Why are you moving out of Southern California? (Los Angeles, Compton: low crime, house)

[thinboy]

Originally Posted by dennismpat

I was about to say, you hate the cold weather in L.A.?

Maybe you could be like Laverne and Shirley, where they eventually moved from Milwaukee to Los Angeles (Burbank, more specifically). And along the way, you can sing their theme song (cue theme music):

"And we'll do it our way, yes, our way....making our dreams....come true....for me and you...."

[FADE OUT]

no, the difference is i was born and rasied out in cali, only moved here before i turned 18 and stucked in the midwest.

[Dennis P]

Originally Posted by thinboy

no, the difference is i was born and rasied out in cali, only moved here before i turned 18 and stucked in the midwest.

Oh, OK, so you're a California native making his way back home. Well, I hope you find the perfect place FOR YOU out here, and I know these forums are very helpful. Hopefully, you get back here before winter in Milwaukee hits full force.

[dlw314159]

I have lived in Virginia for almost all my life. Starting around 1996 I have made pilgrimages to CA. My longest stint was for about six months after graduating from college.

I would like to move to CA and teach after earning my masters here in VA. I find CA to be incredibly beautiful. The mountains, the ocean, the weather, etc. etc. Mainly, I want to live in CA to pursue my second passion, surfing. There really is NO surf on the east coast.

I have read a lot of super negative posts about CA primarily related to the cost of living. I've wrestled with the pros and cons over and over in my mind. I just keep coming back to CA is where I want to be.

Can some CA natives or long terms offer some positive suggestions on how to improvise, adapt, and overcome the cost of living issue? For example, I'm thinking of investing in real estate to generate additional income. I guess what I 'm saying is how can I make it work if I want to live in CA?

[VeronikaW]

We decided to move out of CA because my husband got a job offer in Seattle, and we both thought we could have a better quality of life up here with a new baby on the way.

We thought we'd never be able to afford a house in CA.

After 2 months in WA we're counting down until my husband's stock vests in 4 years which will give us a down payment on a house in CA, and you bet your ass, we're coming back.

I was soooooooooooo over CA, and now I feel like a moron. The people in CA are much friendlier, and while it may be hot, at least everyone has A/C, while I sit here sweltering in 85+ degree heat being told, "Well it's only this hot a couple weeks a year, you don't need A/C."

V.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by dlw314159

Can some CA natives or long terms offer some positive suggestions on how to improvise, adapt, and overcome the cost of living issue?

This is really easy. Marry a neurosurgeon.

[country pride]

I was born and raised in Calif, for the most part of my life. Therefore, deep in my heart, it IS my home. Though I wouldnt rule out Oklahoma, Alabama or Wisconsin, but thats a whole 'nother story there....

I left there well over 11 years ago but it was family reasons, but look back a lot and visit often enough to still remember my way around many parts.

[zenjenn]

I've spent my entire childhood in Orange County and most of my adult life in Los Angeles County. We are now going to be moving out of state - probably destined for Huntsville, Alabama.

I don't HATE Southern California. I don't think it's awful. I think California has a LOT of redeeming qualities. It is a big, beautiful state with a lot of great places to live. There are rural areas in Southern California too, people talk about everything like it's Los Angeles or OC.

We, however, need to live near an area with a strong tech industry for the purposes of income. I also have no desire to live rural.

However, there is a WHOLE LOT of America that sits somwhere between rural and the biggest urban sprawl in the country that is the greater Los Angeles area.

My husband and I have lived in California our whole lives, and would like to experience a new part of the country. We'd like someplace where all our hard work and education can earn us a really nice house, instead of a 50-yr-old middle-class house that needs to be replumbed, repainted, and reroofed. We'd like to live in an area where we can see weather and storms, and have a lawn that doesn't need to be watered with sprinklers 3 times a day just to stay alive. We definitely want to live in civilization, but we want to live in a smaller metro area, where people live and work close enough where they can still socialize with their friends and neighbors, instead of spending 2 hrs on the freeways each day. I want to live somewhere where my kids can catch fireflies, and have a backyard large enough to put up a swingset.

For us that is in Alabama. No hard feelings on California. But our lifestyle is not such that we take advantage of what California has to offer. I go to the beach maybe once a year and I don't even REMEMBER the last time I drove into downtown Los Angeles. For the most part I'm happy with local restaurants, theater, venues, etc, of which the same ammenities are available in Hunstville.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by zenjenn

I've spent my entire childhood in Orange County and most of my adult life in Los Angeles County. We are now going to be moving out of state - probably destined for Huntsville, Alabama.

I grew up in LA too and now live in Colorado. I go to HSV all the time. It might be my second choice behind where I live now in the Pikes Peak/Front Range region. You are making a very wise decision. HSV is in the process of becoming a high tech silicon valley of the south. I drive around there and all I see are cranes, office buildings under construction, hotels, malls, etc. It is very affordable (though that is starting to change now due to BRAC). If you have kids check out the town of Madison and Bob Jones High School area. Also, check out the Virgil Grissom High School area. When on travel I swim at the Dublin pool on Madison Pike, excellent park and rec center. I have HSV colleagues calling me asking for people to fill reqs out there. There is going to be huge recruiting effort for good high paying jobs. GMD, NASA, THAAD, Patriot, Redstone, and I just read the SM-3 program are there. Tons of jobs near the Bradford & Research & Wynn streets. HSV is a very underrated region.

This is a really powerful real estate tool for the region. You can search for homes in a certain elementary, middle and high school:

ValleyMLS.com

[zenjenn]

Thanks, Charles, it is always nice to hear another endorsement. Yes, Huntsville is a great tech center, and my husband is an electrical engineer who has worked in the defense industry for 10 years so Huntsville is not a random choice. When you mention anything "Alabama" to Californians, some recoil in horror as if you said you were moving to a 3rd world country. We paid the city a visit and we were very happy with it.

Like I said, I don't have any huge bone to pick with California, but there's not anything the Los Angeles area offers us that Huntsville doesn't offer for a LOT less money, lower crowds, etc. To me the only trade off to living in a beautiful, greener, less congested area with plenty of jobs and amenities is a few minor nuisances such as more mosquitos, humidity, rain, hay fever. Honestly the climate doesn't appear THAT much different to me than where I live near the Inland Empire, just more rain and wind.

We did look at SE Huntsville (Grissom HS area) with a real estate agent during our first trip, and we're going to look at Madison next time. My husband is entertaining two job offers so the move is looking pretty certain.

[Malcolm]

I lived in So Cal for 18 years after moving from Colorado. I moved to Iowa just 3 months ago. yeah it's funny how everyone in my family gasped for air when I told them I was moving to Iowa from So Cal. So now in Iowa I have a 5 minute commute instead of 90 minutes and I bought a brand new home twice the size at half the cost then in So Cal. What's so bad about that?

I just got fed up with the lifestyle and well... I could write a book about it so I won't go into it just look at my anti-SoCal threads. The one good thing about So Cal will the be the home prices over the next two years. If you ever want to move to So Cal now's the time since the homes are so cheap. Just ask me. I'm selling mine for 100k less than I owe on it - and I still can't sell it!

I just had the opportunity to visit Iowa for a day and got a great job offer. One thing I liked was not being run off the road for once. Everyone there goes the speed limit. But in Iowa, in some places, you'll get a ticket for going 5 MPH over.

I finally made the move from to Iowa. Let me say after the move, WOW what a friken change. I just love driving right at the speed limit not worrying about the flow of traffic at 90+. Maybe that's why we drive so much slower out here, because we're not worried and stressed about all the pressures that So Cal puts on you.

I must have had 5 or 6 neighbors offer to help me move in during the week that I was getting into my new home. In So Cal, the only time I had a neighbor get into my garage to move things was the time they moved my DVD player from my SUV and my entire drum set into their car at like 3 in the morning. And they where so kind in that they didn't even wake me to tell me. They just took it all. You like that?

Marion IA is about 48% cheaper cost of living than So Cal. I thought maybe I was going to get a pay cut when moving to Iowa. Nope. Pay raise. Common myth about So Cal is you make more. Well, maybe for some professions if you are into the rat race commute thing and you don't care about ever seeing your kids during the week, or the light of day.

Anyways, Iowa is great to me. It is. The people. The drivers. The population. The presence of Police Officers. The homes. The land. The parks. The sparse traffic. The schools being #2 in the nation.