Anyone Else Thinking of Moving Out of Bay Area? (San Diego: real estate, apartment)

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by roadwarrior101

Gilroy doesn't have the food scene of Napa.

That's why it's cheaper, boys....

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by BayAreaHillbilly

And it's over 70 miles from downtown SF.

It's only 15-20 miles away from San Jose, though. Close enough to civilization

[bobby_guz_man]

That said, I'm moving to Albuquerque or Portland when I retire. Still debating with the wife whether or not we should buy a house in the Portland area and rent it out till then.

[cardinal2007]

Originally Posted by bobby_guz_man

That said, I'm moving to Albuquerque or Portland when I retire. Still debating with the wife whether or not we should buy a house in the Portland area and rent it out till then.

I can't take the weather, I'll probably move to LA when I retire, or back to Lima (though the overcast sky in winter is not to my liking), I think LA and areas, gets a worse reputation than they should. Possibly near the beach, if the prices stay about the same relative to SJ, I should be able to buy a similar condo about 1/2 mile to the beach when I retire. LA area has its downsides, especially if you're working though.

[RecentGrad1]

My plan is to make my money here, and then get out of the US entirely. Even with no raises beyond inflation, I will be financially independent in my early 30's, with no need to continue to work for money. My current idea is to move to Southeast Asia where my money would go even further, but that remains to be seen.

IMO San Jose is one of the best places in the world to save money if you can get a decent job and settle for cheap accommodations, but a horrible place to raise a family or retire.

[wsugrad03]

This sounds like an all too common thread of global cities. More people. More economic activity. More money. Supply and demand drives things up until you have an alpha city. It will eventually get too expensive for most people and it's time to move on to the beta and gamma cities. Only in the Bay Area, I think the problem is grossly compounded by "operation tax shield" prop 13 and no room to sprawl. Only in the Bay Area will you really have situations where someone can be paying less than $1000 property tax a year for a $2 million dollar home. That simply doesn't exist elsewhere, and it contributes to low housing inventory here, which jacks up pricing even more.

My wife and I had the same conversation as everyone else on this thread. With respect to Seattle, I would say unless you spent many years in the pacific northwest, you don't know what you're getting yourself into. Weather is a completely different beast. But if I were to pick the #2 tech economy to move to it would be Seattle. It was the fastest growing city last year in America and will be facing a 20% growth in the next 15 years. Austin is another, and is projected to grow 55% in the next 15 years. The Bay area is expected to grow only 7% in the next 15 years, which isn't surprising given this thread and conversations everyone is having about this region being too expensive.

Here's an interesting site that shows growth projections by region.
Mapping America?s Futures

[Californian12345]

thanks for this article. Based on this, looks like Raleigh may not be a terrible place to consider after all! I'm going to plan a trip out there and see. It's growing, there is a tech scene, housing is cheaper, there are safe neighborhoods, and coming from the Bay Area, we'd be able live comfortably.

it's funny how Seattle and Austin keep coming up in this thread and the numbers show it! Like what everyone else said, Seattle's weather is why we won't move. Too bad, because that's probably the only real reason. It rained once in the Bay Area and I was in a bad mood all day....pretty sure I can't survive Seattle.

Austin has the room the spread, but at the end of the day, it's an oasis in the middle of Texas. I LOVE the vibe of Austin but I felt so landlocked there. Plus, for a good 4-5 months out of the year, it's over 90 degrees every single day. However, there are definitely some appealing things about Austin, for sure. I could see why people would want to move out there.

[Fiona8484]

Originally Posted by wsugrad03

This sounds like an all too common thread of global cities. More people. More economic activity. More money. Supply and demand drives things up until you have an alpha city. It will eventually get too expensive for most people and it's time to move on to the beta and gamma cities. Only in the Bay Area, I think the problem is grossly compounded by "operation tax shield" prop 13 and no room to sprawl. Only in the Bay Area will you really have situations where someone can be paying less than $1000 property tax a year for a $2 million dollar home. That simply doesn't exist elsewhere, and it contributes to low housing inventory here, which jacks up pricing even more.

My wife and I had the same conversation as everyone else on this thread. With respect to Seattle, I would say unless you spent many years in the pacific northwest, you don't know what you're getting yourself into. Weather is a completely different beast. But if I were to pick the #2 tech economy to move to it would be Seattle. It was the fastest growing city last year in America and will be facing a 20% growth in the next 15 years. Austin is another, and is projected to grow 55% in the next 15 years. The Bay area is expected to grow only 7% in the next 15 years, which isn't surprising given this thread and conversations everyone is having about this region being too expensive.

Here's an interesting site that shows growth projections by region.
Mapping America?s Futures

As usual, you are spot on.

Definitely looking into Austin, of course the heat would be nasty but I don't want to deal with cold winters. The high property taxes that people speak of aren't as shocking when one recently lived in New York. It is very appealing to think about buying a house for $200-300k. I feel like the sacrifices to live in SV are just too huge in terms of housing costs and congestion.

What is your opinion on the real estate market in Seattle? I get the impression that it is pretty ugly up there, though not quite as bad as SV.

Denver is appealing, but I wonder how much of a tech market exists.

[ggcd951]

Originally Posted by Californian12345

I've lived in the Bay Area my whole life. We currently live in Willow Glen and we work up the peninsula. As our kids are getting a little older (4 and 2) we are starting to look at schools and our lives in general. We're finding that perhaps the Bay Area may not be all it's cracked up to be; crime is getting worse and worse, especially in San Jose, traffic is terrible, and if we want to move closer to work, it's $2m for a house thats 2500 sq ft built in 1955, it's getting very crowded and expensive everywhere you look.

We're throwing around the idea of moving out of state to get away from it all and get a better quality of life for the price.

Are we crazy? Is anyone else thinking this way? Does anyone else feel like the allure of the Bay is fading?

Bay area is great to live lot of activity but political hypocrisy, tax system, cops, goverment municipalities are crazy.

[cardinal2007]

Originally Posted by Californian12345

thanks for this article. Based on this, looks like Raleigh may not be a terrible place to consider after all! I'm going to plan a trip out there and see. It's growing, there is a tech scene, housing is cheaper, there are safe neighborhoods, and coming from the Bay Area, we'd be able live comfortably.

it's funny how Seattle and Austin keep coming up in this thread and the numbers show it! Like what everyone else said, Seattle's weather is why we won't move. Too bad, because that's probably the only real reason. It rained once in the Bay Area and I was in a bad mood all day....pretty sure I can't survive Seattle.

Austin has the room the spread, but at the end of the day, it's an oasis in the middle of Texas. I LOVE the vibe of Austin but I felt so landlocked there. Plus, for a good 4-5 months out of the year, it's over 90 degrees every single day. However, there are definitely some appealing things about Austin, for sure. I could see why people would want to move out there.

If you're looking at Raleigh, why not Fairfax County and Loudoun County VA just outside DC? The weather is very similar, yes it is more expensive than Raleigh, but it will still come out to 1/3 to 1/2 per sqft compared to here. Those two areas have very good schools, particularly the more expensive parts, which would come up to $360/sqft at the fanciest neighborhood compare to $1100/sqf or $700/sqft for Palo Alto and Cupertino, but you don't have to go to the fanciest neighborhood to get good schools. The area has similar weather to research triangle, and has a healthy job market, with plenty of tech jobs, though not much in the startup space in comparison to Silicon Valley.