Why the hard time for Cali?

originally posted by: Edumakated

originally posted by: rickymouse
Unless a person has a real lot of money to waste, stay away from Cali. The cost of living there is way too high. They made their bed, let them lay in it. I feel sorry for some of the people working there, they are brainwashed to think they are doing great because of the wage they make. But they are no better off than working somewhere else where the cost of living is less. People are not that smart, the more you spend, the more you need to make to be at the same place.

Half the state of California lives in delusion, they can't comprehend that their high cost of living is making them poor.

I find a lot of people that live in CA are up to their eyeballs in debt trying to live the high life. This is why CA (Orange County specifically) was the home to so many subprime mortgage companies.

Not to mention the homeless encampments nearly existing as a perimeter around the county

originally posted by: BASSPLYR
a reply to: TNMockingbird

love or not. oz is still really nice. better quality of life there. and it's pretty cheap granted you don't live in either Perth, Sydney or Melbourne. Queensland has some amazing beaches. you should go on a Aussie dating sight and try to move there. just stay away from Boganlove.com or housohookups.com

I literally just took your advice, weee!

originally posted by: CornishCeltGuy

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: CornishCeltGuy

I turned down a job a few years ago in San Francisco. They offered 250K salary and that (according to the cost of living there) would not have been enough for me and my family to live on.

250k and cant live sounds nuts, you'd be a king here.

The average home in SF is over a million! It's ridiculous!

originally posted by: CornishCeltGuy

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: CornishCeltGuy

I turned down a job a few years ago in San Francisco. They offered 250K salary and that (according to the cost of living there) would not have been enough for me and my family to live on.

250k and cant live sounds nuts, you'd be a king here.

That's the truth.

We make a modest living out in Missouri where it went insane and snowed today which is why it's less nice that California - much less stable climate.

But to even think about realizing something close to the same standard of living in Cali both of us would have to at least make 1/3 again our present salaries for the same work if not 1/2 again, and with that amount, we'd have no prayer of being homeowners, and we'd be lucky to be able to rent a small apartment even as close to our jobs as we live now.

A lot of people who make modest livings out there drive well over an hour one way just to get to work because environmental restrictions have created such a tight and expensive housing market.

I'm not sure they could pay us enough to move out there.

a reply to: CornishCeltGuy

Everyone should go to Cali, at least once in their life. Just don't go with blinders on. Some places are as close to Heaven on Earth as I'm ever likely to see...others, not so much.

The traffic. Urban sprawl/blight. Pollution, though that's many places outside Cali, too. Crime. Cost of living is horrendous.

For all the good, and there's lots of it, there's also bad, and it seems to be getting worse in many places.

originally posted by: CornishCeltGuy

originally posted by: TNMockingbird
a reply to: CornishCeltGuy

Well, just know if he gets 'skint' (?) and needs help, if he can get to me he's got a roof and a belly full ( may be mostly full in all honesty LOL) until you can send for him,
Anyways, good luck to the young man, I remember being young, fearless and going wherever the wind blew. Those were some of the best times of my life!

Ah thank you, I know

Same applies back at ya, need life saving cancer treatment but don't wanna lose your house ever, just shout me, you'll be my American bird.
EDIT
...and the NHS will treat you for free, you never have to go bankrupt over cancer as my friend x

Just take after my girls if they ever wind up in the crap hole London that everyone speaks of! The want to go badly and I try to deter them as much as possible but they are strong so...just return favor?!
My family loves London and visits often and that does not help my case for keeping them home LOL

Born and raised in Cali, we moved our family out fifteen years ago. That was the best thing we ever did.

We have visited many times over the years and actually just got back a few days ago. Here is my observation of California today, slave labor is rampant throughout the state. It is allowed for the sake of its sanctuary status.

Shameful....

originally posted by: Edumakated

originally posted by: CornishCeltGuy
They are advertising often on UK television in my parts, seems nice, my son is thinking of leaving crap rainy weather for there due to the media campaign lol. Seems like here just warm all year instead of wretched winter lol

The weather in .CA is perfect. However, the cost of living is insane. People are leaving the state because it cost too much to live there, especially in northern California.

Yep. And they are all coming here to gentrify my neighborhoods. If you go to California poor, just skip it and come here. We have way too many rich people here.

originally posted by: Masterjaden
a reply to: Bhadhidar

I'm assuming your house is paid for and or you've owned it for many many years before the housing went out of control insane up there?

No one is coming up there now making less than a couple hundred thousand dollars a year and living decently. They're especially not going to own a decent house.

Jaden

Nope.

Bought house in 2012 (took a risk that the world wouldn’t end), mortgage payment was (and even more so, is) less than rent for the studio apartment I was renting. My place even has TWO! Wood burning fireplaces!

As the economy improved, my house has doubled in value; allowing me to eliminate the PMI requirement and saving and additional $100 per month and refinance at less than 4%.

originally posted by: TNMockingbird

originally posted by: Nickn3
You go to love LA! (Lower Alabama)

Hahaha! I always call Georgia and Alabama "South Tennessee" in my circles, Kentucky is North Tennessee LOL
Some crowds the joke doesn't go over too well.

Yeah , it did not this time

originally posted by: MisterSpock

originally posted by: Masterjaden
a reply to: Subaeruginosa

It does. It has Silicon Valley and Hollywood. That's why California is the sixth largest economy in the world.

Jaden

And they are loosing tech companies. In 5 years California, as a whole, may be an actual federal disaster zone.

And Silicone Valley moved to India....

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: CornishCeltGuy

I turned down a job a few years ago in San Francisco. They offered 250K salary and that (according to the cost of living there) would not have been enough for me and my family to live on.

Very much the case. On a salary of 80K several decades ago, I was only able to afford a flat in North Mathilda Avenue next to the Central Expressway - around $1400/month because it had air conditioning. With all the apartments in that area, when your upstairs neighbors walked around, they sounded like elephants. There was communal hot water boilers which would run out if you didn't get up early enough. Laundry facilities were communal and required several dollars worth of 25c coins. You either had an apartment that faced the noise and pollution of the main road, or you lived in perpetual South American rainforest darkness with all the Pine trees. It was right underneath Moffat airfield, so you would hear all the air traffic at all times of the day and night. Those Hercules transport aircraft were the loudest.

Stanford graduates lived in either Mountain View, Palo Alto or Menlo Park and they were paying $6000 to $8000/month to room share a house. Everyone wanted to live in San Francisco because of how walkable it is, but it was just too dangerous with all the gangs and homeless people. Caltrain only went as far as South of Market, so anyone who did live in SF had to walk to and from work, which meant a commute of 2 to 3 hours. Many can't afford the peninsula so have to commute home across the Dumbarton or Hayward bridges.

It's really a work hard, play hard type of area. People work long hours during the week, then go mountain walking or surfing at the weekend.

a reply to: toysforadults

800 a month in an old building in the seedy part of town for a 1 bdrm apt,plus it just gets more expensive from there,drive a car? bring lot's of cash think the gas is expensive try paying to register and smog your cars,I have 3 like renting another place

I live in the bay area, in one of the richest cities in the U.S., although by looking at it you would never guess, its old and run down. Our house is "worth" $2m, its a piece of turd that has no insulation whatsoever, every gust of wind feels like the house is creating lift and about to go airborne, and the pipes are all clay from the 1920's, which is when this cardboard house was erected to house troops returning.

As everyone mentioned, owning this house and making $200k a year, my lifestyle is of that of the middle class in cities like Las Vegas, or Fort Lauderdale Florida. I lived in 5 states so far, and can easily say, besides weather, Cali is a horrible place to live. Most people already discussed it in depth, so I wont beat a dead horse, but either way, my 2 year study concluded that the vay area within 10 years will be our next Detroit. Hence, moving out of state. Got 3 interviews lined up for next week, wish me luck.

P.S. if your son wants this house, it wont set you back much.

a reply to: CornishCeltGuy
California is grest...

Except when it rains hard enough for a mountainside to slide down and bury your house in mud. Or when it rains fire from the sky and your house burns to the ground taking everything you own.
Or when the ground underneath your house is not shaking your house off of it.
Then if you can afford to you'll love California.
Someone said $800.00 a month. That's if you're sharing a place with three other people who are also paying $800.00 a month.

a reply to: watchitburn

Where do you !I've in california. I have family there. In LA and SFO.

a reply to: toysforadults

Tell your son to try the east coast, maybe North Carolina. We got the beaches, and the mountains and a whole lot of nice folks in between. Modest cost of living and competitive job market. we also have the 4 seasons. Winter, spring, summer ,fall. I'm real partial, but N.C. is a great place to live and raise a family. To coin my states old motto " I like calling North Carolina home". Never mind the running gun battles on the interstate, just some rednecks blowing off some steam.

Wow thanks for all the interesting replies folks!
Really glad I asked now, some of your stories are massively different to the image California TV adverts show here in the UK.
I'm grateful for the suggestions of other states as well so any more reviews of better choices than Cali are more than welcome.

originally posted by: CornishCeltGuy
Wow thanks for all the interesting replies folks!
Really glad I asked now, some of your stories are massively different to the image California TV adverts show here in the UK.
I'm grateful for the suggestions of other states as well so any more reviews of better choices than Cali are more than welcome.

The reality is that California is a beautiful place in terms of its climate which means that everyone wants to live there, but over the last few decades, the human policies instituted in the state have made it very difficult to really enjoy living in Cali unless you are really pretty well off.

It is becoming a real society of the upper crust and the lower class poor that so many people worry about managed by an army of well-paid bureaucrats.

originally posted by: ketsuko
It is becoming a real society of the upper crust and the lower class poor that so many people worry about managed by an army of well-paid bureaucrats.

Big difference to my part of the UK, we have rich and poor living cheek by jowl. My own street is a good example, there are million £'s apartments, but my litte house is only worth say £100,000 because my sea view is not as good. Across the street from my house though there are houses where people just live in rented rooms for £80 per week.
I've often chatted to tourists and laughed when they've said "You must be rich to live here" replying that there are normal people here, and cheap homes, just dotted around the expensive places.

May I ask what's the best ocean fronted (warm) state you can think of with lowish crime, available work, and decent people in your opinion? The US amazes me as it's effectively 50 nations in my mind, all different in their own ways.