Please help me to decide where to live in CA

[Den Mathias]

Originally Posted by coyoteskye

oh god you're right.
gravity has been getting the better of me lately.
thanks.

Gravity always gets the better of me and I usually end up face down!!!

[Fate Foretold]

Originally Posted by coyoteskye

I'm in Santa Cruz and it's a very expensive county but 2K will afford you a good place for 2.
We're on the Monterey Bay ... Monterey just down the road (less than an hour) and San Francisco is less than 2 hours to the north.
It's kinda the top part of the central coast.
Santa Cruz is over the hill from San Jose.
That rush hour commute is rather taxing but people do it and get used to it.
I'd stay to the north, ie; avoid So. CA (but i'm bias) and there are many, many good communities in and around the bay area that may suit you.
Coming from the mid-west you might find that it's easier to adjust to the S.F. area (as opposed to L.A., etc.).
Woodside may suit you or other communities like it.
Welcome to Roberts Market

Oh, will it? I hope so.

I'd actually prefer to live in more northern California actually, if we were to move there. I'm sure that I really won't have a choice when it comes to traffic during commuting, since the places that I will hopefully have a chance at getting a job at are all in the cities.

It looks like Wooside (according to this:Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed) is 149% more expensive than where we are currently, with housing being the biggest contributing factor. O_O Wow! Apparently, Santa Cruz is only 50% more expensive than here.

I wish there was some fairly nice place near San Francisco that wasn't so outrageous. My fiancé lived in Florida a couple times in Clearwater, and it was actually less expensive than where we live currently. I was kind of hoping we could find a place just like that in California, but I know how popular of a state that is.

[coyoteskye]

Originally Posted by Fate Foretold

Oh, will it? I hope so.

I'd actually prefer to live in more northern California actually, if we were to move there. I'm sure that I really won't have a choice when it comes to traffic during commuting, since the places that I will hopefully have a chance at getting a job at are all in the cities.

It looks like Wooside (according to this: Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed) is 149% more expensive than where we are currently, with housing being the biggest contributing factor. O_O Wow! Apparently, Santa Cruz is only 50% more expensive than here.

I wish there was some fairly nice place near San Francisco that wasn't so outrageous. My fiancé lived in Florida a couple times in Clearwater, and it was actually less expensive than where we live currently. I was kind of hoping we could find a place just like that in California, but I know how popular of a state that is.

Whether or not you'll use Craigslist to find a rental, it's a good way to get a general and overall sense of housing costs.
Here's a link to Craigslist rentals in both Woodside and Santa Cruz and, just for fun, a link to Craigslist rentals in Half Moon Bay.


craigslist woodside

craigslist santa cruz

craigslist half moon bay

and i just added Marin, etc. (pricey!!!) since you wanna be near to S.F.

craigslist marin

[Fate Foretold]

Nice! That's awesome. I actually hadn't thought about checking out Craigslist for renting an apartment, but from the looks of it, a 1-bedroom will be within our price range.

[jojobettyboop]

I'm not sure if I am too late but I have lived in California most of my life. I lived in So. Calif the first 12 yrs of my life. It has some nice towns but the smog is horrible at time and the freeways will drive you nuts (I visit down there quite often). I currently live in Milpitas but before that I lived in Sunnyvale and I LOVE Sunnyvale. I only moved because we moved into the house my husband grew up in. Sunnyvale is the heart of Silicon Valley and it's it has everything you need but not the hustle of living in the city. Sunnyvale is centrally located so that if you get a job in Palo Alto or San Jose, it would be an easy commute. I work in Palo Alto and it takes me 20 minutes to get to work. This is where the money is. Trust me, whether it's in the gaming business or IT, Silicon Valley is the best place. Plus you aren't far from the beach, mountains and San Francisco for when family visits. Hope this helps.

[coyoteskye]

Originally Posted by Den Mathias

Gravity always gets the better of me and I usually end up face down!!!

well if you have a soft landing and have fun gong down ...

[jojobettyboop]

Another note, some of the cheaper towns in Northern California are Brentwood, stay away from Antioch the crime is getting really bad there and Rocklin (near Sacramento). There is also Tracy and Livermore. A lot of people from work commute from there and it takes them about 45 mins to an hour from Tracy and livermore to Palo Alto but it take about 2 hrs or more for the other cities I just mentioned. Good luck.

[NYSD1995]

A lot of the video game industry is slowly moving out of Silicon Valley into the Los Angeles area, Irvine and the westside corridor in particular, to be closer to the film industry which is supplying a lot of content and talent for games now. Personally I think from a career perspective, LA will have more growth over the next decade than SF Bay area, but you really can't go wrong either way.

[Fate Foretold]

Originally Posted by jojobettyboop

I'm not sure if I am too late but I have lived in California most of my life. I lived in So. Calif the first 12 yrs of my life. It has some nice towns but the smog is horrible at time and the freeways will drive you nuts (I visit down there quite often). I currently live in Milpitas but before that I lived in Sunnyvale and I LOVE Sunnyvale. I only moved because we moved into the house my husband grew up in. Sunnyvale is the heart of Silicon Valley and it's it has everything you need but not the hustle of living in the city. Sunnyvale is centrally located so that if you get a job in Palo Alto or San Jose, it would be an easy commute. I work in Palo Alto and it takes me 20 minutes to get to work. This is where the money is. Trust me, whether it's in the gaming business or IT, Silicon Valley is the best place. Plus you aren't far from the beach, mountains and San Francisco for when family visits. Hope this helps.

I actually was just looking at Sunnyvale, and I remember being there when we visited California for vacation. It seemed beautiful. Sunnyvale is 55% more expensive than here, it looks like, which isn't nearly as much as it could be. That could definitely be a possibility. I like the sound of all that. Thank you!

I'll have to talk with my job placement lady too about all this and figure out which location is best.

[LZKay1]

Try Stockton. No crime, nice buildings and the people are the best.