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WRS said:
The region exec I work for is leaving the southeast to head to LA and run the Southern California market. She wants me to come with her which has my interest but would be a major leap having grown up on the East Coast and all of our friends and family are here, etc. We also just bought our house in Durham 18 months ago but that can be worked around. I know we have some SoCal lovers on here. What should I know? We have a follow up meeting on Monday to discuss further.
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For what it's worth, having done this (moving to Portland when everything/everyone was in NC/east coast) it's not really as scary as it feels.
Obviously any move is a big change, but if you move somewhere cool people come visit and it's easy to go visit people. I've been out here for 8 years now, and love it. Husband and I will likely go back to the east coast eventually (once his kids are out of high school) because the family draw is real, but ultimately I am so glad I took the opportunity to come out here at this stage of life. Especially if you already have the stability of knowing you have a job and paid moving expenses, what's the worst that can happen? You give it a whirl, it sucks; go back to Durham (especially if you rent your house out rather than sell).

I can't really speak for SoCal at all, but if you've never really lived anywhere other than the east coast, I'd recommend getting out to this side of things just to see more and check out something new. Again, it's a lot easier to go back than it is to make the initial move.
 
WRS said:
The region exec I work for is leaving the southeast to head to LA and run the Southern California market. She wants me to come with her which has my interest but would be a major leap having grown up on the East Coast and all of our friends and family are here, etc. We also just bought our house in Durham 18 months ago but that can be worked around. I know we have some SoCal lovers on here. What should I know? We have a follow up meeting on Monday to discuss further.
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Where in LA? This makes a huge difference.

Cost of housing is dramatically higher in anywhere near LA than NC. Gas prices are higher but fruits and veggies may be cheaper. You'll need a substantial raise.
 
WRS said:
The region exec I work for is leaving the southeast to head to LA and run the Southern California market. She wants me to come with her which has my interest but would be a major leap having grown up on the East Coast and all of our friends and family are here, etc. We also just bought our house in Durham 18 months ago but that can be worked around. I know we have some SoCal lovers on here. What should I know? We have a follow up meeting on Monday to discuss further.
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We left Charleston for Denver 3 years ago and I have no regrets over the move. We've made new friends, had old friends come visit, and our quality of life has improved exponentially being in Colorado. My family is in California and they've come out a bunch to see the kids. My wife's dad is still in NC and her sister is in CA, so we kind of split the difference there - we've seen her dad a fair amount since he's retired, so it's worked out fine. I'm not particularly close to my family, hence why I left CA for Wake Forest and have never gone back - being close to family hasn't been that big of a priority for me. I guess I'm selfish and want to live my life my way as much as I can.

All that is to say, you should consider the offer. Change is a good thing and you can always leave California if you decide you don't like it.
 
WRS said:
The region exec I work for is leaving the southeast to head to LA and run the Southern California market. She wants me to come with her which has my interest but would be a major leap having grown up on the East Coast and all of our friends and family are here, etc. We also just bought our house in Durham 18 months ago but that can be worked around. I know we have some SoCal lovers on here. What should I know? We have a follow up meeting on Monday to discuss further.
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The only downside is if having a house is really important to you. If not, rent near where you work, get a big raise for COLA, then save a shitton of money. If ya wanna move back east, ya can prolly buy the house without a mortgage.

It's definitely cool being an hour away from the mountains and being an hour away from the beach. The entertainment options are endless. Every band comes to town, now the Dodgers Lakers and Clippers are all good. Kings have been good. Whatever strange hobby you have there's so many people here with similar interests. Most of my friends I got here are through now my dart league. Bout to join a pinball league. Food and drink options are amazing as well. State taxes are 4% higher than NC though, so make sure to factor that and the housing in.
 
Anyone spent any time in Spokane? Other than a Zags game any favorite restos, breweries, fun activities? I'll be there off and on for the next several months.
 
Looks like PLAMA started a thread about it a while back...not a lot of info tho.

palma- did you find anything fun to do out there? I'll mostly be there during work weeks but typically have evenings to explore, eat, and drink.
 
leftcoastdeac said:
We left Charleston for Denver 3 years ago and I have no regrets over the move. We've made new friends, had old friends come visit, and our quality of life has improved exponentially being in Colorado. My family is in California and they've come out a bunch to see the kids. My wife's dad is still in NC and her sister is in CA, so we kind of split the difference there - we've seen her dad a fair amount since he's retired, so it's worked out fine. I'm not particularly close to my family, hence why I left CA for Wake Forest and have never gone back - being close to family hasn't been that big of a priority for me. I guess I'm selfish and want to live my life my way as much as I can.

All that is to say, you should consider the offer. Change is a good thing and you can always leave California if you decide you don't like it.
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Denver is cool and all but, man, I really like the Charleston area... assuming you meant SC and not WV.
 
palmab03 said:
The only downside is if having a house is really important to you. If not, rent near where you work, get a big raise for COLA, then save a shitton of money. If ya wanna move back east, ya can prolly buy the house without a mortgage.

It's definitely cool being an hour away from the mountains and being an hour away from the beach. The entertainment options are endless. Every band comes to town, now the Dodgers Lakers and Clippers are all good. Kings have been good. Whatever strange hobby you have there's so many people here with similar interests. Most of my friends I got here are through now my dart league. Bout to join a pinball league. Food and drink options are amazing as well. State taxes are 4% higher than NC though, so make sure to factor that and the housing in.
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Would def rent right in the city and do the walk to work thing. One of the things I miss most about living in Boston for sure.
 
lbE08 said:
For what it's worth, having done this (moving to Portland when everything/everyone was in NC/east coast) it's not really as scary as it feels.
Obviously any move is a big change, but if you move somewhere cool people come visit and it's easy to go visit people. I've been out here for 8 years now, and love it. Husband and I will likely go back to the east coast eventually (once his kids are out of high school) because the family draw is real, but ultimately I am so glad I took the opportunity to come out here at this stage of life. Especially if you already have the stability of knowing you have a job and paid moving expenses, what's the worst that can happen? You give it a whirl, it sucks; go back to Durham (especially if you rent your house out rather than sell).

I can't really speak for SoCal at all, but if you've never really lived anywhere other than the east coast, I'd recommend getting out to this side of things just to see more and check out something new. Again, it's a lot easier to go back than it is to make the initial move.
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Thanks for the insight. Appreciate you sharing your experiences. I def think it’s more of a psychological block than anything. Would be cool to be close to all the West Coast stuff we’ve never really had a chance to explore. Would definitely keep our house and rent it out given the appreciation in the market here and development in the pipeline for the next 3-5 years. And yeah totally agree that there’s always the option of coming back!
 
scooter84 said:
Denver is cool and all but, man, I really like the Charleston area... assuming you meant SC and not WV.
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Yeah, SC version. Charleston is a great city - lived there 10 years, but it was time to move on. Denver has been an upgrade for us in just about every category that's important to us.
 
RJKarl said:
Where in LA? This makes a huge difference.

Cost of housing is dramatically higher in anywhere near LA than NC. Gas prices are higher but fruits and veggies may be cheaper. You'll need a substantial raise.
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Not super familiar with the city but our office tower is near Bunker Hill? We would want to rent downtown. The compensation question will be interesting. I was able to keep the same level of comp when we moved from Boston to NC so I’m certainly at least in the neighborhood of what would be required to live comfortably. Will certainly look to negotiate more anyway though!
 
WRS said:
Not super familiar with the city but our office tower is near Bunker Hill? We would want to rent downtown. The compensation question will be interesting. I was able to keep the same level of comp when we moved from Boston to NC so I’m certainly at least in the neighborhood of what would be required to live comfortably. Will certainly look to negotiate more anyway though!
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That's downtown. I rarely go there.

Rents for a two bedroom will likely be in the $2500-3500 range.
 
My wife just took a gnarly Dutch oven to the face. Perfect execution. She gagged. I laughed.

I'm on the couch now, but it was worth it.
 
bmoneydeac said:
Looks like PLAMA started a thread about it a while back...not a lot of info tho.

palma- did you find anything fun to do out there? I'll mostly be there during work weeks but typically have evenings to explore, eat, and drink.
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Spokane? I've never been to the state of Washington
 
WRS said:
Would def rent right in the city and do the walk to work thing. One of the things I miss most about living in Boston for sure.
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I've been here 12 years, and I never went downtown once my first 7 years here. Now they've really developed it, so it's much more fun. 3.5 years ago my office moved downtown quite near bunker hill. Then I changed jobs to a different place downtown in Chinatown. I made that move 2 years ago to go walk to work. Not sure I'll be able to go back. The rental market has sorta plateu'd in the area. I haven't had a rent bump my past 2 years. They're developing all of downtown everywhere so there's new supply keeping the prices flat. It's also strange in that the rent is very very flat amongst all the buildings. The shittiest big complex that has rat problems and whatnot is $1,900, whereas the nicest building you can get for $2,500-$2,700. You're also in an area if you really wanted to make bank, you can find some older buildings with rents like $1,300 if you're willing to slum it. That and eating in most nights, and you can really save tons every year. I'm considering doing that myself. For a nice building, I've done tons of research as I've looked everywhere downtown, I'd recommend Aven. They have the nicest amenity deck downtown and it's a brand new building. Half court basketball next to a beach volleyball court and ya can walk to Whole Foods. Check the yelp reviews of your building before committing. Avoid the ones with alot of Air BnB and fire alarms going off.

WRS said:
Not super familiar with the city but our office tower is near Bunker Hill? We would want to rent downtown. The compensation question will be interesting. I was able to keep the same level of comp when we moved from Boston to NC so I’m certainly at least in the neighborhood of what would be required to live comfortably. Will certainly look to negotiate more anyway though!
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I'd be looking for no less than a 33% bump to go from NC to LA. I'd ask for 60% and let them talk me down.
 
The homelessness problem anywhere downtown is real. It's probably tripled the last few years, and it's not likely to get better. You've gotta be able to deal with that. It's a bit depressing and not fun at times walking as a result and will be a stark difference to Durham. You're gonna wanna walk to the grocery store and you'll walk past someone on every block, if not all over.
 
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