Moving from CT - seeking honest advice (San Diego, Riverside: apartments, rental homes)

[WestboundSoon]

Hi Everyone.

Thank you for reading my post. I would greatly appreciate some feedback from native or current residents of San Diego, or anyone who is familiar with southern California in general. This is my situation and I need some advice.

I live near Hartford, Connecticut. Since I can remember, I have always greatly disliked (HATED) the 6 months of cold, the unpredictable weather, the hurried east coast lifestyle, the lack of culture and diversity, and other non-desirable things about Connecticut, and many other New England cities. I am 22 years old, in college full time, an EMT part-time. I'm broke, but I am saving serious money to move across country. My younger brother feels the same way I do about CT, and he has always wanted to come with me. I am young enough to have the fortune to throw a little caution to the wind, and I am completely fine with packing most of what I own into our cars, or maybe flying some on a plane ride, and moving out to southern California. I have visited San Diego twice. My problem is this: I am about to file for bankruptcy. The story is long and painstaking about medical bills, but the situation cannot be changed, and I must do this soon. I would like to move at the latest, the end of 2009. I have a few questions:

1) Ideally, how much cash should I have with me? Is $4,000-$5,000 unrealistic?
2) How am I going to get approved for an apartment, not only with a recent bankruptcy, but without having tons of time to look, since I'll be coming from 3000 miles away?
3) Should I do a temporary stay with someone, find a position, and then attempt to find an apartment, or do these things in a different order?
4) What are certain cities to set my eye on?

I am very dedicated to moving within the year, and I am open to having to put everything else second. Also, I've been to Escondido and I loved it. Is this an economical place, generally? What is the best move to make concerning the bankruptcy and finding a place to live?

I know this is a really odd one, but any honest help would be appreciated. I am dedicated to my cause, but I feel extremely overwhelmed.

Thanks in advance.

[FashionD]

1) This is a pretty vague question. Depending on where you live, the amount you should have can vary a couple grand. Whenever I've moved without a job or anything, I've always taken at least $6k and found a job within the first month.

2) You might want to move in with a roommate first. Look on craigslist.
Stay in a hotel/motel/hostel while you apartment hunt or come out a couple weeks before you move and find one.

4) Depends on what you're looking for...Escondido is a very odd choice (I personally think!). It's not really "San Diego" - it's far and inland. If you really want the SD experience, I'd recommend living further south near downtown. Places to consider would be Downtown, Little Italy, Hillcrest, La Jolla, Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach, etc...just depends on what you're looking for and your budget.

[LoneStarJerry]

Originally Posted by FashionD

4) Depends on what you're looking for...Escondido is a very odd choice (I personally think!). It's not really "San Diego" - it's far and inland. If you really want the SD experience, I'd recommend living further south near downtown. Places to consider would be Downtown, Little Italy, Hillcrest, La Jolla, Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach, etc...just depends on what you're looking for and your budget.

They said they visited Escondido and loved it though, so why not? One can still have the San Diego experience by visiting the areas you mention often, and still live in another part of the county. You don't have to live in Ocean Beach for example to enjoy what San Diego has to offer. And quite frankly not everyone wants to live right in the middle of everything, or can afford to live in the areas you mentioned.

I would say to the OP that yes Escondido is going to be more affordable than places closer to San Diego itself, but understand that like any city Escondido has it's bad areas, so you will want to come take a look at apartments or rental homes, whatever your looking to live in first.

For the most part the further from the ocean you go you will find more affordable cost of living, but there are exceptions because while Poway is inland for example I don't see it as affordable, but it's sure a nice place to live. It comes down to what you can afford and what your truly looking for, since you said you loved Escondido though I'd recommend looking into it further because it might be a good fit for you.

If you can do a temporary stay with someone until you get on your feet then yes that would help your chances for success no matter what city in the county you choose.

[bunky3301]

I understand how you feel about the cold weather and ready for a change. I did the same thing at your age , but went to Florida instead and that was quite a while ago now. I thought Florida was the greatest place on Earth, well that's before I went to San Diego. (Don't get me wrong I still have a fondness for Florida).

If I might give you a little advice, you say your a full time student right? If you can hold out in Conn till you finish school would probably be a big advantage to you. I would also try to save up quite a bit more money also, I had roughly $5000 with me when I went to Florida(in the mid nineties) and it goes very quickly. Florida was also extremely cheaper cost of living compared to San Diego also. The dollar went alot further .

I learned the hard way that its nice to live in "paradise so to speak" but it sucks to be poor and live in paradise. Now I did have alot fun and it was a learning experience as well, I also met my wife there to boot. So in the long run it paid off for me.

I would also have a descent car for when you go out there as well. You may want to expand on your EMT skills so you can get a quick job when you get out there as well. Maybe firefighting, California can certainly use more firefighters.

I hope some of this advice helps put things in perspective for you and I understand if you don't want to wait. Just know that it can be more difficult job wise in the long run without finishing your education. Also having more money saved up will help you in securing an apartment in case they require more of a security deposit because of the bankruptcy. It maybe a little harder finding a place with the bankruptcy on your credit report, but in the end I would think you'd be able to secure something you can live with until you get on you feet.

Good luck and keep us informed.....

[FashionD]

j760 -
As you might not have noticed, I put that I "personally" think Escondido is an odd choice. And by "San Diego experience", I mean living by the beach...so Escondido isn't exactly the "San Diego experience" to me. It totally depends on her budget and preferences though, not mine.

[XUCCAMOM]

Escondido is in a SAN DIEGO COUNTY, we call SAN DIEGO for all part of towns like Poway, Oceanside, Fallbrook. Temecula is not a SAN DIEGO COUNTY, it's RIVERSIDE COUNTY, that's closer by Escondido. So, you're going to be a SAN DIEGO resident if you live in Escondido.

[blja]

I recently moved here with 3500.00 and a credit card from Boston. Sharing a place with low rent in Rancho Penasquitos. About 25 minutes north of the Hillcrest neighborhood. Couple of things to think about: the job scene is tough. Having gone to a few job fairs, there weren't many companies represented. Depending on your politics, there are a lot of conservative thinking areas that I wouldn't consider. Most of those are north and east of the city. It's even a little creepy here in PQ. You need a car! Public trans is not like the East coast. I will eventually move into the Hillcrest/Mission Hills/North Park area. Just more open minded people and in the middle of things. Good luck on your move. The weather is fantastic here!!