Zez

V helpful thanks. I know budget is a how long is a bit of sting thing, but this is the best I can do to work out if offer is enough! Company will ship all our stuff there and back x

jackattack

So it sounds like you might have already found this.
And possibly also explains some of the first couple of posts on this thread.
Take a read through and see how much of this is relevant to you/your move since this thread has been going for a few weeks with a lot of info on expenses and Bay Area

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=784027

N1cky

I'm not surprised rentals are so expensive here. This is something like the 10th thread this year about moving to Mountain View.

There are no more houses here, please try elsewhere

McZaki

Steady Pal!

Perhaps you should stop recommending the place and be so nice and accommodating on BE, it just gives us –the newbies, impression that MV is full of sweet and fantastic people – making the place even more desirable!!

N1cky

I've just read about the plan for 1,500 new homes to be built, so I now retract my earlier comment. However, thinking about it, there was a 2 hour wait at the restaurant I wanted to eat at on Friday night, and we got the last two seats in the wine bar. So, I now say you can live here, but must go to SF for nights out

McZaki

2 hour wait for the grub would certainly put me off but I’m willing to put up with it considering you may end-up limbless after a night out in Tenderloin!!

md95065

This is Northern California so it's "the Tenderloin", not "Tenderloin".

Freeways, on the other hand, don't get called "the" until you start to get close to Los Angeles where 101 mysteriously turns into "the 101" ...

McZaki

jackattack

I have clearly adapted my language to match the locals since I just realised that I say "take 280 and then 101" without the article. However in the UK, I definitely say "take the M25". Am I becoming American?

md95065

No - just Northern Californian ...

dlake02

After 2 years, my insurance has come down to $350/car/6 months.

Mobile phones are incredibly expensive here - data plans are outrageous compared to the EU and service is beyond sh*te. Home Internet service can also be very poor compared to the UK - 2 miles from the heart of Silicon Valley and the fastest I can get is 15Mbit/s. We have a work package that sets me back $41/month - that is very, very cheap. There are areas of California (not far from Palo Alto) where there is NO broadband service - people there rely on satellite service which can be $150+/month.

We have DirectTV - $141/month for the full package with the Sports package (to get the footy).

Food can range from rubbish and cheap (Walmart, Target), through middle-ground (F&E, Safeway) to Waitrose quality (Wholefoods, Nob Hill). You may think you can eat cheaply, but usually the quality is not very good and a lot of food lacks any kind of taste (for example, cheese !!!!). Food tends to be sold much closer-up to it's use-by date than in the UK and tends to go off quite a bit quicker. In the Bay area, people seem to buy food on the day they need it rather than stock-up. We've now given up with the cheaper shops because it was a false economy - we were throwing stuff away too much. So, the budget has gone up (a lot), but our shopping is a much happier experience at Wholefoods. Their food is lovely.

Petrol is cheap. In fact virtually free. But....... to do anything you end up driving miles and miles and miles. That eats into the budget.

Rent. Housing in the Valley is crazy. Rents are going up about 10%/year at the moment. Mortgages are impossible for UK expats - many high-tech companies are relocating other people and providing board-and-lodging or assistance with downpayments. 20% down is the minimum. UK Expat - expect about 30%. 1600 sq ft townhouse in Santa Clara is now around $3500/month (no garden, detached).

This will obviously be bumped up if you're close to a good school (public). Private school - Harker (one of the more popular in San Jose/Saratoga) is $27,000/year/pupil and has a waiting list.

Watch your medical provision. We have full medical and dental, but for a family of three, we have a $4500 maximum "out-of-pocket" (i.e. that we have to find; an excess, if you like) before any of the medical insurance kicks in. Oh - and over the counter medicines are much more regulated and more expensive here than in the UK - even a packet of paracetamol will set you back upwards of $6.

Going out. There are some great things to do with kids, but none of it is free. Forget a Saturday in the Natural History Museum in London as a free thing-to-do - the California Academy of Sciences is superb, but family membership is over $250/year. Cinema is roughly the same as in the UK; eating out can range from a lot cheaper for "family" meals to about the same as London prices for really good meals-for-two.

N1cky

Just a note on cheese. If you ever get into Mountain View, there is a fantastic place called the Milk Pail on California. They have around 200 cheeses from around the world, great prices and absolutely fab cheese. Try go midweek though, weekend crowds are absolutely insane.

dlake02

YES !!! Found it the other week. We were in cheesy heaven....

Steerpike

I tried to get a reservation at my favorite Chinese place in SF last saturday - nothing available 2 days ahead. We've given up going to my favorite Vietnamese place (PPQ) in SF on a Saturday, because even with a res you can end up waiting for an hour ... the economy seems alive and well ...

There was a whole segment on this on Saturday's SNL 'The Californians' sketch ...
Complaining about cheese here in the Bay Area is like complaining about bread - it shows you don't know where to shop! There is fantastic cheese and fantastic bread available at places like Whole Foods, or - as you note here - at specialty shops around the area. It may cost a bit more but that's life - gas is cheaper ... just because your average Safeway doesn't necessarily have a great selection doesn't mean it's not available.

Giantaxe

A great point... I have two great cheese shops that I go to in SF. Between them, the selection is pretty amazing.