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I've lived or worked in a lot of Cities across the US and SD fits me most. Someday we may pull up and find another place much cheaper when I'm not counting on a salary but for the time being it would be hard to do. I hate cold and I hate Hurricanes so that is going to limit where I live.
Enjoyed every one of them until I grew tired of shoveling snow.
I don't know where you lived in NM, but I live in ABQ and there has been only ONE winter, in the past 8 winters, that was snow-shoveling time. Our winters here in ABQ are hardly bad. You must have lived in Santa Fe or even farther north? (No need to disclose, of course.)
I don't know where you lived in NM, but I live in ABQ and there has been only ONE winter, in the past 8 winters, that was snow-shoveling time. Our winters here in ABQ are hardly bad. You must have lived in Santa Fe or even farther north? (No need to disclose, of course.)
Lived in Placitas. We had maybe a half dozen days of snow last year that required some shoveling. It's not a lot, but enough for me to think, "Hey, you could get a heart attack doing this!" That was the tipping point.
After getting married and having our first kid, I joined the Coast Guard and then the Army. Lived in Michigan, Texas, and Kansas before retiring and deciding to move back. I never found a place I liked living in as much as San Diego. My rent in Kansas in the last place I lived was $1550 a month. Mortgage here is about $2700. I think the extra $1150 a month is worth it to live here.
We moved to Southwest Missouri which has turned out to be a horrible decision. It was quite the culture shock and we can't get over the weather here. We hope to get to San Diego around January or February.
Moved away to Dallas and the Bay Area (much more expensive than SD) and moved back both times.
The wife's family is here, and it just feels like home; we belong here at this point in our lives. Don't believe the nonsense that says once you leave you will never be able to move back.
You will have to accept trade-offs, but you can do anything you set you mind to....
I never lived in San Diego until now...it has been a little over a year. I kicked off my career in San Jose and started a family (wife and 2 kids). Aftr 5.5 years in San Jose, we couldn't take the COL anymore and transferred to Seattle. It was a great move at the time because my family is in Portland and hers in Boise, and I swore I would never go back to CA because of the COL. But, we couldn't take the weather and anti-social people in Seattle any more after 5 years there; I was also sick of my job and wanted a change there too.
So, I ended up taking a job in San Diego a little over a year ago and we love it. What we realized is that we're the type of people that don't need a big, fancy house to be happy. Sure we could move to Arkansas or Texas and buy a 4,000 SQ FT house, but we'd be living in Arkansas or Texas. I love doing things outdoors (golfing, hiking, walks, beach, etc) and having experiences, not sitting around inside my house while it's freezing or rainy or sweltering outside; being stuck in a house for 5 years while living in Seattle taught me that about myself.
Hence, you need to figure out what makes you happy...do you like having a big house with fancy fixtures so that you can show it off to your friends and host dinners and have parties there, or do you see your house as a means to an end (vs being the end) and like to go out and experience things? I'm the latter and, therefore, chose to come back to a state I swore I'd never return to.
I will say that I'd probably never move back to the Bay Area or LA because of the extreme COL, traffic and people...San Diego is the greatest place on earth. I will also say that I'm making a LOT more money now than when I was in San Jose or Seattle, so money is less of an issue living here as it was living in San Jose. Additionally, the Seattle area is about the same COL as it is here...other places (Austin, Seattle) claim they're cheaper, but you'll find that it's not THAT much cheaper to live (or about the same) in the nicest areas with the best schools many of the places you go.
I honesty think that's you and not the location. I lived in Seattle and if you can't find outdoor activities to do in Seattle, you aren't an outdoor person. Yeah the weather sucks, but Seattle has far more outdoor activities compared to SD. The beaches stink around the Sound and Lakes, and the Ocean is so far away and cold that it is a different world, but I've never heard anybody in my life complain that Seattle was boring because you could never go outside. It doesn't really pour every day. It's chilly. It's overcast. But most of the time it's mist. And it's annoying, but if you really love the outdoors lifestyle, you go outside.
I lived in Seattle for a number of years and never had the experiences you had. And I moved there when it rained nonstop for 30 days and there were several huge storms that destroyed a lot of houses. Anti-Social? You could say the same thing about SD. And people have. It depends on who you interact with and make friends with. If you can make friends in SD, you should be able to make friends in Seattle. And vice versa. And Washington State has no state income tax.
SD is great and has far better weather, but the rest of your view of Seattle is far different than a lot of peoples.
My husband and I moved to Washington for about a year and a half. I loved it there. I love the weather and the trees. I wouldn't mind retiring there or at least spend fall and winter there. We go back every year. I like San Diego. Grew up in LA. We went to college here in San Diego, moved to Washington and had a kid, so we decided to I've closer to family. I didn't want to live in the Bay Area where his family is from and he didn't want to be in LA because it's too hectic for him. So we moved back to SD. I think it suits us for now but we would still like to have a winter home in Washington. I think we miss things we can't have obviously. When we were in Washington, we missed San Diego and vice versa.
As far as moving away and coming back. I've lived in many places, drove down to SD one day and stayed here. But i had to move due to a job, kid being born, etc. So I moved away for a year to Miami, never really wanted to live there, but it was good for my first child and that was about it. The COL was far cheaper in Florida though. You could buy a decent house near the beach for pennies back then. But South Florida was just not my cup of tea. There were some things that were great about it. Hard to beat the weather in Jan and Feb in Miami. Hard to beat the Keys and sailing community. But come Late April/Early May it was one of those Humidity issues. And summer was thunderstorm hell where it would rain for a few hours every day. And it was a torrential downpour. I honesty liked the Seattle weather because it didn't really rain everyday, at least not torrential downpours.
I came back to SD because I planned to come back, not really because i left without a plan to come back. I wound up living in OC for a bit, almost moved to Ventura County or Santa Barbara for a job, came close to moving up to Portland, but wound up moving down to SD. But I wound up spending most of my time up in San Fran and Silicon Valley for work after I returned. And then I wound up traveling about 300+ days a year to everywhere but Southern California. So for the longest time I lived in SD, but really wasn't here at all.
The reality about SD is the COL is out of whack. Places like San Jose, Silicon Valley, even Seattle before the recent Microsoft Layoffs have tons and tons of professional high paying jobs. They also have had tons of success stories that led to other success stories. Entire ecosystems are build around success stories. So a tech company could be worth billions, but it generates housing, generates restaurants and real estate and accountants and lawyers and new schools, and construction and so on. Places like Silicon Valley and San Fran are ridiculous in COL, but they also have a ton of high paying jobs. SD does not have the jobs that match the COL. SD does not have the success stories that match the COL.
It's easy to understand how a couple of companies made many people millionaires and they wound up starting other companies that made others millionaires. And then the entire ecosystem that goes with that. SD had Qualcomm, but it didn't really make SD wealthy like Microsoft or Ebay or PayPal or Google or Apple made a lot of people wealthy. You just don't have that in SD.
I also don't think it's about some 4000 square foot house. Many of the houses in places like Del Mar are 2000 Square feet or less. Except they go for 2+ Million bucks with no real view, not much of a yard and many of them are small. It's one thing to say you don't need a 4000 square foot house in Texas that might cost you $300K, so you settle for a 1500 square foot 3 bed/2 bath house in San Diego that cost you $2.5 million. No matter how you slice it, it's not really worth it. But people in SD have to keep telling themselves that it is. Places like Carmel Valley are even worse. It's very expensive to be kind of close to everything but really not close enough to anything. The schools are great and thats about the only benefit you have to paying millions for a townhome in Carmel valley.
I really think people in SD have to be delusional most of the time I speak to a lot of former buddies back east and everybody and their brother will go on about certain parts of NY and NJ and CT that have become ridiculous. And some of these guys are former wall street and hedge fund guys. They speak about being approved for a million dollar condo a few years out of college years ago and it made no sense. And so it goes. These guys would never leave the NYC vicinity(none of them live in the city anymore), but they have honest opinions about the COL and market.
In SD the difference seems to be people pretend like the COL makes sense. Or they pretend that a $2.5 Million small house that hasn't been updated since 1972 is definitely worth it. It's almost like "are they for real?" It's great to love the city you live in and love the weather, it's another to pretend that some 4000 square foot house for $350K is the same as a 1500 square foot house that cost $2.5 million. The house isn't really worth that much, no matter how you slice it. It's just the way the market swings. And if you bought it for $500K years ago and made a profit, good for you. It was worth it. But for a lot of people buying now, these houses are nowhere near worth it. The great weather doesn't fix a crappy house that's overpriced.
As far as moving away and coming back. I've lived in many places, drove down to SD one day and stayed here. But i had to move due to a job, kid being born, etc. So I moved away for a year to Miami, never really wanted to live there, but it was good for my first child and that was about it. The COL was far cheaper in Florida though. You could buy a decent house near the beach for pennies back then. But South Florida was just not my cup of tea. There were some things that were great about it. Hard to beat the weather in Jan and Feb in Miami. Hard to beat the Keys and sailing community. But come Late April/Early May it was one of those Humidity issues. And summer was thunderstorm hell where it would rain for a few hours every day. And it was a torrential downpour. I honesty liked the Seattle weather because it didn't really rain everyday, at least not torrential downpours.
I came back to SD because I planned to come back, not really because i left without a plan to come back. I wound up living in OC for a bit, almost moved to Ventura County or Santa Barbara for a job, came close to moving up to Portland, but wound up moving down to SD. But I wound up spending most of my time up in San Fran and Silicon Valley for work after I returned. And then I wound up traveling about 300+ days a year to everywhere but Southern California. So for the longest time I lived in SD, but really wasn't here at all.
The reality about SD is the COL is out of whack. Places like San Jose, Silicon Valley, even Seattle before the recent Microsoft Layoffs have tons and tons of professional high paying jobs. They also have had tons of success stories that led to other success stories. Entire ecosystems are build around success stories. So a tech company could be worth billions, but it generates housing, generates restaurants and real estate and accountants and lawyers and new schools, and construction and so on. Places like Silicon Valley and San Fran are ridiculous in COL, but they also have a ton of high paying jobs. SD does not have the jobs that match the COL. SD does not have the success stories that match the COL.
It's easy to understand how a couple of companies made many people millionaires and they wound up starting other companies that made others millionaires. And then the entire ecosystem that goes with that. SD had Qualcomm, but it didn't really make SD wealthy like Microsoft or Ebay or PayPal or Google or Apple made a lot of people wealthy. You just don't have that in SD.
I also don't think it's about some 4000 square foot house. Many of the houses in places like Del Mar are 2000 Square feet or less. Except they go for 2+ Million bucks with no real view, not much of a yard and many of them are small. It's one thing to say you don't need a 4000 square foot house in Texas that might cost you $300K, so you settle for a 1500 square foot 3 bed/2 bath house in San Diego that cost you $2.5 million. No matter how you slice it, it's not really worth it. But people in SD have to keep telling themselves that it is. Places like Carmel Valley are even worse. It's very expensive to be kind of close to everything but really not close enough to anything. The schools are great and thats about the only benefit you have to paying millions for a townhome in Carmel valley.
I really think people in SD have to be delusional most of the time I speak to a lot of former buddies back east and everybody and their brother will go on about certain parts of NY and NJ and CT that have become ridiculous. And some of these guys are former wall street and hedge fund guys. They speak about being approved for a million dollar condo a few years out of college years ago and it made no sense. And so it goes. These guys would never leave the NYC vicinity(none of them live in the city anymore), but they have honest opinions about the COL and market.
In SD the difference seems to be people pretend like the COL makes sense. Or they pretend that a $2.5 Million small house that hasn't been updated since 1972 is definitely worth it. It's almost like "are they for real?" It's great to love the city you live in and love the weather, it's another to pretend that some 4000 square foot house for $350K is the same as a 1500 square foot house that cost $2.5 million. The house isn't really worth that much, no matter how you slice it. It's just the way the market swings. And if you bought it for $500K years ago and made a profit, good for you. It was worth it. But for a lot of people buying now, these houses are nowhere near worth it. The great weather doesn't fix a crappy house that's overpriced.
Thanks for what I believe to be a very honest, true opinion. At one time I considered SD (love that place!) but the COL really gave me a lot of concern.
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