Move Dilemma - uproot everything for perfect weather and active life? (Poway: fit in, insurance)

[CSD610]

Originally Posted by MoveDilemma

I've been reading this forum for the past few days. It gave me the most information about San Diego and its' surrounding areas. Still, I have some questions other did not mention

We have been to La Jolla for 3 months few years back on work and fell in love with the area.Fast forward now happily settled in Dallas, early 30s , both of us work full time 2 miles from home, one kid, 4000+ sq ft house (hmmm...we haven't stepped into 2 bedrooms in the house more than couple of times in the last 2 years except for cleaners ) in a very nice community, nice vehicles, no income tax ( we have high prop taxes) etc.,

we are not too much outdoorsy type, but would like to take our kid to nice places like park, beach , good scenary , relax in the patio etc and enjoy weekends. Here in Dallas going out means AC house to AC car to AC mall due to weather. Year round , we have extreme hot, humid weather or extreme cold or snow ( yes we do get snow in Dallas and house trapped for few days)

Recently my husband has been offered a full time job in La Jolla and we are in dilemma! Salary in La Jolla is less compared to Dallas. If he accepts La Jolla job offer, our combined salary will be 240K/yr ( less than in Dallas and add in CA income tax) I have flexibility to work from home.

Plan is to rent initially for few months may be up to an year before looking to buy. We donot want or need more sq ft . Is it possible to buy a detached house 3bed 3 bath ~2500 sq ft house in a community with super excellent public elementary school, families with kids & nice amenities for $800K? As we have one kid, we always wanted to go for private school education if our child get accepted ( costs $22-$24K in Dallas) , I see same fee structure for San Diego privates as well ( Francis Parker, La Jolla county day ) If going private , we want to stay around $600K for the house. Am I being real with the housing? Should we uproot everything here in Dallas and move to San Diego? Thanks for reading

If you want to move then move, if you don't then don't.
No one but you knows what is right for your family then if you do move you may find that the new area isn't so "perfect" after all.
Your choice to make a decision with your husband after much discussion about this part of your life.

[NYSD1995]

Uprooting a family for a better lifestyle is fine assuming you actually take advantage of that lifestyle. My wife and I try to take advantage of the weather as much as possible, but realistially speaking time is limited and I think we'd just brave the conditions wherever we lived and go out the same amount. My kids want to sit inside and watch TV all day but we lock them in the backyard. So I wouldn't move here for my kids, yours might be different ;-)

[loveautumn]

I agree...people want to move here to take advantage of all that SD has to offer (which is understandable) but the reality is, most folks are working long hours and then doing errands. Little time left for "going to the beach in the morning and skiing in the afternoon"...LOL.

[eu4ea]

MoveDilemma, what did you guys decide??? Don't leave us hanging!

[MoveDilemma]

Originally Posted by eu4ea

MoveDilemma, what did you guys decide??? Don't leave us hanging!

Husband took the offer! Wanted to take a chance as kid is not yet in school and easy to move now.Plan-----Husband rents apartment in La Jolla. Myself and kid stay back in Texas and travel to San Diego until end of the year, look at different neighborhoods around San Diego ( Carmen Valley as you suggested, new communities like Del sur etc) Will keep Texas home to fallback on if something doesn't work. If everything goes well , will buy a house in San Diego next year, sell the house in TX and move with furniture & vehicles.

I will be back with more questions even though some of the CD members don't like me asking more questions

Thank you!!!

[bloom]

Originally Posted by MoveDilemma

Husband took the offer! Wanted to take a chance as kid is not yet in school and easy to move now.Plan-----Husband rents apartment in La Jolla. Myself and kid stay back in Texas and travel to San Diego until end of the year, look at different neighborhoods around San Diego ( Carmen Valley as you suggested, new communities like Del sur etc) Will keep Texas home to fallback on if something doesn't work. If everything goes well , will buy a house in San Diego next year, sell the house in TX and move with furniture & vehicles.

I will be back with more questions even though some of the CD members don't like me asking more questions

Thank you!!!

Great, good luck.

[Pedro2000]

Originally Posted by loveautumn

I agree...people want to move here to take advantage of all that SD has to offer (which is understandable) but the reality is, most folks are working long hours and then doing errands. Little time left for "going to the beach in the morning and skiing in the afternoon"...LOL.

This is why the arguments are always ridiculous. If you're retired, a trust fund kid, or a 22 year old looking to party for a few years, it makes sense. But most people, no matter where they live, spend more time working and doing things with their family, compared to surfing in the morning and snowboarding in the afternoon. And if you have kids that wind up doing any activities, half your free time, or all of it, is spent taking them to these extra curricular activities. So yes, SD is great if you don't want to take Little Johnny to basketball in the ice and snow, but it's not an advantage if you'd rather be at the beach, but have to watch your kids practice when you're not working. This isn't a SD issue, it's just life. I think people go on vacation and assume real life doesn't happen in SD or something.

[Cardiff Kook]

Originally Posted by Pedro2000

This is why the arguments are always ridiculous. If you're retired, a trust fund kid, or a 22 year old looking to party for a few years, it makes sense. But most people, no matter where they live, spend more time working and doing things with their family, compared to surfing in the morning and snowboarding in the afternoon. And if you have kids that wind up doing any activities, half your free time, or all of it, is spent taking them to these extra curricular activities. So yes, SD is great if you don't want to take Little Johnny to basketball in the ice and snow, but it's not an advantage if you'd rather be at the beach, but have to watch your kids practice when you're not working. This isn't a SD issue, it's just life. I think people go on vacation and assume real life doesn't happen in SD or something.

Quoted for truth. That being said, I don't have kids (and don't have plans for them in the near future) so this weekend I did surf in the morning and rock climb in the afternoon and it was awesome

[eu4ea]

Originally Posted by MoveDilemma

Husband took the offer! Wanted to take a chance as kid is not yet in school and easy to move now.Plan-----Husband rents apartment in La Jolla. Myself and kid stay back in Texas and travel to San Diego until end of the year, look at different neighborhoods around San Diego ( Carmen Valley as you suggested, new communities like Del sur etc) Will keep Texas home to fallback on if something doesn't work. If everything goes well , will buy a house in San Diego next year, sell the house in TX and move with furniture & vehicles.

I will be back with more questions even though some of the CD members don't like me asking more questions

Thank you!!!

That sounds like a good logical plan. Good luck!

By the way, the UTC/Golden Triangle area of La Jolla has a decent number of young recently transplanted / temporarily-housed professionals / graduate students etc, that might be a nice place for him to rent before you guys settle down in San Diego.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by deadcoder

If I were you, I would stay in Dallas and spend $ for quality vacations (beaches, islands, Europe, etc) during bad weather. By doing that you can still keep your same living style with addition to outdoor activities when needed.

I'm from Texas (recently moved here) and I know that how well a family can live with that income in Texas. But once you move here, you will lose the financial flexibility which you currently have (one income directly going to saving account, child private school cost, etc).

What about Austin? Weather wise Austin is far better than Dallas (Dallas is very dull in almost all respects). Again there are several outdoor activities which you can do in Austin. Again Austin is closer to San Antonio where you can also spend free time. Just my 2c.

I agree with everything said here. I think SD would be better for you as a retirement destination. If you can continue to save/invest over 100K per year, you can get pretty rich in a decade or so. Then you'll be able to afford SD with a lot less stress and a lot more flexibility. I wouldn't be surprised if that cost of living calculator was out of date/too low for SD cost of living estimates. The rents and home prices in SD as well as other Coastal CA metro areas have really skyrocketed.

Edit: I see you are moving. All I can say is I hope it works out!