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Old 06-21-2013, 12:58 PM
 
Location: Mountains of Oregon
17,639 posts, read 22,647,543 times
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One of my brother's has loved living in Prunedale (among the trees) the last 25 years. He was a teacher at Seaside High School......
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Old 06-21-2013, 01:01 PM
 
Location: Mountains of Oregon
17,639 posts, read 22,647,543 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth View Post
Mill Valley's a beautiful town. Anywhere in Marin County would be good. It gets more affordable as you go inland, away from the Bay.
My Aunt&Uncle lived in Mill Valley about 10 years. Since then they have loved living by Sonoma...
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Old 06-24-2013, 01:46 AM
 
Location: California
1,027 posts, read 1,379,075 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MtnSurfer View Post
Law Enforcement can pay well depending on the local department. The more affluent areas also pay more, especially with overtime. A coworker friend of mine worked in Sunnyvale as a police officer and said the combo of pay plus OT and benefits were excellent. He lived in Morgan Hill.
More affluent areas pay a little more, but not much more. For example, Santa Barbara housing cost almost 4x as much as riverside housing ($161 per square foot vs $500 per square foot) but Santa Barbara does not pay their officers quadruple the salary that Riverside pays their. I think they pay them only about 25% more. I heard many officers in SB have to commute all from Lompoc.

As for your other suggestions, I agree, the SLO area is one of the more affordable "nice" places in California. Even then, to be comfortable on a cop's salary you'd have to live out in Atascadero or Paso Robles. The only drawback is there won't be many employment opportunities for my wife, who is in consulting and sales, in such a small town. One area I've been checking out is the Santa Rosa area. Seems to be a pretty good bang for the buck. Again, some concerns about the wife finding good employment. There is tons of it in the bay area, but SR to the bay is not a fun commute.

I've been seriously looking into Oregon, which I only started doing because of a possible job opportunity up there. But as I started looking at housing prices I became really enticed, because it's so much more affordable than hear. Like you mentioned though, the PNW weather would be a tough transition for a beachy family like mine. I heard Oregon surfing was crap.
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Old 06-24-2013, 11:19 AM
 
13,711 posts, read 9,237,274 times
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The Greater Sacramento area could be a fit. Check out: Rocklin, Lincoln, Orangevale, Placerville, etc, in addition to Auburn (also good). It's also a reasonable drive from Lake Tahoe, which is awesome.

But you have to be very incompetent and lazy to qualify to be a cop there. Are you that?
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Old 06-24-2013, 07:24 PM
 
Location: Vancouver, WA
8,214 posts, read 16,705,829 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Surftown831 View Post
More affluent areas pay a little more, but not much more. For example, Santa Barbara housing cost almost 4x as much as riverside housing ($161 per square foot vs $500 per square foot) but Santa Barbara does not pay their officers quadruple the salary that Riverside pays their. I think they pay them only about 25% more. I heard many officers in SB have to commute all from Lompoc.

As for your other suggestions, I agree, the SLO area is one of the more affordable "nice" places in California. Even then, to be comfortable on a cop's salary you'd have to live out in Atascadero or Paso Robles. The only drawback is there won't be many employment opportunities for my wife, who is in consulting and sales, in such a small town. One area I've been checking out is the Santa Rosa area. Seems to be a pretty good bang for the buck. Again, some concerns about the wife finding good employment. There is tons of it in the bay area, but SR to the bay is not a fun commute.

I've been seriously looking into Oregon, which I only started doing because of a possible job opportunity up there. But as I started looking at housing prices I became really enticed, because it's so much more affordable than hear. Like you mentioned though, the PNW weather would be a tough transition for a beachy family like mine. I heard Oregon surfing was crap.
I have a number of friends who moved to Oregon and surf up there. Depending on which one you ask the surf is either terrible or pretty good. Obviously the water is much colder. But there are some good spots depending on where you live. The problem is the larger cities are pretty far from the coast. I don't surf as much as I used to so I'm ok with that. But if you want to surf regularly its not the best choice. That said there are a bunch of other very cool sports and things to do like windsurfing, snowboarding, hiking, kayaking, backpacking, etc... Have you guys visited the Gorge area? It's an awesome area and close to Portland.











Here's the coast ~ 1.5 hours from Portland:







Santa Barbara, Ventura, East San Diego County would be best if you want to surf more. Of course SF has Ocean Beach, Rockaway and some other spots. It's just hard to find anything affordable near those beaches. IMO, if you really want more affordable housing you'll need to do more driving either to work or to the coast or both. Finding affordable homes along prime CA coastal real estate is not going to happen unless off the beaten path (e.g. SLO County).

We have family in Santa Rosa which is a nice area and they really like living there after moving from SoCal. But yeah, there is not a lot of industry or jobs up there. You basically need to bring your own. Maybe Livermore or other East Bay areas could be an option. Sacramento is a whole different climate and environment. If you're ready to move from the coast then its a possibility as well.

Derek

Last edited by MtnSurfer; 06-24-2013 at 08:07 PM..
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Old 06-25-2013, 08:48 AM
 
12,823 posts, read 24,409,113 times
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The best bang for the buck on the West Coast is not in CA, it is in OR and WA.
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Old 06-25-2013, 08:51 AM
 
12,823 posts, read 24,409,113 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MtnSurfer View Post
I have a number of friends who moved to Oregon and surf up there. Depending on which one you ask the surf is either terrible or pretty good. Obviously the water is much colder. But there are some good spots depending on where you live.

Here's the coast ~ 1.5 hours from Portland:

The pictured break appears to be at or near Cannon Beach. Waves in the pic remind me of SoCal. Yeah it's not Maverick's but realistically who can deal with that?
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Old 06-25-2013, 08:08 PM
 
Location: Vancouver, WA
8,214 posts, read 16,705,829 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BayAreaHillbilly View Post
The pictured break appears to be at or near Cannon Beach. Waves in the pic remind me of SoCal. Yeah it's not Maverick's but realistically who can deal with that?
Yep, Ecola State Park just north of Cannon Beach.

Love the rugged coastline up there.





Here are some of the northern spots:

Oregon Surf Guide, North coast surf breaks

Derek
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Old 06-25-2013, 10:03 PM
 
162 posts, read 319,245 times
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Oregon is nice when it's not raining...............But I have been to Portland on a 4 moth job.

It always rained so it was rarely nice.
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Old 06-25-2013, 10:58 PM
 
Location: California
1,027 posts, read 1,379,075 times
Reputation: 844
Quote:
Originally Posted by MtnSurfer View Post
Maybe Livermore or other East Bay areas could be an option. Sacramento is a whole different climate and environment. If you're ready to move from the coast then its a possibility as well.

Derek
Sacramento is actually a pretty good bang for the buck, though it's definitely not SLO or Sonoma County. I used to spend summers up there with family when I was growing up. The northeastern suburbs are doable. Portland is much closer to the ocean though. If you're in the western suburbs of Portland it can be just over a one hour drive. The eastern suburbs of Sac to the Ocean is over two hour trip.

I just looked at some East Bay areas upon your suggestion and was surprised at some of the affordability. Some of the areas are sketchy, but others, such as Benicia, Martinez, etc., are definitely doable. I'll have to look more in to this. Thanks Mtnsurfer.
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