Considering moving to Cali - what do I need to know?

[Slew Foot]

Taxes are stupid high. 10% income + 9% sales +1-2% property on super overpriced real estate. All this and theres still a 20 BILLION dollar deficit projected next year. Unemployment at ~14%, 33% of all the welfare cases in the country. Income thats not all that different than the rest of the country.

The laws in place are designed to help welfare cases and old people, at the expense of young workers.

Dont come unless you have lots of money to burn.

 

[alfa147x]

Look into something like alpharetta ga but live in Suwanee, GA

This way you're 20 - 30 mins away from Atlanta 10 mins away for a beautiful lake, and VERY little crime.

20 mins from a Frys Electronics and Microcenters

If you're worried about taxes live in Sugar Hill, we take care of all the amenities that Suwanee offers but pay very little taxes.

The weather is quite nice there too
My number one place to live after college and the USMC
I thought of San Diego as I have been there a few times and have family there, the costs is WAY to high... Plus it gets kinda hot for me

Honestly this might sound like a a 'hill billy' place but its not what you would think when you think of the south.

Like golf?

 

[The Stig]

I wouldn't move unless I have a job offer.

Austin, TX >> CA.

TX = no state income tax, low cost of living.
CA = high state income tax, sales tax, cost of living.

What do you enjoy, OP? I mean things like recreation and stuff...

whole post is LOL

It's Texas, I'd rather castrate myself than have to live with fuckin Texans. Comparing Texas to Cali is like comparing Southern France to Ukraine.

 

[BoomerD]

Look into something like alpharetta ga but live in Suwanee, GA

This way you're 20 - 30 mins away from Atlanta 10 mins away for a beautiful lake, and VERY little crime.

20 mins from a Frys Electronics and Microcenters

If you're worried about taxes live in Sugar Hill, we take care of all the amenities that Suwanee offers but pay very little taxes.

Coming from Maryland, JawJa might be an acceptable compromise. Wouldn't work for me personally, but different strokes for different folks. Fry's has locations all over Kahleeforneeya, and IMO, MicroCenter sux no matter where you live.

The weather is quite nice there too
My number one place to live after college and the USMC
I thought of San Diego as I have been there a few times and have family there, the costs is WAY to high... Plus it gets kinda hot for me

How can you call San Diego "HOT?"
Yes, once you go east from the coast very far, it can get blazing hot, but San Diego proper has perhaps the best climate in the USA. Rarely over 90 or under 60. Then, if you compare humidity levels between Kahleeforneeya and JawJa, Kahleeforneeya is the clear winner.
AFAIK, I've never been to Suwanee, but I HAVE been to Georgia in the summer time. Blazing hot and sweltering humidity.

Honestly this might sound like a a 'hill billy' place but its not what you would think when you think of the south.

Like golf?

As I remember, (it's been nearly 40 years) very little of the southern states are actually "hillbilly," but most were much more redneck than most of the rest of the USA. Whether that's good or bad depends on your personal preferences.

 

[MotF Bane]

Avoid. The cons clearly outweigh the pros.

 

[Pliablemoose]

whole post is LOL

It's Texas, I'd rather castrate myself than have to live with fuckin Texans. Comparing Texas to Cali is like comparing Southern France to Ukraine.

Austin is one of the few places in Texas you can publicly admit you're a Democrat, it's actually a pretty cool town.

 

[BudAshes]

I figured out how to fix California. Take 10 million of them and send them to Canada.

 

[alfa147x]

Oh yeah you are right San Diego's weather is quite nice... I dunno what made me say that

Btw Microcenters for CPU prices! Its an added bonus

and you only get into the true south once you get south below the airport here

 

[RaistlinZ]

If you must go to Cali I'd suggest just renting out a bedroom for $1000/mo. in San Francisco.

 

[Chaotic42]

No one's mentioned the people.

It's completely anecdotal, but I spent 10 days in San Bernardino, Redlands, and Palm Springs. With exactly one exception, all of the people there were extremely friendly. There was a kid who threw his backpack in front of my car like it was C4 in Battlefield 2, but he was nice about it.

 

[JS80]

It's completely anecdotal, but I spent 10 days in San Bernardino, Redlands, and Palm Springs. With exactly one exception, all of the people there were extremely friendly. There was a kid who threw his backpack in front of my car like it was C4 in Battlefield 2, but he was nice about it.

You gotta head west to the ocean to find us assholes.

 

[jhu]

Don't move to California. We need less people here, not more!

 

[tcsenter]

California's real estate prices are highly variable, depending on region. You can buy a house in the East Bay area (Contra Costa county) right now for $120 per sq.ft. in a really decent area/community. e.g. We bought a 2200 sq.ft house in Oakley last year for $255K including closing costs. It was a foreclosure and needed $10,000 worth of improvements/repairs, but property values have dipped a tad bit more since we bought it.

In Central California (the hardest hit real estate market in CA, if not the entire country), houses that are only four, five, six years old in decent areas/communities are selling for less than $90 per sq.ft. You can get a bit of land with that (e.g. 3/4 ~ 1.0 acres) for the same price if you go further East to the foothills.

California can get pretty conservative in the suburbs and out-lying areas. Check out a map of how California voted by County in the past two Presidential elections. The major metros (e.g. Sacramento, San Francisco, Oakland, and LA) are solidly blue but the rest of the state looks like a sea of red. And there are a lot of rednecks here.

Produce prices are cheaper here than most any place else, because so much of it is grown or comes into the ports here. Again, this is variable. If you live some place like LA or SF, everything is going to be crazy expensive (like NYC/Manhattan).

 

[kY]

I wouldn't move unless I have a job offer.

Austin, TX >> CA.

TX = no state income tax, low cost of living.
CA = high state income tax, sales tax, cost of living.

What do you enjoy, OP? I mean things like recreation and stuff...

Yeah, but then you have to deal with Texans

 

[zerocool84]

All good things cost money.

This


/thread

 

[amddude]

Alpharetta is definitely up and coming. I love it here in Florida. Weather is great, stuff to do, good eats...

 

[CRXican]

it sucks when the biggest city in the state has to stop hiring police and contemplate laying them off

 

[Theb]

My company has an office in California and an office in Texas. Texans are infinitely easier people to work with. Taxes and housing are cheap and the job market is a lot better than California.
If you're looking at California for the weather, I would at least look into Austin before deciding.

Edit: I live in Oregon and love it but can't recommend it for the climate, except in Southern Oregon where the job market sucks.

 

[Theb]

The pro and cons really depend on what city you choose to live in. The general con for CA is the high sales taxes.

The place where I really want to move to is Portland. The air quality there is fucking amazing, but public transportation sucks balls.

They're doing a huge revamp/expansion of the public transportation right now with stimulus money it's going to be pretty sweet in Portland (and nearby metro) when they're done, but your still SOL outside of Portland.

 

[MotionMan]

It's not a state I'd move to right now given it's massive problems.

QFT.

MotionMan (Native Californian and lifetime (so far) resident)

 

[911paramedic]

Born and raised in CA. If you can afford to live here it is a great place to be. Oceans, skiing, deserts, etc., if you want it, it's here.

When I say "if you can afford it", it's probaly cheaper than living in New York or some other crowded metropolitan areas. Just do a bit of research and I'm sure you can find a decent place in no time at all.

I've lived all over the country while in the service and CA is still the most expensive for a single person, but if you have the right job (read: income) it is great. I was living on my own at 24 in a gated apt. complex, but I was pulling in 4K a month and not paying taxes on it. (Boy did that bite me in the ass a couple of years later...the joys of being an independent contractor.)

Don't let people push you away from CA, it really is a great place to live. I came back after living in NV for seven years. Just figure out what you want and how you are going to do it.

Good luck and hopefully, welcome to CA!

 

[JS80]

Born and raised in CA. If you can afford to live here it is a great place to be. Oceans, skiing, deserts, etc., if you want it, it's here.

When I say "if you can afford it", it's probaly cheaper than living in New York or some other crowded metropolitan areas. Just do a bit of research and I'm sure you can find a decent place in no time at all.

I've lived all over the country while in the service and CA is still the most expensive for a single person, but if you have the right job (read: income) it is great. I was living on my own at 24 in a gated apt. complex, but I was pulling in 4K a month and not paying taxes on it. (Boy did that bite me in the ass a couple of years later...the joys of being an independent contractor.)

Don't let people push you away from CA, it really is a great place to live. I came back after living in NV for seven years. Just figure out what you want and how you are going to do it.

Good luck and hopefully, welcome to CA!

Uhhh...even $4k/mo after tax earning is pauper wages in CA

OP, if CA forces Amazon to charge sales tax then it should be a deal killer.

 

[ZombieRitual]

Considering moving to Cali - what do I need to know?

Stop saying "Cali." It's California, CA, So Cal, or Nor Cal.

 

[zoiks]

Better be ready to pay at least $2000/month for a 2 bedroom apartment, or have 400k sitting around for a 1200 sq.ft. house.

Odd that you're in Michigan and pretend to know all about high rent/mortgage in California. Wait..you're in michigan where you can probably buy a house for $10 down the road.

$2000 is on the high side for a 2 bedroom apartment. I live in Sunnyvale in Northern california and I pay 1285 for a fairly nice 2 bedroom apt.
$400k is about right for a small house but then prices are high pretty much everywhere now. Except for Michigan that is where crack houses are at every corner.

 

[zoiks]

My company has an office in California and an office in Texas. Texans are infinitely easier people to work with. Taxes and housing are cheap and the job market is a lot better than California.
If you're looking at California for the weather, I would at least look into Austin before deciding.

Edit: I live in Oregon and love it but can't recommend it for the climate, except in Southern Oregon where the job market sucks.

I wouldn't move to TX for anything. Lousy weather (heat) and you'd have live with Texans. I live in California and my company ousted my dept to move it to Plano TX. I basically quit before the move and found a better job here in CA (actually had 4 offers from different companies) that paid a hell lot more.