moved out after 14 years... (Merced, Redondo Beach: rent, insurance, house)

[oping00]

Originally Posted by RVD90277

Well, it's over 2 years later. I moved here in July 2012 and I'm still up here in Seattle.

A lot has changed in these 2 years though...pretty amazing actually. Overall, things are still great up here though and my family likes it a lot as well.

1) I have 2 more kids now. My wife and I had one kid in CA and after I moved here, she got pregnant with our 2nd kid (I visited LA a few times after my move) and the 2nd kid was born in 6/2013. To our surprise, she got pregnant again with our 3rd kid which was born just a couple of months ago.

2) We moved out of the rental home that we had near the lake and bought a house. For a number of reasons I wanted a big house and the one we bought is probably a little too big but we do have my mother in law living with us (didn't want her in the next room a few feet from me) and also have an attached rental in the home. 6900 sq ft, 7 bedrooms / 7 baths, etc. I worked a good deal and bought it for only $1.1m and did some renovation work. Dunno what it's worth now but Zillow says it's worth about $2.2m (although I doubt that's right).

3) I moved companies last year and joined another large tech company. They made me an offer that I couldn't refuse and life is even better than it was when I first moved here. As for pay, I get paid around double what I was making in LA. My wife stopped working to be a SAHM and our lifestyle is better than it was when we were in LA and both of us were working.

4) Some of our focus of material things has changed a bit. In LA, since it is such as car culture, I always drove a nice car. I still have my lease from LA and it's a fancy and shiny car (unique, high trim, expensive, BMW 7 series hybrid - only 2 exist up here) but it's going back to the dealership in a few weeks. We bought a minivan to replace it...

5) As for moving back to LA, we talk about it a little bit here and there. My oldest kid is in 3rd grade so we decided to talk about it seriously when he's in 5th grade. I just figure that he'll be going up to middle school and changing schools anyway so maybe it's a decent time to move if we want to do that. The only problem is that a move back to CA would more likely be the bay area since I'm in tech and the housing in the bay area is absolutely insane.

6) I have been able to save so much money for retirement, etc. after moving up here that I will actually be set up for early retirement about 10-15 years before standard retirement age (65).

7) I made a lot of friends up here so we're pretty busy with social activities. In many ways I think I'll miss the friends that I have made up here more than the ones that we left in LA. LA was more of a family culture where extended families got together a lot for football games, holidays, etc. Here it's more of a friend culture where friends get together for Thanksgiving dinner, Seahawks games, etc. Since we didn't have much family in LA and not many have extended family here, this works out well over here.

8) Most of my friends and family from other areas enjoy visiting us up here.

So for the poster who said that I'll be back in LA in 2 years...nope, hasn't happened.

I will say that last winter (Feb), we went to Hawaii for a week and it was awesome to get out in the sun in the middle of winter. We plan to try to do that every year.

LA is a nice place but for the traffic, smog, lower paying jobs, high cost of housing, etc...I don't think we'd ever go back unless it's after I retire.

RVD.

Hey there, I would like to know what specifically in Tech do you do? I get calls from Seattle also and curious if its worth the move. Thanks.

[RVD90277]

LA is still a nice place to live, it's just expensive to like a proper and good lifestyle, that's all. There's no doubt that it was a great place to raise a family in the 70s, 80s, and maybe even the 90s but after that it has gotten so expensive that it's just tough to properly raise kids in a nice neighborhood with friendly neighbors, good public schools with small classrooms and high quality teachers, etc. Maybe I'm just old fashioned in some ways but I also think it's ideal to have a parent stay home to raise the kids for the most part rather than hired help. It's just tough to do this in LA that's all.

Of course the biggest downside to living up here is the weather. It gets cold in the winter and it gets wet a lot. I think the biggest secret is that it doesn't rain anywhere near as often as people think it does so it's been a pleasant surprise. Of course it rains a lot more than it did in LA but it's still infrequent enough that I am happy to see rain since I lived for so long in droughts in LA. I'm sure it will get old though but just hasn't happened yet (maybe in another year or two I'll start dreading rain and not think it is so novel anymore).

[RVD90277]

I have worked as a software engineer, software development manager, and product manager (I also have an MBA along with my CS degree). From a pay perspective, they are all about the same so it just depends on what I feel like doing.

I think it is worth the move if you like nature, fresh air, 4 seasons, etc. If you really like the sun and beaches of Southern California, you might not like it here.

RVD.

[oping00]

Originally Posted by RVD90277

I have worked as a software engineer, software development manager, and product manager (I also have an MBA along with my CS degree). From a pay perspective, they are all about the same so it just depends on what I feel like doing.

I think it is worth the move if you like nature, fresh air, 4 seasons, etc. If you really like the sun and beaches of Southern California, you might not like it here.

RVD.

Thanks for sharing, I am SQL guy I would get paid less than software engineer. Seattle sounds great, but I do need sun and better weather after living in the midwest for so long. I will need to visit seattle first.

[Pacifico]

You waited 8mo before writing this, huh. Try waiting 8 years then getting back to us. The first winter in Seattle is cake. In fact it's glorious for all the reasons you've described. But it will (or perhaps not?) get to you year after year after year. As for Seattle itself, it's great. Although traffic can be on par with LA, there's no income tax. However, gas prices are just as high and sales tax even higher. Real estate is also very comparable. Weather wise, I prefer LA. But hey, it's a quick ~2:15 flight.

[Mr_Geek]

Originally Posted by Pacifico

You waited 8mo before writing this, huh.

Your years are off. It's 2015!

[seain dublin]

I find it amusing that the OP says he is less materialistic in WA state and than has to tell everyone how big his house is Seattle and how much they paid for it....LOL.

It actually sounds way too large for a family that size. It's kind of ridiculous to move to an area that offers a lower COL than Southern CA and than go overboard in the new state.

Reminds me of the poster who left CA for AL and had to brag they now have this huge house and 10 acres, why not find something close to what you had in CA and bank the rest.

You're not really getting ahead by buying more house than you need.

[TheGreatUnwashed]

Kudos to you. I'm looking forward to getting out of LA one day too. Low 6 figure income and I can't even afford to live in a decent area of LA Proper. Have to head to one of the valley's and commute an hour each way into the west side.

[oping00]

Originally Posted by TheGreatUnwashed

Kudos to you. I'm looking forward to getting out of LA one day too. Low 6 figure income and I can't even afford to live in a decent area of LA Proper. Have to head to one of the valley's and commute an hour each way into the west side.

So what is the avg rent say 1 bdr in decent area in LA.

[erin_elise_]

Originally Posted by oping00

So what is the avg rent say 1 bdr in decent area in LA.

where people go "wrong" in L.A. and become "stressed" with the L.A. lifestyle, is when they do not live as close to their job as they can. (this goes for non-natives who come to LA with no knowledge other than "you must live on the westside")

albeit, this can be difficult if your job is in a notoriously high rent district like century city etc. BUT one must come to LA and travel around to see what local places around their job are "decent" enough for them.

there are more places in L.A. that are nice that do not involve the "westside".

try moving southwest a bit to Culver City, Palms, Westchester, Playa del Rey, Del Rey, Ladera Heights, even down into the South bay.

but again, when you find a job, THEN look for a decent place to live around there. not the other way around.