Possibly Moving to L.A. within the next month.... really looking anyone's input
 

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for everyone's feedback on Cali....the environment, the people, and most of all the cost of living. I was brought up in the midwest, and have lived here all of my life.

A job opportunity has been presented, and I'm considering taking it. Its located near L.A.

It would be a drastic change from my way of living here, the weather, the job, my career, my family....everything.

PROS
My dream job, endless opportunies
Driving my Nismo year-round rather then 6-7 months out of the year

CONS
No 401k retirement
Cost of living increase (lateral pay, so actually taking a paycut)
Moving across country
Leaving family/friends behind
selling my house (2400sq ft, 3 car garage)

ANNNY feedback would be much appreciated. Thanks Everyone!!!

Depending on where you are going to live there are lot of factors to think about..
1 the cost of living in calif is going to be way higher than where you are living now.
2 you have to pay state and state disability taxes.
3 Traffic is terrible so dont expect to go anywhere fast
4 cost of gas is more and also state taxes are high
i lived there for 30 years and glad i left that Broke *** state..Although i miss going to the beach i would never live there again as my reason why above..

youll need about a 20% raise to offset the cost of living from where you are at now..

if you are planning to retire in your life i would never give up a 401k especially if its matching.
i am lucky i have a pension where i work and my comapny takes great care of there employees

If its your Dream job and you have endless opportunies there and your are Young i would say go for it.. Follow your dreams and if it doesnt work out can always move back or somewhere else..

I think our previous conversation gave my feedback. I LOVE California and if you have a window of opportunity, take it!! I do feel though you are giving up a lot, so make sure to fly out and see the lifestyle for yourself first. Sometimes more money won't matter when you do what you love. It may be a paycut for now, but like you said "DREAM JOB" There is your answer and i am confident Cali will sell you on it's own ;) GL coming back after you see the car scene out there LOL.

I have traveled extensively around the country and abroad. Moving form the Midwest, you'll experience culture shock and sticker shock. You will need to earn a LOT more money to afford a comparable home ad lifestyle in SoCal as you can in Minnesota. Start by checking real estate listings in the area you want to move to and see what houses like the one you live in now will cost. Even though the housing market has tanked, it will make you angry and depressed. The people are very different from Midwesterners as well as I'm sure you are aware.

On the positive side, the weather is amazing year round (pay no attention to the horrible air quality) and the "scenery" is pretty good although a lot of if it has been enhanced if that sort of thing doesn't bother you. There's a lot more interesting stuff to do.

For me, California is a fantastic place to visit and spend a little time but I'd never want to have to live there permanently. It's all a matter of your perspective and what you're used to and what you've grown to value from your experience. Many would never want to live where I've chosen to live here in Texas for any number of reasons. We have insufferably hot summer for about 7 months a year. We have hurricanes. The Astros suck. We have a never ending flood of under skilled labor generally pushing wages down. But the flip side has its advantages. No state income tax. Relatively low property taxes. Low cost of living. Great food. No winter. No earthquakes. High school football that's better than most major college conferences. Pretty good scenery here too.

Decide on factors besides just the job alone. Often you can find or create your dream job opportunity where you are if you search or work persistently enough at it. Best of luck and keep us informed.

The pros are tons of things to do, car meets, car shows, sports events, live concerts, nice cars, nice weather, women, cheap labor (if needed) big businesses.

The cons are the price, sales tax, crime, the unfriendly police, in n out burger, expensive women, big businesses that aren't hiring.

You have some very good points here...thank you!

Yeah, I know where you stand ...


Thanks Jeremy. It means a lot to get your perspective for the fact that you have indeed been all over the US.

It is concerning to me that I've always had a vision of living here in the midwest. I like the culture, I like the people(for the most part ;)), and I've established myself quite well here in the last 5 years.

You're 100% right when it comes to real estate, I looked last night where I have a 2400sq ft house that's around $250k, where something in Cali is like 1200 sq ft which is over 400k +++.

The one thing that I am confident in, is the fact that IF I want to persue this, THIS IS THE TIME TO DO IT. I'm 27 years old, I don't necessarily "enjoy" what I do for a daily job/career, but I don't hate it. I also have opportunity and stability with my current enployer to possibly be here for a very verrrry long time.

I agree with all the above. Nothing much more to be said really. Maybe take a trip out here first and experience what its like if you haven't done so already. It will be different, but sometimes change can be a good thing. Like chuckie said, if it doesn't work out, you can always move back. It's completely different from Minnesota for sure, but if it's your dream job, go for it! If it's something you really want, you won't want to regret not taking the opportunity to go for it. Also, you can't beat Cali weather and beaches. Thats not factoring in the car scene down here plus all sorts of other amenities to do, but thats just me being biased. Good luck and remember what I said in our PM. You're always welcome!! Keep us posted and best of luck!

You and I have talked about this extensively so I won't be typing all that all over again. Most of it is captured in the previous answers. Bottom line for me is, make sure you can at least get compensated for the cost of living on top of what you're making now. It's your dream job but there's nothing dreamy about working your a$$ off and not being able to enjoy all of the fun things available coz at the end of the day you're too broke. Minus the one other factor I brought up through text, there's really no better time than now for this type of move and you definiely don't want to have any regrets no matter what decision you make.

Being born and raised in Los Angeles this is all I know. I love it here and don't think I would move anywhere else. Real Estate is high but in the end this is one of the few States who's property value increases rapidly so you can end up making money off of the home you purchased. You can always choose to live outside of LA County where home values are less and you can find a 2400 sq ft home for around $250k but the commute will end up killing you although I do know quite a few people that make the drive everyday. My wife actually commutes from LA to Riverside County Monday thru Friday. 100 miles round trip but she doesn't mind it since she is driving against traffic. Our weather is always awesome. No winter tires needed here. Earthquakes Black Betty? When was the last time we had an earthquake wipe out a town? there are minor temblors everyday but they are so small no one ever feels them. No crazy weather here. No tornado's. No hurricanes. No flash floods and no blizzards. Like others have said...if it's your dream job take it and don't look back. You have the forum family here in Los Angeles to help you out . I'll PM you my cell number so we can talk.

BTW California has, for many years, been ranked in the top 10 Economies in the World!

I'll be calling you shortly!!! Thank you!

We still on for 7?

whahahahahaha....sorry, can't fit you into my schedule @ that time :p fffuuugga..

A 2400 sq ft home for $250k?? Where? are you talking about a foreclosure ?

maybe out in Lancaster Palmdale area you can pick them up for 250k outside of that your looking at 400k + anywhere else

I'm talking Deep in Riverside County and yes a majority of the homes on the market are bank owned. I was actually looking in buying out there when my wife's company moved from Commerce to Riverside but then I would have been sitting in traffic driving into work everyday.