Before You Move to California, Be Prepared... (Orange, Paradise: month to, houses)

[Jack up]

California is not for everyone. It does take a mint to live here. And as for the couple with the millions for retiremet, ask what their quality of life was like while they skimp and saved for a life that make you or break you or may not come. Life is good if you get to enjoy it with family and friends. California is all about work and traffic to play; but you definitely have to pay to play here.

[Morphous01]

Originally Posted by OutOfSoCal

owning the smart way if you can afford it. Why pay someone elses martgage and NOT get any tax benefits as a renter?

Yep, you are right about this but your not just paying there mortgage. I have a friend that tried to teach me real estate who is about 45 years old; he owns about 40 apartment units. Well all the people who rent from him (after the mortgage is payed on the rental property) pays HIS rent where he lives, pays HIS Mercedes car payment, and will be paying HIS next mortgage for his custom built home in the hills of La Habra heights.

Basically he is able to retire but he says he likes real estate so he keeps doing it. He only makes about 80k a year selling homes after 20 years in the biz but if you add the rental property income he makes way more per year in income.

So from what I saw and I'm using fake numbers as i don't know the real numbers but say the mortgage was 3000 bucks a month for the rental property well he would charge more then that to cover the mortgage and bills once that was all paid he would have extra money to deposit in the bank account; each month!

So basically you have strangers struggling to collectively pay money into a system which at a latter date they cant benefit from while the owner gets to take a little from everybody and therefore is able to collect the rent in Ferrari and count his money in his big glass home in say...Crystal Cove, Ca

Ha, trust me, if your renting, you will be supried as to how some of landlords live (lavish) and how many propertys they have. There is this one man who I was told ownes some 250 units!! Geezz, do you all know how much money that is per year??!!

[p15trb4]

Originally Posted by Donn2390

I saw suze on Ophrey, and you are taking what she said way out of context. You can live very well on less than $100k a year in OC. It's all how you manage your money. My wife and I lived throughout our working careers in OC, with our highest combined income just over $100k. We retied as multimillionaires. We drove old cars with no payments, didn't spend money on anything unnecessary. We invested every cent we made. We probably went too much the other way, and were basically cheapskates, but it paid off in the end. We now own two paid off homes worth roughly a mill and a half, and over a million in liquid assets, so it can be done. My biggest problem in retirement is how to spend all of the money we accumulated before we pop off. and have to leave it all to the kid..!
The couple that was advised to move had no clue how to manage money. The lady was a shopaholic that bought everything she saw. they had three new expensive cars with sky payments, and a home they no way in Hell could afford. They were way upside down in their home. They lived like they made millions a year.
There are two extremes. We went all the way to one extreme, that couple went to the other extreme. I dare say our end results were much better. If you walk the line between the two of us, you will live quite nicely in OC
It doesn't matter where they live, if they continue their habits, they will remain in debt. One has to live within their means.

How much annual income would be required for a single retired guy to live comfortably in OC? (with the house already paid for)

[Charles]

Originally Posted by p15trb4

How much annual income would be required for a single retired guy to live comfortably in OC? (with the house already paid for)

Sssshhh...there's a lot of single divorced women reading these posts....be careful....


Let's see, we've read about normal affordability is house price about three to four times your income. We'll use 3.5. Let's assume the average OC house price is $350K so that is traditionally requires $100K income. Now, if we also use a rule of thumb of 1/3 income for housing then 2/3 isn't for housing.

But what are expenses? Taxes, utilities, food, insurance, house maintenance, car maintenance, gifts for Charles, dog food, travel expenses, entertainment, clothes, and medical expenses.

My assumptions may be off and I may have forgotten something but I'm probably within $10K annually.

So, how around $65K +/- $10K, or somewhere between $55K and $75K?

[antibes]

Originally Posted by Charles

Sssshhh...there's a lot of single divorced women reading these posts....be careful....

That picture just made me vomit. Thanks for wasting my breakfast!

[thesoloist]

That's just wrong...I knew she was cheating on me...:/

[impala666]

Originally Posted by Donn2390

I saw suze on Ophrey, and you are taking what she said way out of context. You can live very well on less than $100k a year in OC. It's all how you manage your money. My wife and I lived throughout our working careers in OC, with our highest combined income just over $100k. We retied as multimillionaires. We drove old cars with no payments, didn't spend money on anything unnecessary. We invested every cent we made. We probably went too much the other way, and were basically cheapskates, but it paid off in the end. We now own two paid off homes worth roughly a mill and a half, and over a million in liquid assets, so it can be done. My biggest problem in retirement is how to spend all of the money we accumulated before we pop off. and have to leave it all to the kid..!
The couple that was advised to move had no clue how to manage money. The lady was a shopaholic that bought everything she saw. they had three new expensive cars with sky payments, and a home they no way in Hell could afford. They were way upside down in their home. They lived like they made millions a year.
There are two extremes. We went all the way to one extreme, that couple went to the other extreme. I dare say our end results were much better. If you walk the line between the two of us, you will live quite nicely in OC
It doesn't matter where they live, if they continue their habits, they will remain in debt. One has to live within their means.

Why???
To give to your kids to waste??
If you wanted to keep it all you should have moved offshore 20 years ago.

[Raelyn28]

Good for you!!! Just one less car and congestion problem in California. I live one state above you and I like it also.. We live comfortably and the economy is great!! If you find a nice beach down there let me know where it is. I believe Texas is only a few hours from me... Happy Day and God Bless!!

Originally Posted by New2Keller

I agree! We did it! Moved to a suburb of Fort Worth Tx and love it. We are renting a 4 bedroom 2000 sq foot house for less than the 2 bedroom 900 sq foot condo in Laguna Niguel. Plan on buying in 2 years and don't regret the move one bit!
My daughter goes to an outstanding school, we live in a beautiful and safe master planned community, and we actually have spending money now. Although I miss CA, with the diffence in cost of living we can comfortably vacation in CA a few times a year and get our beach fix.

[impala666]

Originally Posted by antibes

That picture just made me vomit. Thanks for wasting my breakfast!

That's right shes way too old for him!

[sarahkate_m]

The first post in this thread was in 2007, highlighting the so-called "California Budget Project"... And now CA is in what condition???

Didn't the state treasurer resign sometime back before the new guy came along?

The pic of the chick & the not so likely mate is probably photoshopped. It looks like one of those dork forwards always showing up in the inbox...

Speaking of the Treasurer:

My new hot tip of the day: go to the treasurer's unclaimed property site. Don't just look up your name the usual way. Try it backwards. Someone in data entry has it backwards. And look for your name with just a first initial. Look for mis-spellings. The addresses listed may be for the reporting party - I know this first hand. You'll be amazed at the goldmine there. I've found something for everyone related to me in CA except in my own name.

Back on topic: What you should know before you come to California: it will probably get worse before it gets better!