What benefits of leaving CA

[Meaney77]

He's not fooling me. I have family in Newberry Park.

Pretty nice area out there.

Im in NP, so are a few other board members, its not all that bad.

 

[TCHB]

Good friends live in Newport Beach and think we were crazy to move from HB to Havasu. I always looked at the job and then location. If you have a great paying job you will live in the nicer areas of the city and the kids will be in the better schools.

 

[rivermobster]

Im in NP, so are a few other board members, its not all that bad.

I Know. He's just being a big ol drama queen!

 

[RCDave]

Westlake village, thousand oaks, Newbury park are really nice areas.

 

[getoffmylawn]

I'm retired so a little different but for me it was an issue of quality of life. I'm in a very rural area that is extremely peaceful and quiet. People don't lock their doors here and leave their keys in their cars (actually, mostly trucks). No traffic, no crime, live and let live mentality (meaning no liberals wanting to dictate how others should live), people pull their own weight but are quick to help others, clean air (no smog checks required), it is 66 today and sunny, no state income tax, cheap property (I'm on 5 acres), but the biggest difference in the lack of self centered assholes.
A lot of people say they can't leave (don't want to) CA because of the opportunities there, especially for their kids. I ask, opportunities for what? To live and work in the same rat race fighting ridiculous traffic, dealing with phony people with no morals or ethics? Trying to keep up with the Jones while treating others like crap?
One thing I've learned about living out here is that all the material trappings of city life don't mean squat. Kids here are raised with decency, honesty and strong work ethics. They are kind to one another, don't worship celebrities and understand the truly important things in life.
I know how easy it is to get caught up in the LAM mindset. I used to live that lifestyle but as I grew older I came to question my values. Maybe it is a "been there, done that" thing but I realized I didn't need all that fancy expensive stuff to be happy. I urge those of you that are becoming disenchanted with the big city life to take a road trip to rural America. Spend some time in small towns and talk to the locals. Visit the fly over country that the liberals like to stereotype as a bunch of racist, redneck, uneducated hicks. You might be surprised as to what you will find.
The down sides are: have to travel a distance to go shopping and then not a lot of resources available when you do. You have to learn patience and give up on instant gratification. You have to figure things out and can't just call someone to come fix things. You may get bored and have to figure out how to keep yourself entertained.

Exactly........ and if you DO move, make an effort to fit in. Leave the CA attitude and thinking behind.

 

[Yellowboat]

Could you settle for $17 a hour with your experience? I can't so I will stay.

Funny thing, when i moved from ca to or, my gross sales droped to 1/3, but i made 10k more.


I paid less for my house then i wouod have for my lot, hell less then just ther permit and fees.

Most of the epa bs is gone. If i need an organic solvent for work, i go down and buy it.

You can walk into a gun store, give them money and walk out with anything other then nfa.( hell owning a nfa firearm)

My insurance from the same company, same numbers and same policy ( state law changes only) i paid less in 2 quaters then i did in 1 month.

The only thing that i miss is ethic restaurants.

 

[fmo24]

The only thing that i miss is ethic restaurants.

Good Mexican food is definitely hard to find outside of Ca and Az

 

[RodnJen]

One of the things I've noticed since I've been looking is "expenses" vs. "taxes". It's easy to find states that have a lower income tax rate, or have lower property taxes due to lower home values. Some of the things that I've noticed can be much more expensive like heating, cooling, repairs, homeowners insurance etc.

One example is south Florida. It's not cheap to buy there but there are lots of reasons to be there. Many of the homes I'm looking at are smaller, which is fine. However, the homeowners insurance on some of these lower lying properties, near the coast cost $1,000 or more per month, which is more than I pay in CA in taxes for a nicer house. The maintenance and damage repair due to weather is substantial. This goes for anywhere in the southeast.

 

[highvoltagehands]

It's a loaded question that should be asked elsewhere, somewhere unbiased. Everyone on here seems to think all of California is like LA or Bay Area. Well 75% of the state is nothing like those areas, and we continue to live a great lifestyle in a good state. But Hating California is trendy thing right now, so let the haters hate. Guess it all depends where you live. I live in Granite Bay, Northern California and it's as nice as anywhere else, very conservative, great neighbors, great schools, low crime, good wages, reasonable cost of living, with hunting, skiing, fishing, offroading, mountains, multiple lakes, 2 rivers, delta and urban night life within 30 mins and the ocean is less than 2 hours away, so for me there's no benefit of leaving.

 

[fmo24]

Florida vehicle ins is higher as it is a no fault state. But the tags are measurably less so the savings are measurable. I don’t own any property so cannot comment on property tax and ins. Our ins on the moho is similar to a homeowners policy as we full time. Added liability and such. It is about 25% more than Ca was. Tags in Ca were 1800 and in Florida they are about 200 for two years.

 

[Havazoo]

There’s Nothing good about Lake Havasu, stay in California. Spread the word!!

 

[Rbcconst]

Good Mexican food is definitely hard to find outside of Ca and Az

Ca has some of the best mexican food.


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[Rbcconst]

Funny thing, when i moved from ca to or, my gross sales droped to 1/3, but i made 10k more.


I paid less for my house then i wouod have for my lot, hell less then just ther permit and fees.

Most of the epa bs is gone. If i need an organic solvent for work, i go down and buy it.

You can walk into a gun store, give them money and walk out with anything other then nfa.( hell owning a nfa firearm)

My insurance from the same company, same numbers and same policy ( state law changes only) i paid less in 2 quaters then i did in 1 month.

The only thing that i miss is ethic restaurants.

Are you in AZ?


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[RCDave]

Ca has some of the best mexican food.


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Latigo kid in agoura!!!

 

[Meaney77]

Latigo kid in agoura!!!

Los Toros in Chatsworth has pretty damn good food and margaritas- we usually stumble over to the Candy Cat afterwards !

 

[nowski]

Good Mexican food is definitely hard to find outside of Ca and Az

29 Years ago I was thinking outside of the box and married a Mexican Chiquita. So in my case Good Mexican food is wherever we go. I guess you can say I have my el pastel and get to eat it too...

 

[Universal Elements]

http://eltepeyaccafe.com/

 

[DrunkenSailor]

We are looking to get out. That said Newport harbor was very nice today. Gonna miss the sea air.

 

[WYRD]

Could you settle for $17 a hour with your experience? I can't so I will stay.

I highly doubt a skilled tradesman is making 17/hr out of state unless it's in some bfe corner of Montana

 

[WYRD]

Talked with a guy out at river who moved to his vacation home after a divorce. He was making over $40 a hour in San Diego. If he did not have his place already paid for he would never be able to survive. He worked his way up to $17 from $12 few years ago. He was early 50s with over 25 years experience.

He could have flipped burgers at in-n-out for more

 

[DC-88]

Everyone on here seems to think all of California is like LA or Bay Area. Well 75% of the state is nothing like those areas, and we continue to live a great lifestyle in a good state. But Hating California is trendy thing right now, so let the haters hate. Guess it all depends where you live.

The good thing about the hate is it continues to bring awareness . We live in an area with similar qualities . No shit no joke , Wifey and I just signed the recall with this dude on the way to town a few hours ago ! Having said that we are tight w the kids so where they end up may affect us or an extra home ...

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[NicPaus]

He could have flipped burgers at in-n-out for more

That's probably a good job to have in Havasu.

 

[Yellowboat]

It's a loaded question that should be asked elsewhere, somewhere unbiased. Everyone on here seems to think all of California is like LA or Bay Area. Well 75% of the state is nothing like those areas, and we continue to live a great lifestyle in a good state. But Hating California is trendy thing right now, so let the haters hate. Guess it all depends where you live. I live in Granite Bay, Northern California and it's as nice as anywhere else, very conservative, great neighbors, great schools, low crime, good wages, reasonable cost of living, with hunting, skiing, fishing, offroading, mountains, multiple lakes, 2 rivers, delta and urban night life within 30 mins and the ocean is less than 2 hours away, so for me there's no benefit of leaving.

I livex right down the street from you in fair oaks. Also a very nice area. The bs i delt with as a gc would make most people go insane

 

[NicPaus]

I highly doubt a skilled tradesman is making 17/hr out of state unless it's in some bfe corner of Montana

Not sure I have not looked into it. Now would be the worst time to try and leave. Wait until things are no longer booming. If I could find a few young guys motivated to work here the skys the limit. All the guys I know that rolled into this economy with 20 or more workers are absolutely killing it. $10K a day profit is what I was talking about with a buddy last week at his job sight. They built it for the home owner who decided to sell now. At $4.6 million in Manhattan beach they will make a million and never moved in.

 

[fmo24]

I worked aerospace for 35 years and that was the joke every time lay offs came up. We would all be flipping burgers at in an out. That or el pollo pay the best

 

[Yellowboat]

Not sure I have not looked into it. Now would be the worst time to try and leave. Wait until things are no longer booming. If I could find a few young guys motivated to work here the skys the limit. All the guys I know that rolled into this economy with 20 or more workers are absolutely killing it. $10K a day profit is what I was talking about with a buddy last week at his job sight. They built it for the home owner who decided to sell now. At $4.6 million in Manhattan beach they will make a million and never moved in.

How long did it take to get a permit? The last home i built in la pine( cnetral or) was 1900 sqft 4 bed 3.5 bath. I droped on thr plans at 9, got called back at 9 saying they were approved and ready for pick up. Total permit cost was 3k. The school fees alone in fair oaks were 47 and change per sqft. Thats 90k in addition to the 6-7k permit 5-10k in engineer at the building department and 40k in hook ups

 

[WYRD]

Not sure I have not looked into it. Now would be the worst time to try and leave. Wait until things are no longer booming. If I could find a few young guys motivated to work here the skys the limit. All the guys I know that rolled into this economy with 20 or more workers are absolutely killing it. $10K a day profit is what I was talking about with a buddy last week at his job sight. They built it for the home owner who decided to sell now. At $4.6 million in Manhattan beach they will make a million and never moved in.

I tend to agree, you dont walk away from a winning table. Once the tide turns would be a good time to cash in some profits and look elsewhere. Best time to start a new business is in a down economy, no where to go from there but up. We have a good size electrical contracting business in ca so I'm rooted for the time being. ca will not get any of our retirement money though.

 

[grumpy88]

Los Toros in Chatsworth has pretty damn good food and margaritas- we usually stumble over to the Candy Cat afterwards !

Most of been awhile ago . The cat closed like 2 years ago !

 

[Your ad here]

If I could find a few young guys motivated to work here the skys the limit.

Good luck with that! Those guys are rare. Look for one that came from a family business that wasn't the black sheep.

 

[NicPaus]

How long did it take to get a permit? The last home i built in la pine( cnetral or) was 1900 sqft 4 bed 3.5 bath. I droped on thr plans at 9, got called back at 9 saying they were approved and ready for pick up. Total permit cost was 3k. The school fees alone in fair oaks were 47 and change per sqft. Thats 90k in addition to the 6-7k permit 5-10k in engineer at the building department and 40k in hook ups

Last 2 I asked about in Manhattan beach were 2 years. They make you tear it down before you start the process. The other 1 was a monster lot but nowhere near the water. They paid 5 million and bulldozed it. Sat empty lot for almost a year and half. Going to take 2 years to build now.


Torrance plan check is so busy they are subbing it out. One of my remodels owner made a few minor changes. 3 months at plan check while job sat waiting. There's enough work in plan check to keep things going another 2 years.

 

[jet496]

It's a loaded question that should be asked elsewhere, somewhere unbiased. Everyone on here seems to think all of California is like LA or Bay Area. Well 75% of the state is nothing like those areas, and we continue to live a great lifestyle in a good state. But Hating California is trendy thing right now, so let the haters hate. Guess it all depends where you live. I live in Granite Bay, Northern California and it's as nice as anywhere else, very conservative, great neighbors, great schools, low crime, good wages, reasonable cost of living, with hunting, skiing, fishing, offroading, mountains, multiple lakes, 2 rivers, delta and urban night life within 30 mins and the ocean is less than 2 hours away, so for me there's no benefit of leaving.

Same here. I live in East County San Diego, have 2 acres & surrounded by empty open space that I shoot rabbits & coyotes nightly. I don't even know what most my neighbors look like after 15 years since we're not on top of each other. I'm a contractor with an excellent customer base, work out of my home office mostly, have a shop in San Diego where all the employees go. I schedule all meetings 10:00 - 2:00 & back east county by 3:00 beating the traffic.

So it really is how you're set up here. If I had to live in tract homes & fight rush hour every day, I'd be outta here for sure.

 

[RCDave]

Los Toros in Chatsworth has pretty damn good food and margaritas- we usually stumble over to the Candy Cat afterwards !

Last time I ate there it was like riverdave at China express!! Lol

 

[PDQH2O]

A place to park your car without circling the block for a half hour / not waiting in line for a mediocre restaurant.

Exactly. The only reason I have to circle a parking lot,is to find a spot big enough to park my longbed Super Duty. And that's just out of courtesy for my neighbors, something CA no longer understands or considers. Tx is a wonderful state with wonderful people.

There are certainly trade-offs, but none have made me doubt my decision to leave CA.

 

[HALLETT BOY]

I had no idea Thousand Oaks was that nasty. I did a lot of the drop ceilings in the mall back when it was being built. Seemed like a nice area, but obviously that was a Long time ago!

I woulda moved if I was you too

Thousand Oaks isn’t THAT bad , the other guy assumed that’s the only place in SoCal I was talking about .

 

[buck35]

Same here. I live in East County San Diego, have 2 acres & surrounded by empty open space that I shoot rabbits & coyotes nightly. I don't even know what most my neighbors look like after 15 years since we're not on top of each other. I'm a contractor with an excellent customer base, work out of my home office mostly, have a shop in San Diego where all the employees go. I schedule all meetings 10:00 - 2:00 & back east county by 3:00 beating the traffic.

So it really is how you're set up here. If I had to live in tract homes & fight rush hour every day, I'd be outta here for sure.

And there is the whole California attitude . We know and socialize with almost all of our neighbors for a half mile in each direction. When someone is in need folks step up and help.

 

[hallett21]

Lol it’s really a losing argument liking CA on here.


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[NicPaus]

Rush hour traffic will drive you crazy. I have 1 job going 22 miles away. I have made the drive in 25 minutes and also over a hour. No way I could do it daily. For those that do I can totally see the can't wait to get out attitude. Waited until after 7 to leave there Friday night as it was 1 1/2 hour drive at 5pm. Only took 40 minutes and felt like forever.

 

[getoffmylawn]

There’s Nothing good about Lake Havasu, stay in California. Spread the word!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! Agreed

 

[DaBank]

Havasu is what I was told is a good job in construction.

I paid a friend with no work $150 a hour cash last week for a few days. He wanted $200.

$150 a hour cash? I am ready to work!! lol

 

[CarolynandBob]

Lived in San Diego from 84-2017. Loved it for most of that time. Believed that the weather sucked everywhere else. When we went full timing we were surprised at how nice the rest of the country is.

Still miss some good friends there. We just couldn't take the politics anymore. So many thing we are against in CA. We feel much better and are happier. People seam nicer, but that could be because we weren't happy in CA anymore and maybe we weren't as nice either.

If you are happy in CA then great. Enjoy it. If you aren't then leave. Life is short and not worth living were you are unhappy. If you are successful in your trade then you will be successful where ever you go. There is a lot of wealth in the rest of the country and not just in CA.

 

[fmo24]

Lol it’s really a losing argument liking CA on here.


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I don’t disagree with your statement. In my case I was born and raised in Hunt Bch lived the majority of my life there and then Long Beach. I remember riding our bikes on the 405 fwy when being built. Riding our motorcycles where Huntington Center got built. A lot has changed in Ca and in m6 opinion not for the better. Too many people, too expensive and way too liberal politics. We have been in every state in our travels except Alaska and they all have their pros and cons. I have found that southern hospitality is real. Sure there are assholes everywhere but less I’ve experienced than Southern California.
I was in the same boat of making a great living and fearing the unknown of packing up and leaving. I should have done it years ago.

 

[boatpi]

We make good $$, could never figure out how our taxes got pissed away so much, nothing to show for it. Started a new business in Las Vegas, NO personal or corporate taxes, tax saving basically pay for new house. Clean air and easy air travel from Mc Carran.

 

[4czn10]

Born and raised in so cal. Thought about leaving and planned for 7 years. Truthfully, I was really unsure about pulling the trigger. Moved to Lake Norman 5 years ago...looking back I should have done it sooner. Reading threads like this make me laugh. Especially when weather comes up. I make more money, have more time, have a much better home, overall such a better quality of life. If you GAVE me my ca home back that I worked so hard to pay for...FREE....I wouldn’t go back. I do miss Mead, Mojave, and Havasu....so I just visit once a year.

This! I too was born and raised in So. cal. i moved to Lake Hartwell, a little over 2 years ago. I live on the lake, with a 3800 sqft home, pay $2200 in prop tax, pay $2.12 for gas and the list goes on. i do miss the weather in Ca. and Havasu, but i have an indoor job, so not so bad. it is a better quality of life. the schools are way better, no traffic to speak of, no smog, don't have sanctuary cities, don't pay for illegals health care, and no homeless problem.

A few cons...people drive like shit! On Sunday's many business's closed.

 

[Universal Elements]

This! I too was born and raised in So. cal. i moved to Lake Hartwell, a little over 2 years ago. I live on the lake, with a 3800 sqft home, pay $2200 in prop tax, pay $2.12 for gas and the list goes on. i do miss the weather in Ca. and Havasu, but i have an indoor job, so not so bad. it is a better quality of life. the schools are way better, no traffic to speak of, no smog, don't have sanctuary cities, don't pay for illegals health care, and no homeless problem.

A few cons...people drive like shit! On Sunday's many business's closed.

Do you live in Georgia or South Carolina?

 

[Bobby V]

Bobby V will be along soon to tell us we are all wrong.

Why would I say you are wrong? I agree with most of his post.

 

[NicPaus]

$150 a hour cash? I am ready to work!! lol

Reason I have been working 7 days a week. Trying to put in 14 hours a day. Still passing up jobs.

 

[Your ad here]

It's more beneficial for the younger people to move out of Ca. Is there a future for a good quality of life for the younger people or just the daily grind of working your ass off just to be a slave to an overpriced place to live? I graduated from Tesoro in 07 and lot of people I went to school with are no longer in Ca but are living a nice life elsewhere. The people that stayed are doing to daily grind just to make ends meet.

 

[Mike K]

Traffic.
Liberal Democrat Legislation.
Highest Taxes ever. Over 70% of CA income goes to some form of taxes.
Massive immigration problems. Over 500,000 influx of illegal immigrants every year.
Worst state out of 50 for housing costs
Worst state out of 50 for businesses
Worst state for schools for your kids
High Crime Rate
Homeless coming from all 48 other states.
Overly expensive govt employees.
The bottom line is ... California will “never ever” get better. CA will continue to decline until it’s a only a dumping ground for “tax takers” all the tax producers will be forced to leave eventually.
GEEZ ... this list could go on forever ... BUT the #1 reason you should move is : You’ll be doing your kids the biggest favor of their life”

 

[boatnam2]

One of the things I've noticed since I've been looking is "expenses" vs. "taxes". It's easy to find states that have a lower income tax rate, or have lower property taxes due to lower home values. Some of the things that I've noticed can be much more expensive like heating, cooling, repairs, homeowners insurance etc.

One example is south Florida. It's not cheap to buy there but there are lots of reasons to be there. Many of the homes I'm looking at are smaller, which is fine. However, the homeowners insurance on some of these lower lying properties, near the coast cost $1,000 or more per month, which is more than I pay in CA in taxes for a nicer house. The maintenance and damage repair due to weather is substantial. This goes for anywhere in the southeast.

Excellent point and something I never thought about.

 

[EmpirE231]

With so many people leaving CA, looks like I can stay. [emoji3]

It'll only coat you double! someone's gotta pay these GOVT bills