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Leaving Los Angeles

The Thriller said:
But don't you also make a lot more there?

True, here in Utah housing costs are like half of what they'd be in the SD area. Yet, wages are like twice as much. It's fairly relative from what I've seen. Maybe it doesn't balance itself of completely but it's fairly relative... Right?
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To add to GF's response, taxes are also a consideration. The California State Income Tax alone would be twice the state income tax I pay in Utah. Not to mention higher sales taxes in most areas, property taxes in most areas, etc.

And since I live in UT, I could relocate to CA - but the increase in my wages would be relative to my employer's pick of cost-of-living increase studies, which never tells the whole story. According to salary.com cost of living is near 70% higher in San Diego over the Salt Lake area, and while I'm sure I'd get something I doubt very highly my employer would come close to that. Plus my move would be voluntary... not instituted by my employer... therefore they'd look at it as elective, and wouldn't have much of an incentive to give me much.

I could switch jobs to a competitor of my company at the same time I move and try to negotiate an appropriate salary commensurate to said cost of living expense, but... meh, I'll just stay here.
 
Gameface said:
Wages are not twice as much there, in general. They are higher, but no where close to twice as high. Most middle income people lived in apts from what I saw. There was a much bigger line between the very wealthy and the not very wealthy than there is in Utah.

It doesn't balance out at all.
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This. I made a decent salary at my last job, but we just didn't make much progress financially. COL is very high - and even worse in Orange County as opposed to LA. I don't know that SLC is much of a bargain, either. Real estate prices seem out of line with average wages. Perhaps a major factor is all the CA Mormons retiring to SLC...drives up the cost of homes.
 
Core4 said:
This. I made a decent salary at my last job, but we just didn't make much progress financially. COL is very high - and even worse in Orange County as opposed to LA. I don't know that SLC is much of a bargain, either. Real estate prices seem out of line with average wages. Perhaps a major factor is all the CA Mormons retiring to SLC...drives up the cost of homes.
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Damn Californians. Yet another reason to hate them Laker fans.
 
Yeah, the SoCal housing story for a lot people that have relatively decent places to live(and not living a hour/s away commute time from the city centers) is that they they are well off, bought decades ago, had housing handed down to them, or they are pulling some kind of multi-family/multi-renter living situation where 4 or 5 Adults are picking up the tab. Even Compton, that notorious "ghetto", had $400,000 mean housing prices at the peak of the bubble. I think it's about 1/2 of that now, but California as a whole is back up near bubble highs so I'm sure Compton will be back there in a couple years unless the market crashes again.
 
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Duck Rodgers said:
Yeah, the SoCal housing story for a lot people that have relatively decent places to live(and not living a hour/s away commute time from the city centers) is that they they are well off, bought decades ago, had housing handed down to them, or they are pulling some kind of multi-family/multi-renter living situation where 4 or 5 Adults are picking up the tab. Even Compton, that notorious "ghetto", had $400,000 mean housing prices at the peak of the bubble. I think it's about 1/2 of that now, but California as a whole is back up near bubble highs so I'm sure Compton will be back there in a couple years unless the market crashes again.
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Not even close to bubble highs. We're still below where we bought in 2004 and only 2/3rd's of what it was at the peak. Perhaps some of the higher-end communities like Santa Monica, Brentwood, etc, are bouncing back faster, but the outlying suburbs have not. Still too much inventory on the market and not enough demand.And wages are WAY down. Definitely an employer's market at present, with a lot of companies going to contract employees instead of full-time staff - no doubt a reflection of Obamacare amongst other factors (namely, that they can to reduce costs).
 
Core4 said:
Not even close to bubble highs. We're still below where we bought in 2004 and only 2/3rd's of what it was at the peak. Perhaps some of the higher-end communities like Santa Monica, Brentwood, etc, are bouncing back faster, but the outlying suburbs have not. Still too much inventory on the market and not enough demand.And wages are WAY down. Definitely an employer's market at present, with a lot of companies going to contract employees instead of full-time staff - no doubt a reflection of Obamacare amongst other factors (namely, that they can to reduce costs).
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Well, since you actually own underwater property there, I'll let you be the judge of what's close. It's not that far away based on current trends in time or % though.
 
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Core4 said:
Not even close to bubble highs. We're still below where we bought in 2004 and only 2/3rd's of what it was at the peak. Perhaps some of the higher-end communities like Santa Monica, Brentwood, etc, are bouncing back faster, but the outlying suburbs have not. Still too much inventory on the market and not enough demand.And wages are WAY down. Definitely an employer's market at present, with a lot of companies going to contract employees instead of full-time staff - no doubt a reflection of Obamacare amongst other factors (namely, that they can to reduce costs).
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Isn't rent still crazy high out there? If you move you could always rent out your home and wait for the value to return.
 
heyhey said:
Isn't rent still crazy high out there? If you move you could always rent out your home and wait for the value to return.
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That would be awesome as long as he doesn't need the equity to get into something new.
 
bigb said:
That would be awesome as long as he doesn't need the equity to get into something new.
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Could be wrong, but it doesn't sound like he has an *** load of equity anyway. I bet the housing crisis bit him in the *** along with everyone else.

Damn Adjustable Rate Mortgages!!!
 
heyhey said:
Could be wrong, but it doesn't sound like he has an *** load of equity anyway. I bet the housing crisis bit him in the *** along with everyone else.

Damn Adjustable Rate Mortgages!!!
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Don't have an ARM, but yes, the housing crisis negated any equity we had built up in 9 years. Rents are high, but not enough to cover mtg + taxes + insurance + maintenance + misc. fees (property mgmt., etc). Break even is probably not possible, so we may end up in a short-sell scenario. And Wells Fargo has been anything BUT helpful. Takes about 3 years to repair credit form a short sell from what I hear, which is about how long we'd need to build up a down payment wherever we go. There are a LOT of people in more dire circumstances so I can't complain too much. Just the right time to reassess career and lifestyle plans.
 
The Thriller said:
But don't you also make a lot more there?

True, here in Utah housing costs are like half of what they'd be in the SD area. Yet, wages are like twice as much. It's fairly relative from what I've seen. Maybe it doesn't balance itself of completely but it's fairly relative... Right?
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In certain areas housing is dramatically lower than San Diego. Cedar City, Beryl, Milford, Beaver...
 
Yea California has bounced back a little but they are still very below the highs of the early 2000's. Housing value rose a bit in the last few months but it has very much slowed down.
 
Core4 said:
Don't have an ARM, but yes, the housing crisis negated any equity we had built up in 9 years. Rents are high, but not enough to cover mtg + taxes + insurance + maintenance + misc. fees (property mgmt., etc). Break even is probably not possible, so we may end up in a short-sell scenario. And Wells Fargo has been anything BUT helpful. Takes about 3 years to repair credit form a short sell from what I hear, which is about how long we'd need to build up a down payment wherever we go. There are a LOT of people in more dire circumstances so I can't complain too much. Just the right time to reassess career and lifestyle plans.
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That sucks.

Honestly I would say tough it out. The Market has already started a fairly strong recovery here. There probably hasn't been too many new homes built in your area and you know that there has to be pent up demand out there. When the economy gets really going again and college grads can find a good job your house should go back up fast. Give it a year and see what happens.
 
bigb said:
The best is driving on I15 when you go through three towns: Holdon, Fillmore, Beaver.
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I have a great memory of a vacation to Disneyland we took when I was a child. At the time, Beaver had basically two service stations. WE had a radiator house go out in the car and were given two alternatives: Call a friend/relative in Salt Lake to drive down the part or wait until the next day when one could be delivered from Cedar City. 100+ degrees outside, three very grouchy youngsters. The mechanic actually made a hose for us. That dang hose outlasted the car.
 
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