This is a topic my husband and I have discussed numerous times since his parents packed up, sold and gave away practically everything, and became missionaries. Now that we are expecting a baby we are considering it further. If we were to move we would probably go to our house in Chino Hills, and here is a list of pros and cons that came up in our discussions.
First, I think the biggest thing that I have kvetched about is the cost of living here in the Bay Area. My husband and I both feel some of the nesting instinct now and he really wants his kid to grow up in a nice house with a backyard, like the one he grew up in. I think it is reasonable to wish that your child’s life to be as good or even better than yours. To have a house comparable to the one we have in Chino Hills we would need over a million dollars here. The school district in Chino Hills has elementary and middle schools with API scores over 900, and that kind of scores also give real estate a further premium here in the Bay Area. The amount of mortgage we pay on the Chino Hills home is less than our rent for a two bedroom apartment here, and it just seems ridiculous that we cannot reasonably afford the same quality of life here in the Bay Area even though we have above average incomes.
We both expect that we will not make as much money down south. There just aren’t that many high tech companies there, and the unemployment rate in the Inland Empire is much higher than here in the Silicon Valley right now. However, we are both pretty talented and graduated from the top engineering programs in the nation so we are pretty confident we will find something. Chino Hills is also situated right on the border of Orange County so there are job opportunities there. Of course, we will try to find jobs there before we decide to leave.
There are some circumstances that could keep us in the Bay Area forever. One big thing is family. Right now pretty much all of our family members live within an one hour drive and having that support system is quite valuable. We also have more friends here in the Bay Area than in Southern California. Also, if we cannot find reasonable employment down south then we would probably just stay here. The hubby also likes the weather here a lot more, but Southern California is actually sunnier and I prefer that more.
Anyway, we are not planning to move right now or even right after the baby is born. The hubby is thinking of making a decision on this sometime before the kid enters elementary school so it may happen in five years, or not at all. I am definitely all for moving to a higher quality of life if possible. Meanwhile I am also working on generating a good non-salary income so that we can go wherever we want to.
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3 comments ↓
Tough choice.
I was in Chino Hills last Sunday and, although it was a nice place to live in the 1990’s, it’s gone WAY downhill in the past few years. I have a hard time imagining that a child’s way of life would be better in CH than in the BA. But then, I’m not familiar with the school systems in those areas.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
What a tough decision to have to make. Sometimes the intangibles are the toughest part: can you really imagine yourself living in China Hills? If so, maybe you should pursue further, if not, maybe that’s your subconscious telling you to stay put for a while. After all, it is a tough economy out there, another year or two might make all the difference in the type of job you can find in Chino Hills.
Good luck!
I think you should move!
But I am a biased commentor…haha. And I don’t know if I agree with devil on the state of Chino Hills. I grew up in CH through much of the 90’s and I wouldn’t say the place has gone downhill. It used to be all cornfields and dairies and dirt. Now there are more developments and many more places to for shopping and eating. And this has been great for CH. But I guess it depends on your view of development. But hun, if you and my brudder like the BA then stay there! Hubby and I will come visit! But if you do move to CH, we’re only 1.5 hrs away! And how do you think we feel? We have NO family remotely nearby!
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