CA/SoCal horror stories (San Diego, Orange: foreclosures, homes, private school)

[phillip2]

So we are planning to move from Southern Africa to the USA.
We have visited, CA, PA, FL, AZ, WA, TX and others.
CA and more particular SD has been where we have been looking at.
Reading these forums and the press have caused us to become a little concerned.
From many folks leaving SoCal due to traffic, smog, materialism, cost of living etc. to the bad financial crisis in CA in general.

We would probably look at private schooling wherever we went if that helps. No job offers yet so that would come second.

We will be uprooting and moving anyway and could really choose anywhere in the USA as first time USA home owners. The attraction to SD was the weather and the fairly large ex SA community which would be a great support infrastructure for us and our young kids.

Posting in this forum may not get objective answers but your honesty would be useful.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by phillip2

So we are planning to move from Southern Africa to the USA.
We have visited, CA, PA, FL, AZ, WA, TX and others.
CA and more particular SD has been where we have been looking at.
Reading these forums and the press have caused us to become a little concerned.
From many folks leaving SoCal due to traffic, smog, materialism, cost of living etc. to the bad financial crisis in CA in general.

We would probably look at private schooling wherever we went if that helps. No job offers yet so that would come second.

We will be uprooting and moving anyway and could really choose anywhere in the USA as first time USA home owners. The attraction to SD was the weather and the fairly large ex SA community which would be a great support infrastructure for us and our young kids.

Posting in this forum may not get objective answers but your honesty would be useful.

Honest, and I will try to be just that: of course, all of Ca has problems right now, but that does not mean a move to the state is a bad thing.

I will add a few observations: do not and I am serious, do not come to anywhere in CAlif without either a job or thousands of $$ in savings.

Yes, So CA has smog, traffic (it is awful) a outrageous cost of living and yes, lots of fiscal problems. Of course cost of living can be a relavent issue, Depending on what it costs to live in So Africa, you may be shocked or plensantly surprised.

With all this, I would say, if it were me, I would concentrate more on Texas. Again, this is just my opinion. There are a lot of So Afticans in the Dallasw area and the cost of living is much lower.

Whatever you do, good luck.

Nita

[f_m]

There are meetup.com groups for South African expat people. You could check them out and see what information you can get through those groups.

[phillip2]

Thanks Nmnita.
Any more folks from SoCal with some input?

We visted SD recently and it looks like school would be in the Carmel Valley area.
Are there homes in this area which are not tract housing?
We are used to a bit of space between us and our neighbours.

Moving to Rancho Santa Fe or Encinitas would mean too much commuting.

Thanks.

[loveautumn]

very important....do you have the proper work visas?

[sav858]

Not all of SoCal is the same at all. The problems that people complain about in LA, Orange County, Inland Empire, etc...are usually not nearly as bad as they are here such as traffic, smog, crime, foreclosures, etc.. The economy in San Diego is better overall than LA and much better than the Inland Empire. Take what a lot of the malcontents say on here with a grain of salt, the exaggerations and generalizations get a bit absurd sometimes and says more about their mentality than the place itself imo. San Diego is such an easy going, laid back type of place it's a fairly easy place to adapt to as long as you got your all of your stuff in order such as finances and a job. Many people overall here just seem happy and in a pleasant mood much of the time, the malcontents on these forums don't truly reflect reality for many here imo.

Not everyone will like this place of course; some hate the near perfect weather b/c they want "seasons" yet for some odd reason moved to a place known for not having them. Or some complain how its different than where they came from, which IMO should be pretty damn obvious that a place a thousand or more miles away with a different climate and history would be different than where one originally came from. Or of course there are a few that have never really lived anywhere other than SD and have no real perspective to offer but complain anyways. There are just some picky a*s people out there that seem on some constant quest for their utopia.

If you have taken time to visit and research and overall have liked what you have seen then go for it.

[phillip2]

Originally Posted by sav858

Not all of SoCal is the same at all. The problems that people complain about in LA, Orange County, Inland Empire, etc...are usually not nearly as bad as they are here such as traffic, smog, crime, foreclosures, etc..

Thanks for your input.
Do you really mean as mentioned above that the problems (traffic, smog, crime, foreclosures, etc.. ) in SD are worse than in LA, OC etc?

[mir86]

I think he meant that those problems people complain about in LA, OC and IE, are less of a problem in SD.

[NYSD1995]

San Diego has all of the problems of LA, OC, and IE. Just less of them.

But they are here. Whether or not you will be exposed to them, depends mostly on your financial situation and life stage.

Single, renter, young? Come on down.
Married, homeowner, business owner? ... Might want to dig deeper into San Diego than what the temperature is in February.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by phillip2

Thanks for your input.
Do you really mean as mentioned above that the problems (traffic, smog, crime, foreclosures, etc.. ) in SD are worse than in LA, OC etc?

No, I meant that there are LESS of those problems here in San Diego than many other parts of Southern CA. SD probably has one of the, if not the best, quality of life in Southern CA.