To leave or not to leave Los Angeles (real estate, apartment)

[hotmama2009]

Warning, this will be long.

You can probably tell from the title that I have a serious decision that needs to be made. Here is the issue...this recession has proved very difficult for my family. When things took a serious downturn I lost my job in early 2008 and a month later my husband lost his. We were both on unemployment for most of 2009 and we were almost evicted from our apartment twice.

In both instances we got the help that we needed from family. My husband is born and raised here in California, I myself am from Southeast Michigan. After struggling so hard just to keep a roof, I am ready to leave California for a state with a cheaper cost of living. I don't want to return to Michigan because I know the job market is worse than it is here, but I just lost my desire to remain in Los Angeles when we are struggling (although we are both working now) to make ends meet. My husband landed a temp job and I found a job which I am grateful to have, but I had to take 50% pay cut. I have since come into a large sum of money due to an inheritance from a family member that recently passed.

I would love to just leave and start over in different state with a cheaper cost of living. There are some benefits to being here, we have a small child and my husband's family is near by to help with child care. We have friends here and I like the church that we attend. However, those are the only pluses at this point since our salaries don't allow us to live comfortably here. I also don't want to exhaust my inheritance just trying to hold on when we could potentially go somewhere else and do a lot better.

What would you do if you were in our shoes? For those of you that left for financial reasons do you regret it? Would you try to hold out a little longer, or take a chance at an area with a better job market and a cheaper cost of living?

[redturtle]

It really depends what you value or deem important to your quality of life (aside from costs) -- and whether you can find such attributes or values that make up your quality of life in a comparable amount in another location.

Some pros about LA:

- one of the most diverse places in the US
- climate/weather
- film/tv industry (if anyone in your family has aspirations for that)
- liberal minded

However, if these things aren't important to you, then you may want to consider moving elsewhere.

I don't think money is the be all end all - by any stretch. But if you're struggling AND you anticipate that you'll continue to struggle financially for the foreseeable future (where you can't anticipate how it will improve dramatically), it may be wise to move. Money becomes less important (or unimportant) beyond a certain threshhold. If you're struggling just to pay rent and put food on the table, then money/cost of living becomes possibly the most important thing aside from the love of your family.

I love LA. I moved here last year. But I don't think folks HAVE to be here either. There's other places where people can be just as happy or even happier too.

My hunch is that you may be better off moving out of LA at least for now -- maybe Las Vegas (it's super cheap there, the economy certainly isn't great but it's not Detroit and will recover), Texas, or somewhere inland where the cost of living will be much more affordable for you and your family - which will likely mean less day-to-day stress for you.

I wish you all the best and take care. God bless.

[intelfan11315]

What I would do is put out my resume/application to different companies in cities all across the United States, then I would wait and see if something is offered. If nothing is offered it will be more stressful to pack up a family and move, but if you get an offer.. it might just be worth it to take off.

[Joe3rdwash]

Minneapolis is a great diverse city
A cheap 1 at that too
It's a twin city with St Paul and they boast the 3rd biggest Metro in the Midwest of 4 million
The south metro is good if you want LA kind of living at half the price
It has Mall of America and Southdale mall so it a huge shopping district

[SandyCo]

Hotmama2009, if you're struggling that much, it might be better for you to move elsewhere until the economy improves. If you still end up going through your inheritance, at least it will drip away more slowly! Besides, it's anyone's guess how long it will be before the economy truly recovers here, and it would be sad if you went through your inheritance and still had to move, anyway. I'm sorry that you're having such a tough time here; the real estate bubble really did a number on California, didn't it?

On the other hand, free child care is nothing to turn down, and it's difficult to raise a child when you have no support system. I can only hope you'll find it easy to make friends if you do end up moving, so that you don't end up isolated. No matter what happens, best of luck and I hope things improve for you and your husband.

[lalife]

Originally Posted by Joe3rdwash

Minneapolis is a great diverse city
A cheap 1 at that too
It's a twin city with St Paul and they boast the 3rd biggest Metro in the Midwest of 4 million
The south metro is good if you want LA kind of living at half the price
It has Mall of America and Southdale mall so it a huge shopping district

I live in Minneapolis. It is ****IN cold here in winter!! I always think of leaving but the economy sucks nationwide

What is this nonsense above about the south metro being like LA kind of living? Are you high!!

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by hotmama2009

Warning, this will be long.

You can probably tell from the title that I have a serious decision that needs to be made. Here is the issue...this recession has proved very difficult for my family. When things took a serious downturn I lost my job in early 2008 and a month later my husband lost his. We were both on unemployment for most of 2009 and we were almost evicted from our apartment twice.

In both instances we got the help that we needed from family. My husband is born and raised here in California, I myself am from Southeast Michigan. After struggling so hard just to keep a roof, I am ready to leave California for a state with a cheaper cost of living. I don't want to return to Michigan because I know the job market is worse than it is here, but I just lost my desire to remain in Los Angeles when we are struggling (although we are both working now) to make ends meet. My husband landed a temp job and I found a job which I am grateful to have, but I had to take 50% pay cut. I have since come into a large sum of money due to an inheritance from a family member that recently passed.

I would love to just leave and start over in different state with a cheaper cost of living. There are some benefits to being here, we have a small child and my husband's family is near by to help with child care. We have friends here and I like the church that we attend. However, those are the only pluses at this point since our salaries don't allow us to live comfortably here. I also don't want to exhaust my inheritance just trying to hold on when we could potentially go somewhere else and do a lot better.

What would you do if you were in our shoes? For those of you that left for financial reasons do you regret it? Would you try to hold out a little longer, or take a chance at an area with a better job market and a cheaper cost of living?

I am sorry you have had so many problems, but your story is like many others right now. Having family near is probably the only positive thing going for you. If it were not for that my suggestion would be to look to NM, TX or some state similar with a decent job prospect. What are your fields and do you have good sellable skills? You can live on inheritance just so long, not to mention this isn't exactly how most want to spend their gifts. The final decision is up to you, but I think I would look at a few states that are not doing as poorly as California. Other than being away from family, you can adjust and make anyplace home if you try.

Nita

[fatmancomics]

Details, details, details!

You say that you almost got evicted from your apartment twice but you haven't told us where that is. Is it a luxury apt. in a new complex like the ones calling themselves NoHo Commons or is it a more modest type apartment where the only ammenities are good neighbors and a laundry room? How much are you paying?

You want to leave because you can't afford to live comfortably? What is comfortable? Is comfortable going out for good sushi three nights out of the week or buying groceries every week and cooking your own meals? Is comfortable paying $150+ a month for cable in every room or buying a digital converter and getting free tv? Is comfortable celebrating your kid's birthday at Chuck E. Cheese when he's too young to even appreciate it or cutting a cake in your living room with family until he's old enough to remember a party? Is comfortable driving a lexus or driving a camry?

How old is your child? Old enough that you have to worry about the quality of schools? If so, you're screwed either way because, generally, the public schools in CA suck so you may want to look at a state where it's not only cheaper but has better schools. You said daycare though so I'm guessing that's not an issue quite yet.

My point is that, no matter what you do, you need to take a lot of things into consideration.

[cl723]

For me personaly, it wouldn`t be worth living somewhere were it is a constant struggle financialy. It's just to stressful.Also, you don`t want to keep dipping in your inheritance.

[Y'all smile now! Grandpa?]

Hey, life is just too short to take too long making your decision. Weigh it, ponder it, agree on it, and go fer it! And remember--you got to be careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there.