Originally Posted By CuriouserConstance Curious if there are any nice, relatively affordable places to live in California that aren't too hot. We like milder climates and wouldn't want to have to live in a slum We were looking at Alameda yesterday, but it looks to be pretty expensive with the average house price in the mid 600,000s. Any other ideas?
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb In California, you get nice or you may get affordable, not both. It is highly improbable that you can find a nice town that has good weather, low crime, neighbors that keep up their property AND jobs that's going to have houses running under 500k. There are states that are more expensive, but not the entire state. Even desert cities and high crime areas are pricey here.
Originally Posted By Mickeysbestfan If you are set to be in the Bay Area, based on where Alameda is. Discovery Bay and Brentwood are both affordable and nice. They have been hit pretty hard by the housing sting and you can find lots of Short Sale homes. If you want more north bay, the same can be said for Petaluma and the Santa Rosa Areas.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros In soCal, there are many suburbs that are more affordable than being in the city. However, they can be a few hours from where you may want to be, so there are definate drawbacks with that. If you search, you can certainly find nice areas (I just moved, and I'm still trying to decide if I'm in a nice area) at a reasonable price, but it's a lot of work. If you give some more specifics about where you're looking (north/south, how far from the main city, etc), the locals in those areas may be able to help some more.
Originally Posted By LuLu Ventura County has nice areas, great weather, and *some* houses under $500K. Not sure what your criteria are. They won't be "the best" houses, but you can buy in the 400's here - for now anyway!
Originally Posted By DyGDisney My favorite place I've even lived, and the place I'd love to move back to, is Petaluma. I'm pretty sure it's above moderate, but what is your price range? Sonoma County in general is beautiful, the weather is moderate (lived there 7 years and never had A/C), and there is so much to do over there. Sigh, I want to move back.
Originally Posted By DyGDisney Here's an example of a home for sale in Petaluma: <a href="http://realestate.yahoo.com/California/Petaluma/507-maria-dr:8c2fc8a6e4613fab84334cf8235760;_ylt=Ant2jSsoUK4I9SqyLt3SkQFn47Qs" target="_blank">http://realestate.yahoo.com/Ca...kQFn47Qs</a>
Originally Posted By CuriouserConstance Thank you guys so much for your responses! We are basically going to probably end up short selling our home here in Oregon. The area we are in is just too economically despressed right now to find any decent jobs. We both lost our jobs (my husband and I) two years ago and my husband had the opportunity to go back to school and get his bachelors degree which he has one class left to get and he'll have a bachelors in accounting. I'm working at a much lower paying job than I had before, and can't find anything better. Anyway, because of the inevitable short sale ahead of us, we're most likely going to have to rent a place no matter where we end up. So, depending on the jobs we would be able to obtain in another city would really depend on our price range. You can rent a house in our area for 1200-1500 a month. Is anything like that even possible anywhere in California? As far as what area we would like to be in..... Basically, I'm tired of living in an area where you could drive for hours and still have nothing fun to do. Nothing to take our family to for the weekend. Nothing to do anywhere! We really hate HOT weather, so we'd want to be in a milder climate. But other than that, we're really open to anything. Thanks again for the responses!
Originally Posted By amazedncal2 Accounting is a good choice Sonoma County has cooler weather, there are fog belts that hit Petaluma and lose its oomph heading into Sonoma. Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa and Windsor tend to still be "affordable" I don't know about the job markets. Marin County has cool weather but is pricy, maybe Novato might still be affordable. Sacramento Valley is HOT but then again, 2 of our cool weather kids live there now and enjoy the warm evenings and have learned to stay inside during the day Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Milpitas areas have good weather. Warm days and cooler nights. Again, I don't know about housing prices or job markets. Already mentioned Brentwood and towns like Elk Grove are HOT but were small towns which are now large towns with lots of shopping and close to things like rivers, camping, Lake Tahoe and other lakes and bigger cities like Sacramento or San Francisco. They also have good schools as everything is pretty new. All I can think of at the moment
Originally Posted By Mickeymouseclub I daydream about Encinitas. Living near the coast is expensive but the little city sprawls away from the ocean. I am sure you can find something to rent. It is located between Disneyland and San Diego...need I say more?
Originally Posted By markymouse I wonder why you're interested in California specifically. It seems sometimes like California has been more an exporter of people looking for affordable places to live. There's always someone moving to Utah, Arizona (the north is nothing like the hot desert stereotype) or even Oregon, or back east. Housing is just really steep here. Of course where those job offers come from will play a big role, especially in this job market. Good luck to both of you.
Originally Posted By A Happy Haunt CC, make sure you talk to a tax advisor before agreeing to a short sale. You may have to claim some as income & the bank can come after you later for the "short" amount. I'm a Realtor here in MA, don't move to the East Coast, no jobs here either! Good luck!
Originally Posted By Schmitty Good Vibes Check out San Luis Obispo County. If you don't like heat, don't go North of Atascadero. I lived 10 +/- miles North of Atascadero in Paso Robles. It got hot, but I got used to it very quickly. It's a wonderful place to live, but I think perhaps too many people have found out about it.
Originally Posted By A Happy Haunt CC, my boss have a friend who's a Realtor in CA. I'm not sure what part of the state she's in but if you're interested let me know.
Originally Posted By LuLu I think your step 1 is to get a job for one or both of you. The economy ain't so hot in CA either. And if you want to live in temperate weather, it'll cost more for housing. Due to the bad economy, you can actually rent an older/smaller house in my area for under $2000/mo. But your price range would get you a 1-BR apartment - if you're willing to be in less-than-great areas in an older apartment building.
Originally Posted By LuLu Oh, and when I say "under $2000/mo" think $1975. It's definitely expensive to live in CA. I wouldn't even think of moving here w/o a job.
Originally Posted By teddibubbles ANYWHERE Other than the DESERT! YUCK! sure the rent is cheaper. but you make it up in air condsioning! it is tooooooooo far from ANYWHERE! its the land of dirt. and two miles from hell out here. on the other hand anywhere by disneyland would be the dream to shoot for.
Originally Posted By CuriouserConstance We're in Oregon now, and it's just so far from anything fun. We would love a change, but don't know if it would ever even be practical for us to live there. Thanks for all the info everyone!
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb Orcutt, is near Santa Maria, jobs will be about, hmmmm, 75 miles away unless you're a farm worker. There are jobs in Santa Maria, but most commute down to Santa Barbara or up to SLO. Not a nice stretch of road between SM and SB, at least part of it to my way of thinking.
