Any other long-term CA residents reconsidering their “forever home”?

[irishgal]

Yes. It could go there or under life after ER. But I would hate for it to get lost in another thread.

(I would super-secretly love a pet/ animal lovers' forum.)

Ok that’s a better choice.
Pet lovers’ forum would be a kick.

 

[rodi]

San Luis Opispo was our favorite and if I had to leave Colorado, I would consider SLO. Good size, still a nice college town, close to mountains and water. Heart of wine country. Good people too. The central coast is classic California.

I have a son attending school at CalPoly. Love SLO. We use him as an excuse to camp up there... Pismo Oceana campground and the two Morro Bay campgrounds are awesome. (Haven't done the pismo dunes one because we're not sure our van would be able to traverse the dunes.) It gets a bit warm in the summer, but my son solves that by heading out to surf. LOL.

 

[bmcgonig]

Lived in Bay Area for decades now and COL once you have housing taken care of is not much different than anywhere else (cept for gas prices) .

However when looking at CCRCs I would definitely get much more if I go somewhere outside California .. so that’s an option Sunday but not yet

 

[Surewhitey]

No Joke here!!. We sold our past and final house in Cali (Pasadena). We sold for $1000 sq ft. We purchased in Georgia on the water for $210 sq ft. I do miss the weather in Cali but the cost of living and politics are insane. Now, something to know that is important to those leaving the state. Even though I legally live in another state now.... the California State Franchise Tax Board insists any income I receive (that was made while I lived in Cali) must be subject to Cali State Tax when received. This means any deferred income that I socked away until retirement will be taxed by Cali for the next 10 years. They make it very hard to escape to a lower and more friendly tax environment. Just be aware Cali has a long arm to claw back after your departure. So, while not a resident I am still paying Cali for pretax dollars earned in the State. Only good news is you can claim it as a tax credit in the state you now live. But it is still worth the tax hit IMHO.

I thought you could file as a non-resident & get the taxes back? I'm telling on myself, but we filed CA taxes for 5 years and got 100% of it back as we didn't "make enough income in CA" for those years.

 

[Ian S]

Now covered in six feet of snow...

Speaking of snow... awoke to 9" of snow overnight here near Sedona, AZ (see image looking out our front door). Even Scottsdale had snow on the ground this morning!

 

[Retch The Grate]

California is a huge state, bigger in land mass and more people than many countries, so everyone's experience is bound to be different. Here is a list of cities in California ranked by safety. There is likely to be a big difference in your experiences in crime depending where you live - California Crime Index City Rank.

Another draw for us was jobs, which we no longer have, but all the other criteria keeps us here in the Bay Area, even now being retired.

woo, my city is ranked #129 in crime rate. Only 4.3x the rate of #1 and 1/2000 of the crime rate in the worst city according to that chart.

My wife and I both came here for jobs. I've been in the Bay Area for 24 years now (aside from a 3.5 year stint up in Renton WA just outside of Seattle when I worked for WotC). I stay for the culture, the climate, the politics, the natural beauty, the people, the friends, the food, the music scene, etc.. I'm not opposed to someday moving to Europe, [Mod Edit] it has to get really bad to get to the point where moving would be the right thing to do.

 

[Major Tom]

the climate

Yes, but your summers are SO cold over there!

I lived in Ocean Beach for a year, when I first moved to the Bay Area. I was 3 blocks from the beach, and the summer was downright chilly!

 

[bmcgonig]

Yes, but your summers are SO cold over there!

I lived in Ocean Beach for a year, when I first moved to the Bay Area. I was 3 blocks from the beach, and the summer was downright chilly!

Worst ocean property in the world! [emoji4]