Yet another potential moving to San Diego... (2014, how much)

[docmcstuffin]

Originally Posted by cappax

thanks for all the info and the banter back and forth.

Question for you all, are there people that commute from San Diego to LA or Long Beach? I'm sure there are but those people must be making six figures I would assume to make a commute like that no? I ask because for my field has much more opportunities in LA/Long Beach(due to Long Beach Port and LAX) but I'd much rather be living in San Diego than any one of those places.

Is mass transit still as bad as I've heard? Or have they made substantial improvements?

Mass transit sucks in CA, period. It's nothing like you guys get on the East Coast. So, I wouldn't consider it as a mode of commute.

I would never make a commute from SD to LA/Long Beach. I know people who used to commute from Oceanside to Mission Viejo and their commute is flowing and it still takes 40 minutes. Once you hit Orange, you're already hitting traffic and it'll get worse once you hit LA. Even with no traffic, you're already looking at about 1hr and 10 minutes from O-side at the 78/5 junction. If you live further in from there to your house, add on to that time. Then if I have to guess Orange and LA's traffic, I would guess add another 30-60 minutes, depending on where in LA/Long Beach. So, you're looking at probably 2 hours commute 1 way. Do you really want to do that? That's 4 hours a day or 20 hours a work week. You can get a part time job with that 20 hours saved a week.

[shmoov_groovzsd]

Originally Posted by cappax

thanks for all the info and the banter back and forth.

Question for you all, are there people that commute from San Diego to LA or Long Beach? I'm sure there are but those people must be making six figures I would assume to make a commute like that no? I ask because for my field has much more opportunities in LA/Long Beach(due to Long Beach Port and LAX) but I'd much rather be living in San Diego than any one of those places.

Is mass transit still as bad as I've heard? Or have they made substantial improvements?

There are two people I know that do that commute right now. One is a co-worker and the other a husband of a friend.

One hates his life with the commute and is in the process of trying to get another job in San Diego. The other has an apartment up in Long Beach that he stays at 4 or 5 days a week or so.

Yes they each clear over 100k and have very affluent lifestyles. The one with the apartment has a wife and two kids and has been doing this commute for 4 years. Interesting family dynamic there.

Some people I know love living in Long Beach, is there a reason this is not an option?

Sorry, I didnt see in your thread if you have been to San Diego before?

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by cappax

Question for you all, are there people that commute from San Diego to LA or Long Beach? I'm sure there are but those people must be making six figures I would assume to make a commute like that no? I ask because for my field has much more opportunities in LA/Long Beach(due to Long Beach Port and LAX) but I'd much rather be living in San Diego than any one of those places.

Man, that would be one UGLY commute commuting all the way to Los Angeles. I do know one one person that does that. The husband of one of my wife's good friend. Not because he wants to it seems like he is forced into it as he couldn't find any decent paying jobs in San Diego. He lost his job a while ago and couldn't find anything decent in San Diego so he makes the long ugly commute up to Los Angeles. Yes, he makes over 6 figures there but the job doesn't sound to be a long term dependable stable situation but more of a consulting type gig that probably is shorter term in nature.

He said sometimes he drives and other times he takes the train up there. It's a nasty commute and some days he has to get a hotel and just spend the night there. No reason anyone would make a nasty commute like that on purpose.

Definitely in your field as you mentioned, Long Beach should have many more options with all the shipping and import/export that goes on in that area. I actually went up a few weeks ago for a business meeting in Long Beach and was pleasantly surprised at the revitalization there in some parts. Long Beach won't be for everyone but no way you'd want to make that monster commute daily from San Diego.

[cappax]

thanks yes I figured that majority of people that did commute from San Diego to LA/Long Beach probably had a very nice salary(I did read that 77% of commuters to LA were from San Diego, not sure if that's real or not) any case yeah I'd rather not deal with long commutes especially if it's not a great paying job.

Originally Posted by shmoov_groovzsd

There are two people I know that do that commute right now. One is a co-worker and the other a husband of a friend.

One hates his life with the commute and is in the process of trying to get another job in San Diego. The other has an apartment up in Long Beach that he stays at 4 or 5 days a week or so.

Yes they each clear over 100k and have very affluent lifestyles. The one with the apartment has a wife and two kids and has been doing this commute for 4 years. Interesting family dynamic there.

Some people I know love living in Long Beach, is there a reason this is not an option?

Sorry, I didnt see in your thread if you have been to San Diego before?

Someone that lives in the LA area also mentioned to me about Long Beach but I am not familiar with that area so that's why I haven't considered it, I have been to San Diego before that's why I feel more comfortable going there, I also fell in love with it and that's why I'm so adamant about moving. I like to travel alot(I go to Spain every year and have always preferred to move to Spain but unfortunately the economic situation in Spain is absolutely terrible) but San Diego is truly the one destination where I've said to myself, "Man I want to live here" so I've made it a goal of mine to accomplish that feat.

I'm young enough to where if for some reason it doesn't work out as planned I can move back home to NJ. I have very supportive parents who are supportive of every decision(including this one) as long as I go WITH a job, not without one.

Originally Posted by earlyretirement

Definitely in your field as you mentioned, Long Beach should have many more options with all the shipping and import/export that goes on in that area. I actually went up a few weeks ago for a business meeting in Long Beach and was pleasantly surprised at the revitalization there in some parts. Long Beach won't be for everyone but no way you'd want to make that monster commute daily from San Diego.

Yeah absolutely, perhaps if I do accomplish my goal of moving to San Diego I can travel up to Long Beach and take a look for myself with a bigger job market in terms of my field I may even find out I like it more, but right now my mind is set on San Diego or bust.

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by cappax

San Diego is truly the one destination where I've said to myself, "Man I want to live here"




Yeah absolutely, perhaps if I do accomplish my goal of moving to San Diego I can travel up to Long Beach and take a look for myself with a bigger job market in terms of my field I may even find out I like it more, but right now my mind is set on San Diego or bust.

Yes, you and thousands of other people. Everyone seems to want to live here. It's an AMAZING place to live.

Totally forget about Spain. Unless you come up with some brilliant business plan that isn't being done....it's a waste of time to think about Spain right now. The opportunities just aren't there for most younger people. The opportunities are mostly for wealthy people that have cash and can pick up affordable real estate right now. Many of my clients have started buying there and picking up properties for a fraction of what they were going for a few years ago.

Also, NO reason to live in Long Beach I don't think unless you happen to get a job there. If not, and you're working near LAX you'd probably want to focus on other areas that would be more fun for someone young. For example, the Santa Monica area is amazing. We typically go up there every year for vacation and love it.

The focus should be first on seeing where you can line up a job and then go from there.

[cappax]

thanks yeah Long Beach is out of the equation right now haha #1 priority is San Diego. I haven't totally forgotten about Spain, it's still an incredible place to go for vacation. (I'll more than likely be heading out there at least two more times this year) but absolutely only people that are making it in Spain right now are the already wealthy, or those working for companies that are "worldwide" i.e. Amazon etc.

We'll see how it goes, my goal is to be in San Diego by end of June/early July the latest so I'll be working hard until then to try to secure something in the form of the job. That's my #1 priority right now.

[earlyretirement]

Cappax,

Maybe I missed this in your posts but are you totally fluent in Spanish? I read you love Spain but are you fluent? That would help in your job search here. Yep, as you mentioned, the wealthy and those that work for companies based abroad are the ones doing well there. But even government workers that had long-time jobs are getting their salaries reduced.

Really separate going to places for vacation vs. potential place to find a great job. Hopefully one of your connections comes through for you and helps you get an interview/job. Good luck.

[cappax]

Originally Posted by earlyretirement

Cappax,

Maybe I missed this in your posts but are you totally fluent in Spanish? I read you love Spain but are you fluent? That would help in your job search here. Yep, as you mentioned, the wealthy and those that work for companies based abroad are the ones doing well there. But even government workers that had long-time jobs are getting their salaries reduced.

Really separate going to places for vacation vs. potential place to find a great job. Hopefully one of your connections comes through for you and helps you get an interview/job. Good luck.

Ah yes, I am fluent in Spanish, my parents are from Spain and I went to "Spanish school" for many years. I'm also fluent in Portuguese(where I'm from in Spain, Galicia, they speak a dialect similar to Portuguese) as well. That's great that it would be helpful in job searching, but is it really that much of a positive I figured 90% of people in San Diego spoke spanish? haha.

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by cappax

Ah yes, I am fluent in Spanish, my parents are from Spain and I went to "Spanish school" for many years. I'm also fluent in Portuguese(where I'm from in Spain, Galicia, they speak a dialect similar to Portuguese) as well. That's great that it would be helpful in job searching, but is it really that much of a positive I figured 90% of people in San Dieog spoke spanish? haha.

Ah that's great! Surprisingly, not many non Latinos here are fluent in Spanish. Before I moved here I always figured the percentage would be much higher here but I'm not finding that to be the case at all. Especially amongst professionals.

That's great! I'm also fluent in Spanish and conversational in Portuguese. Of course the only time I get to use my Portuguese is when I go to Brazil.

That should give you a leg up vs. other similar candidates.

[docmcstuffin]

Originally Posted by earlyretirement

Ah that's great! Surprisingly, not many non Latinos here are fluent in Spanish. Before I moved here I always figured the percentage would be much higher here but I'm not finding that to be the case at all. Especially amongst professionals.

That's great! I'm also fluent in Spanish and conversational in Portuguese. Of course the only time I get to use my Portuguese is when I go to Brazil.

That should give you a leg up vs. other similar candidates.

That's very impressive ER. How many languages do you know? It always impress me how some people can be fluent in so many languages. I myself am only fluent in 2. I used to be able to converse in French 10+ years ago, but I haven't used it since, so I lost a lot of it.