Moving back to California?

Ha, only if you're looking to live on the waterfront. San Jose and Los Gatos are much more.
... I imagine Boulder Creek is going to be cheap when evacuation lifts but too soon, too soon.
Minus the smoke and plentiful transients yeah it's nice.

 

yeah I was thinking more waterfront and the communities nearby like Aptos, we rent a house there every xmas with my inlaws. Some of the homes there are insanely expensive.

My wife has friends in Boulder Creek and Scotts Valley, really nice area and didn't seem too crazy expensive. At least not compared to down here, and I'd rather live up north personally where it's greener and less desert climate. Really sucks about the fires up there right now, we got married at Big Basin in 2018 and heard the redwood park got pretty wrecked by the fires.

 

Why? Aint gonna be shit left here. Its all on fire

 

Yeah from looks of it all new growth is gone but old redwoods survived. When the roads open up I'm going to make a before and after motorcycle tour video as I just passed through with my GoPro few months back.
Lived in those mountains for most my 35 years and this fire was a first as many of my friends and I too are evacuated (Scott's valley).
Plus side: lot less to burn in TX

Edit to add: post research into TX wildfires show me as quite ignorant

 

you Won’t have to worry and you can have those dirty ass beaches. I will stick with my mtns and lakes.

 

the cost of living thing is meh... maybe don’t rent ? or live in a new place with a HOA and some mello-Roos tax? Or maybe don’t live in Beverly Hills ? Hard to say , bc I purchased my 1/3 Acre home in SD north County for 300k when everything crashed in 2011 and my mortgage is like 1750 bucks, so I don’t see that high of a cost of living for So Cal. Also I drive a 35mpg gas saver daily so the “sky high” gas prices are not too bad (I have a 22 mile Daily commute).

Anyways your answer is going to depend on your lifestyle. During the summer I like to snorkel, deep sea fish and surf so inland would suck. Winter is surf , desert season and snowboarding and that’s 45-120 min away from my front door. Camping is a little bit of a drive but hard to beat Sierras , red wood coast , high desert or even local mtns. I’m 37 now so I’m getting a little old for bars / clubs but it was nice going to pacific beach or down town and getting blasted with all kinds of hedonistic behavior lol (TJ is a walk across too for more adventures).

you see my point . Lots to do here especially if you don’t like sitting at home. Lot of people moving out because of “mehhhh states going to hell and it’s a failure”. I don’t know I’ve been to most states and holy shit either way too hot and humid with weird bugs or basically just one thing to do (all mtns for UT or CO, all “city stuff” for east coast or all weird anti vaccine folks in Idaho for example . No offense Idaho , I’m just saying 5G towers didn’t cause the “covid).


Dang I forgot mtn biking... almost anytime of the year , trails are within riding distance from your front door. Winter doesn’t shut any trail down and just makes the trials more damp sticky. Also for the 6weeks of “summer” just go on night rides.

 

True .... wait a min , isn’t the tallest mtn in the lower 48 in CA ? Oh ya it is. Right on , so we have mtns just like you guys ... plus way more cool stuff.

 

I grew up in CA and I'll never be back. So many places you can go here. I'm in Grapevine and I love it. Yeah California has great weather, but look at the fires now. No stress about weather is great but really seasons are better for the soul! I'm a NorCal kid at heart... can't take that away from me. But a 3 mil house in the same neighborhood is a 4 bedroom here in Texas that's the same size with a yard.

Give Texas another shot for sure but first look for solid work or a new gig before you make any moves. There is a reason even Toyota moved here--- they are still leaving Torrance. Texas has so many jobs even now. Let me know if I can help you

Let's go hit some trails eh??

 

I definitely wouldn’t want to raise my two sons in downtown HB that’s for sure . I grew up there and most of my childhood friends were having problems with hard drugs and constant partying . I do miss surfing all the time though .

 

Same. I wish there was a wave pool around me.

 

If the Big One happens, there will be plenty of new water front property....

 

Outside of the political BS and the big cities, I don't mind CA. Lots of cool natural locations such as Mammoth, Yosemite, etc. However, if you want to really take care of those in-laws and get really good weather year round, I'd recommend checking out Hawaii. I'd probably live there if I had to pick any other state but my current one.

 

From Hawai’i an I wouldn’t want to move back. Political wise they take what ever California tries and they implement it a few years later. Your grocery bill alone doubles because everything on average is 20% more. Milk is no shit $7.59 a gallon, eggs are 5-6 bucks for a dozen. Traffic on Oahu is dreadful and everything is crowded. Outer islands are nice but lack medical treatment facilities(you have to go to oahu for almost all major things). I bought a 4000sqft home in Oregon for less then what I sold my 1100sqft home for in Hawai’i. Limited to no places for truck fun camping is limited and you need a permit and the camp next to you has a karaoke machine going all night.
Hawai’i is a great place to visit but a tough place to live. The beaches are nice but that’s a lot of money to be on a crowded beach. Also forgot to mention it rains from November to March almost every day.

 

Very expensive! I like road trips but felt kind of trapped on Oahu. The roads kept ending at the Pacific.

 

Yeah, I visited Maui and Oahu. I'd always heard it was expensive, but was surprised it wasn't more expensive when I was there. Hell, gas on Maui was over $1 cheaper than I paid in Mammoth Lakes, CA.

 

Depends on where you are on the islands. Where my family lives on big island it was usually more then a dollar higher then it was on Oahu cause we have the refinery there. Our gas tax is lower but it’s going to start going up because of all the hybrid and electric cars. They have been trying to sneak it in over the last few years. To register my Tacoma in Hawai’i it was 489 a year and going up to 510. Registering my 4runner was 512 A year and going up. During the 07 recession our gas was over 5 bucks a gallon

 

I can definitely believe that!

 

If you can't hack it in Cali...Leave! Stuck it out and my house is worth 4x what I paid for it. Mountains, Beach, NorCal-Socal, so much to love. Anything else would be a downgrade...unless you can't cut it here. Sorry, just feel like shit-posting this morning and tired of the Cali bashing. There's nice places all over this country.

 

I’ve looked here too lol .