Should I Relocate to San Diego?
 

My family and I left San Diego in Spring of 2018 when I left active duty. I now have a job opportunity that I would really enjoy that pays quite well, and we loved our two years there. The weather, activities, and friends who remain are a huge draw.

So besides the fact that California is about as liberal as a state can get, cost of living being very high, and fires all over the news, what else is there to dissuade me from relocating my family from Virginia?

It would provide year-round driving opportunities for my non-AC 911...

For how long?

Buy or rent?

Are the kids school age?

How much bull**** can you take before snapping?

Love San Diego!
The last line is a huge selling point.

I've not been to Virginia but have been to San Diego

Weather, friends and activities would do it for me, especially if you are moving for a good job

When our family moved to Italy what made us do it was if we didn't we would always regret we didn't so we did it

Best thing we've done so hope if you make the move it works out as well as it did for us

My wife and I want to live in the USA for a while and California is top of our list so I will be interested to read how it works out

When my son graduated from SDSU and got his first job there in San Diego, he asked why I didn't live in San Diego, knowing that I too went to SDSU.
He now lives in Poway.
Truth be told, I'd live there now if I could afford to move.
What neighborhoods are/would you be looking at?

Assuming your work would pay well enough to be able to settle in S.D. and you find a decent location to live, & want to live in/near a large city - go for it. I've lived in the area since 1968 and watched it grow and develop. Right now there is a deficit of areas to build new housing, which drives the cost up. You have a choice of the ocean/beaches, mountains, & desert to access for activities along with close proximity to Mexico (if you want to take your chances there). I wanted to live in S.D. since I was a kid. Now I live in the east County out of the mad house below. One negative thing is the freeways have become clogged in the last ten years making it a pain for people to commute to work & back. It doesn't look like it will improve either. There are plenty of decent schools, community colleges, & universities in the area (I went to SDSU - S.D. State College in those days).

+1. I have spent a ton of time (business travel) in VA (near DC) and the cost of living there is pretty high too. And traffic is = to CA. Not sure about taxes though.

I think the Real Estate market is going to start winding down and then free-fall (normal pattern) for a few years. If you plan to buy do it quick or plan to sit on the sidelines for prices to adjust downward in 2020/21/22.

Prime consideration is where to live in relation to work/school.

besides the fact that California is about as liberal as a state can get, cost of living being very high, and fires all over the news, what else is there to dissuade me from relocating my family from Virginia?




San Diego is actually a fairly conservative city btw, or at least it was when I lived there.

Go for it, dude. The liberalism doesn't really affect me too much. It's bothersome but not a deal breaker. They mean well. (I think)

You can avoid fire-prone areas. Just make sure you don't have a bad commute. SD can have some pretty bad rush hour traffic.

As for the cost of living, if you can afford it now, you should be ok. Besides, you will eventually build up quite a bit of equity. We have over $1.5 million in equity, so we could move to a place like VA and be rich.

Daughter is about two and we'd be buying. Considering La Mesa type area so I could have a garage with a nice view which would likely be about $1.0-1.1M. We use to live in North Park in a small home from 2016-2018 which we really enjoyed, but we also didn't have our daughter. And this would probably be a move where we wouldn't be looking to relocate again.

Regarding real estate Java, that was my concern - Would it be best to rent for a year or so in order to not throw away potentially a few hundred grand so that prices could come down?

Do I have to register any guns I own?

We would need a tad more information to make any king of recommendation. You don't have to answer and then you will get non specific answers.
- Where is the job located.
- How much does it pay.
- Is the job a contract or perm?
- What is the jobs contract like.
- Do they cover moving expenses.
- How old are the children and/or what type of school do you want for them.
- How many cars/trucks/RVs do you have.
- How far can you stand to drive every day or can you get close to the trolley since busses here are terrible.

Advantages: warmer winters, the Pacific ocean, desert and mountains and less overall utilities to pay for. Great sunsets! Great hospitals I.E. Sharps, UCSD medical, Scripps.
Disadvantages: expensive houses, expensive gas, terrible local laws I.E. Imperial Beach just passed a law for NO PLASTIC OF ANY TYPE EVEN REUSABLE ONES, NO PLASTIC FORKS AND SPOONS FOR TAKE OUT, ETC, ETC! Many housing areas have HOAs and they are terrible!

I have lived in Chula Vista since 1970 and don't plan to move until after I am dead.

My son's first house was in La Mesa. He's glad he relocated to Poway even though the commute to Chula Vista is longer. Schools are better and he was able to find an almost new home too.

"Best weather on earth" is not much of a stretch. It is nice in SD nearly every day. Great driving roads nearby, active Porsche community, good universities in town, moderate local politics.

Downsides: Cost of living and taxes are high, traffic can be crushing, lunatic Left running the state, less than amazing public school system.

We have income property in Oceanside and I expect the greater SD area to continue being a nice place to live and work for a long time. If I moved there I would want to be 10 minutes from work with lots of options to get around if one freeway gets jammed.

I will send you a PM in a couple days. Why La Mesa? Is that location close to work? How much of SD have you seen so far? As for the RE prices, they have not really sank yet, some areas are feeling it, but do not expect a drop until late next year. After than plan on renting/leasing for 2-3 years until the prices are at bottom and only going up.

SD is freaking awesome, spent a few years there as a swabbie. Only bad thing about my time in San Diego was that I was married to my ex wife and she is a horrible person.

Rental laws change on 1-Jan-20, which may make finding a rental challenging, unclear what the impact will be. You will want to live as close to work as you can to minimize the portion of your life wasted in traffic.

(forums were down before)

LA to the north, Phoenix to the east, Tijuana to the south. Two highways out. The state might change again.
The rest is mountains and native rez.
Would the rest of the family be content there ten years from now?
Would your work always be there?

I loved SD when I visited, and it looks to be still afordable, but that is different from total investment.

Ooooooooohhhhhhhh yes.

I went to La Mesa and Lemon Road Elementary Schools in the 80’s while my dad was stationed there. Our house was in a canyon in El Cajon. I have fond memories and get there for work every once in a while.

Will be there over Thanksgiving for a soccer tournament for my daughter.

Huh? I thought they were all lost in a terrrible boating incident on the Chesapeake Bay ;)

Why ask here? You already know what you want to do...

Shame about losing all those magazines also.

Black's beach is just up the road. moving there makes a lot of sense to me.

Miramar.

We're in negotiations, but I think we'll end up with total yearly compensation around $185k and $5k increase each year with relocation expenses covered up to $15k. Possible significant salary increase 2023-ish.

Permanent, its an instructor position for the largest defense program in history so it provides a good level of job security. 40 hours a week with no travel required which is a huge benefit because I'm still a reservist.

Daughter is two, I'd prefer private school through 8th grade then a good high school.

Two SUVs, one 911. I'd like to get one more project car in time.

30-ish minutes. I use to commute to Miramar on 15 when I lived in N Park, rode my motorcycle most days to ease the traffic burden. Might be a good argument to get another. ;)

No reason in particular, was just looking on Zillow and there were some nice places that were in my price range with a beautiful view, pool, and 2-3 car garage. My wife gets concerned about fires the more East we would consider though.

The goal is to buy a place unless the financial reasons to wait a couple year significantly outweigh getting settled immediately.

Funny, I woke up this morning and they were missing!

To be presented alternative viewpoints from people who don't owe me anything and have no dog in the fight.

It's a tragedy that I can't take credit for....other Pelicans have boating mishaps on the Chesapeake too!

Send me a burrito from Santana's on Rosecrans ;). My friend's moved their 70' wooden schooner across the country and lived on it in the Harbor for a couple of years (then bought a house also, in Oceanside) while he did the gravy train...

I like the fact you can walk around naked in Black's Beach with a few hundred of your closest friends.

All jokes aside, my wife LOVES San Diego and she would move there at the drop of a hat. The eye opening cost of living and the fact that I could not register my cars there (what CA would describe as gross polluters) is a huge negative. At my age, I would like to do more than just work to meet a house note, sublime weather or not.

My former wife & I used to go to Black's Beach Many decades ago and enjoyed it. That is until more freaks came to use it. The thing that soured me on Black's was a guy humping on an air mattress and then carrying it in front of him into the ocean to wash it off. I said, " That's it, I don't need to be around idiots like that."

So my 1972 911 with a small block in the back is going to cause problems? It currently has lifetime VA antique plates, I think I might be able to simply keep them on there...

1972 is Smog inspection exempt so I think you are fine with this one. Getting any out of state car registered in CA is more difficult than it should be.

Lots of nice RE in close proximity to Miramar so you should be able to find something nice with *relatively* decent schools that is close to work and play. The RE market is high now but I expect a flattening, not a plunge in prices as long as interest is low. I would buy now if the long term goal is greater than 5 years.

Guns? What guns?

San Diego is a beautiful, think of it as LA's little brother where everything is just a little less (maybe not cost of property). Beside the cost of living and the traffic, its not too bad. Politics? Well, it somehow indirectly affect you, more like your check book, but for the most part, I learn to not pay attention to it too much. We do have a dumb siht governor. He's screwed my plans a bit but that can happen in every state. Gun laws are crazy but I do not owe any but a .22 that has not been fired for over 30 years. Like Cajun said, 72 is fine, no smog and you can mod that to your heart's content but just don't run a straight pipe and rev the hell out of it on the street in front of a cop. I have a 72 also.

San Diego is the Sandra Bullock to LA being Jesse James.

If I had to live in a big city I think San Diego is the only one I would consider. We used to visit a lot wen we lived out there. Not far from Yuma or Glamis if you like sand.

$1.1 million should get you a really nice home just about anywhere you want except very close to the beach. As long as you are staying there for the long term, I would buy sooner than later as interest rates are very low and you will have a decent monthly payment for a long time due to that. Real estate will always cycle in value, however, the values in So.Cal seem to recover quicker than most areas, and as such, I think you benefit in the long run.

I wasn't going to say it, I will throw this out there . I see the slow down, or correction coming in the up coming years but I am not sure how much of the housing will drop? Last time the bottom fell out, houses dropped like flies in many parts of the country and Socal included but many of the healthy areas real estate didn't drop all that much compared to those area that are hit hard. Who knows what interest rate will be like then?

Bringing in ammunition is also taboo as of like a few months ago.

If you are selling real estate in Virginia, you only have so long to purchase another piece of real estate without adverse tax consequences.

Also, when you move here, they are going to try and collect income taxes from at least a few years prior to you moving here. Not sure how much of a pain they are about it now, but you will be hit up for money by the Franchise Tax Board.

I moved to SoCal from NoVA in early 2016. CA made no attempt to collect anything from me.

No, you’ll need to change to a CA title & registration within some number of days after establishing a residence here. Check the CA DMV website for details. Like others said, your 72 911 is smog exempt. Also, no state safety check here. You’ll love the canyon roads.

I moved here about 15 years ago, maybe they changed their protocol in the interim

I even had to file 2016 taxes as a part year resident of VA and of CA. Both states keep income earned in each state separate, and it was drama-free.

and everything else but the traffic.

I have never heard of the IRS collecting anything from years back. Wondering what Torba is taking about. I am interested.