If you were to move out of Irvine (and California), where would you buy a home today?

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zovall

Well-known member
I know some of us are Irvine4Life and Cali4Life, but if your circumstances (job, family, etc) allowed for it, where would you move outside of California?
 
Hawaii. Lowest property taxes in the states, huge lots, most are single level SFHs, and quality of life just as good if not better.
 
I would retire in Hawaii if I were to move out of California. I wouldn't move to any other state. I would consider Vancouver, though.
 
I posted a poll similar to this:

[Poll] Anywhere but California

I play this game every once in a while seeing how expensive it is to live here. I'd probably pick Washington or Oregon near the coast. It's cooler up there and I can't be landlocked. I'm not good at geography so I tried to make the options to cover as much of the US as possible. But it seems...
www.talkirvine.com

Northern West Coast just beat Alaska/Hawaii (although I think that's more Hawaii).
 
Wow, lots of Hawaii love here. Us too, and we both have deep roots there on 2 islands. Hawaii will always be home, but I love the weather and the community where we're at now. Retirement for us may very well involve spending time in both places throughout the year. The problem I see with Hawaii is, like socal, it does not have enough housing or a strong enough economy. There's rampant homelessness that's increasing as quickly as it is in LA. 25 years ago there were a few bums on the sidewalks in the dirty areas of town; now there are entire tent and tarp encampments stubbornly metastasizing all over the place, and you'll see numerous camps just going about your day. The main income streams to the state enrich a relatively small minority and don't trickle down as wide and deep as they need to. And there's too strong an anti-outsider culture and victim mindset that hamstrings things that would actually benefit the very people who object to them and conveniently scapegoats others for any problem or perceived problem of the locals.
 
Some have posted about tax rates being lower and other social benefits. These are often wiped out by the islands cost of living. Milk, gas, electricity, travel costs for family back on the mainland, etc does add up. Here's a pretty good read through on the subject: https://realhawaii.co/blog/cost-of-living-hawaii#11

Where to move? Depends on how much wealth/savings one would have after selling everything to move. If I were to assume $1m, that's 1 SFD home in Hawaii, but 2 homes or more in central NY, Vermont, or South Carolina. I'd want a reliable water source like well, river, or lake water just in case the SHTF, plus an acre or more for privacy. Not too shabby of a property here for example: https://www.redfin.com/NY/Greenville/76-Sunset-Rd-12083/home/129431121 I could swap out the craziness of California thinking for a few months of very cold weather. Seems like a fairly even trade.
 
sgip said:
Some have posted about tax rates being lower and other social benefits. These are often wiped out by the islands cost of living. Milk, gas, electricity, travel costs for family back on the mainland, etc does add up. Here's a pretty good read through on the subject: https://realhawaii.co/blog/cost-of-living-hawaii#11

Where to move? Depends on how much wealth/savings one would have after selling everything to move. If I were to assume $1m, that's 1 SFD home in Hawaii, but 2 homes or more in central NY, Vermont, or South Carolina. I'd want a reliable water source like well, river, or lake water just in case the SHTF, plus an acre or more for privacy. Not too shabby of a property here for example: https://www.redfin.com/NY/Greenville/76-Sunset-Rd-12083/home/129431121 I could swap out the craziness of California thinking for a few months of very cold weather. Seems like a fairly even trade.
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A 1m home in Hawaii pays around 3k a year in property taxes. In CA assuming 1% tax on 1m is 10k. Hawaii homes are older SFH so no HOA. Assuming ~$200 each month you save 2k min. Gas is actually more expensive in CA. So you’re looking at saving 10k a year. Food you can only eat so much so it’s not that much. Sales tax is 4.7% where as OC is 7.75%. Traveling isn’t a must so I’m not factoring that in.
 
After my father passed, I made sure to get a good handle on my mother's finances to make sure she was set up OK, and reviewed all their banking and credit card records in depth, looking back over a year. Granted, my mother has solar panels and lives in a paid-off house, but she is literally getting by comfortably on her social security alone. There's absolutely no way my wife or I could get by on social security alone in CA even with those 2 conditions. Sleepy's #s for property taxes are pretty close. We pay >4x what my mother pays in property taxes, and our houses are assessed within 10% of each other. And it always amazes me how most products at Costco in Hawaii are exactly the same price as they are at the Costco that we shop at in CA.
 
All my friends love Hawaii... and I don't get it.

SoCal is basically the same and has better weather and variety of things to do. You can't see any snow from Maui. :)
 
irvinehomeowner said:
All my friends love Hawaii... and I don't get it.

SoCal is basically the same and has better weather and variety of things to do. You can't see any snow from Maui. :)
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Nah man, Hawaii objectively has better weather than SoCal. It's not arguable.

It's true that SoCal has more things to do, but when I'm retired, I don't need to do that many things. 😂 I would like to travel and when I come home, I want to relax.
 
CalBears96 said:
Nah man, Hawaii objectively has better weather than SoCal. It's not arguable.

It's true that SoCal has more things to do, but when I'm retired, I don't need to do that many things. 😂 I would like to travel and when I come home, I want to relax.
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That's a pretty big generalization. SoCal is a big place, and Hawaii is an island chain with varied climates. I've lived about half my life in CA and about half in Hawaii (and visit there often; 5x this year so far), and I will certainly argue the weather where I am at in CA is much better than the weather where I grew up in HI. Most areas in HI are noticeably more humid, and hotter. I sweat just walking around outside, and usually if I'm there I'm working hard, taking care of some car or home maintenance item. Just dripping sweat. I barely break a sweat working all day in the yard here, where there's maybe 10 days a year where it's above 80, and rarely gets below 40...hard to beat. Much of Hawaii regularly sees >90*F in the summer, and again, with that wilting humidity. Sure, if I'm going to go to the beach, I would much rather it be in HI.
 
daedalus said:
That's a pretty big generalization. SoCal is a big place, and Hawaii is an island chain with varied climates. I've lived about half my life in CA and about half in Hawaii (and visit there often; 5x this year so far), and I will certainly argue the weather where I am at in CA is much better than the weather where I grew up in HI. Most areas in HI are noticeably more humid, and hotter. I sweat just walking around outside, and usually if I'm there I'm working hard, taking care of some car or home maintenance item. Just dripping sweat. I barely break a sweat working all day in the yard here, where there's maybe 10 days a year where it's above 80, and rarely gets below 40...hard to beat. Much of Hawaii regularly sees >90*F in the summer, and again, with that wilting humidity. Sure, if I'm going to go to the beach, I would much rather it be in HI.
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I agree. Hawaii may have better winter weather (only west side of all islands) compared to S. Cali but its summer is pretty brutal. I still prefer Cali weather.
 
Danimal said:
I agree. Hawaii may have better winter weather (only west side of all islands) compared to S. Cali but its summer is pretty brutal. I still prefer Cali weather.
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Heck, I'll go so far as to say I prefer the winter weather here too, most days and for most things. There were very few days this past winter in Honolulu where the high temps were below 80*F. Even 80*F is too warm for me when it's humid. I might need to put on a sweater here, but I can ride my bike for hours without overheating. We've got some June gloom going, but tomorrow's high for me is 66*F, and in Honolulu it'll be 87*F. And we're barely into June. F that!
I do miss the frequent passing showers, the rainbows and the greenery. My daughter has only seen rainbows in Hawaii.
 
daedalus said:
Heck, I'll go so far as to say I prefer the winter weather here too, most days and for most things. There were very few days this past winter in Honolulu where the high temps were below 80*F. Even 80*F is too warm for me when it's humid. I might need to put on a sweater here, but I can ride my bike for hours without overheating. We've got some June gloom going, but tomorrow's high for me is 66*F, and in Honolulu it'll be 87*F. And we're barely into June. F that!
I do miss the frequent passing showers, the rainbows and the greenery. My daughter has only seen rainbows in Hawaii.
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Cali winter is too cold for me especially at night. Hawaii 70-80F winter is just perfect😍.
 
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