Moving Houston to Livermore or Brentwood (San Jose, San Francisco: day care, schools, per square foot)

[Aussie N Houston]

[quote=Greenerpastures35;45954458]I have no bad debt. Just a car payment and a small student loan. However, I prefer not to throw away money on rent. And I have zero dependents. You cannot compare my situation to yours.

Like I said to each his own. But what happens if you hate your new job? Or it doesn't move from Hayward in May as planned. Or your wife can't find work in Livermore forcing her into a hellish commute? It's pretty common for people in the Bay Area to jump around to different jobs to make more money. But living out in Mountain Home really constrains you from taking advantage of the strong job market. Have you thought of these situations?

Are you planning on having more kids? And don't kids get more expensive as they get older?

Additionally, I think you are seriously underestimating the housing crisis here. You will not be able to buy a house in a safe neighborhood in your situation. Desirable rentals get multiple applications. Small apartments in Oakland get over 50 applications within several hours of an open house (see the moving from Atlanta to Oakland thread). A friend of mine recently rented an apartment near Vacaville and was forced to pay more than asking price to get it. The market is even worse than I thought. I hope Mountain Home has plenty of rentals to choose from, but after a quick glance on craigslist, I didn't see much. So competition for something nice and affordable if it even exists will be fierce.

I originally moved from the east coast so I understand the draw to California. I get it. But I was also in my mid 20s with no family. You are California dreaming but at the expense of your child. Yes, it's possible but only IF your wife goes back to work. And even then I still think it's a very bad move and I doubt you will get ahead. And I question if you will be happy with a reduced quality of life.

And you are taking a huge pay cut according to this col calculator. Assuming you are currently making around $82K in Texas. And I think this is underestimating the current housing costs.

Moderator cut: link removed, competitor site


I see what your saying now! After your eighth attempt I get it! This is going to be TERRIBLE for my 14 month yr old daughter. And any other kids we want to have! How will we survive!! My wife and I are going to drowned in rent prices because the cost of this house is 33% of our take home (without her working). Even though we will still have a property in Houston, which is generating cash flow, our lives are over. And committing to live in Mountain House for 1yr is probably the worst possible thing one can do for their family. Even though the jobs my wife sees are in Pleasanton. I will never get a raise, my wife will never work, the world is unfair and the end is near. I wish I never got married or had kids cause its impossible to make it! It too hard! If only I was 35 and single! Then I could be FREE!!!

[Aussie N Houston]

[quote=Greenerpastures35;45954458]I have no bad debt. Just a car payment and a small student loan. However, I prefer not to throw away money on rent. And I have zero dependents. You cannot compare my situation to yours.

Like I said to each his own. But what happens if you hate your new job? Or it doesn't move from Hayward in May as planned. Or your wife can't find work in Livermore forcing her into a hellish commute? It's pretty common for people in the Bay Area to jump around to different jobs to make more money. But living out in Mountain Home really constrains you from taking advantage of the strong job market. Have you thought of these situations?

Are you planning on having more kids? And don't kids get more expensive as they get older?

Additionally, I think you are seriously underestimating the housing crisis here. You will not be able to buy a house in a safe neighborhood in your situation. Desirable rentals get multiple applications. Small apartments in Oakland get over 50 applications within several hours of an open house (see the moving from Atlanta to Oakland thread). A friend of mine recently rented an apartment near Vacaville and was forced to pay more than asking price to get it. The market is even worse than I thought. I hope Mountain Home has plenty of rentals to choose from, but after a quick glance on craigslist, I didn't see much. So competition for something nice and affordable if it even exists will be fierce.

I originally moved from the east coast so I understand the draw to California. I get it. But I was also in my mid 20s with no family. You are California dreaming but at the expense of your child. Yes, it's possible but only IF your wife goes back to work. And even then I still think it's a very bad move and I doubt you will get ahead. And I question if you will be happy with a reduced quality of life.

And you are taking a huge pay cut according to this col calculator. Assuming you are currently making around $82K in Texas. And I think this is underestimating the current housing costs.

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Ok.. Lets go back to the Calculator and put in Mountain House, not Livermore. Then put Houston to mountain house. My income in Houston is 75k and there will be 102k. With free Healthcare and free retirement. I think they are very comparable.


Here in Houston things are toxic, oil is crashed so a lot of the jobs are gone. Where I am at now has no direction for growth. Where I am going offers training and a road to leadership.. Their values are in line with mine

[Greenerpastures35]

Originally Posted by Aussie N Houston

Ok.. Lets go back to the Calculator and put in Mountain House, not Livermore. Then put Houston to mountain house. My income in Houston is 75k and there will be 102k. With free Healthcare and free retirement. I think they are very comparable.


Here in Houston things are toxic, oil is crashed so a lot of the jobs are gone. Where I am at now has no direction for growth. Where I am going offers training and a road to leadership.. Their values are in line with mine

Have you even been to mountain house yet? Because you cannot logically make an accurate assessment of whether you want to live in a neighborhood based on the internet alone.

SF bay area apartments / housing rentals ""mountain house"" - craigslist

I only see 27 total rentals in mountain house, and just 2 come up as under $2200. And who knows if they are even legit. With such a poor selection to choose from, how in the world do you realistically think you will find a house there for $2200? You really aren't making any sense.

[Aussie N Houston]

Originally Posted by Greenerpastures35

Have you even been to mountain house yet? Because you cannot logically make an accurate assessment of whether you want to live in a neighborhood based on the internet alone.

SF bay area apartments / housing rentals ""mountain house"" - craigslist

I only see 27 total rentals in mountain house, and just 2 come up as under $2200. And who knows if they are even legit. With such a poor selection to choose from, how in the world do you realistically think you will find a house there for $2200? You really aren't making any sense.

Thanks for the link! I didn't know about some of these! We could stretch and do one of the $2300 or $2350. The ones ive inquired about aren't listed on craigs list.

[Aussie N Houston]

Originally Posted by Greenerpastures35

Have you even been to mountain house yet? Because you cannot logically make an accurate assessment of whether you want to live in a neighborhood based on the internet alone.

SF bay area apartments / housing rentals ""mountain house"" - craigslist

I only see 27 total rentals in mountain house, and just 2 come up as under $2200. And who knows if they are even legit. With such a poor selection to choose from, how in the world do you realistically think you will find a house there for $2200? You really aren't making any sense.

I walked around on google.. Looks like a friendly place for kids...

[Greenerpastures35]

Originally Posted by Aussie N Houston

I walked around on google.. Looks like a friendly place for kids...

Oh geez, so you've never been to Mountain House. Have you even been to Livermore? Or Hayward for that matter?

How can you say you want to live somewhere that you've never even been to? You are not only jumping into the fire, you are doing it blind!

I have nothing else to really say at this point. I really do hope it works out for you. But good luck because you're going to need it.

[Aussie N Houston]

I moved to Perth Australia not knowing. It was great!

But we have been to the east bay. We drove around and everything looked fine to us. I have talked to my new coworkers and they love Livermore and mountain house.

I guess I live my life differently than you..

[TR95]

Originally Posted by Aussie N Houston

I moved to Perth Australia not knowing. It was great!

But we have been to the east bay. We drove around and everything looked fine to us. I have talked to my new coworkers and they love Livermore and mountain house.

I guess I live my life differently than you..

Yeah, that's for sure. Not on the dark side like GreenerPastures. Plus, being from Australia must have been hell living in Houston. I agree, if you are over Houston get out of there. I lasted 4 years in Dallas and am so glad to be back in CA even though I may now have to retire in 10 years instead of 3-5. Life is too short to live where you don't want to be. Hear that Greener, you may want to think about moving out of here.

[WizardOfRadical]

Originally Posted by sav858

Oakland Zoo is a lot smaller and definitely not superior to the SF Zoo.

Don't agree with much of what you say, but this is spot on.


As to the OP, we are just trying to help you man.

Trust us, the whole "I am gonna move here and make it work" is very cliche. There are thousands of people every year who move to the bay and get super burnt out.

[Greenerpastures35]

Originally Posted by WizardOfRadical

Don't agree with much of what you say, but this is spot on.


As to the OP, we are just trying to help you man.

Trust us, the whole "I am gonna move here and make it work" is very cliche. There are thousands of people every year who move to the bay and get super burnt out.

Yes. Back in 2009 when I moved here for a new job making $77k, I essentially took a paycut to move here despite my salary increase because my apartment in SF was also more expensive (plus all the other additional more expensive COL prices). But I could afford it back then.

Fast forward to 2016, I have since changed jobs and increased my salary quite a bit, but I can no longer afford to rent a comparable apartment in my neighborhood, much less most places in the entire city. Thank god for rent control, but I am stuck in an unhealthy living situation. I really want to move, but I have been priced out of my neighborhood in less than 7 years despite a decent increase in income. This is happening everywhere in the Bay Area. I don't think the OP gets it.