Californians. Might be moving.

I got a couple job offers in california. only problem is I dont know where to move where its decent and affordable. Im going to visit there in a few months to check othe SF area. Id like to pay 1150$ as my maximum. I really like the SF area, and san diego looks nice. Is there any other un known towns or smaller towns that are affordable? Im not looking for something real nice.. it can be a little run down area but just not bad bad.

They had a couple in the Concord area, one in Morgan hill. Santa fe, just around there.

thanks!

 

I live in San Diego currently, if you're looking for a house for yourself, good luck. You can probably manage a house with 1 or 2 roommates in a decent area though and everything you could possibly want to do in San diego is 15 mins away. There are plenty of affordable apartments and like town homes in san diego because of the colleges here, if you just want a place for a few years. I live with roommates currently and I would prefer roomates in San diego where there is tons of stuff to do than an affordable place solo with nothing going on in the city.

It just so happens that I grew up in the bay area and my town I grew up in (walnut creek) borders concord. Concord is ok its not the best area but there is walnut creek and other places nearby that are nice. San Francisco is about 25 mins away from Concord. I would for sure not try to live in San Francisco it gets very congested traffic wise and there is hardly any parking anywhere. That being said if you are thinking in terms of where you want to work and play San Francisco is the best city in California in my opinion and I always get this awesome sense of awe and history when I go there.

Smaller towns outside San diego you can look into are Oceanside, poway maybe costa mesa.

Feel free to pm if you have anymore questions.

 

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man when i make it to calli i will be grooving on dat legal weed that is coming in now

 

thanks guer, ill check there. is palm springs nice?

 

Ive never been to palm springs, ive been to palm desert for coachella and it was hot as hell there.

 

Where are the jobs at? If it is in the SF area and you move to San Diego, that would be a helluva commute, about 8 hours ideally, with traffic, 20 or more.
I live in Northern Orange County near Long Beach and housing here is hit and miss. An average 3 bedroom goes for roughly $1800-$2200 month. Apartments are about $1200-$2000 depending on the area and all. You can find better deals, but it's not to easy, at least around my neck of the woods.
My daughter just found a studio apartment near Cal State Long Beach for $700 a month. Perfect for her, she is a student at CSLB and it is only 10-15 minutes from her work.

You really need to let us know where you would be working as that would be the main starting point. Then we (Californians) could give you a better idea what is good and what isn't.

 

well its going to be all over the SF and San diego territory so i really cant give you a spot on place but lets say more L.A and San fran. I thought about bringing my car with but is it really worth it?

 

If you are going to be spending a lot of time in So.Cal and commuting between LA and San Diego, it's a necessity. Ca has some of the strictest smog/emissions standards in the country so you will need to investigate to see if your car would pass a Ca. smog check. You have to get it smog checked every two years in order to get your registration tags. If your car is not up to standards it may be easier and cheaper to sell your current one and buy one when you are here.
If you are going to be traveling from San Fran to San Diego a lot you may want to just fly back and forth, as I said its at least an 8-10 hour drive with light traffic.

I believe San Fran has a much better public transportation system than LA does, so take that into consideration.
Either way you slice it, it sounds as though you are going to be logging some commuter miles.

 

Wow thats crazy. So either way Im screwed if I have a job out in SF and i live in SD lol. Maybe SD is a little bit better to live in cause its closer to L.A or just settle on something in between. Ill have a room mate so im looking for a 2bed apartment. I assume they have taxi's there, maybe ill just pay that if im not commuting all the time. For now, its where ever we can find the cheapest. So i might just bring my car and if i dont need it, i can always sale it.

they had a place in hayward, indio, sacramento valley--is really cheap. I bet though, in order to live in a decent area, we'd both have to be paying each 450+.

 

California is a BIG state and it just strikes me as odd that the job would be territories in BOTH San Fran and San Diego areas. Mapquest says it's 501 miles from one city to the other.
Well, keep in mind Stacy that you are moving to some of the most expensive parts of the country to live. Oh and to be a little more clear, not having a car in Southern California really sucks big time. There is public transportation and there are taxis, but gas is also $3+ a gallon and always goes up during the summer. So getting around by taxi will cost a LOT more than owning your own car, and the bus systems while good, add considerable time to your commute. A bus pass in Orange County where I live is $50 for 30 day pass.

The commute from downtown San Diego to LA is about 2 1/2 hours with good traffic, and approx 100 miles.

You should get your prospective employer to give you an address where you would work out of, and then go onto mapquest or something similar and see where it is and where you would be reasonable to look for housing. It almost sounds as if you don't realize just how friggin big the state is.
But hey I've known people who were in sales and would commute up and down the coast weekly, hitting clients up and down the coast and making it a week long sales trip. It just means a life on the road. Not my cup of tea, but some people love it. At least the drive along the coast is beautiful.

 

its actually a modeling job. but we do shoots all over SF and LA. I dont mind a 45min drive to my actual work if that means some quietness and not a lot of people/bad areas. I just want opinions on a few places. Like paying 750 a month in a area wise to you or no, would I have to go a little higher? I do not know california and Im taking a trip there to check places out. I just dont wanna waste time checking the wrong places out you know.

im basically looking at the surrounding areas of SF. but if SD or somewhere closer to LA BUT not in LA is easier than ill go that route because the job is basically in LA. Then i look at palm springs and say thats cheap. then i think..is it too good to be true? thats where you guys come in lol

 

You die of boredom in Palm Springs except if it gets hit with spring breakers. Plus I think you have to be at least 70 to live there
Cost wise, you would be better off sticking to Northern Ca. around Frisco, not in the city, but surrounding areas. At least that is my impression.
I live in So. Cal and can tell you it is friggin expensive to live here

I'm lucky because I pay $1400 for a 4 bedroom in a nice area, but I have known the owner and his kids for over thirty years. It could easily be $2000. But ya never know, sometimes you can find some good deals.

In the suburbs and central California a 45 minute drive can get you very far. In LA, depending on the time of day, a 45 min drive could get you 30 miles or 30 feet.

 

Yeah! I seen that at one apartment! (50+) but in palm desert we found a nice apartment (seemed nice) for cheap so we might check that one out and I wanna find a couple more in SF area. Im figuring out how to make an appointment out of state lol. It'd have to be in the next 2 months because its even expensive to go there for a visit.

that is expensive, i think we pay 1100 a month and we have a 4bed. I was watching house hunters and Some parts in santa maria and other spanish names were decent priced houses. one story. one was a fixer upper and it wanted 108,900. Very cheap and it was anice area. but im not really ready to buy a house yet.

 

There is absolutely nothing in Palm Desert that I saw when I went there, somewhere close to SD like I was saying Oceanside or Costa Mesa would probably be better, and Costa Mesa at least is alot closer to L.A. than Palm Desert, I think. There is also like Irvine, Anaheim and Long Beach which is closer to L.A. but I think Irvine at least is pretty expensive, i dunno there is a lot of smaller surrounding cities.

I will tell you right now commuting from the Frisco area to L.A. will NOT work unless you plan on buying a private plane while you are here. It's 5 hours minimum with just nothing but boring plain highway connecting the two. The Bay Area is pretty expensive too and the little holes and pockets that aren't bad price wise (like Concord) aren't the best areas. You can take your 'white girl gangsta style' and go live in oakland though and see how that goes.

 

Of the above Long Beach and Anaheim would offer the best mix of price/decent area, but some neighborhoods in both cities you need to avoid. Unfortunately their is a lot of gang banger areas all throughout Ca. So Stacy if an area is priced markedly lower than others, there is often good reason

Long Beach may offer the best for you, it's "centrally" located between SF and SD, and has some very nice areas. Summer may be the best time to swoop some student housing, as there is a lot of small, medium priced places due to the university. And it is a relatively short freeway drive to all the "fun" spots, LA, Hollywood, Disneyland, beaches, mountains and the airport.

Costa Mesa and Irvine are also very nice communities, but also some of the most affluent and therefore most expensive in the O.C. Thats why they are so nice.

Oakland? I thought it was a prerequisite that you had to be Hispanic, gang affiliated and a Raiders fanatic to live there.
If you choose Oakland don't forget your Uzi, your Glock .45 and your Raiders jersey. All are required attire.

 

lol that last sentence was funny. we havent checked out long beach yet. he mentioned it though. we might just stay here for 6months and check out cali then.

 

No Oakland is mainly black people but the rest of what you said regarding Oakland rings true pb.

 

Palm Desert and Springs are in the middle of the desert. Unless you're into golf or indian casinos or old men, there's NOTHING to do. (except go to the Tree)

SD to LA can be done on the bus and metro rail trains pretty easy. easier on the Amtrax.

Or, if you're into nightlife, having fun and making connections (you're a model, right?). come to Hollywood/Silver Lake/Echo Park.

I've got a friend living smack in the middle of Hollywood right behind the Kodak theater just off the blvd. in a huge studio in a nice high-rise paying $1600.

I've got friends in Echo Park (the place for young up-and-comings, artist, and muscians) paying $2400 for a NICE 3 bedroom townhouse apartment.

Older apartments can be had from $1200 up to the stars in the area.

myself, I rent a room for $800 in a 3 story house a mile below the Hollywood sign. Many such rooms are availible from succesful industry pros (there are 2 oscars on the shelf upstairs). it's kind of an informal scholarship program for the those who wish to pursue carrers in entertainment and such. I (a writer) get free assistance and notes from that oscar winner as a perk.

I sold my car and take the trains and busses all over the metro area.

And I'll tell you a something:
Life is fun!

if you come this way, let me know. I may have friends your age who can help.

 

on reading these posts, i think you should consider somewhere between L.A. and San Diego, but maybe more toward the L.A. area. you'd have lots of things to do while it being not too expensive. I live in Riverside, and i gotta say, the drive to san diego and even Los Angeles is long. commuting effing sux.

Anaheim is a good place, i've never witnessed any gang stuff, even though it does gets expensive when you're in the Orange County area.

Oceanside is nice and close to the beach, and cheaper since there's a lot of military there since the base is pretty much right there.
Oceanside would be right in the center of san diego, los angeles, me hehehe, and Temecula (wine tasting haha).

i think your decision is pretty much north cali (prettier, cheaper, hippier) or socal (expensive, concrete, poppin)