Should I live in San Diego, CA after I graduate?

[isaacmacdonald]

I vote san francisco. I'm going to move there in a year or two... it's a fvcking sweet place to relax.

 

[imported_Tomato]

I live in West LA.

Moved out to Cali after graduating from college last year with $500 and 2 suitcases (no job).

Found a job in a month, started work, have lived here ever since.

I pay $600/month rent in a beautiful apartment. Great price for the place/area.

Come to LA!

 

[rayray2]

Originally posted by: bubbasmith99
I've heard it's got great weather. That's really all I'm interested in at this point.

In all seriousness, does anybody here have any feelings about this one way or the other?

Woah, I just realized something..... CA isn't very sales tax friendly, is it? :Q

Well if you don't mind paying half a million bucks for a 1000 sq. ft. house, go for it!

 

[gigapet]

i'm also planning on moving out to san diego like next year. You say its expensive but in comparison to what? New York and Connecticut are expensive places to live so how does it compare to that?

 

[Encryptic]

San Diego is a nice place to live. But as other people have already said, can be expensive depending on where you live. It gets less expensive in some of the older (read: ghetto) neighborhoods like Normal Heights or City Heights but you'll pay through the nose if you want to live in a nice (read: rich) area like La Jolla or Mission Valley.

I've lived all over San Diego and San Diego County for most of my life, so I can say that it's a nice place to live, just expensive for the most part. There are a lot of things to do and places to go (beaches, Gaslamp Quarter, Old Town, etc.). Right now, I live in Lakeside which is about 20 miles east of San Diego (and technically isn't part of San Diego) but work for a company in the Old Town area of San Diego.

I do have to commute further, but Lakeside is much quieter and safer than some areas of San Diego proper. Also, we pay $950/month for a huge 2 bedroom/2 bath apartment that has amenities out the wazoo (A/C, fireplace, dishwasher, etc.) in a very nice quiet complex. I used to split a 2-bedroom/1-bath apartment with a roommate several years ago for $900 that had dick for amenities and was much smaller than my current place. This was in Normal Heights (about 10 minutes away from anywhere in the metropolitan San Diego area), BTW.

I guess it all depends on where you want to live in San Diego and where you work, weighed against how much you can afford.

 

[crazygal]

San Diego is awesome
So is escondido

 

[rh71]

<-- working from home full time anyway... wish I could go... fiance has too many ties to NYC. :|

 

[LiLRiceBoi]

I live in San Diego, and it's a nice place. Great weather especially if you like going to the beach. It can get pretty expensive depending where you live, but even in the ghetto neighborhoods (not recommended), it's rising in price.

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: bubbasmith99
I've heard it's got great weather. That's really all I'm interested in at this point.

In all seriousness, does anybody here have any feelings about this one way or the other?

Woah, I just realized something..... CA isn't very sales tax friendly, is it? :Q

No, there are already too many out of state Rubes who have lowered the quality of life there. Feel free to visit just don't forget to leave.

 

[isaacmacdonald]

Originally posted by: Dezign
I live in West LA.

Moved out to Cali after graduating from college last year with $500 and 2 suitcases (no job).

Found a job in a month, started work, have lived here ever since.

I pay $600/month rent in a beautiful apartment. Great price for the place/area.

Come to LA!

that's suprising. I was under the impression that housing was exceedingly expensive in CA.

Paying 850 a month for a fairly small non-air conditioned apt on Long Island-

 

[anxi80]

Originally posted by: Encryptic

I do have to commute further, but Lakeside is much quieter and safer than some areas of San Diego proper. Also, we pay $950/month for a huge 2 bedroom/2 bath apartment that has amenities out the wazoo (A/C, fireplace, dishwasher, etc.) in a very nice quiet complex. I used to split a 2-bedroom/1-bath apartment with a roommate several years ago for $900 that had dick for amenities and was much smaller than my current place. This was in Normal Heights (about 10 minutes away from anywhere in the metropolitan San Diego area), BTW.

encryptic, does that apartment complex have any vacancies? i live in vista, but my work is in san diego, and im currently looking for a place, and that doesnt sound half bad. and i can go to viejas after work...

btw, used to live in normal heights also, i was about 3-4 blocks away from adams ave.

 

[gigapet]

Originally posted by: isaacmacdonald

Originally posted by: Dezign
I live in West LA.

Moved out to Cali after graduating from college last year with $500 and 2 suitcases (no job).

Found a job in a month, started work, have lived here ever since.

I pay $600/month rent in a beautiful apartment. Great price for the place/area.

Come to LA!

that's suprising. I was under the impression that housing was exceedingly expensive in CA.

Paying 850 a month for a fairly small non-air conditioned apt on Long Island-

thats what I am saying........they all say its expensive but compared to what? L.I. , NYC, westchester county and all CT are very expensive places to live so I want to know if it is more expensive than these places or basically the same.

 

[NICKel]

Encryptic--

How long does it take you (minding no major traffice delays) to get to..

- shore
- gaslight
- Nearest fry's and best buy (hehe)

 

[anxi80]

Originally posted by: NICKel
Encryptic--

How long does it take you (minding no major traffice delays) to get to..

- shore
- gaslight
- Nearest fry's and best buy (hehe)

i dont know the numbers (havent been to lakeside in awhile), but i can shed a light on some of this info. fry's is off aero drive, and if you leave fry's and take the bottom entrance (avoiding aero), and hop on the 15, you can take the next exit (friars) and blow down friars to get to best buy, which is off mission center road (takes me about 5-7 minutes from fry's). then from best buy, if i wanted to hit the beach, the possibilities are endless. mission bay and ocean beach, or if i took the 5, pacific beach are all within, lets say a 10-20 minutes time range depending on what you select.

edit: btw, love this city. i wouldnt move unless an major cant-turn-down-once-in-a-lifetime job offer came to me. and even then id think itd be tough to leave. ive lived throughout this whole city and love it. weather is perfect here also.

 

[dreamer]

San Diego is the best city in the US, IMHO. I have lived here all my life and work as an EE in Rancho Bernardo, but live in Otay Ranch. It is expensive but well worth it.

 

[Encryptic]

Originally posted by: anxi80

Originally posted by: Encryptic

I do have to commute further, but Lakeside is much quieter and safer than some areas of San Diego proper. Also, we pay $950/month for a huge 2 bedroom/2 bath apartment that has amenities out the wazoo (A/C, fireplace, dishwasher, etc.) in a very nice quiet complex. I used to split a 2-bedroom/1-bath apartment with a roommate several years ago for $900 that had dick for amenities and was much smaller than my current place. This was in Normal Heights (about 10 minutes away from anywhere in the metropolitan San Diego area), BTW.

encryptic, does that apartment complex have any vacancies? i live in vista, but my work is in san diego, and im currently looking for a place, and that doesnt sound half bad. and i can go to viejas after work...

btw, used to live in normal heights also, i was about 3-4 blocks away from adams ave.

I'm not sure about vacancies, but I can PM you with the phone number of the leasing office if you like. Seems like every other week someone is moving in or out.

 

[anxi80]

Originally posted by: Encryptic
I'm not sure about vacancies, but I can PM you with the phone number of the leasing office if you like. Seems like every other week someone is moving in or out.

thatd be cool. thanks. cant believe the movie-line guy lives in san diego also. go figure.

 

[neutralizer]

I live in Carmel Valley, great neighborhood, far from major stores but doesnt matter because everyone drives a car since SD has a major lack of public transportation.

 

[Encryptic]

Originally posted by: NICKel
Encryptic--

How long does it take you (minding no major traffice delays) to get to..

- shore
- gaslight
- Nearest fry's and best buy (hehe)

You can use the freeways to get to all of those places from Lakeside. If you book it and there's not a lot of traffic, you could make the beach in about 20-25 minutes.

Fry's and Best Buy are very close together (maybe 5 minutes apart if you use Friars Road to get between the two) and I would say it'd be about 15-20 minutes from Lakeside to either one.

Gaslamp Quarter is downtown and would be about 20-25 minutes also. Most of that would be freeway but then you have to deal with all the one-way streets and stoplights in downtown which adds more time.

I'm about 2 minutes from 67 so it's easy for me to get on and off the freeway.

 

[Encryptic]

Originally posted by: anxi80

Originally posted by: Encryptic

I do have to commute further, but Lakeside is much quieter and safer than some areas of San Diego proper. Also, we pay $950/month for a huge 2 bedroom/2 bath apartment that has amenities out the wazoo (A/C, fireplace, dishwasher, etc.) in a very nice quiet complex. I used to split a 2-bedroom/1-bath apartment with a roommate several years ago for $900 that had dick for amenities and was much smaller than my current place. This was in Normal Heights (about 10 minutes away from anywhere in the metropolitan San Diego area), BTW.

encryptic, does that apartment complex have any vacancies? i live in vista, but my work is in san diego, and im currently looking for a place, and that doesnt sound half bad. and i can go to viejas after work...

btw, used to live in normal heights also, i was about 3-4 blocks away from adams ave.

Yeah I used to live a block from Adams. We were planning on moving anyway, but they sold the building we were living in and gave everyone 90 days to move, which is when we moved to Lakeside.

I drove by there about a month ago and they had turned the place into condos starting at $120,000. $120,000 condos in THAT area? Riiiiight. Maybe in Kensington, but not the area of Normal Heights I was living in.

 

[anxi80]

Originally posted by: Encryptic

Yeah I used to live a block from Adams. We were planning on moving anyway, but they sold the building we were living in and gave everyone 90 days to move, which is when we moved to Lakeside.

I drove by there about a month ago and they had turned the place into condos starting at $120,000. $120,000 condos in THAT area? Riiiiight. Maybe in Kensington, but not the area of Normal Heights I was living in.

damn. i wouldnt pay that. but perhaps we are underestimating the drawing power of the adams ave. street fair? i go by there every so often, usually when im up by canada steak burger, its a couple exits past adams, on el cajon blvd. mmmm, a canada steak burger...

/me(anxi80) stomach growls.

 

[rh71]

Originally posted by: gigapet

Originally posted by: isaacmacdonald

Originally posted by: Dezign
I live in West LA.

Moved out to Cali after graduating from college last year with $500 and 2 suitcases (no job).

Found a job in a month, started work, have lived here ever since.

I pay $600/month rent in a beautiful apartment. Great price for the place/area.

Come to LA!

that's suprising. I was under the impression that housing was exceedingly expensive in CA.

Paying 850 a month for a fairly small non-air conditioned apt on Long Island-

thats what I am saying........they all say its expensive but compared to what? L.I. , NYC, westchester county and all CT are very expensive places to live so I want to know if it is more expensive than these places or basically the same.

From what I gather, SD is pretty much the same as LI in terms of price, or at least getting pretty damn close. NYC is a different category altogether... you don't have houses or much (any) land there. Anyway, SD beats LI in terms of weather hands-down, but LI beats SD in terms of life-threatening earthquakes.