In another life, I would kill for this job
#22
I have a 700 sqft apartment in a nice nieghborhood with an attached 1.75 car garage, and it's about $1,500 / mo.
I have actually been looking at houses lately, what with mortgage rates and prices being what they are. There are some very nice 3-car homes in the San Marcos area available in the $380-$400 range.
I have actually been looking at houses lately, what with mortgage rates and prices being what they are. There are some very nice 3-car homes in the San Marcos area available in the $380-$400 range.
Your house prices there sound about like a lot of the Bay area excluding SF and San Jose metro areas.
Here in my local PNW area I've been watching home prices for about the last year. Typical of what I've seen in the $300k range are 3-4 br houses well over 2000sq ft with an attached garage and/or detached shop. Saw one sit on the market for about 6 months going from $315k down to $289K before it finally disappeared. Was a 2700sq ft 4 br with a detached 40x46 shop with an office, and shower (in the shop). Sadly it sold before I had a firm commitment to move back up here or I'd have figured some method to make that it mine.
CA prices are still nuts despite the bubble bursting...
Ok back to your regularly scheduled topic.
#26
What's important though is the cost of living. How much does it cost to eat, drive, etc?
#27
Elite Member
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With the racecars, the travel was killer. During the race season, we were probably on the road 2 weeks per month. That could have been more fun as a single guy, I suppose, but wrecked lots of relationships. I did get to see a ton of great North American race tracks, though: everything from the Streets of Vancouver to Laguna Seca, Road America, Road Atlanta, home base of Sebring, etc.
With the "import shop," it was a case of the owners still working through the growing process. There was a lot of competition for the jobs so it seemed like they figured most people were easily replaceable. At a shop like that, you also have to consider that the President/CEO/CFO spot is filled and will be (by the owner). At most, there might be room for some sort of sales or office manager position and if that is filled by someone else, it's a big waiting game.
Ultimately, a lot of it comes down to the individual owner. I definitely miss going to work in shorts and a t-shirt and hanging out with car buddies all day, but I don't miss the pay or some of the clients/customers I had to deal with.
#31
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While I'm sure you were just using this as an example, I wouldn't bother taking a mortgage out on a little house if I had an entry-level job (likely <$30k annually). That mentality is partially to blame for the housing bubble; people working at Panera thought they could afford a $300k house.
While rental prices have not been affected much by the up-and-down in home pricing, they follow the same general trend by area.
What's important though is the cost of living. How much does it cost to eat, drive, etc?
Gas has been relatively stable around $4 for a while. And we saw far less inflation in gasoline than everyone else over the past few years (it peaked around $5 for 91 octane) so that's not really a major concern.
Food prices just don't vary much by area. You might pay an extra 10c for a can of tabasco-flavored SPAM in order to cover the health benefits and retirement plan for the girl bagging your groceries, but the non-unionized big box stores like MegaTarget and HellaWalMart are starting to encroach, providing some downward price pressure.
#36
I'm assuming its a large pay cut. Will you be building MS for them and tuning or something else? If your wife can make decent pay in that area then you might be set. The Canyon Lake area is really nice. The nice thing would be that if you settle in and find its not working you're close enough to San Antonio or Austin to snag a job in either.
#38
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A job like this would be awesome right now.
I'm still in that awkward stage at 21 where I have no idea what I really want to do later in life.
I've decided I need to stack paper like its going out of style because I want to support my hobbies, and working on cars doesn't seem like it will do that for me.
I'm still in that awkward stage at 21 where I have no idea what I really want to do later in life.
I've decided I need to stack paper like its going out of style because I want to support my hobbies, and working on cars doesn't seem like it will do that for me.
#39
A job like this would be awesome right now.
I'm still in that awkward stage at 21 where I have no idea what I really want to do later in life.
I've decided I need to stack paper like its going out of style because I want to support my hobbies, and working on cars doesn't seem like it will do that for me.
I'm still in that awkward stage at 21 where I have no idea what I really want to do later in life.
I've decided I need to stack paper like its going out of style because I want to support my hobbies, and working on cars doesn't seem like it will do that for me.
Last edited by flounder; 09-27-2011 at 07:58 PM.