Moving to Sunnyvale (San Diego, San Jose, Irvine: sale, real estate, apartment)
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Hello,
I have got a job offer for 90K/yr in Sunnyvale CA. I am single 26M. Can you guys advise me where should I look for good housing (I am looking for 1 bedroom apt) My first priority will be safer place and around 20 mins commute to work (even in rush hours). One more thing, I have another job offer for 85K/yr in Irvine CA If you can advise me which place will be better and why (I heard some bad stories about OC) that will be great.
Thanks in advance..
Wow! Houses are definately NOT cheap in Sunnyvale! They cost about $600 a square foot! The cheapest houses are around $650k for like 1100 square feet! The big million dollar houses cost about $500 a square foot because logically its cheaper to build one big house than two smaller houses, you save both on lot size and surface area to volume ratio.
Unfortunately even a 1 bedroom condo is priced out of your affordability range at $350k, not something even a $90k salary can afford without being "house poor"
However you can get a very nice upscale 2 or 3 bedroom manufactored house(looks just like a CBS house) for around $100k. Lot fees could be $1000/month in a nice park. Take the job, enjoy the high salary, save on a manufactored house and save the rest of the money into mutual funds or retirement funds for an early retirement. What job may I ask?
I agree with Need_affordable_home. Both Sunnyvale and Irvine are very expensive places to live. You can eventually buy a VERY small place but you will have to put up with a not so great neighborhood, long commute that will eventually drive you nuts, and I kid you not. I am in the Bay Area and know all the issues well enough. I wish there were brighter and better news for you but there isn't. People are moving away from here because of the fact that even though you get paid well, you can't afford to buy a place and not be "house poor". 20 minutes commute is considered a super good commute that few people here have. If you don't like traffic, don't like driving, don't like to live in a tiny place, don't like knowing that you can work hard, get paid pretty OK but still can't buy a decent home without wrecking yourself to pay for it, then the Bay Area and even Orange County isn't for you. I know that sounds harsh but it's the way of life here. The "high" salaries here look good on paper but after taxes, the take home pay isn't going to be enough for most to afford a decent home and pay for their living expenses. If you are only looking to rent and are OK with doing that for a long time and perhaps have little desire to ever buy, then it's a completely different story.
Last edited by speedoflight; 10-16-2006 at 02:35 AM..
Thank you guys for all the info. I am considering CA because my girlfriend, after her school can find a job maybe in the same city (unlike Oklahoma where I am right now).
Needaffordable, what are the manufactured houses like by you? I've seen pics on real estate websites, but wasn't sure if they were accurately portrayed. They looked decent amazingly. Doesn't seem like there's a stigma in regards to living in one in CA as there is in Michigan LOL...which is cool. I hadn't really seriously considered manufactured housing as an option in CA...very interesting
In the urban areas in CA, particularly in the Bay Area, there aren't that many mobile home areas. There's just not enough space here and whatever space is left is used for the most lucrative returns, i.e. residential homes and commercial space.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Angel Bear
Needaffordable, what are the manufactured houses like by you? I've seen pics on real estate websites, but wasn't sure if they were accurately portrayed. They looked decent amazingly. Doesn't seem like there's a stigma in regards to living in one in CA as there is in Michigan LOL...which is cool. I hadn't really seriously considered manufactured housing as an option in CA...very interesting
All my friends and I have a combined family income of more than $170k but will also be very quick to tell you that they're "house poor". Most people from other states seem to see dollar signs in their eyes when they look at the pay that is offered on paper. I stress the point, "on paper". But when they get here, they get the biggest sticker shock of their lives. And some of these people aren't all from out of state. They come from Southern Cal where it's traditionally been cheaper than here in the Bay Area. In the past 5 years, the Bay Area has undergone a very big roller coaster ride where jobs are concerned. There's very little job security with companies going under and lay offs were high. The economy here has only begun to get a little bit better in the past 12 months and hiring has begun again but salaries have not risen to what they once were at the dot com peak and companies are still extremely slow and choosy in the hiring process. But...now we're facing the bursting of a very big real estate bubble that almost every economist has said is likely to bring pain to the overall national economy. Given that the Bay Area is where the double digit real estate gains occurred, guess where the economy will hurt. If you look at the GDP growth...you will see that it has not grown since the first quarter of this year. I've just read at least 3 articles stating that economists are predicting a possible recession in 2007 due to the bursting of the real estate bubble which floated everything up so high. It was the real estate bubble that floated the Bay Area through after the crash of the NASDAQ in 2000-2001. Without the real estate bubble, this place would have been hit 100x worse and at the time in 2001, there were casualties so bad everywhere. I had more friends unemployed than friends who were. Everyone sang the same lay off tune. I knew of someone who had to declare bankruptcy when she lost her job. I saw and underwent the peak and bust of the dot com tech economy. I don't know how this area would have been without the real estate bubble. In a way, it was a good thing that occurred and in every way, it was the worst thing that occurred because it made this place extremely unaffordable to live. In the best scenario, the bubble burst doesn't hit as bad, well then the home prices are still going to hover in the very high range which makes it close to impossible to own a decent home. In the worst scenario, the bubble burst hits bad, the economy falls again and everyone is messed up big time, only this time, there isn't another bubble to float through. I have been in the tech industry for most of my working career and I can tell you that it's very, very vulnerable to the up and down swings of the economy. While the Bay Area has wealth, it is an area that does not have that much economic diversity beyond the tech industry. This was why it got hit so badly when the tech bust/dot com bust hit in 2000. This is not a place you want to come to and own a house without first understanding its cycles and issues unless you don't mind facing all the financial pressures, stress and most of all, huge risks.
You should use this affordability meter to gauge the area:
http://www.nhc.org/chp/p2p/index.php
You will see from this meter that to own a place in the Bay Area, you need a combined income of more than $204,500 for a very basic median priced home of $645,000. This is just to own a home and pay for property taxes and insurance. It does not factor in your other living expenses and debt or vacations, etc.
Needaffordable, what are the manufactured houses like by you? I've seen pics on real estate websites, but wasn't sure if they were accurately portrayed. They looked decent amazingly. Doesn't seem like there's a stigma in regards to living in one in CA as there is in Michigan LOL...which is cool. I hadn't really seriously considered manufactured housing as an option in CA...very interesting
You should, its the only affordable option for many. Yes theres lot rental fees but its about half of what itll cost to rent an apartment! I would be fine living in a mobile home but because I am self employeed, I can live anywhere and theres plenty of cheap houses in some states like WV.
Quote:
Originally Posted by speedoflight
In the urban areas in CA, particularly in the Bay Area, there aren't that many mobile home areas. There's just not enough space here and whatever space is left is used for the most lucrative returns, i.e. residential homes and commercial space.
Theres several mobile parks in San Diego and even Sunnyvale. A relocation may be needed. As for the $170k household income, whats the problem? This is more than enough to buy a $100k mobile home, pay the $1k a month lot fees in an upscale mobile park and youd have more than enough money for all other expenses and plenty of money to put away for an early retirement!
When you retire, just move out and live somewhere you can get a huge house for a fraction of the $$$$$$ retirement you saved and live the rest of your life in style! If you are going to be house poor, get a mobile or manufactored house instead or relocate elsewhere.
A little while back, I did a hunt for mobile home parks in the Bay Area. So, I am quite aware of what's out there. There are no really nice mobile home parks in Sunnyvale that I know of. Sunnyvale isn't a large city. It's a small SJ suburb. There are 2-3 mobile home parks in Redwood City and I've been to them. They are not nice looking. They're OK if you're really in a super pinch and need to save or were just parking there temporarily. They're nothing like a luxury mobile home community. In South San Jose, there are some mobile home parks but hmm, have you ever been in the traffic that comes up the 880, 101 freeway from San Jose? Apparently not. Bay Area traffic has not gotten better. Why do you think one of the questions that's frequently asked by employers here is, "where do you live and can you make the commute?" Because if you can't do the commute for long term, it's a deal killer.
What's the difference between a mobile home and renting an apartment? Not much if you don't factor in that you feel you "own" one and the other you don't. Mobile homes don't have resale value. So if you buy an already used older model, you're going get stuck with it. I'd rather rent in such a situation because I'd have way more mobility.
Sure you could rent one or pay lot rent and own one but you are still basically throwing away your money at the end of the day for it's the aged old thing - you are not building any equity. And not a little bit of not building equity might I add since rents here go from $1500-2000 or way more for a decently located 2 bedroom apartment. I have a friend who paid $3500 for a 2 bedroom apartment rent in a super nice place in SF with a great view of the bay. You could save and save and take your money away but if you factor in inflation for x years, rise in cost of housing in all the y years that you did not buy, etc. etc., you might not end up as profitable as you think you are going to be. Why do you think so many people still end up wanting to buy? Relocation out of the entire state/area isn't a financially silly option if you factor in all the issues. Why do you think droves are leaving? They're not unskilled, uneducated people. A lot who have left are medium to upper medium class people who feel they have more to gain and less to lose by moving on. One might take a look and be critical and call them paranoid but remember this, it's never easy to relocate to another place. You uproot your family, your job, your life and all things you know and go to a new place that you take so many risks in. Yet people in CA do it all the time just to have that better quality of life (whatever it means to them).
You keep mentioned about mobile homes and seem to think that people here haven't thought of it or considered it. With housing being so difficult here, trust me, many have looked into it. Why is it not popular? For all the obvious reasons.
When you do a Google for mobile home parks in Sunnyvale, you get this listing for Community Systems. Read the comments which I believe are from people who have rented a home there. One person talks about the conditions/situation in the community which I am not surprised at all. In all the time I have lived in a rented place in the Bay Area, I've learned one big thing real quick - there's a HUGE catch as to why something seems cheaper and why everyone isn't doing it.
Read this other story about another mobile home park:
http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/06.22.05/oasis-0525.html
Note: Look at the photo of the swimming pool that is filled with dirt. Read the issues about disrepairs and issues at the park.
I am not saying all parks are like that one but it's not uncommon to see so many issues at these mobile home parks here. Many like the Oasis park are bought and converted very quickly into expensive condo/townhouse housing. The ROI gained by the land or park owners through such a sale or development far exceeds their keeping of it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Need_affordable_home
Theres several mobile parks in San Diego and even Sunnyvale. A relocation may be needed. As for the $170k household income, whats the problem? This is more than enough to buy a $100k mobile home, pay the $1k a month lot fees in an upscale mobile park and youd have more than enough money for all other expenses and plenty of money to put away for an early retirement!
When you retire, just move out and live somewhere you can get a huge house for a fraction of the $$$$$$ retirement you saved and live the rest of your life in style! If you are going to be house poor, get a mobile or manufactored house instead or relocate elsewhere.
Last edited by speedoflight; 10-17-2006 at 04:09 AM..
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