Cost of living (San Diego, San Jose, Anaheim: real estate, apartment, rentals)

[Zenshin]

Hello,

I want some basic information regarding cost of living in OC. I have been California Dreaming forever since I was a kid born and raised in nyc and nj. I am now forced against my will (by my wife) to live in cleveland and I am f?!$ing miserable here. We were tricked by my sister in law by promising my wife tons of work and the ability to save money down here and a bunch of other crap I am at a point where I am going to loose it here after 3 months and want to live the dream of being in Cali.

My situations is this I have a cash income of 4600 dollars a month it is me my wife and daughter, I want to know is that enough to live a comfortable life in southern Cali anywhere from San Diego to Orange County and up?

I assume my wife could get a part time job anywhere for example sd zoo or sea world or in oc at Disney etc which could bring a extra cash income of 1000 a month which would give me 5600 a month.

I am open to opinions In sd oc la sj sf I just have this dream of being there.

Honestly how bad are the earthquakes everyone tells me it's soo bad and this or that etc I'm just sick of everyone's opinion who never been to Cali I want to hear from natives

In oc what are the good areas to live in with good schools ? I hear there is a lot of gang activity down there so where should I stay away from.

Thanks all for listening

[Cheektowaga_Chester]

The earthquakes and gangs are horrible. You'd be MUCH safer in Cleveland. Don't let people trick you into moving to California.

Say your income is $5600/month. Who's taking care of the daughter?
You budget for housing is about a third of that - and that's scraping by so, $1800 or so. 401(k)? Emergency fund? College savings? Life insurance? Auto insurance?

[Electrician4you]

Cost of living is high. What do you do for work? You can get a apartment anywhere from 1400 on up. Price goes up in relation to conditions of the area and needed size of residence. How old is your kid? Does babysitting/child care come into okay or is she old enough to be on her own. Take child care costs into consideration if needed.
Rent varies from area to area.

As far as earthquakes yeah we have them. Gangs we have those too but I'm sure there in Cleveland also

[Zenshin]

I have a real estate income from pa and ny so I pretty much am open to do what I like, I did work in property management, but I don't need to do anything and just live off my properties , I just can't believe I allowed myself to move to cleveland, but I caved in to my wife and her family.

My plan was to move to Cali or vegas few months ago, but my wife and in law kept getting in involved and I gave.

Sarcasm is deserved yes I am aware cleveland is bad and a lot worse than the oc I was just asking what area should I avoid when looking

[Pacifico]

Get busy living or get busy dying. Nothing in Cleveland will quench your desire to live the CA dream. So either learn to adapt and make the most of it there or if your DW is on board with the idea of relocating to Ca then definitely go for it. You can certainly make it happen on the income numbers you've mentioned.

[Electrician4you]

Originally Posted by Zenshin

I have a real estate income from pa and ny so I pretty much am open to do what I like, I did work in property management, but I don't need to do anything and just live off my properties , I just can't believe I allowed myself to move to cleveland, but I caved in to my wife and her family.

My plan was to move to Cali or vegas few months ago, but my wife and in law kept getting in involved and I gave.

Sarcasm is deserved yes I am aware cleveland is bad and a lot worse than the oc I was just asking what area should I avoid when looking

Wasn't trying to be sarcastic. Didn't mean to come across as that. I have a few rentals and they are all different in price and size. It all depends on the area and the areas rent prices. Your needs are in direct relation to rent prices. I have a friend who moved to La Habra. Nice house great neighborhood he had to come up with 7500 to rent. Heavy down and first month.
But its a great house and he's not a idiot tenant. His rent is 2700.
As for stay away areas it depends on the city. Where in Orange County are you looking to move? It's pretty big area wise so narrow it down. Do you wanna be near the beach or up near the foothills? You want your kid to go to a great school or is it private school all the way? Do you plan on working? How much of a commute do you want!
Lots of variables. Simply saying I wanna move to California where to move is a hard question to answer.
Property management is pretty big out here and plenty of companies hire. You could also start your own.

[k81689]

If you bike to supermarkets for on-sale items only, then food is cheap.
The problem is in housing and driving. Both are not cheap.

For example, $3300/month for a 3 beds house 1+ mile to beach.
9641 Landfall Dr, Huntington Beach, CA 92646 on zillow

You can check zillow rental web site.

[nyc2020]

5600/mo x 12 = 67200 before taxes (i assume you will have to pay taxes on that sum, even on your investment income). you can really get by anywhere in any major city in the country on that but it depends on how you want to live. you said comfortable - does this mean you need the good life or do you mean strictly financially you don't want to be strapped for cash?

i figure a 2 BR rental can run around 1800 for a half decent area - will this meet your expectations? then add all your other expenses - insurance, cars, gas, food, etc.

do you not plan on working?

[Zenshin]

Thanks all for all the replies, I do appreciate it.

I know it is a difficult question to ask everyone if my income is enough, just wanted to get an idea of everyones thoughts or opinions, my income would be awesome for Orlando or some parts of the east coast and great in NYC ( not manhattan), but I hear and read that you need to be rich in order to live in the OC or San Diego and a lot of friends and family told me I don't have enough income to live in either city, that is why I am asking.

What I mean by comfortable is a nice neighborhood with good schools, to be able to eat out with the family, movie theatre on weekends, gym memberships for me and the wife and maybe piano or dance lessons for my daughter, nothing special we are simple and love to spend as much time together as possible its the reason I decided to not work was to spend as much time with my family, but now with my daughter in school it is getting boring lol, but as of now not planning to work if I come to cali, just want to enjoy it for a while maybe later ill open a business who knows, if my wife wants to work great if not still great. point is I just don't want to starve or barely make the bills that was my point by comfortable.

I am open to san diego, OC, San Jose and someone told me about Temecula. In Orange county Anaheim and Irvine seem interesting and Huntington Beach I heard is nice.

[Cheektowaga_Chester]

Originally Posted by Zenshin

comfortable is a nice neighborhood with good schools,
eat out with the family,
movie theatre on weekends,
gym memberships for me and the wife
piano or dance lessons for my daughter,
nothing special we are simple and love to spend as much time together as possible

I just don't want to starve or barely make the bills that was my point by comfortable.

I am going post what I wrote above:

Say your income is $5600/month. Who's taking care of the daughter?
You budget for housing is about a third of that - and that's scraping by so, $1800 or so. 401(k)? Emergency fund? College savings? Life insurance? Auto insurance?