Re: Long Term LA/SF Views
 

You could get that lifestyle elsewhere though. It has some pluses, but it's sad that the true people of San Fransisco can't actually live there anymore.

Re: Long Term LA/SF Views
 

Again another generalization. I lived in Fremont and worked in Sunnyvale and four different places in San Jose and except on an occasional Friday, it never took me more than 30 minutes to get to Sunnyvale (about 25 miles) and never took me more than 20 minutes to get to San Jose (about 15 miles). I also lived in Sunnyvale at two different places and that was a 5 minute commute to work.

Re: Long Term LA/SF Views
 

It's also sad that everyone can't live in Central London.:unsure:

Re: Long Term LA/SF Views
 

What do you mean a generalization?
Are you saying that the Bay Area generally has no traffic congestion?

I've been visiting clients all over the Bay Area for years.
The congestion on the 101, 580 and 880 is hardly my imagination during rush time.

Re: Long Term LA/SF Views
 

Climate is a bit easier to take up there, and more cultural activities.

OP and spouse have to weigh up whether it's going to be worth embarking on a possibly lengthy course of action to try to get themselves there. I agree that the solicitor has more chance of getting in than a teacher, but there is certainly no shortage of lawyers in CA.

I lived a short drive from Malibu and it's very pretty, but how many times do you think you will want to do tourist stuff when you actually live there?

How familiar are you with US schools? A lot of the private ones have a religious affiliation and appear to be run on a shoestring. Do you have very unusual niche skills that would make it worthwhile for a school to sponsor you?

Something to be aware of is that some private schools lay staff off every June and re-employ them in September.

Re: Long Term LA/SF Views
 

I lived 3 years in LA, and now 4 years in the Bay Area.

I still have mixed feelings about living in LA. I loved some of the things we were able to do there, but we moved when our daughter was 5 and had free access to Disney. So days out at theme parks were great, we'd have lovely days out at The Getty, or the beach. We were able to go to Yosemite/Santa Barbara/San Diego for the weekend. But they are all the vacation things.

Every day life was up at 6.30, hubby would drop kid at school on his 1hr drive to work (20 miles away) I would drive 45 minutes in the opposite direction for my 20 mile commute. I'd have to leave work at the latest at 5.15 to get to pick kid up from day care before they closed at 6.30pm. Hubby would leave work around 6pm. We'd all walk in the house around 7pm. One of us would make dinner, the other would battle with the tetchy, overheated kid who had to start homework. Eat dinner, have half an hour with kid before she went to bed. Watch TV, go to bed ourselves. Same shit as England, only more frazzled. We had a nice detached single story house, with a pool, and were paying around $3k. Both hubby and I made a couple of work friends, and friends with an English couple, but that's it. Part of me thinks people were superficial, and then another part thinks well I didn't have time to make/maintain any friendships anyway.

When we moved to the Bay, our home life improved dramatically. I was able to keep my LA job and work from home, so no commute for me. Hubby worked 5 miles away. We could walk to the primary school, so I did that twice a day, and my daughter was in the house at 3.15 each day. Homework done by 5pm, and able to do extra curricular activities for the first time in her life. However, for hubby, despite working for the same company in the Bay, the culture was very different. Breakfast, lunch and dinner was available at work, seems a great perk, but really it's just so you have no reason to leave. His normal working day in the office became 9am - 9pm. If he was home for 8pm it was early. Our rent for a smaller detached house, with a tiny yard but on a community with access to a pool, increased 40%. I don't really compare my life here to England, only to LA, and I much prefer it here.

Earlier in the year, it looked like we would have to move back to England. We had very mixed feelings about it, hubby and me wouldn't have minded, however, our daughter is now 12, and her life is here. I don't necessarily feel trapped, but after 7 house moves and 5 schools, she's very settled here, and we'd never put her through the upheaval again unless absolutely necessary.

For me the weather got very tiring in LA, I love the climate in the Bay warm summers occasionally very hot, cooler autumn and winter, with some rain.

Re: Long Term LA/SF Views
 

San Francisco will fit into Central London and the bay area has 8 million people just like London. So just like Central London, San Francisco is one of the desirable areas of the bay area along with areas like Hillsborough and several places in Marin county. Just because the bay area is made up of different cities doesn't mean it does not have all the affordable housing problems of any large metropolitan area

Re: Long Term LA/SF Views
 

Well London is a capital and probably still more affordable. Maybe not Central, but a hippie would probably have more options in London these days.

Re: Long Term LA/SF Views
 

It's not a point-scoring competition. It's whether it's worth someone's time and money to end up in a situation which is fundamentally no different, and possibly worse, than the one they are in now.

Re: Long Term LA/SF Views
 

FIFY :lol:

Re: Long Term LA/SF Views
 

Cheaper to live in Bakersfield, Fresno, Stockton, Inland Empire:)

Still California.

Fancying living in the 'best' places really reduces one's options.

Re: Long Term LA/SF Views
 

Exactly, so why move if it's just as bad or worse. Forget London anyway, as San Francisco and London are two complete different cities.

Re: Long Term LA/SF Views
 

Everyone visualises themselves living in the nicest parts. Who is going to fantasise about the areas you mention, or even a suburban estate in Thousand Oaks?

Re: Long Term LA/SF Views
 

Not even the desperate ones? :)

Re: Long Term LA/SF Views
 

If you want to compare the traffic in the San Francisco bay area with a city like Austin or some relatively small area in the UK, then there is no comparison.

You often seem to take the worst case situation and consider it the norm.