San Francisco- Living costs and tips

C.D.

Hi all,

I have recently been promoted and am permanently relocating to San Francisco. I've been given about 10 days notice so any advice would be great! I was doing some research on living costs and have discovered that it is apparently the 3rd most expensive city in the US. While I was initially very happy with the salary on offer ($74k US) the more I research the city the more it looks like this is not as much as I initially thought. I am a 25 year old guy, single and would like to live a comfortable lifestyle. I'm very interested in cars so would be keen to try out a lot of American metal while I'm there. Are these costs accurate? Also have thrown in some general questions.

Rent: $1,200-1,500 a month for a big room in a house / apartment share in a nice area. What is a good website to look for househares?

Bills: $120 a month for utilities plus internet.

Car insurance: $1,800 a year to drive something like a Mustang. Are there other car taxes like road tax? What is a good used car website like carzone.ie?

Health insurance: Paid for by my employer. Need someone to talk me through it as it is very different from any Irish policy and try as I might I don't understand a lot of this. Are there any good websites explaining US healthcare?

Food: Cheap from what I can see. $40 a week for a good shop

Tax: My company have provided a tax consultant to help with the move. Are taxes so complicated in the US that you require someone to do your own taxes every year?

Pension: Will be touching base with tax consultant on this. But would be great if anyone knows a good website to get me started on the basics.

Employment Legislation: My understanding is that anyone can be let go with 24 hours notice irrespective of service. Is this true?

Thank you for you help Also if anyone has experiences of living in San Fran I'd love to hear about them.

snowyeoghan

Congrats on the promotion!

So, $74k is an ok salary if your sharing - a little tough if you choose to get your own place. If you are going to buy or lease a car might I suggest www.cartelligent.com. Tell them exactly what you want and they'll do all the work for you and get you the lowest price/rate for a small fee. If you decide to visit dealerships, best go with someone - car salesmen here are not like they are back home - quite pushy and desperate for a sale - I've never had a good experience with them, and buying a car should be fun!

Rent: You should get a nice place at that price if your in an apartment share. Not so much if your looking for your own place. I've found Craigslist is the best for apartment searching - but you could also try padmapper.com and rent.com.

Bills: Your fairly spot on @ $120 a month.

Car Insurance: I drive a 2010 2.5 SUV and my insurance is $800 - brand new I was paying $1000. You might get it for a good bit less than $1800, but maybe somebody else can give more feedback on that one. You'll need to pay annual car tax. Mine runs at about $400 each year. Again cartelligent.com. Other sites: vehix.com, cars.com and autotrader.com

Food: Groceries in general run to about $100 weekly for me, and I know the city is a little more expensive than where I am. I'm not sure about $40 for a good shop though…I would def budget a bit more...

Tax: I did my own taxes over the past two years, but next year I'll get somebody to do it. For a single guy earning just a salary, sites like Turbotax and hrblock are fine. But if you do stocks, and make other big purchases it can get a bit tricky, which I found out this year…not pleasant when you get a letter form the IRS (even if you owe the fekcers $50)…hence getting somebody to do mine net year.

C.D.

Thanks for that, it's very helpful and much appreciated. I did a good bit of looking around today- I should have mentioned earlier that I will actually be in the SF bay area and not SF city.. I didn't realise they were two separate things! I will be working in Menlo Park and rents seem a little cheaper around there- Places like Redwood City and Palo Alto. Is the cost of living there much cheaper than the city? I guess I'm really trying to get a feel for what my standard of living will be like and whether or not my "promotion" will see a decrease in my like for like disposable income.

Craigslist seems to be a a little behind sites like daft.ie! Great to get an idea of what is on offer though.

With regards to car insurance may I ask how old you are and if you have a Californian license? I tried a few quotes myself today and got nothing under 1,500 with an Irish license.

On tax, that's what I'm hearing. Anything other than your salary becomes messy to process and requires a professional. I also have financial assets in the Eurozone. Maybe I can write off the losses against my salary.. wishful thinking!

That $40 is a typo, missed the 7 on my numpad! $40 would be a pretty frugal shop I imagine!

snowyeoghan

At 26 I first drove on my Irish License at $1000 insurance. However, when I got my California license, the insurance company told my my policy would go UP as they had to reset the policy. I called them out, and told them to leave me on my irish license because that just makes no sense. Long story short, after sticking it to them, they reduced the cost. It's now $800 after two years on a Californian license.

BTW, the test here is incredibly simple. If you do go for the test, go to the south bay - DMV on Alma Avenue. They just made me drive around a residential neighborhood for about 15mins and that was it…no reversing, hill starts and so on…

Craigslist is definitely behind daft in terms of features and aesthetics. But it has never let me down when looking for a place.

Palo Alto is very nice, but quite expensive. You should not have a problem finding an apartment share at the budget you mentioned.

Mountain View, just south, is not as expensive as Palo Alto, but still has a nice downtown area.

From what I've experienced, Redwood city is not as nice as palo alto, but it is cheaper.

Have you thought about living in SF an commuting? I would recommend that for a 25yo fella - you'll have better craic up there. Personally, I do not like the south bay one bit - I just find it incredibly boring and bland - its basically suburbia.

Check out www.city-data.com/city/California.html for more info on the different 'hoods such as cost of living.

InTheTrees

Congratulations!

I'm in Seattle now but was in Santa Cruz (Hi, Snowyeoghan!) for ten years and worked in Silicon valley. (Also a car nut and two porsche owner.)

You've checked out the map by now. The only way I'd consideer commuting from the city to menlo park would be to car pool, which is possible, then you meet other people at least. Its a lot of time in the car though.

You should be able to find somewhere close to work. There's a huge variation in areas. Stay away from East Palo Alto though, thats important.

Craigslist is where to look for a place.

$1500 for insurance with an irish licence seems reasonable. Getting a california licence takes about an hour, read the manual, do the multiple choice and then a quick drive around the block (you'll pass as long as you dont crash), take your picture and you're done. You can only use a foreign(or out-of-state) licence for 90 days i believe?

I'm 50 and I pay about $800 for two Porsche 944's, but I also regularly get speeding tickets so it keeps it high. (Oh you'll learn about the americans hatred of Speed once you're here!).

As for Tax, pensions, health insurance and Employment Law; Your employer should have a Human Resources person who will go through this with you. I think its actually a legal req that they outline some of the basic rules. Your company is large enough to be relocating people so they must have a good HR dept.

I've never heard of 24 hours notice of being laid off. A security guy with a cardboard box can show up beside your desk to escort you out, it can be that fast. And in the high tech world you want ex-employees out as soon as possible.

Taxes can be complicated. In addition to Federal Tax you also have to pay California Income tax. They'll be deducted from your salary but you may need help filling out the return. Lots of places do it for cheap though.

Buying cars? Craigslist again. or Autotrader.com.

Oh and remember...coming up in August is one of the worlds premier automotive events; The Monterey Historics (at laguna seca) and the Pebble Beach concours:

http://www.mazdaraceway.com/

InTheTrees

C.D. wrote: »

I'm very interested in cars so would be keen to try out a lot of American metal while I'm there.

Consider splashing out and renting some of the cars you're interested in for a week at a time before you commit to anything long term.

Cars are (I think) cheaper here, and americans drive so slowly that they're in better condition used, so you may find after a while here that an old Mercedes convertible is more what you're looking for than a mustang? Just saying be open to new options.

Palmy

They drive like crazy in Florida:eek:.I was on a major highway last week driving through a tropical storm with little visability,Driving with hazard lights on and still people driving 70+miles/hr.F***en crazy,Yup sure enough two wrecks (accidents) in the space of about 2 miles.
First year car insurance for me and my wife,2005 3.5l minivan.$1900 and we are in our late thirtys..:eek: with Geico,everyone else was $2500+.

C.D.

snowyeoghan wrote: »

At 26 I first drove on my Irish License at $1000 insurance. However, when I got my California license, the insurance company told my my policy would go UP as they had to reset the policy. I called them out, and told them to leave me on my irish license because that just makes no sense. Long story short, after sticking it to them, they reduced the cost. It's now $800 after two years on a Californian license.

BTW, the test here is incredibly simple. If you do go for the test, go to the south bay - DMV on Alma Avenue. They just made me drive around a residential neighborhood for about 15mins and that was it…no reversing, hill starts and so on…

Have you thought about living in SF an commuting? I would recommend that for a 25yo fella - you'll have better craic up there. Personally, I do not like the south bay one bit - I just find it incredibly boring and bland - its basically suburbia.

Check out www.city-data.com/city/California.html for more info on the different 'hoods such as cost of living.

Do they recognise Irish no claims discount over there? I remember being 19 and paying 2,700 for my first year of insurance here!

I've thought about living in SF and commuting.. it is very tempting. I have a colleague who is starting around the same time as me (American) who is doing just that so I'll see how she gets on.

InTheTrees wrote: »

Congratulations!



You should be able to find somewhere close to work. There's a huge variation in areas. Stay away from East Palo Alto though, thats important.

I'm 50 and I pay about $800 for two Porsche 944's, but I also regularly get speeding tickets so it keeps it high. (Oh you'll learn about the americans hatred of Speed once you're here!).

As for Tax, pensions, health insurance and Employment Law; Your employer should have a Human Resources person who will go through this with you. I think its actually a legal req that they outline some of the basic rules. Your company is large enough to be relocating people so they must have a good HR dept.


Taxes can be complicated. In addition to Federal Tax you also have to pay California Income tax. They'll be deducted from your salary but you may need help filling out the return. Lots of places do it for cheap though.

Buying cars? Craigslist again. or Autotrader.com.

Oh and remember...coming up in August is one of the worlds premier automotive events; The Monterey Historics (at laguna seca) and the Pebble Beach concours:

http://www.mazdaraceway.com/

Is East Palo Alto dodgy? My company have setup time with an E&Y consultant, but I guess I would rather go to them with basic knowledge and my own questions to get the most out of it. Plus, it means that my initial information would be impartial!

Haha yes speeding costs are fundamental to the cost of motoring! Can't wait to get into some American muscle. I currently have a Mustang, Charger and Viper on my "must drive" list!

I think I'll have to get a few from work and head along to that track, looks awesome.

lil_lisa

C.D. wrote: »

Do they recognise Irish no claims discount over there? I remember being 19 and paying 2,700 for my first year of insurance here!

Depends on the company, what paperwork you provide, and really, who you talk to. They usually don't, but with Progressive, I was able to convince them to take mine. They require a government department issued letter stating how many years you've been driving with no accidents (like the DMV would here) but I couldn't get anything like that back home. I gave them a letter from Quinn Insurance and the person I worked with said they would take it but they usually wouldn't.

InTheTrees

C.D. wrote: »

Is East Palo Alto dodgy?

Yup. In the 90's it was the murder capital of the USA. Its improved a lot now but I wouldnt want to live in it. Its a seperate "city" to Palo Alto. Right next door though and not immediately obvious that you've crossed from on to the other.

InTheTrees

C.D. wrote: »

Haha yes speeding costs are fundamental to the cost of motoring! Can't wait to get into some American muscle. I currently have a Mustang, Charger and Viper on my "must drive" list!

You're certainly in for a few surprises, both pleasant and confusing...

There's some absolutely stunningly beautiful drives you can take around the bay area. In the santa cruz mountains and along highway one.

Rememebr this one: LaHonda Road (highway84).

Traffic is very different though. Dont expect awareness from other drivers, they're slow and they'll obstruct you and they dont follow the rules. So be safe. In addition you have police that will go out of their way to catch you speeding, its a revenue collection thing beyond safety concerns.