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It has been years, but moved the opposite direction: from So Ca to NO Va. We didn't find the cost of living much different except utilities because of 4 seasons versus 1 or 2. We loved the beauty of the east coast and all the history, but certainly So Ca has a beauty all its own. Depending on your life style you will find San Diego a totally different world or much like the D.C. area. I do think people in So Ca are much more relaxed and live a slightly more laid back life. Here is a perfect example: take it for what it is worth: we moved when our son was about to start his senior year in high school. In So Ca the kids, at that age, mostly thought about where there next date would be or what kind of a car they would get. In Va the number one concern was which college or university will I attend? This is not saying the kids in the east didn't know how to have fun, they certainly did, nor is it saying the kids in So Ca didn't care about their future or what they would do after graduation. They just talked and thought a little differently. I don't know your age, but if you are 20 something, you are not going to find things all that much different.
I had just graduated from JMU from when I moved to San Diego.
I can't comment on basic expenses because I never lived by myself in NOVA.
The people out here are definitely more laid back and don't take life so seriously. Being laid back will get you farther here in terms of friends and employment.
I'm somewhat familiar with NoVa, visited quite a few times but haven't lived there (yet). It really depends on your lifestyle and how much money you have, in order to compare. I think if you can afford to live in NoVa, you can afford to live in alot of the better areas of San Diego, if you can make the same salary here, which you might not. NoVa is probably overall more upscale, and SD has both upscale and less expensive areas to live. If you live in North County, I think you'll see similarities between UTC (University Towne Center) and Reston. Course, we have the ocean close by...which is for most people a big plus. I do agree that education (where you went to college for example) is very important back east, but I doubt if anyone except your employer would ever even ask you that question here. Here people will ask you where you live (important) or where you came from and back there they will ask where you went to school.
SD County is a huge area so there are alot of lifestyles to choose from here.
Can you tell me how the housing and all basic expenses compare in San Diego to the Dulles, VA area? Also, basic quality of life? Thanks
well I had a 21 year gap between NOVA and SD...lol. Salaries are better in DC area and cost of living is similar. If you are obsessed with salary and cost of living ratios, and want to show off BMWs and such then it won't bode well unless you somehow match salary. Certain things that are great here cannot have a price put on them. But would I live here in debt and not contributing to my retirement? No- it would not be worth that. My sacfices are not as many vacations-lets face it I don't need to travel internationally as much, and probably not buying a home any time soon or at all (I am cool renting)
I think quality of life is SO much better here (and that is for every place I have lived) esp if you can avoid monster commutes which are typical of DC . I was born in DC and raised in VA so I have mild loyalty for the area, however I would rather LIVE in SD and VISIT DC rather than the other way around.
I cannot comment about adjusting. I am always interested in posts from people moving from somewhere else and unable to deal a new place and new people and being away from their home/ routine. I have enjoyed meeting people out here and learning how things are done. Others don't like change so much.
Well, it's true I don't like change a lot as a rule - and I am 51. And yes, there are things I would miss here in the Dulles VA area, such as close shopping that is easy to get to for the most part, gas prices aren't bad, and we don't have a ton of natural disasters that have affected us in the spot where we live. Where we live, I know what times to avoid going on certain roads (which is true of any town/city you live in). But the biggest change I really need is the weather and an increase in beauty around me. I know that may sound trite, but I have a photographer's eye and I am so bored with the "look" and feel of the east coast, I find I always thrive in places like Florida where there is more sun and an easier winter. In NOVA, we have the worst of it all weather-wise - summers so hot and humid you really cannot leave the house for anything but necessities (it's even too hot here to grow tomatoes even if you water every day - the plants just shrivel up and die, only starting to recover in Sept when it's too late to mature fruit). So no fun to be had in the summer and a trip to the beach (Ocean City etc) is a nightmare in traffic, it's far and the beaches are not pretty at all. Plus the mosquitoes are so bad where I live and I'm allergic to their bites, so I suffer miserably here all summer. And in the winter (I'm originally from Buffalo) we have snowstorms as bad as those we had in Buffalo. So again, no way to walk your dogs etc. for any length of time as it's too cold. Spring is nice, but it's very short and so is fall. You start to get a break in weather for a couple of weeks, then in the case of spring it turns into summer very fast - and in the fall, it gets cold pretty fast. Like overnight, and the new season is here. I have a relative from FLA and when here says it is WAY hotter here than in FL. So as far as moderate outdoor activities, it's almost impossible to do much.
We just had an earthquake, so we're not immune to that and we get effects of hurricanes and tornadoes. Luckily where we live we have escaped most effects of the hurricanes and tornadoes, but that has just been a matter of luck. We live in an area with underground power lines, so mercifully our power outages are fewer than other areas and I would miss that if I moved elsewhere. We do not have to worry about wildfires here and that too is a big plus. I have Seasonal Affective Disorder and I pretty much go into hibernation/depression come October till mid April or so. This has a huge effect on my quality of life, so I really do need to be in a mild climate that doesn't vary lots and has a good amount of sunshine. Each year I wonder how I'll last through the "black and white" colors of winter. It's as if someone turns down the color saturation to B&W for 5-6 months of the year here.
I would miss not having a basement to store things in or for use as a rec room or home theater. That's actually a huge minus whether it be in Florida or CA since homes generally don't have basements. And the area we live in does not feel "used up" like so many parts of CA I have seen.
I would NOT miss the TERRIBLE QUALITY of services here - whether it be the bad doctors, dentists, veterinarians, car or home repair people, roofers, painters etc. We have not had one job done fully correctly in all the years we have lived here. It's a haven, or should I say dumping ground for all the worst people in their field and it's been one of my biggest frustrations living here for the past 27 years. The EMT's in our county are great though and they do not charge for ambulance visits to anyone who lives here unlike neighboring counties.
As for the economy, to get the kind of house that I would consider decent living in San Diego, it would cost in the high 600's to low 700's. 500's look mostly trash unless you go out further from the city. Most homes don't have great yards there and are all placed one on top of each other in subdivisions. I would say that's about a 100-150,000 increase over what we have here. We are also a one-income family of just my spouse and I. A 700,000 home in SD would cost in the 300's in Dallas, TX, so one of my hesitations on SD is because you don't get a lot for your money. True for all of CA though. I hate the colonial architecture here - there is no imagination and everything is the same. I love mid century modern homes (one level) and they are much easier to find in CA (especially Palm Springs - but the heat is an issue!). More are found in the LA area than San Diego, but I have seen a neighborhood or 2 that have some in SD. Here we also have a personal property tax we have to pay for each car and recr. vehicle we have which stinks especially when you get a new car as it's based on the value of the car. We also have annual auto inspections (Maryland, Florida and I am sure other states don't require this). It's not that it's expensive, it's just one more thing to have to deal with.
So I wonder if we will have to make more in SD than here to live there - based on housing I would say yes. I don't know how accurate those online cost of living city comparison calculators are. I know gas would be higher, groceries who knows what else.. We have all electric here with a heat pump and our bill runs as high as $335 in the hottest and coldest months, in the 200's other months, lowest might be 198 or so in the transitioning period of seasons. I do use a lot of air as I keep it at 70 degrees year-round.
I also need to be near good farmer's markets - quality of vegetables and fruits are one reason for me also wanting to be in CA - I am sick of all the crap we get here, organic vegetables that are shipped from CA to here taking weeks only to find that they have exceeded their life expectancies on the trip here and they are rotting within a day of buying them (from Whole Foods especially!) If anyone knows of good farmer's markets where the grower comes to sell what is in season (and does NOT supplement with store-bought items like here!) please let me know where these are located.
Any more comments are appreciated - and if anyone has a ballpark figure of what combined salaries people are making a year in SD (2 people in a $650,000-ish home to live comfortably and still having money to eat out, have things fixed when they break and some room for extras - and coming from a $300,000 townhome in NOVA), please let me know, thanks!
Housing = MORE Expensive.
Gas = More Expensive.
Food = somewhat less expensive and better quality for the fruits and vegetables.
Utilities = Less Expensive because you will use far less energy because of the climate.
Most everything else = about the same.
My foremost suggestion to you is to re-think the size of the house, and the size of the lot you need. Because of our climate, our backyards are an extension of our house and can be used 12 months out of the year except for the 30 days of rain that sporadically occurs between December 1st and May 1st.
If you downsize your house, and live between 5 and 12 miles from the coast, you will avoid some of the marine layer morning gloom, while at the same time avoiding more of the summer heat. Plus you will save $100k to $250k in housing costs.
To get Mid-Century modern which if you know your terminology means houses built before the Ranch House completely took over in the mid-50s through early 80s. You will be looking at older areas, closer to the coast. Lots were typically in the 5000 square foot to 6000 square foot range. Of course if you've got boatloads of money, you can buy whatever kind of house you want, and live exactly how you please. But then if that were the case, I don't think you would be asking the questions you have.
Can you point me to some of the areas that don't have the "morning gloom", are more affordable and not as risky for fires? To be honest, I see more sunny days in other parts of CA than I do in SD - is that true - or is it just what exact spot you are in? My perfect weather would actually be sunny most of the time but not too hot - like 65-75 degrees in the sun (sounds more like parts of northern CA, right?) Thanks
Looking for the right location is a tricky compromise. You need the morning overcast to keep the temperatures down. You will get sun in the afternoon, but not the mornings, and when you do get morning sun... WATCH OUT! It's going to be a hot one! Of course in San Diego we start to wimp out when the afternoon peaks at 85 degrees.
But seriously, you actually want the morning gloom. Otherwise you're in the summer time 90-105 degree zone, and who wants that.
For a moderate priced house (in the city), that will keep you out of the gloomy coastal plain, I would suggest: Clairemont, Allied Gardens, Del Cerro, Serra Mesa, Tierra Santa, Talmadge, College, and Rolando. I would recommend the University City area as well, but prices are start to rise as you go further north. I'm not really familiar with the north county cities, but if you keep a few miles east of the I-5 that's the sweet spot. Go further than 10-15 miles from the coast, and you get into the inland valley hot spots. If you REALLY want sun, and don't mind the heat, then that's where you need to go. Me, I'd much rather deal with gloomy mornings than 95 degree afternoons.
And if you haven't figured it out, our climate zones are VERY local. A few miles makes a HUGE difference.
services are not so hot here either, I have yet to find a great dentist after 37 years and ALL maintenance is pretty much done by people (legal and illegal) who may or may not show up
Trade Colonial for Spanish architecture....that's mostly what we have here.
It sounds like if you can afford it, that SD would be great for you because you have emphasized weather alot, so if that is very important to you, this is the best place to be. However, it isn't "sunny" every day. I'm looking outside right now and it's overcast. Winters are usually overcast no matter where you live in SD County (this wasn't always so but it is now). But it never gets very cold (maybe in the 40's at night) and never gets really hot except for a day or two now and then. But, yes, we do have floods, droughts, earthquakes and fires. But no real "bug" problems either.
If you're an outdoorsy type person, you'll love it here, if you're not then it will probably be very similar to NoVa in alot of ways.
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