Move Dilemma - uproot everything for perfect weather and active life? (San Diego: to rent, mortgages)

[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

[Cardiff Kook]

A quick search on redfin should tell you that you won't be able to get a SFH of any kind in La Jolla for 800k

[RainbowHope]

Hello.

San Diego is very much an active city, and there is lots of outdoorsy things to do here. That being said, you indicated you are not the outdoorsy type. Not sure how much that will change for you if you live here vs. there. You seem to have a nice situation going where you are.

You said that salary for your husband will be less, but you will still be at a combined salary of 240K per year. Yes, for this salary you can certainly find housing that will be in your size requirements. I'm not sure that 800K will get you anything in La Jolla, but maybe inland a bit. I'm sure others will chime in. But yes, renting is always a good thing to do while you learn the area.

Edited to add:
This thread, while long and sometimes heated, provides a lot of information about the area. The very first post gives you all the info you may need without having to read any further: //www.city-data.com/forum/san-d...go-rental.html

[MoveDilemma]

Originally Posted by Cardiff Kook

A quick search on redfin should tell you that you won't be able to get a SFH of any kind in La Jolla for 800k

Thanks for the response. We are not looking to buy in La Jolla. Inland is fine as long as public elementary school is excellent or if get accepted to private school ( kindergarten next year, intend to apply only to two schools Franscis Parker and La Jolla County day) , somewhere along the school bus route.

[Cardiff Kook]

Originally Posted by MoveDilemma

Thanks for the response. We are not looking to buy in La Jolla. Inland is fine as long as public elementary school is excellent or if get accepted to private school ( kindergarten next year, intend to apply only to two schools Franscis Parker and La Jolla County day) , somewhere along the school bus route.

Do you have any neighborhoods in mind? You can find a SFH for 800k outside of La Jolla but it may not be 2500 sq ft depending on which neighborhoods you are looking at

[Pedro2000]

You should be able to live a comfortable life on $240K per year. And how flexible is your job? I meet a lot of people in SD who have "flexible" jobs and that just means they don't really have a job. Not saying you don't, but being able to work from home in dallas might mean you need to wake up two hours earlier in SD.

For example, if half your work is speaking to people in say NY, you would probably be taking calls at 5 or 6AM in SD. Nobody ever talks about the subtle differences, but these things happen when you relocate and half your job is still talking to people from where you used to live.

Not a big deal, unless you hate waking up that early or you have kids and early mornings are getting them ready and so on. Sometimes simple things like starting at 8am compared to 5 or 6am, even for virtual work, changes everything. It might not. Just a thought.

As far as $240K, I don't know your lifestyle. Most people should be able to make that work, but if you're already used to a $240K lifestyle in Dallas and Texas(no state income tax) you might be in for a rude awakening when you realize you're not going to come close to living that same lifestyle. You will need to accept that you'll probably have about $1K per month less in income due to state income tax. $1K per month is a huge chunk to swallow in a place that is going to cost far more than what you're used to.

And getting back to the beautiful La Jolla coast, can you accept living further inland where prices are cheaper? You might not have that beach living, but you'd be close enough. $800K should still get you something nice, but it won't be what you were expecting. And a $800K house in SD, even inland, is going to look much different compared to a $800K house in most of Texas. This is something you need to consider as well.

[MoveDilemma]

Originally Posted by Pedro2000

You should be able to live a comfortable life on $240K per year. And how flexible is your job? I meet a lot of people in SD who have "flexible" jobs and that just means they don't really have a job. Not saying you don't, but being able to work from home in dallas might mean you need to wake up two hours earlier in SD.

For example, if half your work is speaking to people in say NY, you would probably be taking calls at 5 or 6AM in SD. Nobody ever talks about the subtle differences, but these things happen when you relocate and half your job is still talking to people from where you used to live.

Not a big deal, unless you hate waking up that early or you have kids and early mornings are getting them ready and so on. Sometimes simple things like starting at 8am compared to 5 or 6am, even for virtual work, changes everything. It might not. Just a thought.

As far as $240K, I don't know your lifestyle. Most people should be able to make that work, but if you're already used to a $240K lifestyle in Dallas and Texas(no state income tax) you might be in for a rude awakening when you realize you're not going to come close to living that same lifestyle. You will need to accept that you'll probably have about $1K per month less in income due to state income tax. $1K per month is a huge chunk to swallow in a place that is going to cost far more than what you're used to.

And getting back to the beautiful La Jolla coast, can you accept living further inland where prices are cheaper? You might not have that beach living, but you'd be close enough. $800K should still get you something nice, but it won't be what you were expecting. And a $800K house in SD, even inland, is going to look much different compared to a $800K house in most of Texas. This is something you need to consider as well.

Thanks for the detailed response. I work for a top financial institution in US and have been working from home office since 5 years or so. You are right, I work EST hours (NYC office) but that is actually a plus for me as I like to start early and finish early. Even in Dallas , I wake up at 5AM , start work at 7 AM and be done by 3 or 4 PM , in CA it will be start work at 5 AM or 6 AM and be done by 1 or 2 PM. Then check emails now and then....

Here in Dallas, one full salary goes straight to savings a/c. And the other salary of $120K takes care of mortgage, play school, 401K ,all other expenses ( even this salary have savings in form of maxing out 401K )

Not looking for beach living just proximity to beach in 30min or so. Priority is good neighborhood with great schools. Not sure if it matters , we both work in IT , moved to US from India a decade back

[MoveDilemma]

Originally Posted by Cardiff Kook

Do you have any neighborhoods in mind? You can find a SFH for 800k outside of La Jolla but it may not be 2500 sq ft depending on which neighborhoods you are looking at

Just looking at the forum discussions past few days, i see Delsur, 4S ranch communities more often

[Pedro2000]

It will also depend on where you live. Not sure about the Dallas area, but besides the housing costs, many places in SD have HOAs, Melo Roos, etc that could cost you as much as other peoples mortgages in some states. So on top of $800K you also have property taxes and HOAs/Melo Roos.

So COL could mean $1000 in state taxes, $1500 in Melo Roos, a house that won't be as big or have a yard like what you're used to in Texas. Those are things you might have to think about as well.

[Cardiff Kook]

Right now you are devoting an entire salary to savings. That's a pretty sweet arrangement. You definitely won't be able to get by with that here unless you go way lower with your housing costs. That being said, San Diego life is awesome