Have you considered moving out of state?

NorCalSuperwife

Esp the couples where one or both of you are laid off... Have you considered leaving California?

We have lots of friends and family here, but right now I can't help fantasize about leaving. I'm looking at Zillow and am STUNNED about some of the home prices. My Grandparen't AMAZING home in Wichita, KS is estimated at $120K. Are you kidding me? They have a freakin' tennis court and pool in their back yard! I'm ready to settle for a teeny tiny 2 bedroom condo and can't even imagine how cheap that would be out there. And we have tons of family in Wichita and both DH and I love it there.

Okay, I'm just rambling and always decide we shouldn't leave... But don't you consider it sometimes??

edsbaby

I say go for it!  You are young and especially since you have family there.  If nothing was holding me back here I would totally move out of state.  I've always envied people who take the chance and just go for something.

My.ABC.Life

Nope.  Could never leave.  I'm a CA girl at heart.  And I like being so close (2.5 hours) to both my and DHs family. 

hersheykiss

Everyday, but I was an "import" already. I have acondo in GA for $120k mortgage with 2000 sq ft. That is almost the size of our house now for 1/3 of our mortgage in CA. DH and I were talking about how CA is going to force us to move because of the high cost of living.

linnychanel

Yes but the only places we consider also have expensive housing. Not quite like the bay area but close.

I guess we could move to dh's home town but I'm thinking um no thank you no way in hell.

SJBride05

I have, but then I looked at what my salary would be doing what I do here and everything pretty much evens out.

pkw

I never planned to stay in CA this long...

I actually started going through the process to get my visa to go live in another country....but then I met DH and he is kind of rooted here with his job.  So I stayed.

DH and I talked about going to OR or AZ (or staying in CA and going to San Diego) but his job is secure here (we are lucky in that regard) and with him being the bread winner, we stay...and now with having a baby, we stay because it is where the majority of our family lives.

DH might apply for his Irish citizenship (he has the ability to) and we might move over there in retirement for a while...but we will see.

Ang&Garrett

Family keeps us here.  My brother lives in TX and but DH and I love it there.  But I love living 5 minuets from my parents more.  I don't think it's a crazy idea at all.  CA is overpriced (even with the housing market crashed!), overcrowded, and in a financial mess.  The idea of leaving isn't hard to understand.

everydayeve

I was looking at houses in SC only an hour ago. We talk about it pretty often, but like you always decide we shouldn't leave. I know we would be happy wherever we went, but it's hard to take the chance and just go. The thing that always stops us is that while cost of living is less, so is pay. And pay is a lot less when we have to leave jobs to go *hopefully* find one wherever we might move.

Meg_Meg

We think about it a lot.  We both have a ton of friends in Portland, and my sister just moved up there.  But I'm a CA girl at heart and I dont' think I could actually leave.  Plus, my mom is about 5 minutes from us now.  I love that.

RozieGirl

I've toyed with the idea of leaving plenty of times but being born and raised in San Francisco is very very hard. I hate the idea of being pushed out but the rising cost of the Bay Area is making everywhere else promising.

KellyMRocks

Family is also keeping us here. the places that we would consider (portland, denver) aren't THAT much less expensive either.  But we have talked about it alot. DH would have the quit the band and my mom would have to move with us. I would not move so far away from all of my friends and family only to have him be gone half the year.

Celyn

I don't consider it because I've lived in a lot of other states and I prefer it here.  I do fantasize about moving to the coast ALL the time though.  

Soon2BmrsMoreno

I have fantasized about it but ultimately No, i would never *really* consider it.?

?

Mrs.BoomBoom

And then I look at teacher's pay scales and stop looking at Zillow

NotJustAnAuntie

We've talked about it, but I don't think we could or would actually do it... like if we were willing to move to Texas (lots of work for DH), I wouldn't have to work and could stay home with Max, but we'd live in TEXAS! I think the closest we'd get to moving "away" is Sacramento... our 5 year plan ends with buying a couple of acres up around Auburn and working in Sac... we'll see if it happens!

SweetieP

Before moving to Sacramento, I really wanted to move to the Boise area.   Same reasons you mentioned.  At the time, we could get a 5 bedroom brand new home for like $350...which made our over-priced $625 1400 square foot livermore house look like a total dump (which maybe it was but we didnt' think so).

 And then we moved to Sac.   Cheaper to live here than the bay but not too far from parents.

 

Mrs.Wubbin

We do not have family here so we would jump ship in a heart beat if DH could work in AZ with my family.

pink.dutch.tulips

michigan would be my escape state of choice, even though the economy there is in the TOTAL CRAPPER .. at least dh and i would be able to buy and our mortgage payment (total payment) would be 1/3 of what we pay in rent for a similar sized home.  my sister lives there, my dad is just south of the border in ohio so i've got family there.

i'm too spoiled by CA weather- no humidity, no blizzards, no ice storms .. to leave.

tmp-351858625009089

It was a strong possibility for us last year when DH got promoted.  There were six regional positions that cover the US that he was up for and thankfully, he got the western region.  The bummer was that it required us to move down here to So. Cal.  We have a lot of friends down here, so that made it a BIT easier, but I was (am) still very sad to leave SF.  Things are a little cheaper down here, but no where near as cheap as a couple of the other five places it could have been.

If DH gets promoted again (which won't be for years I don't think), it will likely be out to New Jersey.  That would be a change, for sure.

jsugrin

We have a lot. ?It is so cheap in other parts of the county and the thought of having so much more disposable income makes me giddy. ?One thing I did find though is some areas have what seem like insane property taxes in comparision to CA and I would much rather have a higher mortgage in an area that, normally, appreciates well instead of paying super high prop taxes. ?Also a couple areas we looked at had very high home insurance rates, like 3-4 times what ours are on homes that were half the price. ?That along with the taxes made the areas we looked at much more comparable to what we are currently paying.

If I were in your shoes and had so much family and loved an area I would pack my bags in a heartbeat.?

pinkprincess2

Absolutely!  I'm from Houston and I see what my friends and family live in....it hurts. 

And the ridiculous thing is I don't make any more money in CA than I did in TX, yet there is a state income tax.  Boo!  So, in reality, I take home more $$ in TX and my house would be a TON cheaper but a LOT bigger...with a pool!

kfishie

My.ABC.Life:

Nope.  Could never leave.  I'm a CA girl at heart.  And I like being so close (2.5 hours) to both my and DHs family. 

 

Same as A.  We value the closeness of our immediate family.

love22

Yes,  I grew up in Minnesota and my parents are still there.  My sister lives in NYC.  But, the bottom line is, I moved here because I don't like the cold.  We have talked about moving to Texas as I have cousins there but it is too much or a red state for me.  It is also great to be here because almost all of my DH's family is here.  I don't think we'll ever leave but we do talk about it on occasion.

dblhappiness

It comes up in conversation quite a bit for us. DH has no problem picking up and moving, but for me, I do have a hard time imagining myself outside of California and away from my family. We would be weighing all the pros & cons of it before finally deciding...but like I said--it does come up often for us.

tri_bride05

No. I understand the draw of nice houses and property, but gave up that dream long ago. I love the Bay Area and don't want to live anywhere else (except maybe Santa Cruz). Actually, I'd consider Portand or Seattle, but DH has no interest and he'd consider San Diego, but I have no interest so there goes all of those ideas. DH and I were both born and raised here and all of our friends and family are here so we wouldn't seriously consider a permanent move elsewhere.

mrs.meteowrite

Yes, all the time.  Especially on hot days like we've had recently (this from a girl who grew up in Sacramento where it's even hotter.)  I want to go to cooler places, Oregon, Washington, Idaho....DH wants to go warmer, cheaper places, his family is all in TX.  But he's got his dream job here, and I've got a good job, and it's a bad time to be looking for work anywhere.  So we're here for awhile.

Besides, we have the best regional bump/knot/nest boards, I'm sure.  So why move. 

Meritage

We have and we DID.  DH is from TX, and we always had an agreement that once we had kids, we'd move to his hometown where he can work for his family business and we can live well on one income.  When we were having T-TTC, the one bright spot in my mind was NOT having to move to TX!

It's been two years now, and I still can't say I love it here.  But, I am grateful for the opportunity to be a SAHM and live in a nice house in a neighborhood with an excellent school district.  I'm also thankful that DH's job allows him to be home every night for dinner and provides a good work/life balance (unlike his consulting gig in SF).  As much as I complain about living here, it really is a great place to raise a family with a ton of activities for kids.

Do I miss CA?  Of course.  My entire family is there, and what's not to love about NorCal?!  I do think we made the right decision for our family though. 

DH isn't completely sold yet, but my plan is to move back to Sausalito once he retires and rent an apartment by the water.

I don't know much about Wichita, but my uncle used to live there and my cousin is married to a girl from there.  I do know Kansas City is pretty awesome.  DH had a long term consulting gig out there for a while, and I visited several times.  A friend from Los Altos moved to KS a few years ago (after having kids) and describes life there as a few steps back, but in the right direction.

dirtbikemom

We haven't really thought about it because it would be hard for DH to transfer to a different city's Union in this economy.  Also all our family is in this area. 

Mama_v2.0

I was a 7th generation Californian....we left...don't miss it..aside from some of ease of gardening there. Houses are cheaper here but not super cheap(about like far east bay, like tracy area)...if you want good schools and a family friendly community anyway.

f&s2006

We JUST had some close friends move to Austin, TX for this exact reason - husband lost his job, wife is a part time model/actress/SAHW so when her DH lost his job, they couldn't afford the COL here... and they have friends in TX, COL there is 30% of what it is here...  SO SAD to see them go... but for them, they want to buy a house in a large metropolitan area, start a family, etc... and they wouldn't be able to do that here... well, not the buying a home in SF part.  The job market for her husband's field is really good in Austin too, so that played into it.  Husbands fam is in SoCal, her family is in FL, so they are 'splitting' the distance.