May be moving to Cali...need help.

bigacuralvr

New member
Hey all!

I may be moving to California, and can live anywhere from SanFran south.

I got offered a job at a very large automotive accessories company as their regional sales manager. Pay is VERY good, company car, full benefits, and expense pretty much everything.

I would obviously be bringing the trac out there...

My questions:

Where should I live, and what should I expect for a 1 bedroom apt/condo thing? Would any of those have a garage?

What are the BAD cities to stay out of? I would cover Cali from sanfran south...and anywhere out of cali I would fly.

Anyways, I know this is scattered.....but I just need a bit of advice.

Thanks!!!
Brett
 

alltracshoak

Active member
i would help but i live more in the central cali where it is like 1hr 30-50 minutes driving depending how fast i drive. all i can say is stay out of stockton :shrug: kind of ghetto here and all. but here's a nice warm welcome to a soon to be californian:D
 

maxaud

Active member
If I had an option I'd pick around Morro Bay, Pismo or San Luis Obispo though it might be a little small of an area for most.

Ventura is nice.

Stay away from The high Desert, Oxnard, and Paso Robles.

My $.02
 

turbo4wd

Moderator
If you're moving to Cali, stay in Los Angeles, or San Fran..

SF has a good quality of living there, but car culture is different - its an older, wealthier crowd with old school Ferraris, Porsches, etc.. The cost of living is MUCH higher than LA and the weather swings from very cold to very hot, but tends to lean towards the colder end year round. It also gets a lot of rainfall there compared to LA. I remember one year it was either actively raining, or it was wet for about 3 months straight..

LA has a good quality of living, has better weather year round - very little rainfall, mild, warm, sunny climate. The car culture there falls more to the younger sport compact crowd, and the wealthier crowd tends to deal with new Ferraris, Porsches, etc.. A big plus about SoCal over NorCal is that there is a lot of automotive talent available - shops everywhere, machine shops, fabrication, whatever you want, you can typically find. All the major tuners, and all the major aftermarket companies all reside in SoCal.

As for which cities to avoid, there are obvious places you want to stay away from like Watts and Compton in SoCal, and places like Emeryville and Oakland in NorCal. You might want to elaborate more on your likes / dislikes - what you want available to you. Is food important, culture? nightlife? beach access? etc..
 

smog7

Moderator
maxaud":i03t0k22 said:
If I had an option I'd pick around Morro Bay, Pismo or San Luis Obispo though it might be a little small of an area for most.

Ventura is nice.

Stay away from The high Desert, Oxnard, and Paso Robles.

My $.02

move to santa maria! pismo is 10 min. away. cant beat the central coast. no traffic to worry about. im not sure about the cost of living though... a little pricey for what it is.
 

alltracshoak

Active member
sun luis obispo is a nice little down from what i have know. small town that is barely expanding. i think so because i go fishing there sometimes and it seems like a small town.
 

maxaud

Active member
here are some pictures of some of the plaes that I listed..
click to make larger..

PISMO








MORRO BAY (this pics fon't do it justice)








LA



Ventura (sorry, only picture I got right now)
 

Akira-R

New member
Well first of all, if you have to work in San Fran, you won't want to live anywhere close to LA or Central CA.

I'd say San Mateo, Burlingame would be a nice area to live for the area. I'd expect to pay close to 1200/mo for a condo.
 

Toxygene

Active member
What is the area that you would be covering? Would you have an office that you would be visiting and what's it's location? What do you want to spend/afford monthly on a condo/apartment? Would you want to buy a home instead and even if you move away you could rent it or keep it as an investment?
 

turbo4wd

Moderator
Akira-R":398h59wn said:
Well first of all, if you have to work in San Fran, you won't want to live anywhere close to LA or Central CA.

I'd say San Mateo, Burlingame would be a nice area to live for the area. I'd expect to pay close to 1200/mo for a condo.

He's covering all of California south of San Francisco.. So his options are wide open, it just depends on what type of things are "important"..
 

bigacuralvr

New member
I would be working out of my house, so a 2 bedroom or 1 bed/condo would be necessary. I could swing $1200-1500 tops for a place. Does any of these places have garages, or are those rare??

I will be traveling a lot, all the way down to the southern tip of cali, and up to SF area.

I don't really care about if the cars are old or new...as long as I can come out and my car being there, and not living in the ghetto.

I've been looking on rent.com, but is there a local one you guys would recommend? I'm also going to come out for a week and house hunt.

I thought about buying a house...and could certainly do it (I've been looking around here, but this opp came up)

Thanks for all the hints/tips so far!!

Brett
 

maxaud

Active member
I was looking at houses on the coast in Morro Bay when I was there and they were $2000 for a large 3 bdrm one right on the ocean.
 

maxaud

Active member
$2000/month to rent a 3 bedroom/2bathroom right on the ocean. I'm sure it has been rented but I could show you a google shot of it.
 

smog7

Moderator
sf is 4 hours north of santa maria, and la is 3 hours south. anything in pismo or morro bay is going to be expensive. slo (san luis obisbo) would be pretty good.
 

toytech

New member
San Leandro is nice by the 580 freeway, if you are buying you will get more for your dollar and be a short drive from everything.
 

Toxygene

Active member
Ok, I would suggest finding something in between LA and San Fran. It will make it easier when you need to travel. Mostly you'll find things along the Beach like some people have suggested. You could also look around Fresno which is inland but is also almost equi-distant from LA and San Fran.
 
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