The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly Of PCSing To Southern California
Have you gotten orders to PCS to Camp Pendleton or Miramar and aren’t sure what to expect? In this episode of Relo Recon, I’m going to give you the good, the bad, and the ugly of PCSing to Southern California. We’ll look at everything from the weather to commuting so you can be as prepared as possible for your move.
The Good
If you’re coming to Southern California, the first thing you’ll want to know about is the weather—which we love. I’m from Iowa, where you have your full four seasons. There, you experience cold and windy and hot and humid. Southern California, however, doesn't experience those fluctuations in the weather. It's beautiful for most of the year.
Second, there's literally always something to do. Whether it's Legoland, chilling for the day at the Safari Park, hiking in Calavera Hills, or hanging out at the beach, there is always something to do. The third good thing is Southern California’s real estate; it’s one of the best in the country. Personally, when we bought here, it was a financial game changer in how we live and what we want to do in our future.
The Bad
Now that we talked about the good of living in SoCal, let's talk about some of the bad. The first thing that's a little annoying is the cost of living; the price of everything is just more. From groceries to gas, everything in California is going to be more expensive. For example, the cost of gas in SoCal right now is over $6.50 per gallon.
Another thing that's annoying about the price of everything is the housing expense. For most people across the country, housing is the largest expense they have—and it’s no different in California. However, you're probably going to be paying a lot more per square foot of living space than you would in most other areas in the United States.
Anytime you start getting angry about the bad that's in California, remember that the weather is still great.
Driving
Another thing that you're going to see—especially if you're coming from the Midwest—is that people don't know how to drive. If there's a little bit of rain or a sprinkle, it seems like there are almost 100 car wrecks per mile. It's ridiculous.
Additionally, most people here don't want or don’t know how to merge. Here, you just have to cut people off. Instead of the friendly Midwest “hey, come on over,” they’ll flip you the bird and tell you to get off the road.
The Crowds
The third thing that you may or may not like is the number of people. There's a lot of them, and they like to go do all the things that you do. This is a high tourist area, and there's a lot of stuff going on. However, the crowds can be very seasonal.
One of the things you'll see from the locals that live in SoCal during the summer is that a lot of people come to the area—and they don't really like it. As a matter of fact, a lot of people leave for the summer just because of the number of tourists that are coming here to see the sights and enjoy all the attractions that you have access to year-round.
The Ugly
One of the ugliest things you’ll have to deal with here in Southern California is for first-time homebuyers: the cost of living is high. The price for an entry-level home is high, and the amount of space you're getting is not that much. There is way more demand than there are actual houses for sale right now, so it can be very intimidating to get your foot in the door.
First-Time Homebuyers
I like to compare your first time buying a home to a PFT. We've all been there; you get nervous and feel like you're going to vomit, but you know you have to do your physical fitness test. You just need to go do it and rip the band-aid off so you can relax after.
The home buying process is and can be very simple if you're working with professionals that know how to take care of you. One of the advantages of being in the military is that you do have the ability to use a VA home loan, which helps you with zero down payment. That's what I did, and that's where it can make living in SoCal amazing.
So if you're in that scenario (which you probably are) and you're watching this video, reach out and I’ll be happy to help.
Travel Time
The second ugliest thing about living in SoCal is the amount of travel time it takes. Living farther from base just because it's cheaper may sound good. In the long run, however, it may not make sense. Traveling 25 miles here doesn't take 25 minutes as it does back home.
Rather, 25 miles here can take you 90 minutes—and sometimes 3 hours. I know folks that are making that commute not once but twice a day. This is expensive and, in my life, I like to spend time with my family and not just behind the wheel of a car. You’ve got to weigh the pros and cons of what you think is expensive and what is not expensive.
While there are a lot of fun things to do here, everything seems to be very spread out. This means you're going to be driving a minimum of 20 minutes pretty much everywhere you go, just based on the layout. If you're going to the coast or you're going inland to Walmart, you'll have a commute. All those factors exponentially make traveling a mile more difficult.
Vehicle Expense
In addition to travel times, the cost of traveling in Southern California can add up—especially with gas at over $6 a gallon. You're probably driving a huge, jacked-up truck, an ‘89 Bronco, or some other beautiful gas guzzler. However, you're not going to want to drive that out here.
While you might have something that looks super cool, is a great beach vehicle, and gets you a lot of looks, it just doesn't make sense for the pocketbook. Some people opt to buy a motorcycle; we have that beautiful thing called lane splitting, where you can go 10 miles per hour over the speed of traffic.
While this does help, you're going to have additional expenses with a motorcycle. This includes things like insurance and taking a class. If you look at the math over a set number of years, the expense balances out. It can be very tricky to commute about the area, so you’ll want to weigh your options.
What it really comes down to is whether you want to be Maverick from Top Gun—running around in a leather jacket with a helmet and doing whatever you want on a Ninja—or Arnold Schwarzenegger from Kindergarten Cop, driving a busted-ass Sedan.
Making Your Move
There you have it: the good, the bad, and the ugly of PCSing to Southern California. Don’t worry, though; you also have us here at Relo Recon. We’re your boots on the ground, and we’d be happy to put you in contact with the right people to make sure you’re taken care of.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me and I’ll be happy to help. Don’t forget to subscribe to my channel so you never miss an episode of Relo Recon, and stay tuned to see what I feature next!
