tjZ06
New member
- Jun 9, 2021
- 970
- 1,155
The writing has been on the wall for a long time, and we've been thinking of getting out of CA for years now. I was born in Santa Cruz and have lived my entire life in CA other than 1.5 years just before college, and a few years in "interesting" places (both bad and good) for work. I still love the geography and weather, but I don't think I have have to explain to this group that the politics, taxes, homeless encampments, etc. have all just become too much. I always thought we'd leave CA for Idaho, and Idaho is still our goal "someday." But today we got the keys to our new house in Las Vegas. Now, I say we only "sort of" escaped CA, because I'll still be coming to the Bay Area for work regularly for another couple years.
I've worked for the same company for about 13 years now, and I've always technically worked from our Palo Alto office. I've travelled for work from Afghanistan to New Zealand and lots of places in between, but some years ago I changed roles in order to be home more. When I made that change, we decided to rent in Palo Alto (no way we could buy) and did so for ~4 years. Rent was insane, and renting is just lighting money on fire, so just over 3 years ago we bought a home in Lincoln, CA (~30min past Sacramento, aka 2.25-3hrs from my office depending on traffic). Obviously I wasn't going to do that drive daily, so I got an apartment in Palo Alto and I generally work Mon-Thurs (drive to PA on Sunday evening, drive home Thurs night).
Earlier this year we began kicking the idea around of selling the Lincoln house and going "somewhere" else since I already don't come home during the work week and already have the apartment established. Houses in our Lincoln neighborhood were going for way over asking, way too quick, and for way more than we paid so we went ahead and sold. We considered Idaho first, unfortunately the logistics just weren't as good. Glamis will remain a HUGE part of our life, so being in Idaho would have challenges. We already live pretty far away from G (Lincoln to Glamis is ~12hrs towing a trailer with an RV), so my wife has stayed down south in or near G (never for more than 14 days, of course) for years now. Last year we actually bought a RV spot at the Motorcoach Country Club in Indio, CA. This made things much nicer for her in between the G trips. Still, it wasn't ideal and the Lincoln house was basically just empty for ~6 months while she stayed down south and I'd split time between Palo Alto and the Motorcoach Country Club or Glamis (I had no reason to go up to Lincoln if she wasn't there).
So we decided we wanted to buy somewhere we could live year-round but still be close to G, and we'll sell our spot at the MCC. That kind of left Phoenix and Vegas, and we have friends in both areas. After doing some research and home-shopping, we picked Vegas. Both Vegas and Phoenix have their up and downsides (both are hotter than Satan's taint), but ultimately Vegas won-out due to some of our closest friends being there, as well as longer term tax implications. The market in Vegas is way, WAY up (like anywhere that people go when they leave CA is) so of course it's super competitive. We were coming from a nice 3/2.5 at about 2278 sqft w/ a 3-car garage (2-car width with one side tandem) on just under a quarter acre that we really loved, and was a great size for us (it's just us and our two schmedium dogs). We had an RV pad next to the house, but it just ended up being overflow parking and maybe would store one (of my 3) trailers. We were paying for indoor RV storage, and outdoor trailer storage for at least 1 trailer.
When we began looking in Vegas I had some delusions of grandeur and looked at some pretty big houses, but ultimately we found something perfect for our needs (and budget). It's a 3/2 (would have like to still have the extra .5 bath, but that's okay) at 2350 sqft (so a tiny bit bigger than what we sold) but it's on a half acre. It has a real 3-car garage that's deep enough for my truck (our previous garage wasn't deep enough on the non-tandem side, so my truck had to dominate the longer side of the garage making it effectively just a 2-car) but here's the kicker: RV garage/shop and tons of trailer parking. We're going to do a full remodel inside, completely landscape the backyard + pool, do an outdoor kitchen under the rear covered patio, etc. etc. etc. which will take some time - but it'll be exactly what we want when it's done.
A couple pics...
From the street:
We plan to paint it and change the colors, as well as adding stacked-stone to "class up" the front a bit.
The important stuff, RV garage/shop:
This will get drywalled, finished/painted, insulated and AC'ed. I'm thinking about a 2-post lift on an angle in the back left corner as well. It might look like a lot of space, but obviously it fills up quickly and the RV will dominate a lot of area. I've roughly laid it out already with tape, and it will work out nice, but it's crazy how quickly space goes.
The seller let us move some stuff in prior to closing, so right now my 24' box (28' total) trailer, 20' box (25' total) trailer, Broverland trailer, Heep and Duramax are all in it:
As you can see, just with this stuff in there it's a little tight. But, that's a lotta stuff.
I'm thinking the lift will be sort of positioned where the little Broverland trailer is, on a similar angle and the trailers themselves won't be stored in here. They'll go on the other side of the house, where there is ample room for 3 trailers (and I'll prob put up a shade structure to cover them). I'm pretty excited about all my junk being in one place, not paying for storage, and easier trips. The driveway in front of the trailer storage part of the lot is plenty long that I can hitch the RV up to the trailer the night before a trip and be ready to roll in the AM.
This is the lot:
We're going to move the little wall dividing the storage area (and playset, that we'll be getting rid of) from the "primary" backyard area over to roughly where their trailers were, about where I drew the red line in the image above. That'll create a bigger yard, but still leave room for all my crap. I'm thinking a firepit (yes, in Vegas... it does get pretty cold there in the winter, lol), horseshoe pit, and cornhole set will go between the house and the RV garage too.
-TJ
I've worked for the same company for about 13 years now, and I've always technically worked from our Palo Alto office. I've travelled for work from Afghanistan to New Zealand and lots of places in between, but some years ago I changed roles in order to be home more. When I made that change, we decided to rent in Palo Alto (no way we could buy) and did so for ~4 years. Rent was insane, and renting is just lighting money on fire, so just over 3 years ago we bought a home in Lincoln, CA (~30min past Sacramento, aka 2.25-3hrs from my office depending on traffic). Obviously I wasn't going to do that drive daily, so I got an apartment in Palo Alto and I generally work Mon-Thurs (drive to PA on Sunday evening, drive home Thurs night).
Earlier this year we began kicking the idea around of selling the Lincoln house and going "somewhere" else since I already don't come home during the work week and already have the apartment established. Houses in our Lincoln neighborhood were going for way over asking, way too quick, and for way more than we paid so we went ahead and sold. We considered Idaho first, unfortunately the logistics just weren't as good. Glamis will remain a HUGE part of our life, so being in Idaho would have challenges. We already live pretty far away from G (Lincoln to Glamis is ~12hrs towing a trailer with an RV), so my wife has stayed down south in or near G (never for more than 14 days, of course) for years now. Last year we actually bought a RV spot at the Motorcoach Country Club in Indio, CA. This made things much nicer for her in between the G trips. Still, it wasn't ideal and the Lincoln house was basically just empty for ~6 months while she stayed down south and I'd split time between Palo Alto and the Motorcoach Country Club or Glamis (I had no reason to go up to Lincoln if she wasn't there).
So we decided we wanted to buy somewhere we could live year-round but still be close to G, and we'll sell our spot at the MCC. That kind of left Phoenix and Vegas, and we have friends in both areas. After doing some research and home-shopping, we picked Vegas. Both Vegas and Phoenix have their up and downsides (both are hotter than Satan's taint), but ultimately Vegas won-out due to some of our closest friends being there, as well as longer term tax implications. The market in Vegas is way, WAY up (like anywhere that people go when they leave CA is) so of course it's super competitive. We were coming from a nice 3/2.5 at about 2278 sqft w/ a 3-car garage (2-car width with one side tandem) on just under a quarter acre that we really loved, and was a great size for us (it's just us and our two schmedium dogs). We had an RV pad next to the house, but it just ended up being overflow parking and maybe would store one (of my 3) trailers. We were paying for indoor RV storage, and outdoor trailer storage for at least 1 trailer.
When we began looking in Vegas I had some delusions of grandeur and looked at some pretty big houses, but ultimately we found something perfect for our needs (and budget). It's a 3/2 (would have like to still have the extra .5 bath, but that's okay) at 2350 sqft (so a tiny bit bigger than what we sold) but it's on a half acre. It has a real 3-car garage that's deep enough for my truck (our previous garage wasn't deep enough on the non-tandem side, so my truck had to dominate the longer side of the garage making it effectively just a 2-car) but here's the kicker: RV garage/shop and tons of trailer parking. We're going to do a full remodel inside, completely landscape the backyard + pool, do an outdoor kitchen under the rear covered patio, etc. etc. etc. which will take some time - but it'll be exactly what we want when it's done.
A couple pics...
From the street:
We plan to paint it and change the colors, as well as adding stacked-stone to "class up" the front a bit.
The important stuff, RV garage/shop:
This will get drywalled, finished/painted, insulated and AC'ed. I'm thinking about a 2-post lift on an angle in the back left corner as well. It might look like a lot of space, but obviously it fills up quickly and the RV will dominate a lot of area. I've roughly laid it out already with tape, and it will work out nice, but it's crazy how quickly space goes.
The seller let us move some stuff in prior to closing, so right now my 24' box (28' total) trailer, 20' box (25' total) trailer, Broverland trailer, Heep and Duramax are all in it:
As you can see, just with this stuff in there it's a little tight. But, that's a lotta stuff.
I'm thinking the lift will be sort of positioned where the little Broverland trailer is, on a similar angle and the trailers themselves won't be stored in here. They'll go on the other side of the house, where there is ample room for 3 trailers (and I'll prob put up a shade structure to cover them). I'm pretty excited about all my junk being in one place, not paying for storage, and easier trips. The driveway in front of the trailer storage part of the lot is plenty long that I can hitch the RV up to the trailer the night before a trip and be ready to roll in the AM. This is the lot:
We're going to move the little wall dividing the storage area (and playset, that we'll be getting rid of) from the "primary" backyard area over to roughly where their trailers were, about where I drew the red line in the image above. That'll create a bigger yard, but still leave room for all my crap. I'm thinking a firepit (yes, in Vegas... it does get pretty cold there in the winter, lol), horseshoe pit, and cornhole set will go between the house and the RV garage too.
-TJ
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