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Old 10-08-2009, 11:58 AM
 
31 posts, read 78,339 times
Reputation: 16

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Cheekiemamie if you go to Austin, check out Cedar Park. It has the best schools and is a beautiful neighborhood. I lived there and have also lived in Houston and Dallas, and now live in San Antonio (my favorite!!!). Texas is beautiful and cheap, and the people are amazing, BUT my daughters are both asthmatic and just can't handle the allergens (and my entire family lives in california).
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Old 10-08-2009, 12:35 PM
 
Location: Hollywood North
428 posts, read 1,184,263 times
Reputation: 732
Quote:
Originally Posted by Charles View Post
There are large regions in Southern California with excellent schools: Conejo Valley, Orange County southest of the 55 freeway for example.

California School Performance Maps

California School Performance Maps


Traffic is bad if you A) commute during rush hour and B) work a long way from your home. You can beat 80% of traffic working a 6-230 schedule (which many southern California employers are willing to accommodate).

Illegals consume resources but they also work cheap and keep costs for some things low. It isn't completely one sided.

Sprawl, so what?

Can't comment on the CA government. Too complicated.

High cost on housing and gasoline. Everything else isn't much different. A lot of people expect housing costs to decline and what extra is spent on gasoline may be offset by the savings on home heating and air conditioning.

Great place for raising children. Outdoor activities year round, health conscious culture, high density of higher educational facilities, extracurricular science, math, engineering, robotics clubs. Maybe more secular.

Bilingual is irrelevant for most professions.

Finally, there is no substitute for the effect year round pleasant weather has on a person's psyche.
This^^^^ especially bolded
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Old 10-08-2009, 12:49 PM
 
30,894 posts, read 36,941,290 times
Reputation: 34516
Quote:
Originally Posted by AKgirlinCA View Post
I forgot to add: awful air quality. My kids deserve to breathe clean air.
Despite the bad air quality, it has improved significantly in the last 10 years, and it is dramatically better than 20 or 30 years ago. It is very likely to continue to improve in the future.

I live in the Bay Area where the air is much cleaner, so I do see your point. Just saying that improving the air quality is one of the things California is actually doing right.
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Old 10-08-2009, 01:50 PM
 
624 posts, read 1,247,022 times
Reputation: 623
Quote:
Originally Posted by AKgirlinCA View Post
People that grew up in SoCal tend to view it with rose colored glasses on.
We all remember the orange groves and no traffic, along with high school kids working part-time jobs. But AKgirlinCA is right on.
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Old 10-08-2009, 06:52 PM
 
Location: Flower Mound, Texas
1,837 posts, read 4,148,300 times
Reputation: 575
You go girl!!! Keep stating the facts and your own truthful experience.. I had the same experience and I really wish that someone would have shared with me back then. I went to California at the ripe young age of 24 and I was in for the shock of my life. I never owned a home there and just couldn't make it work. It never felt like home but always felt temporary. I am not saying I didn't enjoy certain aspects of it because I had my good times but the cons far outweigh the pros..

Would I do it all over again? Yes and the ONLY reason is because my two kids were born there... That is basically the only reason. When I moved away I actually felt like I was literally free.. It was a strange liberating feeling. And I am sooo thankful that I didn't have to raise my two boys there.

Quote:
Originally Posted by AKgirlinCA View Post
I forgot to add: awful air quality. My kids deserve to breathe clean air.
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Old 10-08-2009, 06:55 PM
 
Location: Flower Mound, Texas
1,837 posts, read 4,148,300 times
Reputation: 575
Because they have never been anywhere else to compare it to... I cannot believe the size of house that one can actually buy outside of OC area and the difference in lifestyle. It is absolutely mind-boggling to me. Why on earth would anyone choose to move there in this economy?

Quote:
Originally Posted by AKgirlinCA View Post
People that grew up in SoCal tend to view it with rose colored glasses on.
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Old 10-08-2009, 07:01 PM
 
Location: Flower Mound, Texas
1,837 posts, read 4,148,300 times
Reputation: 575
You will REALLY like moving away from the rat-race of OC. If your kids are into sports you will love Texas and your kids will have the very best opportunity to excel in them. Texas rocks at sports!!! I believe they are the number one state as far as the most drafts for just about any sport you can name.. You may have a tough time getting used to the heat and I would recommend a pool in your back yard. California weather is quite mild compared to Texas...but the values and lifestyle is great!!! Have a great trip and I am happy that you get to excape California...


Quote:
Originally Posted by cheekymamie View Post
Born and raised in SoCal and I never got a pair of those rose-colored glasses. I don't think most of us natives are dillusional as to the "state" that California is in. My hubby and I want to take our 3 kids elsewhere for better schools, better values, and a new house that won't cost $900K and up like in the OC. We're actually planning on moving to Texas by next summer and in a month we're flying into Austin to check ou that area, as well as the Dallas area.

I know California is so unique for all its good points, but unfortunately the cons are outweight the pros for now. Way over priced and not worth the value.
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Old 10-09-2009, 09:32 AM
 
Location: Long Beach, CA
22 posts, read 42,869 times
Reputation: 14
Quote:
Originally Posted by Charles View Post
Would you stay if housing prices fell another 35%?
I would not because fundamentally the state of California seems to be in a steep decline.

To address home prices directly, I don't think they will fall another 35% unless the stock market really crashes and the economy implodes due to the dollar devaluating or defaulting entirely. When that happens, I would much rather be in Texas because life would be hard for us all! Now I don't think that will happen and the areas that are still dropping are places that should have never reached astronomically high, like Norco, Corona, etc. The $1 million+ market has also dropped considerablly, but not lower than the $700-800K's. Coastal area will always hold their value and my neighborhhod is one of those area. We bottomed in prices (mostly due to foreclosures) last December and have already gained back $100k in value based on recent sales. We were thinking about South OC or Rossmoor/Seal Beach and houses in the $500-700k range are fixer uppers or tear downs. Decent houses are all mostly $800k+ for coastal OC with good schools. Could we affors it? Sure if I went back to work, but we would still be living pay check to pay check on $180k/year! So ultimately, cost of living is huge for us. We have 3 kids to put through life and college and we want to pump more into our 401k and IRA, rather than into a house. We'll be able to retire way sooner and travel all over, including the beautiful California.
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Old 10-09-2009, 09:44 AM
 
31 posts, read 78,339 times
Reputation: 16
you live paycheck to paycheck on 180k a year?? Wow.

How much are the utilities there? Because here in Texas for example, our electric bill in the summer is anywhere from 300-400$ a month (and we keep our a/c on 80 degrees). In the winter it's normally 80-100$ a month.
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Old 10-09-2009, 09:46 AM
 
Location: Long Beach, CA
22 posts, read 42,869 times
Reputation: 14
Quote:
Originally Posted by Charles View Post
There are large regions in Southern California with excellent schools: Conejo Valley, Orange County southest of the 55 freeway for example.

California School Performance Maps

California School Performance Maps


Traffic is bad if you A) commute during rush hour and B) work a long way from your home. You can beat 80% of traffic working a 6-230 schedule (which many southern California employers are willing to accommodate).

Illegals consume resources but they also work cheap and keep costs for some things low. It isn't completely one sided.

Sprawl, so what?

Can't comment on the CA government. Too complicated.

High cost on housing and gasoline. Everything else isn't much different. A lot of people expect housing costs to decline and what extra is spent on gasoline may be offset by the savings on home heating and air conditioning.

Great place for raising children. Outdoor activities year round, health conscious culture, high density of higher educational facilities, extracurricular science, math, engineering, robotics clubs. Maybe more secular.

Bilingual is irrelevant for most professions.

Finally, there is no substitute for the effect year round pleasant weather has on a person's psyche.
The school districts you mentioned in South OC, even North San Diego County has some top schools, but it seems to be pockets of schools. I'll give you an example, my daughter (a 5th grader) goes to a school within Long Beach Unified in one of the most affluent parts of Long Beach on the water. Across the street, they just finished building a $6 million home with a yacht docked out front. Her school is a "10" school, small and private-like and even with the infusion of money from PTA and parent contributions yearly, they still had to "cut" art, music, and their marine science program (which left my daughter devastated). The Jr. high she should be attending from 6-8 grade is bigger and more diverse socio-economically and introduces other elements into the mix, not only socially, but kids from poor performing schools and that were deprived of a proper education, holding up the performance of the whole class.

Collin County in Texas (where Plano, Allen, Frisco, etc.) is ranked #2 for its schools in the entire USA! I'm not saying that Texas will solve all the ills of the world, but for my young family of 3 it seems right for now. I would miss the weather here (we live so close, but never go to the beach), having 3 kids and a mortgage here prevents us from taking vacations too often, unless you count quick Vegas trips, so in my almost 29 years, I still haven't seen everything in the state. We will miss our family, but I have a feeling they will follow eventually.

The only good things about California for me are:

1. Weather
2. Culture (things to do/great food)
3. The Coast
5. Family

The good things (for me personally)about Texas:
1. Cost of Living is good
2. Schools are better than California's best
3. Better healthcare in Texas for my special needs child (top 5 children's hospital in the US in the DFW metro, not to mention Baylor)
4. Better economy & job market since so many different sectors are located in the DFW metro
5. The state isn't bankrupt and sending out IOU's
6. Not a "nanny state" telling you what you can't and cannot do, I swear California is really leaning towards Marxism, this coming from a former lefty liberal. Won't go further into the political debate.
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