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Old 11-05-2006, 11:36 PM
 
Location: Born + raised SF Bay; Tyler, TX now WNY
8,324 posts, read 4,568,071 times
Reputation: 8186

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Hey all. I was born and raised in the Bay Area, and we moved to Texas last year. I was considering moving back to California sometime after college. I understand fully the challenging cost of living and the other problems and benefits of living in California as a whole, as well as by osmosis (and my Mom's bad experiences when she lived down there) the problems that face SoCal (especially LA area) living.

But here's the question: I naturally have only considered NorCal and the Bay Area since that's where my comfort zone is, but have always wanted to see and experience firsthand more of SoCal than I ever got to when I lived in Cali. Why should I consider a move to SoCal over NorCal? Ignore, for a minute, the bad stuff, since I have a fairly good grasp on that part, and pretend I'm a potential buyer and you're a real estate agent. Sell SoCal to me over NorCal.
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Old 11-06-2006, 12:19 AM
 
Location: Yucaipa, CA
76 posts, read 398,479 times
Reputation: 27
Great weather, diversity, great shopping, beautiful coast and beautiful mountains, cool to live someplace you can literally go sking and to the beach in the same day although you wld have a drive inbetween. I am sure there are many more.
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Old 11-06-2006, 01:05 AM
 
1,312 posts, read 6,447,263 times
Reputation: 2035
Quote:
Originally Posted by WNYerinSOCAL View Post
Great weather, diversity, great shopping, beautiful coast and beautiful mountains, cool to live someplace you can literally go sking and to the beach in the same day although you wld have a drive inbetween. I am sure there are many more.
There isn't one sales point in there that wouldn't apply equally to NorCal. If those are the things you want, you could just as happily live in Santa Rosa or Los Altos.
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Old 11-06-2006, 01:36 AM
 
Location: Santa Barbara
642 posts, read 3,064,023 times
Reputation: 454
Sun and moderate temperatures year round. Especially closer to the water. Northern California is too cold for me.
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Old 11-06-2006, 12:44 PM
 
Location: WPB, FL. Dreaming of Oil city, PA
2,909 posts, read 14,044,929 times
Reputation: 1032
Why not just visit soCA for vacation? Stay in Texas and enjoy your big cheap house, something impossible in CA or even FL
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Old 11-06-2006, 10:04 PM
 
989 posts, read 5,908,115 times
Reputation: 867
Benefits of socal over norcal..*

a two party government system(not a democratic picnic)
less tolls(bay bridge, GG, etc)
theme parks
access to Las Vegas/Mexico
warmer ocean water
more diverse economically
great place for aspiring entertainers
more beach days
closer ski areas
better shopping
palm trees/flowers
better weather
(w/o rain and leaves, more sun, less clouds, and less wind)
appearance(landscaping, people, buildings)
access to the desert
movie premieres/parties/sightings
anything that you could ever want is here (either in la, oc, or sd)


*Both places are great. This is my opinion. -with all do respect to the bay area.
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Old 11-07-2006, 08:29 AM
 
Location: CA Coast
1,904 posts, read 2,419,085 times
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Interesting that NorCal seems to be thought of as the Bay area. I think, NorCal begins north of the Bay area, that the Bay area is that,, the Bay area, its own region. Nor Cal begins roughly on a line north of I 80. It is an area the size of CA south of the grapevine with less than a million people, extensive areas of wild land, mtns, some places it is green year round, wild rugged coast, large lakes, volcanoes, great colleges, Redwoods, wolverines, bears, some think.... Wolves,,, More rice is grown in NorCal than in most Asian countries. The last wild indian in the West lived in the hills east of Chico, skiing, One freeway and a few freeway segments. I left the Central Coast for Nor Cal 33 years ago, and have only regreted not farming (a genetic thing). I go south now and the press of people, huge masses of people everywhere, at all times,,, is, to me, oppressive beyond imagining.
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Old 11-08-2006, 05:11 AM
 
3 posts, read 14,778 times
Reputation: 10
honestly... as a student and socal native, i can't see how i'll be able to afford living here on my own when i graduate. from what i understand, it is cheaper to live in socal to start rather than the bay area simply because there are a lot of cities here that are fairly reasonable and you can still commute to work. orange county is more of a family area, san diego has a variety of things to offer, and la is just a piece of work in itself. the great thing is though that you have a lot of access to all the great things you need when you're young - places to work, shop, go out, entertainment, etc. drawback is that you really need a car because transportation sucks. if you're really inkling to come back to ca, i would rec socal for a few years in the least... just for fun... try something new out. you can always move back up to norcal or even out of state.
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Old 11-08-2006, 09:10 PM
 
Location: Hemet, CA
19 posts, read 185,647 times
Reputation: 24
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve97415 View Post
There isn't one sales point in there that wouldn't apply equally to NorCal. If those are the things you want, you could just as happily live in Santa Rosa or Los Altos.
One important difference, however, concerning the beach/skiing...I could easily drive from the Mt. Baldy Ski Lifts to Huntington Beach in under an hour and a half. In Northern California I would have to drive in the nieghborhood of three-thee and a half hours to get from the beach (not a bay or harbor, but an actual BEACH) to a ski area...BUT the skiing at Mt. Baldy (usually) isn't much compared to the Tahoe/Sierra resorts. It is pretty cool to see snowcapped mountains while standing on the beach....that definitely wouldn't happen in NorCal

That being said, that is a pretty trivial reason to relocate

I do think that Southern California is more dramatic and diverse than Northern. My wife is from Sacramento so I have spent a good deal of time in both places (and not just Sacramento on the north side). They are pretty similar, but I do miss the extremes present in the South.
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Old 11-29-2006, 10:23 PM
 
Location: Born + raised SF Bay; Tyler, TX now WNY
8,324 posts, read 4,568,071 times
Reputation: 8186
Quote:
Originally Posted by kp100 View Post
honestly... as a student and socal native, i can't see how i'll be able to afford living here on my own when i graduate. from what i understand, it is cheaper to live in socal to start rather than the bay area simply because there are a lot of cities here that are fairly reasonable and you can still commute to work. orange county is more of a family area, san diego has a variety of things to offer, and la is just a piece of work in itself. the great thing is though that you have a lot of access to all the great things you need when you're young - places to work, shop, go out, entertainment, etc. drawback is that you really need a car because transportation sucks. if you're really inkling to come back to ca, i would rec socal for a few years in the least... just for fun... try something new out. you can always move back up to norcal or even out of state.

That's an interesting point there on the cost of living. I had thought the two pretty much equivalent on that front, so that's interesting to hear. Car is no problem, I'm a car guy through and through, so the "Kar Kulture" aspect of SoCal intrugues me greatly. "Suckin gas, haulin' *****" is my motto. Anyway, trying something new out is in the works: I'm buying a travel trailer and plan to travel here and there for a few years, seeing the country and meeting folks from all over, hopefully it'd keep my cost of living in CA down as well if/when I get there.

The recreational aspect still seems pretty even to me...Mt. Baldy has a resort, but the good stuff is still up north in the Tahoe area (man...if I had a dime everytime I ski'd Heavenly and Northstar, I'd be rich by now). By contrast, SoCal probably has the better beaches (and that's saying something, it's hard to beat Santa Cruz or Aptos, in my opinion!). And I like palm trees, too.

Anyway, keep it coming. It's interesting insight I'm hearing here. I grow more and more interested in SoCal by the day!

Another thing I should mention is that I love the desert...SoCal naturally is well-endowed with desert environments...
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