Should we move to Santa Barbara (Santa Cruz, San Luis Obispo: real estate, to rent, hotels)

[chris1008c]

My husband and I are thinking about moving to Santa Barbara in the next year or so. We came to visit last summer and fell in love with the place. We are 38 and 41 and have no children. We make about $120,000 between the 2 of us and would have over $100,000 in savings. We would probably rent something before we bought something in the future. We moved to Denver from Florida about 6 years ago and we really miss the ocean, but love the mountains in Colorado as well. We thought Santa Barbara could offer the best of both worlds. We both enjoy biking, walking/hiking, boating, and riding motorcylces.

The downside of living in the suburbs of Denver, is that everyone has kids and most of there activites surround that. All of the neighborhoods looks the same. Cookie cutter homes, standard Target, Walmart, Chili's, etc.

Can anyone tell me if this is practical financially and what life might be like for a married couple with no children?

Thanks for your time.
CC

[Shawn_Estrada]

Originally Posted by chris1008c

My husband and I are thinking about moving to Santa Barbara in the next year or so. We came to visit last summer and fell in love with the place. We are 38 and 41 and have no children. We make about $120,000 between the 2 of us and would have over $100,000 in savings. We would probably rent something before we bought something in the future. We moved to Denver from Florida about 6 years ago and we really miss the ocean, but love the mountains in Colorado as well. We thought Santa Barbara could offer the best of both worlds. We both enjoy biking, walking/hiking, boating, and riding motorcylces.

The downside of living in the suburbs of Denver, is that everyone has kids and most of there activites surround that. All of the neighborhoods looks the same. Cookie cutter homes, standard Target, Walmart, Chili's, etc.

Can anyone tell me if this is practical financially and what life might be like for a married couple with no children?

Thanks for your time.
CC

Completely doable if you secure employment (depends on what you do). With the savings in hand you will do just fine and married couple with no children, life will be a great joy there as there are things to do for every type of family situation. Fine dining, activities galore, etc. good luck.

[nightlysparrow]

There are four downsides that I can think of. Otherwise, poster Shawn's statements are valid.

There is no major metropolitan area for 75-100 miles. This is impactful if you want advanced medical care, an international airport, and certain other amenities.

There is a very large homeless population there, especially mentally ill homeless, because in the entire county there are only 16 psychiatry hospital beds. You will see them all over, and many are not shy. State Street is full of them, plus it is packed with tourists from Europe and Asia. This bothers those who live there.

Jobs there pay substantially less than elsewhere. There are students from UCSB to fill all the lower-paying jobs and will work cheap. On the professional level,. jobs are few and far between, and the pay is low.

Real estate prices are absurdly high. OK to rent, buying so so much.

[ryuns]

Expect to budget $2k per month for a comfortable but not luxurious 2 br place, probably no yard. Less for smaller places, but that will be quite the adjustment. It's expensive.

I disagree with some of the above--hospitals are top notch (Cottage hospitals in SB are almost surrounded by hotels for people who travel to use their facilities), and if completely necessary, UCLA Med Center is an hour and half. The homeless people are abundant, but fairly tame--there are restrictions on panhandling that have made walking downtown during quiet hours much more pleasant. The tourists are just part and parcel to SB. They can be obnoxious if you actually have somewhere to go, but it's a good vibe on the weekends, particularly if you enjoy people-watching. Agree for the most part on jobs, though it's tough to generalize. The jobs are what you find and there are some professional jobs that pay reasonably well (a decent tech sector has budded around UC Santa Barbara, for instance), but they dont' really compensate for the increased cost of living. Housing's the biggest thing, but everything is a little more expensive than, say, LA.

Access to snow is extremely poor. All of the decent snow means driving through LA (or 6+ hours to Mammoth). Great outdoor activities (surfing, climbing, hiking, biking), but it's a long way to the big mountains of the Sierras. Overall, totally beautiful place to live. Good luck.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

If you can maintain your income it will work. That is the key. High paying jobs are scarce in that neck of the woods.

[Perry Mason]

Practicality depends on what your profession is. The area isn't too diverse when it comes to a variety of jobs that pay well, so that of course has to be one of the things you look into thoroughly. Santa Barbara is nice, but you've really got to plan out a move there well.

[certsevtxert]

Originally Posted by chris1008c

My husband and I are thinking about moving to Santa Barbara in the next year or so. We came to visit last summer and fell in love with the place. We are 38 and 41 and have no children. We make about $120,000 between the 2 of us and would have over $100,000 in savings. We would probably rent something before we bought something in the future. We moved to Denver from Florida about 6 years ago and we really miss the ocean, but love the mountains in Colorado as well. We thought Santa Barbara could offer the best of both worlds. We both enjoy biking, walking/hiking, boating, and riding motorcylces.

The downside of living in the suburbs of Denver, is that everyone has kids and most of there activites surround that. All of the neighborhoods looks the same. Cookie cutter homes, standard Target, Walmart, Chili's, etc.

Can anyone tell me if this is practical financially and what life might be like for a married couple with no children?

Thanks for your time.
CC

wow give me some of that $$$

[genemichaels]

Just moved here from Green Bay, Wisconsin.....after thinking about it for at least the past five years! I just retired two years ago as a registered nurse, so it was time to move to this beautiful Paradise!! I have been "visiting" Santa Barbara for twenty years...what is there not to like about it? Great weather, art and music galore, beautiful scenic mountains and ocean, a great variety of restaurants, UCSB events,---just take a look at the Independent and Casa weekly magazines and you can find something to do for each day of the week---just love it!! Take your time looking for afffordable housing and don't spend all of your income/savings on real estate because you will want to do many things here. Explore!!

[MtnSurfer]

Financially this completely depends on what you do for a living and where you will find similar jobs. Pay could be higher or lower depending on a number of factors.

If you like the mountains and the coast you may also like other locations along the central coast such as Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Luis Obispo. Living near Big Sur you have access to the highest coastal mountains in the lower 48 including redwood forests and great hiking trails.

[Onething6]

My wife and I love Santa Barbara, and we are looking to move to California in the next 9 months. It is our number one city in California. However, it has two problems when considering moving there. I am a very liberal democrat, but the homeless are overwhelming and somewhat intimidating all over downtown. The city really needs to improve that. Also, we have pending high school students, and the Santa Barbara High School doesn't seem like a good place to send our children. I have read too many bad things about it, even the location is really neat right downtown. So instead, we are looking down in the LA area now.