Have you thought about sacramento? Nice living with housing that's not going through the roof(well that may all change by next year.)

 

a bunch of my friends bought houses in the natomas/regency area, 4 of them got like 4-5 bedroom houses, new, for like 300-400k. The catch is they can't find work over there, so they are stuck to their jobs in SF, so they drive everyday, which sucks. That i wouldn't do, only and only if i can find employment in the area. That's 160miles per day, not to mention gas.

 

Not to offend...but I guarantee it's the equivalent of an apartment complex converted to condos.

Plus with a wife and a kid, 2bd don't cut it.

 

You mean there on Oahu. You are in the second most rediculous real estate market thinking of heading to the first place winner. Sounds like the islands are definitely not for you, and you should get out. Me - I will be back in '05. I have been here since '97 and found it's not where it's at (for me anyway). Lots to offer and it's been fun, but now it's time to live cheaper, better, and easier. Only trick is shipping my cars (since one is without an engine). Maybe they will pass in the sea...

-Jacob

 

none taken, correct on that one, oh yeah wife and kid here too and 2bd is ok for now, since we are just starting....guess you are lookin for high end places! good luck on getting your place if you haven't yet, btw... we just moved there about 1 month ago..and same units are now in 300-320k, conversion or not...i'll take that kind of equity each month... then maybe in a year, i might just buy the house next to your 500k condo

 

I think it all depends on what you do. For IT related work, yea the market is small but if your a doctor or a nurse you'll do just fine. What do your friends do for work?

 

you're right that's true. one of them is IT @Gymboree in Burlingame, another is in accounting at SF Chronicle, and the other is an HR manager for UCSF.

 

Well if your a jack of all trades in IT you'll do just fine. The job market is growing(and so is the cost of living) and new jobs spring up here and there. Just give sac some more time to grow. It's getting there.

 

I lived in HI for 7yrs. Moved to the Bay area 3 yrs ago. I have to agree with "the bruce" here. This place sucks!!!! You think HI is expensive just wait 'til you get the shock of the Bay Area. Strongly consider somewhere else. I will be leaving here as soon as I find employment else where. Colorado is the main area of my search.

 

if you move here...stay out of the san jose area.

If you want to own a home without financing.....not gonna happen. There are some places you can get decent older homes...like you said...fixer upper. for about $275-325. Put about $30k into them and you can get about $450k out of them....ez.

personally...being a santa cruz native I'd say move over there. You can work anywhere between San Jose and Monterey if you don't mind driving...about an 1-1.5 hr's each way if you do that route.

if you could get a job at SC Subaru..it rips. That's my dealership. Jobs are not easy to find in SC. If they were...I wouldn't be living in freaking milpitas and working in SF. I'd be living in SC and working in SC.

you can find some decent homes around there for the $4-500k range. You just have to stay off the beach and stay out of certain areas. You could live in Scotts Valley or going the other way...aptos/watsonville.

My folks live in watsonville/coralitas. It's about 20 miles from down town. But it's quite. You get great views of the stars and they live on like 1.5 acres or something like that. Have a barn...turned into a recording studio. 6 bed. 3 bath. garage. but I think it's worth like $1million now...was like $350k. might be worth $1.5 now.

When I get back over there I will probably move into the state park area/aptos, downtown or scotts valley. But I don't have kids and don't play to own a house for at least 10 years.


personally..if you have family in the North West...go there. Oregon is really really nice. If all my family wasn't in Santa Cruz, I'd think of going there myself. Between portland and vancouver you have a couple of really cool towns with some work and nice places to live...away from the city.

Or you could move to the coast...i'd stay out of washington. But if you go there go to vancouver...or you could move to vancouver B.C. my second favorite destination for life after Santa Cruz.

 

 

Don't move here. This place has gone to hell in a handbasket over the past 20 years.

 

Maybe you're thinking of another Bay Area average 3bdr 2 bath houses (not condo/apt/townhouse) costs upwards of 475k-550k range.

 

LMAO