Advice on moving to California - American mums or mums who live there???

[koalabear]

Hi

DH has job offer in San Francisco (Silicon Valley) and we are trying to work out if the offered salary package sufficient to maintain our lifestyle (eg. pay out bills).

So, can anyone tell me how much a weekly food bill is for a family of 4, electricity, gas, water, rent of 3 bed house (presuming we don't live in the Valley itself), how much would a second hand car cost (we have two children, so I guess a four door estate car), registration, insurance, petrol, private health insurance, what happens with preschool/nursury/primary school, etc etc etc

There are so many questions, so any advice greatly received.

TIA

The property in that area is some of the most expensive in the entire country. We're talking prices on the same footing as London.

California is an expensive state - for taxes, car insurance, etc. but apparently the quality of life in that area is quite high.

My only experience of the West Coast was 8 years in DEnver, however.

Hopefully someone who's spent more time in CA can help.

Oh, that is a very hard question! I never lived in San Fracisco, but lived very confortably on US$ 100K with a family of three in a cheap city in the south. I would imagine thatto have the same life-style in San Francisco (which is one of the most expensive cities in the US!), it would have to be 3X that!

Two years ago, DH and I were spending about US$ 2K/month in bills, including everything (mortagage, nursery, credit card, etc.). So I would guess you'll need at least 6K?!

hth

I used to work for a company based in the valley I was based in the UK, some people moved out to the valley don't know figures but I do know it is very expensive and lots of people do a long commute. Info not much help, trying to think if I have a contact out there. Will get back to you

BTW, much more stuff is online in the US than here... So you probably can figure out the real prices of nursery in SF online, ditto with cars etc...

I think you need Zebra - IIRC she is from California

Whereabouts exactly? I have a book here called 'Relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley' bought in 2000 when DH had a job offer out there.

I can glean some stuff from it if you like. I want to hang on to it at the moment as DH has seen a couple of jobs he's interested in.

sophiames is from Berkeley. I don't know where's she living in the US now...

Gem's right. . .not only is Sofiaames from California, but she just moved back there after living in London for years. Hope she sees this.

The areas my DH has identified to live are:

Woodside
Sunnyvale
Cupertino
Portola Valley
Skyline Ridge
Los Gatos

Or possibly if cheaper, Half Moon Bay, Pacifica,
Danville, Walnut Creek

I know nothing of any of these areas having only every visited San Fran for 1 week in my entire life.

lua - 6K - oh my

Koala - didn't mean to dicorage you. That would be to have a big house, eat out on a regular basis. Shop without thinking too hard if you can afford, etc. So you might be able to pay the bills with less, IYSWIM.

On the other hand I did have a friend that lived in SF until this Spring. She was single, a phd student, and sharing an apt (rented) on 30K/ year. She didn't have lots to spare but she absolutely loved to live there.

koalabear - Cat me and I'll bung the book in the post.

sorry - i have no idea how to CAT

At the top of the page under 'Useful stuff' click on 'Contact another talker'. If you send me your address via that then I can send you the book.

Ha - I am Queen of Technology and have managed my first CAT !