Living in Southern California or just surviving in Southern California (San Francisco: health insurance, to buy)

[webmasterspride]

I share similar pain too..lol

[bpeeps]

Originally Posted by passionateinlife

I wonder how all these ppl feel now. I am contemplating a move from the east coast to west hollywood, but this poster is sort of scary. Any of you chiming in again would be helpful!!! Thanks a million!!

Go for it.

[thelopez2]

Originally Posted by passionateinlife

I wonder how all these ppl feel now. I am contemplating a move from the east coast to west hollywood, but this poster is sort of scary. Any of you chiming in again would be helpful!!! Thanks a million!!

2007 - 2012 was pretty much doom and gloom everywhere. Do you have any talent and common sense?

[Sydney123]

Yup it's expensive to live here, but it's hard to beat the weather, entertainment and close proximity to the mountains and beaches. Where else can you decide to either go snow skiing or to the beach on the same day? When my twin brother and I were 15 we got a small inheritance that my father invested. When we were 21 he helped us ( advised) use those funds to buy a foreclosure in Northridge near our college. ( he did help us with the money to fix it up). We flipped that house, payed him back and bought another foreclosure in Porter Ranch which we also put a little money into before we flipped it. With the profit I made I was able to buy a " short pay" in Santa Monica 3 blocks from the ocean. It's small 1400 sq ft, but it has a tiny guest house and pool in the rear. I rent out the main house which practically covers my mortgage amd I live in the guest house.
I am an accountant with a small business that I run from home and I work for a major airline. Between both jobs I make around 80k a year. It's not a lot, but with my accounting background I am pretty good at money handling. For fun I surf, scuba, run, take kick boxing and fish all of which cost practically nothing ( after the initial cost of equipment). I can walk to the beach or just about any place I need to go like the bank, market, cleaners etc. i like to cook so I don't eat out often, and I don't have cable tv, or a home phone. ( I have my cell and my computer for calls and watching movies and such). My airline job is pretty flexible so I can work my 40 hours in three days. I work a 16 hour shift on Tues, an 8 on Wed and another 16 on Thurs. I am off fri, sat, sun and Monday.
I can do my accounting work in the afternoons or evenings.
I'd planned on quitting the airline job when I graduated college, but the pay is good, they offer good health benefits and best of all.. Practically free flight benefits, which I have taken advantage of many times... Even if it was only a flight. From LA to San Francisco for lunch on Fisherman's Wharf and some shopping or to watch the Dodgers beat the Giants. Lol
I am not rich, but I have money in the bank, I am able to save and I think I live a pretty decent life.
I've used my benefits to go to the Bahamas, Hawaii, London, Costa Rica, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Rome, Amsterdam, and a few US cities. No husband, no kids, no boyfriend ... No drama lol
I am staying put for now.

[dexter14]

Originally Posted by Sydney123

Yup it's expensive to live here, but it's hard to beat the weather, entertainment and close proximity to the mountains and beaches. Where else can you decide to either go snow skiing or to the beach on the same day?

So you are saying people should live in poverty or be broke just because there is nice weather and they can go skiing and to the beach in the same day? Oh, you can go skiing and to the beach same day in OR and Wash as well...

[Sydney123]

Originally Posted by mbell75

So you are saying people should live in poverty or be broke just because there is nice weather and they can go skiing and to the beach in the same day? Oh, you can go skiing and to the beach same day in OR and Wash as well...

Nope, not at all what I was saying. I agreed that it's expensive, but for "me" it's worth the expense and I am lucky enough to be able to afford it. Other people's mileage may vary. My whole post was about me, me , me.
It's all about me! LOL

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by Those Who Squirm

most people's idea of said life is a single family home in a desirable part of town. You know, just like it was in the 1950s when a house in the canyons above Beverly Hills and Hollywood could be had for less than $30K. Because that era is still within living memory, especially for those who grew up here in the 1960s and 70s, that's the comparison that many of us still make, and they don't like it.

Then you'd also have to consider that salaries of executives were around $10,000 and the price of gas was about 30 cents a gallon.

In the case of L.A. over our lifetimes so far, it's gone from being a gigantic suburb with cheap tract houses available everywhere to being another megalopolis where everything's expensive.

That's debatable. Few homeowners start out in a prime area; they usually move up slowly. Housing prices are apparently stabilizing now. Southland housing market may finally be getting back to normal - LA Times

[909er]

Considering we're approaching 2007 housing bubble prices, I'd say it's 'surviving in SoCal'.

[PDF]

Originally Posted by 909er

Considering we're approaching 2007 housing bubble prices, I'd say it's 'surviving in SoCal'.

Well we can finally agree on something. I said this in another thread, but if I moved back to LA...my salary would be cut in half and I'd be in area with a higher COL. So I'll stay where I'm at.

[TurcoLoco]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

Then you'd also have to consider that salaries of executives were around $10,000 and the price of gas was about 30 cents a gallon.

Years ago, some older, wiser gentleman told me something that seems to be very true:
If renting; your monthly rent should be about 1/4 (or less) of your monthly gross income, to live comfortably. If it is closer 1/3 of your gross income, you would be just OK. So, with that logic, if your rent alone is more than 1/3 of your monthly gross income, you are more on the "surviving" side, imho.

Originally Posted by PDF

Well we can finally agree on something. I said this in another thread, but if I moved back to LA...my salary would be cut in half and I'd be in area with a higher COL. So I'll stay where I'm at.

I thought you were in LA, CA! I guess you moved out of CA since the last time I read your posts. Where did you move if you don't mind me asking?

Originally Posted by 909er

Considering we're approaching 2007 housing bubble prices, I'd say it's 'surviving in SoCal'.

I'd definitely be on the surviving side if I was buying any kind of a dwelling. I am stuck with renting. I hate it.