Portland. It's out of hand up here too, so I know it's part of life on the west coast. I enjoy the laid back lifestyle, so I'll tolerate everything else.

Specifically, my question is for those who left Portland for reasons of weather, what's your story and would you do it again? I have a safety net and a really good knack for building business (I have a small business), so I'm not too worried there. In fact, I have way too much business in Portland and it's making me overwhelmed in so many ways. Here are my two biggest questions:

1) Where did you go and why?

2) Assuming a person has reasonable economic and budgeting skills, do you feel that you're going to be okay?

[ClassicCarFamily]

We used to live in Oregon but due to a job transfer hubby moved us to Southern CA. CA is great if you need to make a decent living but it has gotten so expensive that I think we work to pay our utilities, housing, taxes. We don't have a lot of extra money after we pay for everything else including gas for the cars. CA has great weather, lots of shopping and entertainment but the traffic is horrible and the cost of living is high. But if you are young and want to have the CA experience I guess that Northern CA would be nice. It is more like Oregon as far as the weather up there and I know there is some pretty areas up there. My son's friend just graduated from Humboldt and with a college degree he has had a hard time finding work and finally found a job not to long ago but he isn't getting paid much. I know that there is a lot of older homes up there for sale/rent and I heard from my son's friend that there isn't a whole lot to do as far as entertainment. Also, some areas get really bad fog if you have to do any traveling. But if you are the outdoors type and like a quiet laid back it just might work for you! I would call a realty office to find out about housing/rentals, call the PD about areas of crime as some areas up there have a lot of crime per my son's friend (mostly meth and pot arrests, property, vehicle crime).

[sourdough]

A lot of wetsiders( I-5 corridor Or./Wa.) retire/move east to the Spokane,Wa. area. I'm leaving Spokane and retiring to the Ca. central coast.

[Fontucky]

One thing you won't see in the Calif forum are posts from Californians telling you (an Oregonian) to stay the hell out of Calif. Can't say the same thing when the tables are turned.

Now watch, someone will post that very thing because I mentioned it.

[Pacifico]

Generally speaking, Oregonians are fiercely proud of their state. Not sure about Norcal but in Socal, I haven't seen or met many folks from OR. From WA, yes, specifically the Seattle region. I had considered a move to either PDx or Sea but the one major deterrent was the climate.

[alexxiz]

Originally Posted by Pacifico

Generally speaking, Oregonians are fiercely proud of their state. Not sure about Norcal but in Socal, I haven't seen or met many folks from OR. From WA, yes, specifically the Seattle region. I had considered a move to either PDx or Sea but the one major deterrent was the climate.

That's cause you can't afford to move to nice areas of CA being on Oregon salary. On Seattle's sometimes you can.

[jeffredo]

For many years Oregonians moved to California for work. Wages and availability were much higher here. Its only been in the last 25-30 years that things have reversed.

[alexxiz]

Originally Posted by jeffredo

For many years Oregonians moved to California for work. Wages and availability were much higher here. Its only been in the last 25-30 years that things have reversed.

OR wages are so much lower than CA and the work availability is NIL unless one has friends that can help to get a coffee shop job. I heard even Intel employment is controlled by one recruiting firm pretty much. I wouldn't even apply to Intel/OR though there's no salary that can compensate for the rain. People move to PDX either being naive kids from Midwest/South or ones who cashed out on NYC/LA/SF properties, or people who work from home and want lower cost of living...but then, one can get financially trapped in Oregon, literally, ending up working 2 part time jobs and having no way in the world to get to and start in Oakland even.

[Dean Trails]

"Oregon to California, who's done it?"

This thread title made me laugh!

It sounds as though moving a state away is a huge monumental accomplishment. When it is more like, who presorts your laundry? Or, bacon with grilled cheese? Anyone, here wear mis-matched underwear?

Who's done it??

[Deezus]

Originally Posted by alexxiz

OR wages are so much lower than CA and the work availability is NIL unless one has friends that can help to get a coffee shop job. I heard even Intel employment is controlled by one recruiting firm pretty much. I wouldn't even apply to Intel/OR though there's no salary that can compensate for the rain. People move to PDX either being naive kids from Midwest/South or ones who cashed out on NYC/LA/SF properties, or people who work from home and want lower cost of living...but then, one can get financially trapped in Oregon, literally, ending up working 2 part time jobs and having no way in the world to get to and start in Oakland even.

If you move anywhere without a job lined up, you can get burnt and end up in a crap minimum wage job. But there's actually a lot of people hiring right now if you have the right skills--the issue is that the people moving to Portland often don't have any skills we need. We don't need any more graphic designers or English majors up here... Learn some tech skills or a programming language like Ruby and you can find work though you won't make as much money as a similar job in the Bay Area--though the cost of living is considerably less in many ways.

As far as making the move from Oregon to California--I've met tons of people from Oregon who moved to the Bay Area or LA and they've been perfectly fine in adapting. Culturally there's differences, but Portland to the Bay isn't that big a jump in terms of what to expect. Not that big a deal, really--I might move back to California if I suddenly had a good job offer down there, but I'm content here right now.