General relocation aka can we afford to live there question (Los Angeles: for rent, condos)

[Chuck5000]

jade408 is correct re: costs. BTW We pay 1700 per month for childcare on the Peninsula - and that is for good but far from the most expensive care.

I still could not see moving here to rent on less than 175k because I think savings is critical. If you don't need to save (inheritance, wealthy families, huge bank account already) then it's a different story.

I would not move to this region unless you have a clear path to 250k (for East Bay and SF/Alameda/CC county jobs; probably over 300k for SClara county jobs access) if you intend to become a homeowner and want to purchase in a town with decent schools.

Note that you'll also have to save for college, retirement, and rainy day. Don't fall for the BS that some say here, "oh, sure it's easy to have a family and buy a house for 150k, just don't go out to eat." That is nonsense. You can run the numbers yourself. Take a good look on Redfin or Zillow, look on greatschools.org, look at commute times on maps.google.com.

Most of LA area, aside from top tier Westside, is a considerably better $ value than the Bay Area.

[JohnS_15]

I don't really have much to add on what has already been said - it sounds like with your lifestyle it would be makeable to do the move if that is what you really want.


Daycare costs are such a burden and if your partner is happy being a stay at home mother then that does simplify things somewhat. You can live very modestly and get by... but one thing to think about is as your child grows older there will be other expenses. The type of areas you would want to live (good schools/nice neighborhood/close to transit) will have other parents that you'll be making friends with and they will probably have much more money than you guys. Although it sounds superficial that can put burdens on relationships... there will be swim classes and mommy and me yoga and then sports activities and fancy pre-school classes that you will feel pressure to send your kid to because all the other parents your partner is friends with are doing that.


Living at the bottom tier of a nice neighborhood just starts to become stressful after awhile. I lived in San Francisco with a child in a small apartment for a few years. It was great at first...then it just wears you down as you constantly have to say to your friends - "no sorry we can't afford to do that".

[beb0p]

Originally Posted by ryanms3030

I would still probably have to live at the end of the BART line in say Dublin/Pleasanton or Concord/Pittsburg in order to stay under $3k/mo rent for a 2 bed/2bath.

Why not live in Richmond/Sunset and bike to work? There are still a few 2 bedroom unts (that are not in-laws) for $3,000 or less.

Gorgeous CLEAN apartment with OCEAN VIEW

Nice Apartment for rent

489 35th Avenue

.

[Bisaro TMF]

Originally Posted by ryanms3030

Yes people with no kids underestimate cost of child care. Relatively cheap daycare here runs $800/mo. And you get what you pay for and I'd rather have us raise our kid than strangers. And then you see horror show news stories about what some people do to kids in day care.

I've never seen daycare for anything under $1000 for full time kids. It's a god damn crime how much it costs. My sister in Atlanta only paid 500 per month for day care and that's including lunches. We pay $1250 for each kid and that doesn't' even include food. We still have to make their lunches. Our combined household income is in the 300K range but with bills and kids we are living very modest.

[jade408]

Originally Posted by beb0p

Why not live in Richmond/Sunset and bike to work? There are still a few 2 bedroom unts (that are not in-laws) for $3,000 or less.

Gorgeous CLEAN apartment with OCEAN VIEW

Nice Apartment for rent

489 35th Avenue

.

I like this plan, since the commute would be so terrible from essentially anywhere in the East Bay. The Richmond is a pain to get to from outside (and inside) of SF unless you are starting near there.

[ryanms3030]

Originally Posted by beb0p

Why not live in Richmond/Sunset and bike to work? There are still a few 2 bedroom unts (that are not in-laws) for $3,000 or less.

Gorgeous CLEAN apartment with OCEAN VIEW

Nice Apartment for rent

489 35th Avenue

.

One month plus $3950 security deposit.....G.D.!!

But those places do look very nice and I am a cyclist and as long as cycling is relatively safe in that area it is my preferred mode of transport

[beb0p]

Originally Posted by ryanms3030

One month plus $3950 security deposit.....G.D.!!

But those places do look very nice and I am a cyclist and as long as cycling is relatively safe in that area it is my preferred mode of transport

Biking should be safe around that area and the land is pretty flat. It's still city biking though - lots of stopping and starting due to traffic lights and Stop signs.

From within Richmond should be pretty chill and not many cars as long as you stay on the side streets. From Sunset the same and you need to bike through Golden Gate Park to get to Richmond.

Also, rental competition is fierce in the summer and usually there is a bump in rental prices.
.

[seain dublin]

Originally Posted by ryanms3030

Currently in LA with wife and baby. I am sole income provider and making $80k. We get by with no problem. I have a possible opportunity in SF. All things being equal my wife and I like it better up there so would be open to moving but general COL calculators tell me I would need to make at least $120k to maintain the same lifestyle. We all know SF COL is astronomical. Rental market around LA is catching up pretty quickly where most people need to spend about 50% salary on rent these days. We don't necessarily care about living in city and actually prefer to have easy access to hiking/mountains etc for recreation.

How far out could I reasonably live and commute to the Presidio/Richmond district without hating my life for spending so much time on my daily commute?


To add to my question. I did live in Alameda and work in South of Market about 15 years ago so somewhat familiar with the area. Looks like with today's rental prices IF I was able to get about $120k salary I would still probably have to live at the end of the BART line in say Dublin/Pleasanton or Concord/Pittsburg in order to stay under $3k/mo rent for a 2 bed/2bath. I knew some people that lived out there in the late 90's and it wasn't that bad of an area. I assume it's better now? Are there reasonably good public schools in any of those areas? Even though we are about 4 years away from school age that is one reason we are looking to leave LA because there really are no good public schools anywhere in LA county

Ryan, will all due respect you're always saying on the LA boards how expensive things are and you want to get out of CA all together. Why on earth would you move to the Bay area?

Talk about going from the frying pan directly into the fire in regards to COL.

I understand you mentioned a job opportunity, but there must be others out of state.

[HockeyMac18]

Originally Posted by ryanms3030

One month plus $3950 security deposit.....G.D.!!

But those places do look very nice and I am a cyclist and as long as cycling is relatively safe in that area it is my preferred mode of transport

Yea, prices are crazy everywhere these days in SF, but I think living in the Sunset/Richmond is really the best option for you. I'll echo everyone's comments that getting to/from the Richmond can be tricky from outside of the City (even from points within the City) - so why not pay a bit more and just have an easier life? (it's hard to really state how much an easy commute can improve your life - it's definitely worth an increased cost of living (although how much of an increase is a personal question to answer)).

Also, when you live in the City, you get all of the great amenities that go along with it.

I used to live in the Richmond ("middle Richmond", 17th and Geary). It's a great place to live if you're a cyclist.

Biking is very safe in that area of town (comparatively). You're still in the City, so you always need to be aware of your surroundings, but the street traffic is fairly light as long as you're off of Geary. You can go east/west either on Cabrillo, Balboa, Anza, Clement, or Lake (my preferred street when I was there) - and to go north/south, most of the Avenues are pretty good (25th is fairly busy, though), and most intersections have stop signs, so cars are rarely moving super fast (generally 30 mph and below).

There are some hills in the Richmond (e.g. heading up towards the "top of the hill" near the shoreline/the Cliff House), but it's a pretty flat as far as SF neighborhoods go.

Getting across town is fairly simple with the park right there. Just head into the park (you have a few options on getting in), take JFK east through the park, hook up with the bike path on the panhandle, and from there you have a few options to get through/to the eastern part of SF (The wiggle (https://localwiki.org/sf/The_Wiggle) being a good option).

GG park itself is a great place to bike (and walk/run) also. And you can hook up with Marin Co. (which is a great place to bike) across the GG bridge pretty easily with a few different paths through the Presidio (http://www.sfbike.org/download/Presi...e_Map_2009.pdf).

The biggest question will be if you can afford an apartment in SF - I think you can, assuming you get that min 120k salary (would be better if higher, just to give you more breathing room). The majority of rental units in that part of the city will be rent-controlled (i.e. built before 1979), so you won't have to worry (too much) about rents skyrocketing more on you once you're in the place.

[ryanms3030]

Originally Posted by seain dublin

Ryan, will all due respect you're always saying on the LA boards how expensive things are and you want to get out of CA all together. Why on earth would you move to the Bay area?

Talk about going from the frying pan directly into the fire in regards to COL.

I understand you mentioned a job opportunity, but there must be others out of state.

I certainly can't argue with that which is why I would have to think long and hard about this if the situation where to pan out. This would be a great opportunity professionally that may have more opportunity for advancement than my current job and would also let me gain some additional marketable skills. I do have another possible opportunity in Denver but they are moving much slower with their hiring process. But might be worth the wait although seems COL especially in the rental market is skyrocketing there too