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Job/ salary/ General SF Bay Area questions

G

gordita

Golden Member
My story:

After a little more than a decade in upstate NY, we're ready to take a shot with Bay Area.

we understand that the move will entail an annual 40% rise in expenses and we all know about the RE situation. not to stop there but the traffic will be horrible, lots of competition and high taxes!

still, at the heart of human nature, things that come easy to us always feel less in value.
we feel like we're just coasting at our present jobs and in combination with dull, dreary, snowy weather for the next 5-6 months, we're yearning to make a change.

couple of questions for the ever engaging crowd:

1) how many of you made this coast-to-coast move for Professional/personal reasons and how has it been to what you expected it to be?

2) more importantly, has anyone been in a situation where one spouse got an offer to move and the other one was 'reluctant' to quit his/her old job till they also had an offer.
This could also mean that the spouses stay separate for a period of 2-4 months with the East coaster making lots of trips to the west coast for potential job interviews and helping setup the new abode. (financially, we would be ok with doing this...)

This is the point that rankles the most.
Inherently, it would be much easier for the 2nd spouse to quit his/her East coast job and permanently move and start a fresh, but after a decade of going to work every single day, this is just a 'scary' option.

3) how will potential new employers and recruiters in Bay Area view such a spouse? any tried and tested strategies to jump start the job search (i.e. apart from reaching out to recruiters and explaining that I/she will be moving in 1-2 months or giving a local address)? ( Assume the 1st spouse already has an offer on the table)

If it's easier, assume my better half has the offer and I'm the 'scared' one.
My area of expertise is IT Management and Operations.

We do have a toddler who won't start school for a couple of years... (yeah, wanted to add a devious twist to the story as well.... 😱)
 
What field are you in? Unemployment is high in the Bay Area, but some fields, like finance and accounting are easier to find positions in. Others, like software engineering, you may have a lot more competition for those jobs.

Oops, I didn't see the bottom of your post. Sorry about that.

Traffic isn't that bad in the Bay Area, especially if you have an opposite commute. Just make sure that if your job is in the Silicon Valley, you live in the Silicon Valley and not 30 miles away.

I'm actually in the opposition position from you. My wife may think about moving to a different department of her firm located in New York in the next couple of years. I think I'd jump at the option just to be able to live back east for 2-3 years, then move back to California. The company I am currently at has an office in NYC though, so I'd most likely try to transfer internally.
 
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I grew up here, so have no experience moving here from anywhere else, but can say that in the Bay Area, a salary under $100K is pretty much poverty if you're on a single income.
 
Kadarin said:
I grew up here, so have no experience moving here from anywhere else, but can say that in the Bay Area, a salary under $100K is pretty much poverty if you're on a single income.
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100 k??

You sure? Can't people just commute from the surrounding areas?
 
moved from Vegas to northern virginia and it was fun since i drove all the way and took the scenic route to Utah-Idaho-Wyoming (yellowstone) - Mt rushmore - and then straight east. I hired a moving company to drive my stuff and I had a road trip.
 
sunzt said:
100 k??

You sure? Can't people just commute from the surrounding areas?
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Lots of people do commute from surrounding areas, but commute times can be really long. I've even heard of some people who have houses an hour and a half away and have studio apartments close to work to avoid having to commute.
 
thegimp03 said:
Lots of people do commute from surrounding areas, but commute times can be really long. I've even heard of some people who have houses an hour and a half away and have studio apartments close to work to avoid having to commute.
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Depends on where the job ends up located.
 
Kadarin said:
I grew up here, so have no experience moving here from anywhere else, but can say that in the Bay Area, a salary under $100K is pretty much poverty if you're on a single income.
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Jesus. As a guy who came from KC and now lives in a town of 250 people I cant imagine 6 figures feeling like poverty. Wow.
 
Specop 007 said:
Jesus. As a guy who came from KC and now lives in a town of 250 people I cant imagine 6 figures feeling like poverty. Wow.
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Well, it's also bullshit.

Kadarin probably lives in Palo Alto or Redwood City or thereabouts. cost of living in the south Bay is nothing like the East Bay.

The Bay Area is huge, and is populated by pretty much every socioeconomic strata. I am currently at roughly the same cost of living as I was in Chicago, which is probably considered by most to be "much cheaper than the Bay Area."
 
zinfamous said:
Well, it's also bullshit.

Kadarin probably lives in Palo Alto or Redwood City or thereabouts. cost of living in the south Bay is nothing like the East Bay.

The Bay Area is huge, and is populated by pretty much every socioeconomic strata. I am currently at roughly the same cost of living as I was in Chicago, which is probably considered by most to be "much cheaper than the Bay Area."
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So for areas in and around SF where would you not recommend living?
 
zinfamous said:
Well, it's also bullshit.

Kadarin probably lives in Palo Alto or Redwood City or thereabouts. cost of living in the south Bay is nothing like the East Bay.

The Bay Area is huge, and is populated by pretty much every socioeconomic strata. I am currently at roughly the same cost of living as I was in Chicago, which is probably considered by most to be "much cheaper than the Bay Area."
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Cost of living is all over the board in the south bay. A small difference in zip code or side of the street can result in 25-40% and up difference in house prices.

There are some areas here where a single income of $100k supporting a family of four would make it tough to make ends meet. But those people with that level of income should living in Gilroy or South San Jose rather than Palo Alto or Menlo Park.
 
Specop 007 said:
So for areas in and around SF where would you not recommend living?
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Do not live in East Palo Alto (distinctly different from Palo Alto), parts of Oakland, Hayward, Union City, East San Jose.

For the record, I live in South San Jose, and I was kidding slightly (but just slightly) about the $100k poverty figure. Seriously though, if you have a single income and buy a house in this area, $100k is probably not enough to comfortably raise a family.
 
thegimp03 said:
Cost of living is all over the board in the south bay. A small difference in zip code or side of the street can result in 25-40% and up difference in house prices.

There are some areas here where a single income of $100k supporting a family of four would make it tough to make ends meet. But those people with that level of income should living in Gilroy or South San Jose rather than Palo Alto or Menlo Park.
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Dude, South San Jose is the most expensive part of San Jose. Cheap in the bay area? East Palo Alto, East SJ, Newark to Richmond on the East Bay, Morgan Hill, Gilroy.
 
What if someone works in north SF, is it worth it to look on the other side of the Golden Gate into Sausilito and even further along the 101 towards Petaluma?

San Jose to north SF looks like quite a trek to do daily. Somewhere around 50 miles one way.
 
Slew Foot said:
Dude, South San Jose is the most expensive part of San Jose. Cheap in the bay area? East Palo Alto, East SJ, Newark to Richmond on the East Bay, Morgan Hill, Gilroy.
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If you live in Morgan Hill or Gilroy, you're going to commute to wherever you work.
 
Slew Foot said:
Dude, South San Jose is the most expensive part of San Jose. Cheap in the bay area? East Palo Alto, East SJ, Newark to Richmond on the East Bay, Morgan Hill, Gilroy.
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Yeah, I'd consider Willow Glen and Almaden Valley areas to be the most expensive parts of San Jose. I was referring to the Evergreen area.
 
thegimp03 said:
Cost of living is all over the board in the south bay. A small difference in zip code or side of the street can result in 25-40% and up difference in house prices.

There are some areas here where a single income of $100k supporting a family of four would make it tough to make ends meet. But those people with that level of income should living in Gilroy or South San Jose rather than Palo Alto or Menlo Park.
Click to expand...

very true. Menlo park is across the street from Atherton. lol.
 
Specop 007 said:
So for areas in and around SF where would you not recommend living?
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I guess it depends. Safety--cost of living? The two places that you absolutely do not want to live are East Oakland (some areas of Oakland can be quite nice and awesome, though) and anywhere in Richmond.

If cost is the thing--then on the average, I think South Bay tends to be the most expensive. North of Berkeley is generally more reasonable. You're limited to Albany and El Cerrito, though, before turning into Richmond.

I like this area, however. I don't like much of the South Bay b/c it's very soulless. The same kind of car-dependent Suburban Sprawl that you see all over the country. With Berkeley, it feels like a small town, but also quite urban, in a strange way. In most areas, I'm in walking distance of just about anything I need, which is rather unique for this size town (which does not feel like a city). Can be both quite and lively. SF is just across the Bay, too.

South Berkeley is more or less Oakland, and does suck a bit, but it is gentrifying. West Berkeley (along the bay, used to be a shithole some decades ago (or so I'm told), but it's a rather cool area these days.

Emeryville (er, Pixar-ville), a sliver of a town sandwiched between berk and Oakland, is basically "apartment living in strip mall parking lots." At least, that's what it looks like to me.
 
Is traffic in the Bay Area really that bad? I lived in the South Bay and never thought it was that bad compared to other metro areas like LA and DC.
 
Gilroy is in Santa Clara county so yeah I guess its the red headed stepchild of the Bay Area. The South Part of Evergreen (95138) is probably the most expensive part of SJ.
 
I am from suburban Chicago and lived a short time in Wisconsin before I moved to Los Angeles. I moved to SF area about 10 years ago. The biggest thing is the cost of housing. I think you will adjust to the rest pretty easily since NY already has high state income tax. How upstate are you talking? My brother lives an hour outside Rochester and I laugh at what he paid for his house. Mine (just a TH) cost 10x his.

If I was the one that had to quit I would spend 1-2 months at my current job before moving to get a feel for the job market in the new area and develop some leads. The kid can be an issue though.

Where is the job located? Traffic CAN suck in the bay area (just like everywhere else), so I wouldn't live too far away. I hate commuting so I have always lived within 10 miles of my job. You can get cheap in the South Bay, parts of Sunnyvale and Mountain View, Santa Clara, etc. Generally the price is dictated by school test scores.
 
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