The places you list are all nuts markets right now, relatively speaking. Just move and rent, and wait for the settlement in the market, or move to a place that isn’t suffering a completely nuts market (they may be inflated but not nuts). Many old-time, native Californians are leaving the state, hoping on your anxiety to fund their exit.
3 Likes
can you afford to live in san diego if you rent? because if you can i’d do that. i’d sell a relative to be able to live in san diego.
don’t buy a house now. its a god awful time.
1 Like
Any pics you can share?
2 Likes
none you or anyone on the forum would be interested in. mostly highly used organs at this point.
Don’t combine problems, making them intractable. Figure out where you want to live for the next 10 years first, then figure out how to buy a house there
Said another way: figure out what state/city you want to live in, then move to a neighborhood there you can afford, the figure out if that’s the neighborhood you want to live in, or not.
I’ve moved from NY to DC, DC to Ohio, Ohio to SoCal (I’ve moved between a couple different counties here, which have their pluses and minuses), and I’ve moved into rentals and into houses I’ve bought. In Ohio for instance, I bought and remodeled the nicest house I will probably ever live in, in a VERY NICE neighborhood: I hated every minute of it.
In my case I solved three problems at once, and the solution was a family home surrounded by playsets for a traveling bachelor. The family that bought my house LOVE it, and if it were elsewhere I would love it - luckily that was a net $0 mistake (the DC house was a six figure mistake).
Here in SoCal I still rent, mostly because I’m waiting for housing to shift (inventory availability as much as price decline) - had I bought when I moved here, I would have similarly ended up in the wrong neighborhood. I know now exactly the parts of town I would buy, and which are more fun/affordable.
3 Likes
From my initial research, it seems a 2-bedroom apartment around the workplace should be around 3.5k rent. I can afford it with ease. However, it does seem like a lot of rent, which could be going to pay for a home/mortgage instead.
The market there is cooling off quickly.
My parents spend winters there, and I’ve watched the value of their home more than triple since they bought it in 2014.
We have a place there also, purchased pre-2008, and it’s been a rollercoaster. I was six figures underwater for a matter of years, and that’s something I walked around with in the back of my mind every day.
Over the long term, though, I’m glad I bought it, but I can’t emphasize long term enough, especially now.
If you are leaning in this direction but not 100% certain, consider renting on the lower end of what you’d want (much smaller place in a good neighborhood) and then reevaluate in a year.
Assuming you could find something to buy for $800,000-$1,000,000, you’re looking at $40-50,000 in real estate commissions just to unload it a year later. That would pay quite a bit of rent while you decide if it’s a place you want to stay.
1 Like
I think that’s a common misconception or realtor talk, the true cost of home ownership is probably higher than you think and given the current interest rate, it’s even more so.
2 Likes
The one lesson I wish I could teach 19 year old me: imputed value (the term for what you are describing here) is antique bullshit from 50 years ago. The transaction and carrying cost of a house in any normal market is far, far higher.
Imputed value is why I vaporized six figured in my DC house. Never again.
1 Like
Thanks for this advice. This resonates with me and seems like good advice. I think I should choose the location that best helps my career (San Diego) and then figure out after a year what I can afford there and at what neighborhoods.
Thank you for the advice. I am leaning towards this. The goal would be to have a long-term place in a nice neighborhood. Whether I would like to live in San Diego for the next 10 years is something I still need to decide. I have always heard good things about the city so hoping I’ll like it.
That would be my price range, but it still puts the mortgage around $5k+ (which I can afford). I am just not sure if I am 100% ready to commit to that so early on in my career and being a bachelor.
Especially moving from Kansas City where I could buy a beautiful house in a beautiful neighborhood for the same price. I guess it would take some time to get used to California prices.
Thank you everyone for the advice! Appreciate all the responses.
And sales/income tax. And $500-700/yr car registration. And almost $7/gal gas. Still worth it IMO. @mllcb42 can give you the “don’t go to SoCal / move to the FL space coast” pitch.
I came here on a business trip in 2004 (where I left I my appendix), the appeal was completely lost on me. It wasn’t until work brought me here every ~6 weeks for almost 3 years that I got it. I had an opportunity to move here to work in 2013 and never left. But you pay to play. 
Also not my specific situation, but as general rule in the California metros, SD is seen both as the cheaper place to live and has lower salaries (“sunshine tax”) than Bay Area or LA. The salary side has shifted a little in the past 5 years, but still tends to be the case.
would he be trying to bore this poor man to death? god i wouldn’t pitch that move to my worst enemy.
as a life long renter and first time homeowner i can’t possibly express how true this is. also how much more of a pain in the ass owning is. seems like every week there’s some other bullshit to deal with. and, of course, the fucking HOA’s (i know i know not every place has one)
this is the best advice. find somewhere you think you might want to live and rent until you are sure it absolutely is where you want to live.
1 Like
I have some idea of both states since I have temporarily lived in both states. I have lived in Tampa, Florida for about 1.5 years. And then lived in Berkeley (Bay area) for about 1 year. I like both equally and wouldn’t mind moving to any one of those places. Just that working in tech California is where early growth is.
San Diego seems cleaner, warmer, and more affordable.
1 Like
Best move i have made and every one else i kniow that made the same move is equally happy with it.
There comes a point where you decide that spending hours each day in traffic to get to work to pay for your multi million dollar shack with meth addicts parked out front ceases to be appealing.
6 Likes
Not sure if you are a developer, just build up your github repo and you can live anywhere you want 
5 Likes
What fancy-ass LA neighborhood were you living in where the meth addicts had cars? 
FWIW, I have two simple tips (Floridans hate me!) that we employed to overcome both of those challenges (YMMV):
- Don’t commute (work from home)
- Buy in the burbs/hills
OP, if you can afford SoCal, come enjoy it. Rent for a while and see how SoCal life looks on you. You can always take your high wage and savings and go elsewhere if you decide it’s not for you.
2 Likes
I just landed in San Diego for the weekend, and I’m happy to show you around if you’re here on a weekend I’m here too.
Perhaps we can recruit @jeisenc and all get a sunburntogether. 
4 Likes
That is a very tempting offer. My schedule is all packed up for June and I have to make the decision on where to end up in the next 2 weeks. I would be taking July off to travel to the east coast.
August is probably the time I’ll move to whichever destination I choose. I’ll love to meet in person if I end up in SD and you are around. 
If I can convince myself, I might just drive the 4xe there but the wind noise bothers me with the Jeep during long trips.
2 Likes
horses for courses. the space coast was one of the most boring places i’d ever been to. hell even coco beach was a huge letdown if you’re not a surfer. had a great sky dive over there though.
I imagine theres a big overlap in the venn diagram of people that feel that way about this area and people that look at going to work for tesls now as appealing