the "living in California surtax"

[Chuckanut]

Living place is such a personal choice. What works for me, works for me. And says nothing about what works for somebody else.
Good fortune whatever you choose to do.

 

[Kimo]

"HI would be too hot for me I think" The Big Island has areas that are not anywhere near as warm as areas on Oahu...

 

[haha]

In the Bay Area aside from the demand and the available wealth, there is a limited amount of space (ocean/bay/mountains) so housing will always be a lot here unless there is a really big earthquake then all bets are off.
Washington might be ok for me (cool enough) but might be too rainy. So coming back here may still be in the plans and in the meantime there will be income in retirement that I currently don't factor into my savings. Maybe enough to move to Tuscany instead of Washington

San Francisco proper is surely the best US example of a naturally constrained RE market. Then they square that with very strict building rules and regs. The East Bay imo is different. When I lived there Livermore was not "Bay Area".

Seattle itself is similarly blocked, by Elliott Bay on the West, Lake Washington on the East, and other municipalities North and South. Where I live there is less than 5 miles from Lake Washington Shore to Elliot Bay Piers.
An easy walk. Not so hard to build up as in SF, at least so far. And of course Bay Area Metro must have 3x the population of Seattle Metro.

But depending on where you live, I think you may find that San Francisco in summer is quite a bit cooler than here. And less likely to get snow or really harsh weather in winter. Strictly on climate, I'd give the nod to all the towns close to SF Bay.

I think Berkeley/Oakland was the best weather I ever experienced, or at least tied with Venice Beach.

Ha

 

[explanade]

I have friends that left socal for Colorado 6 years ago and now want to come back, but the differential in housing prices is problematic. The husband is already retired and the wife will be retiring next year earlier than planned due to health reasons. They can't make the move and stay retired, so if you plan to leave think long and hard as coming back may be challenging.

I personally love it here and it's more than the weather. The diversity of people and activities are hard to beat. Having said that after fire I am considering returning to the east coast to be closer to family.

Several smaller towns in Colorado often make the lists of best places to live.

 

[caninelover]

Hi hill country, they sold their house in 2008 while the market here already dropped a ways. They bought a lower price house in co for 350k but the property value has not increased there since they bought. To get back into a single family home here would start at 500k so they would have to put in more and probably go back to work for awhile.

Explanade, they have family here and prefer the lifestyle here. Lists are generic and at the end of the day what works for one person doesn't work for another.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

The huge home price swings can make it difficult to move since it may be a decision not easily reversed. Realtors still want a percent of price commission (not unlike the percent of assets FAs issue) and giving up a low fixed rate mortgage and/or low Prop 13 taxes on a house several times over what it might cost in another state or even away from the coast can make moving out of state or even changing houses within the state a pretty huge financial decision.

 

[haha]

The huge home price swings can make it difficult to move since it may be a decision not easily reversed. Realtors still want a percent of price commission (not unlike the percent of assets FAs issue) and giving up a low fixed rate mortgage and/or low Prop 13 taxes on a house several times over what it might cost in another state or even away from the coast can make moving out of state or even changing houses within the state a pretty huge financial decision.

+1.

My city is nowhere as expensive as SF or Sunnyvale or Palo Alto or Berkeley or most of Oakland, yet if If I sold my condo I would kiss goodbye to => $25k selling costs. Then an unknown amount to move, get the new house up to snuff, buy furniture. etc, etc. I think that unless one is harvesting a big delta it might be hard to break even, let alone improve one's position.

Realize how much heating and cooling can cost in the Midwest. Almost 0 in coastal California near the sea.

Plus, if you like California, you may not like Lincoln, NE very much. Unless I disliked California on other than RE estate costs, I would give it a lot of thought before leaving.

I read an interesting article by a young finance guy who was making a temporary move to NY but planned to return to London when the gig was complete. He didn't own a flat, but ultimately decided to buy one and do a managed rental while he was away, just to guard against very large price jumps while he was gone. Looking at what has happened, it was likely a good decision. Apparently central London and the good west end neighborhoods have become almost out of reach to anyone other than xx millionaires.

Ha