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Move to California? Current Surly Residents


naija

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1 hour ago, mdmost said:

I'm sorry, where in Central Dallas are there 7700 sq ft homes?

That hasn't been equivalently priced to the Park Cities for at least 30 years.

The Park Cities didn't run up in price until the 70s or so, when schools became a premium.  There was about a decade there where Preston Hollow and similar Dallas 'hoods had a good-sized differential.  Now, you get a bit more lot, but pay about the same for a similar house (age, size) and it's been that way for a long time.

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As a parent with two kids, more space is better although there is a point of diminishing returns. I don’t need 7,000 square feet like others, but what I have works perfect for us. Everyone on top of each other would not. I would have no interest in CA at this point with them. We have plenty of outdoor activities, mountains nearby, the beach not too far off, etc so we can cover it. Plus with school activity schedules we don’t have time for much anyways.

As a couple approaching the time our kids will leave the house and with everything frozen over this morning, CA sounds awesome. 1200 square feet, good weather and activities, I’m all in.

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5 hours ago, Aqua Buddha said:

The pros and cons have been mentioned but here’s a real estate story worth mentioning.

We know a woman who is a SVP at a large corporation in the Bay Area.  Family of four.  She had to stretch to buy a house in San Bruno for $1.7M.  Not terrible but nothing extravagant.  4/2  that needed some cosmetic work.  She stretched so much that she waived earthquake insurance.  (She got lucky there.)

When she sold, it went for $2.4M to some 32 year old tech guy who paid cash.

Her point was that she struggled to live there with a family and she was an SVP at a Fortune 100 company.

 

sure, but couldn't the point be just how much she made on the house?

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5 hours ago, Bevo said:

This is true, but it depends on your stage of life. My kids are going to college so I don't need a big house any more. I can buy an 1800 sq foot home near the beach with no yard for a little over a million. It sucks paying about triple Austin prices, but it is nice not having to deal with bugs and heat and humidity. My family has always preferred Texas, saving the cash and flying to the Rockies or the Caribbean or Europe for vacations. My wife is from California, though so she is much happier being close to her childhood friends and family.

quoted for truth. if you live in a city like Chicago with a vibrant downtown, it's not an insignificant amount of people that are selling their homes in surrounding areas/suburbs and choosing to live in downtown Condos and Townhouses instead. seems at some point, it flips and folks want to be closer to "stuff to do," figure they don't need as much house as they thought before and are happy to do away with the maintenance part of owning a proper house.

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10 minutes ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Actually that's part of the issue.  How much more she sold it for.

yeah, but how many places are you going to get that sort of guarantee that your property isn't going to lose money. I understand there are demerits to that idea, but that's one of the biggest considerations when buying a place. that said, one wonders when the San Fran/Mountain View bubble will burst. I don't understand how the regular people live there, but they do.....

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There was some article that came out a couple years ago, and I was surprised to learn that Pittsburgh is actually not that big of a city.The article said that Katy, TX was going to be bigger than Pittsburgh by like 2020 or 2022 or something. 

Yeah it has a small city feel for sure. I just liked the old school feel to it. Lots of history and the hills are really cool especially during the fall with the changing leaves.

 

My Grandpa put himself through college at Pitt by working in the steel mills.

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Personal preferences being what they are, I view California like I do NYC.  I love and hate them both equally.

I love many things about CA.  I love the weather, the culture, the topography, the diverse climates, the higher ed system, etc.  But as others mentioned, you're unlikely to do anything due to the difficulty of getting anywhere.  Ask anyone in CA often they go to the beach.  It's about as often as people in NYC go to shows.  But you ask either group if they'd ever leave and they're like "No, I could never leave CA.  I love it here.  Never mind they're living in a $500K two bed condo in Pamona.  

That being said, I generally consider LA and SF highly overrated unless you have a ton of money.  (San Diego might be my favorite city in the country, though.) Unless you have the aforementioned pile, you're living in a subdivision with a commute so in that case, you might as live in any other suburb.  Your commute is long and on the weekends, you're just trying to catch up.  (Props if you can live close to your work, though.)  Same applies to NYC.

 

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I lived in NYC for a time.  It was a transfer at the request of my employer and I received a housing allowance and a cost of living adjustment.  This allowed me to live in a nice brownstone right next to central park and maintain my standard of living.  It was a fixed term arrangement and I really enjoyed it.  It do the same thing for California.  Outside of an arrangement like that I'm not going anywhere.

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2 hours ago, naija said:

quoted for truth. if you live in a city like Chicago with a vibrant downtown, it's not an insignificant amount of people that are selling their homes in surrounding areas/suburbs and choosing to live in downtown Condos and Townhouses instead. seems at some point, it flips and folks want to be closer to "stuff to do," figure they don't need as much house as they thought before and are happy to do away with the maintenance part of owning a proper house.

I can offer some perspective here. Lived in SF for 8 years and then moved to Chicago in 2015. 

SF was an incredible place to spend my late-20's thru mid 30's. Day drinking at the park in Fort Mason, banging 6's and 7's,  hiking in Marin, running along Crissy Field thru the Presidio out to Fort Point, hanging out at dive bars, road trips to the Central Coast or Wine Country, etc. Cost of living was high but not prohibitive by any means - paid $3k for an apt in the Marina right by the Marina Green with a view of the Bay. Well worth it. Laundry days were a pain since I shared with 3 other units, and using Uber or Muni bus to get to work in FiDi was suboptimal. Also having a kid or dog is a pain. Otherwise great experience.

Unfortunately, city life is tougher with kids, and most of my friends either moved to the burbs or relocated to places like SoCal, Boston area, Seattle, etc after having kids. 

I relocated to Chicagoland, and it offers none of the weather and scenery benefits of the Bay Area but otherwise a great compromise. Have a big house in the burbs, room for my kid and dog, and a short metra ride downtown. 

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3 hours ago, workswithseed said:

I always see it, but we had high speed internet when I was a teen. I never thought of going in it.

It was funny. They had movies, sex toys, all kinds of stuff. Had a coin-op video booth thing as well but I never went in there.

(For those wondering why anyone would drive 3 hours for dirty movies, hardcore porn is/was illegal in Oklahoma. So if you wanted the real shit, you had to go out of state.)

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2 hours ago, Ricky Butler said:

I’ve actually lived here and like it. And I know people that live here and like it. I’m sorry your friends hate it. Maybe it’s not for everyone, but I also enjoyed living in Texas. Variety is nice. 

I can't argue with that.  Seriously.

If you dig it then you dig it and that's a good thing.

Blue/Now, let's GAMBLE!/Duck

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SF is a shit hole and you need to make $500k to live in Palo Alto. 

LA is better but picking the right neighborhood is key as getting across the city is a pain the ass. I appreciate the diversity of LA while SF has become monolithic. Would live in Texas in a heart beat but understand the desire to try CA out but $300k isn’t much to live on with taxes, cost, etc.  

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Seems a lot of this has been geared towards LA/SF so I thought I’d chime in since I live north of SD. Think the greater Solana Beach, Del Mar, Cardiff, Encinitas, Leucadia, and Carlsbad area.

 

The only way I’d ever move back to Texas is if I wanted to start a family or buy a house. I wouldn’t want to live in CA if I was more than 5 miles from the coast tho. The greater SD Metro in every other aspect is simply phenomenal.

 

Renting is hella underrated IMO. I’ve got a 800 sq ft single bedroom unit one block from the beach for $1600/month all bills included. Fish Tacos from the taqueria are 99 cents and the bar across the way has $4 pints of Pacifico all day.

 

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Seems a lot of this has been geared towards LA/SF so I thought I’d chime in since I live north of SD. Think the greater Solana Beach, Del Mar, Cardiff, Encinitas, Leucadia, and Carlsbad area.
 
The only way I’d ever move back to Texas is if I wanted to start a family or buy a house. I wouldn’t want to live in CA if I was more than 5 miles from the coast tho. The greater SD Metro in every other aspect is simply phenomenal.
 
Renting is hella underrated IMO. I’ve got a 800 sq ft single bedroom unit one block from the beach for $1600/month all bills included. Fish Tacos from the taqueria are 99 cents and the bar across the way has $4 pints of Pacifico all day.
 

Where is this bar?
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Somebody mentioned upthread that I hadn’t posted here yet.

I was in the desert since Thursday. The beautiful CA desert. Hiking, checking out some galleries, hitting some cool bars and restaurants, etc. Took the old 4x4 for a drive too.

We left this morning and got back home this afternoon after fucking around with a few detours and stops. Asked the GF what she wants to do for dinner. She wants to head to the Beach, so “Jake’s” it is. It’s cliche as fuck, but it’s true. Breakfast in Palm Desert, and dinner on the water.

I’ve traveled more than most people that I know, and I know of no place that has this kind of beauty and diversity.

A guy making $300,000 can do pretty fucking well in L.A. or San Diego.

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17 hours ago, BLKNSTY said:

Seems a lot of this has been geared towards LA/SF so I thought I’d chime in since I live north of SD. Think the greater Solana Beach, Del Mar, Cardiff, Encinitas, Leucadia, and Carlsbad area.

 

The only way I’d ever move back to Texas is if I wanted to start a family or buy a house. I wouldn’t want to live in CA if I was more than 5 miles from the coast tho. The greater SD Metro in every other aspect is simply phenomenal.

 

Renting is hella underrated IMO. I’ve got a 800 sq ft single bedroom unit one block from the beach for $1600/month all bills included. Fish Tacos from the taqueria are 99 cents and the bar across the way has $4 pints of Pacifico all day.

 

You’re living my dream of living on a beach north of San Diego.

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Where is this bar?


Quite a few dive bars off the 101 in Leucadia and Cardiff. Shantytown Cocktail, The Leucadian, Captain Keno, etc. Golden Tee in Carlsbad is weird mix of cheap drinks, pool, hookers, and rich divorcees.

But my go-to is 1st Street Bar in Encinitas. The amount of gash that come through that place on Friday nights is staggering. Beachside typically has a solid beer and shot special, which really is the most effective method of drinking IMO.

Even Union Kitchen, one of the priciest bars/restaurant duos out there has $6 Pacifico’s pretty regularly.
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1 hour ago, BLKNSTY said:

 


Quite a few dive bars off the 101 in Leucadia and Cardiff. Shantytown Cocktail, The Leucadian, Captain Keno, etc. Golden Tee in Carlsbad is weird mix of cheap drinks, pool, hookers, and rich divorcees.

But my go-to is 1st Street Bar in Encinitas. The amount of gash that come through that place on Friday nights is staggering. Beachside typically has a solid beer and shot special, which really is the most effective method of drinking IMO.

Even Union Kitchen, one of the priciest bars/restaurant duos out there has $6 Pacifico’s pretty regularly.

 

I know all of those places.  I don't frequent them, but I've been to them.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Welcome to sunny California!!!

 

Quote

Homeless man hurls bucket of diarrhea at woman near Hollywood Walk of Fame

A homeless man dumped a bucket of “hot” diarrhea on a Los Angeles woman near the Hollywood Walk of Fame — an unprovoked attack that’s left her with PTSD,  she said this week.

Heidi Van Tassel said she was about to drive home from a Thai restaurant near the famed tourist area in April when the alleged assailant, Jere Blessings, dragged her out of her vehicle, news station NBC4 reported.

He pulled her into the middle of the street, where he dumped a bucket of feces over her head, she said.

“It was diarrhea. Hot liquid,” Van Tassel told NBC4. “I was soaked, and it was coming off my eyelashes and into my eyes.”

Referring to the amount of feces used in the attack, paramedics who treated her said that it “looked like the man was saving it up for a month,” according to Van Tassel.

She said she was rushed to Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital, where she was tested for infectious diseases, NBC4 reported.

“It’s so traumatic,” Van Tassel told the news station. “The PTSD that I’m dealing with is beyond anything that I’ve ever felt. There needs to be some kind of help for the victims of these crimes.”

Blessings — who was described as a transient who suffers from mental illness — was arrested on battery charges and jailed, the outlet reported.

He was sent by a judge to a residential facility for people with mental health issues, but was released in August, which concerns Van Tassel, according to the news station.

“What’s the next thing he’s going to do to somebody?” she said. “If he would’ve had a knife, for sure he would’ve stabbed me.”

 

https://nypost.com/2019/11/12/homeless-man-hurls-bucket-of-diarrhea-at-woman-near-hollywood-walk-of-fame/

 

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2 minutes ago, Dr. Beeper said:

HP has 10,000 residents. I bet a few of those are into a) UT, b) Cowboys, c) oil, d) identifying attention whores on Surly, and e) dipping on airplanes. 

how many grew up in Westlake and have a framed picture of Ehlinger's cankles hanging over their bed?

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1 hour ago, Dr. Beeper said:

You need to change your tone with me, fuckface. 

No one, AND I MEAN NO ONE, disparages the honor of a Westlake grad on my watch, fuckface!

in all seriousness, it’s nice to have you back. Glad you stopped pretending to not be the punchy, pretentious cunt you are. The site’s a better place with you blindly throwing haymakers daily.

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