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Old 01-06-2008, 12:35 PM
 
3 posts, read 38,854 times
Reputation: 11

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I'm considering relocating to the Thousand Oaks area and wonder if I can afford the change in the cost of living. Here are a few quick facts about us -

We (wife and two preteens) currently live in Texas
Looking for good schools and conservative area (confirmed TO fits)
Kids are into sports (confimed TO fits)
24 Fitness regulars (confirmed TO fits)
No expensive habits/hobbies
Monthy debt (auto) - $700
Plan on renting home (est $3000 - $3500 for 2000sf, 3br in nice area)

The COL calculators vary in terms of how much we'd need to maintain our standard of living. Some estimates show I need to make an additional 97%? I find that hard to believe.

What salary is needed to live within a budget?

Thanks.

Last edited by JaYo; 01-06-2008 at 12:52 PM..
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Old 01-06-2008, 01:27 PM
 
11,715 posts, read 40,438,984 times
Reputation: 7586
Quote:
Originally Posted by JaYo View Post
I'm considering relocating to the Thousand Oaks area and wonder if I can afford the change in the cost of living. Here are a few quick facts about us -

We (wife and two preteens) currently live in Texas
Looking for good schools and conservative area (confirmed TO fits)
Kids are into sports (confimed TO fits)
24 Fitness regulars (confirmed TO fits)
No expensive habits/hobbies
Monthy debt (auto) - $700
Plan on renting home (est $3000 - $3500 for 2000sf, 3br in nice area)

The COL calculators vary in terms of how much we'd need to maintain our standard of living. Some estimates show I need to make an additional 97%? I find that hard to believe.

What salary is needed to live within a budget?

Thanks.
Sounds about right. Texas is a cheap place to live. California is not, especially in a nice area like Thousand Oaks. The big contributor to that difference is of course housing. Since most people can't make 97% more, they take a hit in their lifestyle to make it here. So the 3000 sq ft house becomes a 1200 sq ft condo.
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Old 01-06-2008, 01:32 PM
 
4,610 posts, read 11,098,958 times
Reputation: 6832
EscapeCalifornia is right. Housing is what is going to cost you. Thousand Oaks isn't cheap. But the calculations said you need to make 97% more??? Wow!! I have no idea what you make but that's a huge percentage more. Thousand Oaks is a wonderful place to raise a family so you picked a good choice there but that 97% more scares me.

Also you have listed a 3 bedroom home to rent from $3000-$3500, did you check to make sure that is accurate? I'm not saying it's not accurate because I have no idea what rent is out there but I might double check that one if I was you and confirm that you would have a wide choice of homes not just 1 or 2 in that price range.

Will you already have a job lined up?

I also wanted to add that we moved to Thousand Oaks when I was 11 (31 years ago) and my family was poorer then poor. No lie, we were probably the poorest kids in the whole area at the time!!! We made it though and there were 5 children. I remember that in Ohio in 1976, we rented a house for $250.00 a month and when we moved to California in 1976, we rented a townhome and it cost $750.00 a month. So even back then prices were high compared to other states for what you get.

Last edited by Roma; 01-06-2008 at 01:51 PM..
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Old 01-06-2008, 06:14 PM
 
Location: Thousand Oaks, California
10,408 posts, read 2,596,664 times
Reputation: 1493
Quote:
Originally Posted by JaYo View Post
We (wife and two preteens) currently live in Texas
Looking for good schools and conservative area (confirmed TO fits)
Kids are into sports (confimed TO fits)
24 Fitness regulars (confirmed TO fits)
No expensive habits/hobbies
Monthy debt (auto) - $700
Plan on renting home (est $3000 - $3500 for 2000sf, 3br in nice area)

What salary is needed to live within a budget?
I dont know how to predict what sort of salary you'd need to live here in Thousand Oaks in $3500/mo house and $700/mo car payments. There are many other expenses to think about:

An example: we are a family of 4, 2 adults and two teenagers and we spend approx on our essential items:

Food - easily $200-250/wk
Cable/Satellite - 100/mo
Landline Phone - 40-50
Trash service $45/mo
Water - $90/mo
Gas - winter $50/mo Summer $10/mo
Electric - $200/mo

Gasoline is about $3.50 per gallon right now.

Then there's cell phones, broadband internet, the gardener, housekeeper, gym membership, insurance, etc.

I think the tax rates may be higher in California, too, so you'll need to figure that out.

Your housing budget will allow you a pretty big selection of homes. For $3000-3500 you'll have no problem finding something. You could actually go down to about $2500 and find something decent. Im sure you'll be able to find something nice.

Thousand Oaks is an excellent place to raise a family. We love it here!
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Old 01-11-2008, 04:22 PM
 
3 posts, read 38,854 times
Reputation: 11
Thanks for the insight, I appreciate it.

Looks like it's a go. I'll have final salary numbers on Monday. May consider Moorpark and Simi Valley as other options. Any significant factors I should consider with these two cities versus TO?
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Old 01-11-2008, 06:00 PM
 
Location: Las Flores, Orange County, CA
26,329 posts, read 93,729,143 times
Reputation: 17831
Quote:
Originally Posted by JaYo View Post
Thanks for the insight, I appreciate it.

Looks like it's a go. I'll have final salary numbers on Monday. May consider Moorpark and Simi Valley as other options. Any significant factors I should consider with these two cities versus TO?
What line of work are you in?
Where are you going to work and/or where will everyone be commuting to?
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Old 01-12-2008, 01:32 AM
 
Location: So Cal
320 posts, read 1,732,880 times
Reputation: 107
don't know about cost but I really like Agoura Hills and westlake Village . Right next to TO always clean and the people seem happy and less uptight than most in LA
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Old 01-12-2008, 11:33 AM
 
3 posts, read 38,854 times
Reputation: 11
I'll be working in Westlake Village and my wife will look for work once we're settled. She specializes in Inventory Management and my search on the jobs websites indicates that she should be able to find something in the area.
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Old 01-30-2008, 09:10 AM
 
Location: Lost..
5 posts, read 26,473 times
Reputation: 10
Hello All,
I am new here. My wife and I are looking at moving to T.O from ATL. We would be starting a medical practice. We have 2 children 2 and 4 years old and a another on the way in April.
How is TO to raise kids? We are also considering the Laguna / Mission Viejo area, but that area seems to saturated with physicians.
If anyone is a MD or can give me some details on living and working in TO that would be great. We were there last weekend and love socal vs. GA. I am from NY so living near a large city is fine with me. The cost of living is a bit hard to swallow, but you have to pay to play. Oh course we could have a bigger home in GA vs. Ca, but who the hell wants to live w/ this redneck mafia...
We are looking to make a move in approx. 12 months.

Thanks for your help.
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Old 01-30-2008, 07:03 PM
 
Location: LA/ventura
313 posts, read 1,148,456 times
Reputation: 75
Quote:
Originally Posted by xmxpro View Post
Hello All,
I am new here. My wife and I are looking at moving to T.O from ATL. We would be starting a medical practice. We have 2 children 2 and 4 years old and a another on the way in April.
How is TO to raise kids? We are also considering the Laguna / Mission Viejo area, but that area seems to saturated with physicians.
If anyone is a MD or can give me some details on living and working in TO that would be great. We were there last weekend and love socal vs. GA. I am from NY so living near a large city is fine with me. The cost of living is a bit hard to swallow, but you have to pay to play. Oh course we could have a bigger home in GA vs. Ca, but who the hell wants to live w/ this redneck mafia...
We are looking to make a move in approx. 12 months.

Thanks for your help.
Gosh...that will be an adjustment to your lifestyle...Property taxes will get you...if you buy a house...1.25%...plus if you buy an older house like most of them here are ( hope you like the brady bunch era, because most of the affordable houses are built in the 70's)...you have to pay make up tax from what the cuurent owner paid...so if it has been a few yrs and house value has gone up considerabley....then be prepared for a big tax bill.

We bought in here2 yrs ago...my husband was got a job in calabasas (relocation from CT) so naturally TO and its surrounds was the obvious choice. We bought in at the highend and went from a 3700sq ft home on almost 2 wooded acres culdesac we had in CT (for less $$) to a 1600 sq ft 3/2 brady bunch special. Why? because Oak Park has the best school system....Conejo is good too, but there are many elementaries in the district, and frankly when you are relocating inthe middle of a school yr...I just didnt have the time to sort thru all the schools and figure out which one would work. Oak Park is a small district...3 elem, 1 middle school and a high school. We are very happy with Brookside elementary...downside there isnt alot of housing to chose from in OP...for something newer and bigger to what you are accustomed to in GA will still be about amillion here. Now you can close by to TO, and getinto something newer there at Lang ranch...there are some still priced close to million too. you can send me a message if you want to know more...because my husband and haved lived and are from Atlanta...I know where you are coming from. So I think I can give you a realistic perspective.
Traffic-wise it is better than atlanta, because everything is established....meaning what the traffic is , well, you know, it will be consistent, it wont get any worse. The 23 that runs up to Moorpark gets congested and the schools in Moorpark arent that good.
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