Estimating budget (Los Angeles: rent, home, school district)

[5pyg1a55]

Originally Posted by Cloudwalker

6pyg1a55, where are you shopping that you are paying $8 for a pound of butter?! But I agree that $1000 for "everything else" is likely to be a bit light, especially if it also has to cover things like clothes, haircuts, dentist, entertainment, etc.

OP, are you planning on getting a roommate? If not, looking for a one bedroom would be one obvious way to make your salary go further.

I don't, I shop when butter goes on sale for $5. Same with eggs, bacon, cheeses, meats etc... that's why I mentioned to the OP to watch for the weekly flyers. Chicken breast can be as low as $2/lb on sale, otherwise it's like $5-6 a pound.

This might be a stretch but the OP sounds like a dude, and IME dudes grocery shopping tend to just throw stuff in the cart/ not look at prices or shop by sales.

Area: Beverly Hills/ West Hollywood/ Miracle Mile area Ralphs/ Vons/ pavillions, etc. The price of food has skyrocketed.

Good point about other maintenance costs like clothes, dentist, entertainment .

[BRinSM]

What line of work are you in? Are you in an industry that has lots of six figure salary positions (eg tech)? If so, aim for the stars. Or are you in a more generic profession such as accounting or marketing? In this case, it really depends on your experience. It experience is light, it may be hard to get 70-80k. If you're an experienced leader, you could ask for 100k+ and see what they come back with. What do you make now? Just because LA is expensive it doesn't mean a company is going to pay you triple what you make in TN.

[msandli]

Everyone,


Thank you so much for your responses, they've been very helpful. A little more about my situation, if anyone wishes to continue to offer advice:


I have a Ph D in Mechanical engineering, and am finishing a post-doc at oak ridge national labs. I also have 5 years of industrial experience post-bachelors, hence, why I mentioned CalTech and JPL for salary info. Obviously they don't just give those jobs away (although I've applied to JPL), but I at least meet the bars for education and experience to work at either place.


The specific company is a solar power start-up out of the Idealab. I don't expect them to triple, or even double my current salary, but I do have my minimum number, and I expect to be paid according to the education and experience I've listed above. I also just don't expect a start-up to be able to match larger companies in raw salary, but they appear to be flexible with on-site start date (i.e., I may be able to work remotely in Knoxville for a few months, which is essentially a cash bonus). I am also planning on negotiating a very relaxed work from home policy, as I expect most of my job to be computer based. They have a test site up in Lancaster, but they also have a company car when they go up there. In any case, I will do my best to reduce gas usage in Cali.



I will be moving with my wife and 1 year old son (and 11 year old great dane; anyone have any good experiences with places that will rent to large dogs?). We may be trying for another soon. My wife ultimately wants to be a high school/CC teacher, but doesn't have her teaching degree (M.A. History). Also, this appears to be a historically bad time to try to break into teaching. She has plenty of admin experience in different industries, but unless she can find meaningful work, she will be staying home because we won't be able to afford daycare.


From what I've seen, food isn't ridiculously more expensive than in East TN since so much of it is basically local, and we really don't do a ton of shopping or eating out, so I'm not worried about the random sidewalk temptations. However, I think I will bump up my "everything else" budget to $1500 and work from there, because I'm not above a street taco or patio brunch every so often.

[ohio_peasant]

For food, shop at Super King in Altadena. The prices are the same (or lower) than what I paid at supermarkets in my former location in small-town Ohio.

For transportation, consider selling the car, and maybe also the motorcycle; perhaps get a bicycle with electric assist?

For housing, the options broaden if school-district/quality isn't an issue. I'd seriously consider downgrading to a 1-bedroom and spending more time at the office, rather than working from home. This is serious advice, and not a puerile attempt at jest. That being so, part of the employment-negotiation is a comfy office, with storage space and good climate-control. Unfortunately that is inimical to the values of most start-ups, especially "Idea Lab", which is notorious for rebranding a bug (open office, no privacy) as a feature ("collaboration").

[Cloudwalker]

OP, I would actually expect Heliogen to be paying more than larger companies, not less. Most energy startups are generally not like other startups - longer timeframe, more hardware less software, scale of investment required, quickly shifting regulatory environment, etc - and they have to pay well to lure employees from the stability of conventional companies, because of the employment risk involved (I'm assuming by larger, you also mean established with conventional technologies). I know Heliogen has backing from Bill Gates and Bill Gross, but even they don't have unlimited appetite for investment risk.

CSP is an amazing technology, and the high-temp process heat Heliogen is pursuing would be a game-changer, but it's still novel, it's really hard to get right and the cost is eye-watering. Take a look at some of the other companies in the CSP field, there's not many left, despite some high-profile funding sources. During the last couple of years, several of them shut up shop literally overnight.

I'm not for a moment saying don't take the job if it's offered, it would be a really exciting company to work for, just don't sell yourself short in terms of salary expectations.

[msandli]

A somewhat late update, but I have accepted the job, and will hopefully be relocating to the Pasadena area sometime early in 2021 (Luckily I'm working remotely until then, and I do NOT live in a socal-tier COLA area, so that will help shore up my emergency fund). I want to thank everyone for their input, both positive and negative. Hopefully in about 6 months, I can provide another update on how my budget projections match up with the reality. I might start another thread more relocation specific unless anyone wants to give me advice here.

[Cloudwalker]

Congratulations! You might find the remote working gets extended a bit longer as Covid cases are surging in LA County.

Number one rule for location is to be as close to your work as you possibly can to reduce commute misery. There are some lovely and interesting homes around that area, Craftsman, spanish style, MCM, Victorian. Try to stay in the South Pasadena Unified School District boundaries, their schools have a strong reputation. Pasadena schools do not. Eagle Rock is another place close by to look. It's a cool little area, lots of families, decent elementary schools even though it's in LAUSD.

[Texamichiforniasota]

Originally Posted by Cloudwalker

Congratulations! You might find the remote working gets extended a bit longer as Covid cases are surging in LA County.

Number one rule for location is to be as close to your work as you possibly can to reduce commute misery. There are some lovely and interesting homes around that area, Craftsman, spanish style, MCM, Victorian. Try to stay in the South Pasadena Unified School District boundaries, their schools have a strong reputation. Pasadena schools do not. Eagle Rock is another place close by to look. It's a cool little area, lots of families, decent elementary schools even though it's in LAUSD.

Um, OP doesn't mention kids, or even a spouse/SO, for that matter. If they're buying schools can still factor from a resale value standpoint, but per their posts, they're just looking to rent for now.

I agree with you that living close to work is key in the LA area. Since schools don't seem to be an issue for the OP, I'd go with Pasadena. Even if schools were an issue, I have a colleague that lives in Pasadena, (not S. Pas) and their kid goes to public school there. They seem pretty happy with it, so there must be some decent options.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by Texamichiforniasota

Even if schools were an issue, I have a colleague that lives in Pasadena, (not S. Pas) and their kid goes to public school there. They seem pretty happy with it, so there must be some decent options.

Many of Pasadena's elementary schools are improving, mainly because parents were tired of paying private school tuition and became more involved in their districts. However, you want to avoid the middle and high schools, which rank near the bottom of the state.

[Cloudwalker]

"Um, OP doesn't mention kids, or even a spouse/SO, for that matter."

Um, yes he does.

"I will be moving with my wife and 1 year old son (and 11 year old great dane; anyone have any good experiences with places that will rent to large dogs?). We may be trying for another soon. My wife ultimately wants to be a high school/CC teacher, but doesn't have her teaching degree (M.A. History). Also, this appears to be a historically bad time to try to break into teaching. She has plenty of admin experience in different industries, but unless she can find meaningful work, she will be staying home because we won't be able to afford daycare."