Am I crazy to want to leave CA?
I live up in the Bay Area, have a nice job and a wonderful house, but still with a wife and two young kids, feels like you can't get ahead here because its so expensive. Also hard to do any real estate investing when everything is so pricey and low cash flows up here.
I'm thinking life would be much less stressful if I moved to the Midwest (ex. had an opportunity in Omaha that I passed up), got a similar job, a much cheaper house and cost of living and was able to take the cashed out equity on my house here and start doing some serious real estate investing that could allow me to retire 10-15 years earlier than I might here in CA.
Has anyone done this move out of CA, and how did it go. Am I crazy to even consider leaving the beautiful weather and so forth in CA?
It is easier to build wealth in a lower cost of living area. If you work in tech in SF and make $400k a year, the bay area is a wonderful place to live. However, if you are part of the other 98%, you are either compromising on how you live, or spending more than you are saving.
My experience has been that salaries just don't vary by as much as cost of living does throughout the US. Friends that live in high cost of living cities (LA, NY, San Fran), end up with more wealth trapped in their own home, but never get off the ground truly investing. You always have the option of turnkey, but that will rarely match the returns of finding your own deals locally.
High cost of living areas can be great fun to live in, just as driving a Ferrari can be great fun. However they are really a luxury item, if you want to build wealth, it can be easier having more disposable income to start investing with.
Originally posted by @Tarek Saad:Love Cali life! But Oklahoma real estate can't be beat. I Invest here and then take the fam to enjoy the life out in Cali every summer.
I feel for $150-$300 per month cash flow per property at $50k properties price tags are a great way to build monthly cash wealth quickly.
NO NO Tarek.......The ONLY way to be successful and "cool" is to live in Cali, all the opportunities are there. Over here in "PODUNK" we are all inbred and have nothing to do for entertainment, our real estate doesn't double in price every 6 months. There are no Millionaires around here, ( except for Warren Buffett..), I see no reason anyone would want to head this way. We are sooooo boring, and there is almost no way to make any money investing in real estate here, because we just don't have the HUGE appreciation.....and heck I personally know of no other way to make any money in real estate if you don't have HUGE appreciation. I must be one lucky guy to have somehow made a exceptional living with all the things we have going against us.
I didn't realize how miserable I am, I should pack up and move out west where I can make some BIG money and be happy.
I kid.....I kid :).
You know I just bought a real nice older mobile home from a nice lady that was moving to a retirement home. I paid her $4,500 for it just this morning I have a tenant moving in on the first, paying me $575 per month on this baby. Anyone good at math can run the numbers on this and tell me if its a good deal????? How long before its paid for? I'll hang on to this baby for many many years and it will stay fully rented. Then I'll either sell it for around what I paid for it.....probably more though. At that time, I'm pretty sure I won't care less how much it appreciated.....(I'm very aware that a mobile home is a depreciating asset).
Anybody that looks at this deal.....would you be upset that when it came time to sell this mobile home, or house ,that it didn't appreciate very much????? And I have a whole BUNCH these little gems out there. Same program as the "cheap" houses.
I've been to Hawaii a couple of times.......talk about nothing to do? Try living on an island. Just my opinion .
Sean
Originally posted by @Sean Kremer:
You know I just bought a real nice older mobile home from a nice lady that was moving to a retirement home. I paid her $4,500 for it just this morning I have a tenant moving in on the first, paying me $575 per month on this baby. Anyone good at math can run the numbers on this and tell me if its a good deal????? How long before its paid for?
Yeah! A paid off $4,500 house. Dang, if you had 10 of 'em, well you do the math. I'm figgering you b rich.
Oops, just saw it wasn't a house but a trailer. You're one tornado away from gone with the wind.
Originally posted by @Account Closed:If you are a renter in California and don't have a salary that can buy a house here you SHOULD leave. The only way to get ahead by renting is to buy a house that you can rent out. Rent a room for yourself in someone else's nicer house while you are making the big bucks. When your property doubles in value (usually within 10 years) sell at the peak and take your money to Podunk.
LOL...
I also am puzzled by all of the Californians investing in out of state turnkey for "cashflow."
And why don't these crazy Texan and Midwestern "cash flow investors" just buy "turnkey" California rental properties, tread water for ten years on the mortgages/maintenance/management and then, at the top of the market cycle, BANG!!!! Sell that baby and reap the profit?
Buy low/Sell high. Is it really that hard???
DL
I lived in SoCal for most of my 20's. It was incredible. Absolutely amazing. I met my wife there (who is from the Bay Area). No regrets about my time out there at all.
That being said..
Once life got "real" (I got married and had kids) work brought me to TN. The cost of living out here, to include REI opportunities opens so many doors that would not have been available to us in CA. I'm not an appraiser, but the house I just build was just north of 300k...in Coronado, where I lived, my guess is it would easily be a $4 mil+ property with the land. The opportunities are there in CA, don't get me wrong, but they require a lot more money than I had available to get into them.
Cheers,
Dave
I'll take podunk anyday of the week and my 18% cashflow over an opportunity to live in California. Hands down no chance I would ever live there.
Where do you invest now? Welcome here see you around the site.
Enjoy the sun and invest out of state in Chicago with me!
Hey Andrew, I just joined this site today and can relate to your situation. Hopefully, you opted to stay in Danville and pocketed another 150-200k since the initial post 3 years ago. Cali is unique. We left in 02 following the dotcom bubble and moved to Northern VA. We turned our savings into 16 units between Ohio and VA. Everything was perfect until the housing bubble hit. 7 figures in equity by age 30 disappeared immediately. In 06, we decided to move back to Cali. We read a piece that ranked San Jose as the number one place to save as a renter. After renting and saving for many years, we decided to move again and satisfy the lifestyle and investing itch. We’re now in the Sacramento suburbs. Wallet Hub has listed this area as the top place to raise a family in CA (2 years straight). We live minutes to the farmers market, Amazon Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and Sprouts. The culture, weather, diversity, access to trails, Napa, lakes, and skiing is pretty awesome! We’re able to invest, work and play close to home whilst sending our children to some of the top public schools in the area. As a bonus, we have a thriving beer culture with awesome small local brewers who take the time to sit and have a beer with you that they recently released. And if you’re not completely sold just yet, Lifetime fitness is right around the corner. :) You don’t have to sacrifice your health to create wealth. Best of luck!!