Say it isn't so! Maybe move to Cali

My brother-in-law works until 5:30 p.m, in Burlingame, drives just under 2 hours (13 miles from his apt) and doesn't sit down to eat dinner until after 8:00 p.m.

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I see a bicycle in his future! He'd cut his commute in half!

Otherguy-

There's no Anaheim up there, though.

20% over OC will buy you a house in the "Bay Area", but it will be farther "out". I use quotes because, when Rio Vista is considered the "Bay Area" there's something deeply wrong.

Read ArmedBear and Librarian again. I had a a son in San Diego (ONLY place to live in So. Cal, btw) who moved to LA - three months later he's back in the Midwest... a sister in San Fran, and a Mom and Sis in between 'em. Even if your company would pay you double, it's not worth it.

Dude, everybody on this board in Cali is thinking of moving to Idaho.

Are you crazy?

Dude, everybody on this board in Cali is thinking of moving to Idaho.

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Not me!

Wyoming, maybe. ID or MT would be second choices behind WY.

But VA is much more likely for me, at least for the nearer term. I'm very unlikely to be able to get a job in any Rocky Mountain state doing what I do. VA has tons of problems (especially NoVA where i'd have to aim for), but less than CA... I'd have most of my Second Amendment rights back, and be out from under the lunatics in Sacramento who run this state.

Yeah I could handle Boise/Nampa it's alot like the area I live in CA (Sierra Nevada Foothills). I hear they even have Mexicans in Idaho.

Your CCW hopes are not good. The closest county with a shall issue approach is Mendocino. Its sheriff is among the most CCW friendly in the state. But that would be one heck of a commute.

Your CCW hopes are not good.

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That's not the main issue here.

If someone even imagines that he can get a CCW in the SF metro area and even farther out, in driving distance, that's an indication that he needs to do a LOT more research because he really doesn't grasp the socio-political landscape.

If someone even imagines that he can get a residence of any sort for $250K within driving distance of SF, that's an indication that he needs to come out and look for himself.

Again, I'm not being condescending. We may or may not move to Idaho or somewhere, but like I said, if I already lived there, had a home, and made a decent living, there's no way I'd even consider a move to SF, because I know more about what's involved.

Dude, everybody on this board in Cali is thinking of moving to Idaho.

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Not quite.

There are ways of dealing with most of the mentioned frustrations -- yes, even the CCW frustrations -- with a little planning and thinking. I've lived here off and on throughout my life, and still find significant benefits to living here.

Housing is more expensive, though, no lie. I found, though, that -- for me -- the higher earning power here for my specialties outweighed the higher housing cost. YMMV.

And there's no way around the 10 round mag issue for a newcomer. AK's and AR's, well, there are ways around it but they're suboptimal. Switch to Mini-14's, I guess.

Lots of plusses, though. For example, there is no better entertainment than the Berkeley Community Access cable channel. Much better than the Comedy Channel.

Damn, THAT'S why I don't want to move to NorCal. I don't watch TV.

Dude, everybody on this board in Cali is thinking of moving to Idaho.

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Almost. Born and raised in SoCal, and I'll be escaping within the next couple of years. Escape from what? That's already been covered. The geography is wonderful, but the economy and politics are a nightmare. I can barely imagine living anywhere near SF.

Ya, housing seems to be off the chart, wow, the numbers are staggering. Funny thing is though, we don't requier much bit it is still too spendy. We live in a 2 bed, 1 bath, 1200 sf home. It is only a place to stay at and park our RV. We gave 76k for it 5 years ago. I imagine the same place would run is 250k in the bay area.

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Oh, my. I foresee some sticker shock in your future.

Try this link to a real estate broker's site. 2 BR houses are kind of unusual; 3 and 4 are more common. I'd guess closer to $400K is the floor.

In 1989 we sold our 1912 Michigan house for $45K. Nothing special. We got here and bought a house in 1991 - built about 1955, 3BR 2 bath, 1100 square feet.

We used the $45k as a down payment.

15 years later, this place has an assessed value over $400K, and we're in the old, boring subdivision; just up the street are the newer houses. Actually, just went to Yahoo Real Estate - it says $590K. Geez!

See also zillow - nice source of prices, just enter a zip code and refine from there.

It's also important to look at ALL expenses. There are things you wouldn't expect.

For example, electricity in Idaho is really cheap. You're used to it, so you probably don't think about it.

Around here, it's not uncommon for someone to have a $500 electric bill for a hot month, from running the air conditioner in a 3-bedroom house. That happened to a hunting buddy this year. If you don't live near the ocean, it gets pretty hot in the Summer.

You folks talk about Idaho as if it were heaven. After moving here from California 14 years ago I've become familiar with the place if you know what I mean. Right to work state, translation: Right to go broke and become part of America's working poor. At will employment, Translation: Get terminated for any reason or maybe just the whim of your boss who has a nephew that needs a job.. No consumer protection of any kind. Southern part of the state run by certain religous interests who think we're still living in the 1800's. Employers here in the northern part of the state think $7.00 per hour is a good job and advertise those wages on signs in front of their business. While it's true that firearms laws are almost non existant here and there is very little in the way of major crime it's not as rosy as most would assume. Folks who live here that don't make much money are heavily involved in the meth trade or identity theft. Pawn shops, payday loans etc. are everywhere and are a conduit for items stolen in the many auto burglaries that occur every night. And for you Californians that are considering moving here there is always an underlying animosity boiling under the surface with the locals with regard to your presence here. I came here because I have my own business as am not dependent on someone else to write my paycheck and am now semi-retired. My wife who is retired from a major bank decided she wanted to teach school for a second career, she has a masters degree in mathematics, starting pay offered $ 22,000 per year for a 9 month contract.
Apprentice plumbers that can't read their high school diplomas make more than that in Calif. Yes the hunting and fishing are great and if you like to recreate outdoors Idaho is unmatched for year round sports and natural beauty but don't be deluded it is not without it's problems. Now for a final comment, someone mentioned in this thread that buck knives moved here from San Diego. Here's the truth: They told the Post Falls city council that their main reason for wanting to move here was for the lower energy costs and the natural beauty that surrounds the area. The people that worked for them in Calif were mostly non english speakers making around $ 15.00 per hour with benefits provided. The people that work for them now make $ 7.50 per hour with benefits available( that means you pay for the benefits if you can afford it) A very high percentage of these people have college degrees and are reliable and hard working. Buck has about 70% of their knives made in China now while their low cost Idaho labor makes the expensive ones. So come to Idaho if you wish but just be forwarned about the job market. As I like to say You can't eat the scenery.

Dude, everybody on this board in Cali is thinking of moving to Idaho.

Are you crazy?

Wyoming, maybe. ID or MT would be second choices behind WY

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Why not move to West Virginia? Land in abundance, cheap housing, we actually have gun rights (shall issue, open carry, no registration or waiting period). You won't make as much money, but good housing ranges from 40k to 150k. In Morgantown, however, that price ranges from 75k to 150k (ridiculous real estate prices here).

Oh yeah and I forgot to mention Idaho housing prices are the fastest growing in the nation while we have stagnant wages. My home assessed valuation rose 29% last year alone. Joke: Know how to make a small fortune in Idaho ?







Bring a big one

Ahhhh, Crazy John, it ain't all as bad here as you make it out to be.

We moved to Boise in 1997, from Los Angeles, where I lived for 35 years, and where my wife was born. Is Idaho "heaven?" Nahhh. But then, having travelled all over the U.S., and certain parts of the world, I don't know where "heaven" is.

As for the "religious zealots" running the State, I've not seen that happening with the Idaho legislature. But, there are some pockets where locally, that is true. I.e., over in the southeast part of the State.

But, considering California is now under the nearly complete control of the Marxist Socialists, I guess I'll just opt for a few "religious zealots" over around Pocatello (Poke-Ah-Fella).

Having been involved in Calif., for many years in fighting the Marxist Socialist inspired power mad politicians regarding their distruction of our Second Amendment Rights, and seeing what they've done in the nine years I've been gone, I have no doubt whatsoever that it is just a matter of time before ALL FIREARMS will be banned. Of course, there will be exceptions: the Mega Millionaire Marxists and Billionaire Bolsheviks, the very well armed, very expensive bodyguards of the very rich and famous Hollywood idiots, and of course, the enforcement police.

So, I'll take Idaho, with a few warts.

FWIW.

Whatever the lucrative offer is will be immediately negated by astronomical cost of living expenses. It's not just about money or guns. We have one of the crappiest school systems. Bay Area crime is much higher than reported. For a love everyone and hold hands state, this place is pretty harsh.

The only people that move from out of state to Cali, who are "gun people", who can stand the state laws in CA are Active Duty Military, who can obtain "Dangerous Weapons Permits" for thier AR's and AK's and other "Assult Weapons". One time fee of $78 and an anual renewal signature and address check.

If you do move this way, no mags bigger than 10 rounds, no detachable mags on AR's.

CCW in CA, yeah, You're more likely to live on Mars and CCW there, than get a CCW permit in CA. There are a supriseing amount of public and private ranges in CA, much more than were I'm from in MN. If you like to buy more than one new hand gun a month or more than three long guns a month, you should stock up now.

For more information on CA laws, go to this website --> calguns.net They have quite a bit of information.

Thought about it

I live just over the border of MN and my wife is from the Bay area, she was wanting to move back for family. We can't afford it. Period. We would need to triple our income to buy a house there. I was trying hard to figure out a way it would be doable because my other passion is fast motorcycles and Cali roads are incredible fun on a sport bike. We couldn't find anything under 290K with a decent sized lot. Looked at one place between San Jose and SF it was an acre lot with basically a big tent, outdoor shower and outhouse off the grid 325,000 eeek!!!!!! Another one 5 miles down a dirt road an hour outside of Palo Alto 4 acres and again way off the grid with a house that was falling down 285,000 and neighbors that the rumor mill said grew a cash crop.
We are now looking at NC and TN. Way more realistic house prices, we can ride almost year around and with the money we save on a house she can go visit every three months. Seems like a reasonable trade to me.

I would not move to cal. I live here and am seeing if i can move to las vegas, with a job all set up.


The traffic is not as bad in northern cal as it is in sol cal BUT north/south cal has the worse traffic in the USA.... Its cold and misty in San Fran. Not warm and sunny like sol cal. Guns well i live in orange county and guns are ok here, we are even a "shall issue" county.

But 10 day wait on guns
AWP BAN for the most part
10 Mag cap
Apporve list for pistols, and pistol can are taken off list
Locked gun in trunck of car unloaded.
50 cal ban too



Taxs well you make more money so i say thats even.
Home great time to buy in about 2 months lots of home going up for sale due to bad loans(interst only loans/ or you pay what you want like 66 dollar per month) so plenty of people are selling
Roads are bad and crowded, not getting better overall
Water/power seem fine.
Gas is very high overall
Dem state for voting, but lots of REP are here.
We have a great governer, well his nick name is cool governator


over all its a great place to live if you can stand the traffic, and dont want a AWP. Sure there are bad areas mostly LA, but there are lots of good areas.


ps Driving here is fun, you will either get in accidents or become a better driver, learning to avoid cars coming into your lane becuase the driver is smokeing and talking on his cell while looking for that paper work, is always fun. Again raod rage is rare, for how many poeple drive in this state every day, compared to others.

Crazy John said:
You folks talk about Idaho as if it were heaven. After moving here from California 14 years ago I've become familiar with the place if you know what I mean. Right to work state, translation: Right to go broke and become part of America's working poor. At will employment, Translation: Get terminated for any reason or maybe just the whim of your boss who has a nephew that needs a job.

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As I recall, 'right to work' translates into 'do not have to join a union'; in CA, the unions generally support the bigger-government left agenda, and unions get to spend your money supporting those things, whether you, as an individual, want them to spend your 'contributions' that way or not.

And, 'at will employment' is common here, for non-union and non-civil service jobs. All of my jobs here have been 'at will', and all but one has been no problem on that basis.

But I'll take your word about conditions in Idaho. It just looks a little better there than here, in a number of ways. The grass is always greener and such.

CCW in CA, yeah, You're more likely to live on Mars and CCW there, than get a CCW permit in CA. There are a supriseing amount of public and private ranges in CA, much more than were I'm from in MN. If you like to buy more than one new hand gun a month or more than three long guns a month, you should stock up now.

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In much of California getting a CCW is very possible. The nearly impossible urban areas are San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego. Most rural counties are effectively shall issue. The hardest part is getting people to apply because they don't actually know it's possible. But every CCW isued is a victory here.

If I could move today I would. Not because of the gun laws, since I am new at gun ownership and haven't experienced my right taken from me, but more because it is just plain over crowded. House's are way over priced, land ownership is almost non-existant (of any size that is), and to sit on the freeway an hour just to go 10 or 15 miles just sucks. I stay because my daughter is still young and I want to keep her in her school. However when she hits 18 I am gone.

Crazy John-

I didn't say everyone should move to Idaho, ESPECIALLY up where you are. However, 29% of $175K is WAY different from 29% of $500K. Housing in Idaho is considered to be a FAR better value than in SF by analysts, even with that increase.

What I said was, if I had a good job or business going in Boise, I wouldn't consider moving to SF because I could never match the quality of life unless I had a few platinum records on my wall or something. Without a job or business, I wouldn't move to Northwest Idaho and expect to make a living like I do here. Why do you think we're here?

San Diego and SF are quite different WRT traffic, certain costs, etc., too. But if you think we're not used to auto theft, think again.

Personally, I'd prefer to be in a right-to-work state, for a number of reasons.

As far as being an outsider, I'd say that, no matter where you go, including here, don't BE one. If you move somewhere, move there, don't try to bring your old home with you. Often, people are resented for being *******s from another state, not just for being from another state, at least in my experience.