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Questions for those who live in California..

1K views 15 replies 9 participants last post by  deserthorsewoman 
#1 ·
Hi everyone.Not sure if this is the right place for this and if its not I apologize.



So my DH is a Correctional Officer at a Federal Prison. In order to get the promotion he wants(and one that we need as it means more $$) we have to move. He found a prison near Mendota(sp?),California and he put me in charge of getting info about the area. *rolls eyes* I was born and raised in WI and haven't really lived anywhere else.:oops: I've heard that in Cali its "expensive living" and everything is really high priced. Is this true? Anyone familiar with the area I mentioned? Whats nice about this is they pay for us to move out there and will even pay for my horse to be hauled out there too so my next question is what is boarding like and how much? What are the schools like? Hard to find a job? etc.... Sorry if this is all jumbled together. Thanks ahead of time :)
 
#2 ·
Hey! I'm in San Diego (talk about expensive...) and I'll admit I had to google for Mendota and learned it's near Fresno which I've visited a couple times. It's HOOOT there typically as it's pretty far inland. Fun vacations would be that you're about an hour and a half drive from Yosemite National Park which is gorgeous and has many many trails to explore.

Price wise CA supposedly runs a little more expensive then the rest of the US so they tell us but with a federal salary (which my boyfriend/his father have) is usually plenty to make ends meet and do pretty well.

Couple of prices of things I can point out is that gas is just now hitting $4 again here in SD so it's probably hovering around the same up north. Board can range from $250 for a do it yourself type place to the pasture board at the barn I work at which houses a few olympic horses reaching close to $750-$900 a month. The majority of barns, at least down here are typically full service. Pasture may be hard to find due to the heat and desert like aspect of the state but dry lot is common and shade is easy to put up.


The Fresno area (which looks like the largest city near Mendota it looks like) is not known for being fancy, it's more industrial I believe. There is a major State University there...Costco...I'm getting off track haha. I can't compare to WI since I've never been, sorry! I can say though that I love CA, all of it is so so pretty to me it's in own way.
 
#3 ·
In order to figure out if the extra money will cover for the rise in the cost of living, you'll need to compare prices of things in CA versus WI. You might not be coming out ahead, depending on the area.

CA generally has the highest fuel prices in the nation, which means the cost for goods and services is also going to be higher.
 
#4 ·
Ordinarily, federal jobs pay rate varies by location due to cost of living adjustments. Board can be very high. You may very well have to board for a month or so somewhere that is a bit pricey before you can "check it out" and locate "reasonable rates". It may be a little farther out of town, maybe it doesn't have as fancy facilities - but they are there. Quality hay will probably be a lot higher than you are use to...but it will all go just fine. Good luck!
 
#5 · (Edited)
If you use one of the published cost of living comparison calculators, and compare Madison to Fresno, there is not that much difference - the calculator projects food and untilities around 10% more and healthcare about 12% less, with housing being about the same. The calculator I used did not include taxes though, which I would expect would be far higher in California across the board, although I don't know the tax situation in either state first hand...

ETA - there is no special locality pay adjustment for Fresno, so both places fall into the "Rest of the US" category and the pay is the same...
 
#6 ·
I live 40 miles from Mendota. Hubby commutes 49 miles one way, because housing and such is much cheaper here, we calculated, even the gas savings wouldn't make up for the higher housing rates.
We are lucky to have found a place with acreage, otherwise we would be boarding for 300 a month a horse, all included.
Hay here currently is 13 -15 for alfalfa, 10-12 for oathay, and about 10 for grasshay if you can find it. 100-120lbs bales. But this will go up come winter.
I'd wholeheartedly suggest you stay away from Fresno as far as possible. Much gang activity.

You can pm me if you need more info:)

Oh yeah and it is VERY hot down there. We had highs of 105 the last few days, Fresno had 112
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#7 ·
Well i live in fresno and i board my horse for $150 and that includes everything. Im sure it may be different in Mendota but my point is Fresno is not really expensive. I have only passed threw mendota and its not much different from Fresno. The house i live in is $800 a month with a huge backyard for my 5 pits and smack dab in the middle of town. Im sure you will find something in your price range in mendota! And yes, its currently hotter than the devils crotch out here!! lol

Feel free to msg me or comment back if you think of any questions.
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#10 ·
Thank you all so much :) After talking with my husband more last night we will be looking for houses and such in the Dos Palos area. So far we have found 8 houses within our price range that we really like.lol Sadly none of them have land with them so now I have to really look into boarding just in case we don't come across a place with acreage. Currently I pay $160 for board(just got raised from $150 due to drought) which includes hay,farrier,BO's wife feeds horses and a large pasture/run with a roomy run in shed and its about 10 minute drive from my house.

Am hoping to find something similar in or near Dos Palos. Also I have a 1 1/2 yr old German Shepherd. Is there a breed restriction for this area?
 
#13 ·
Why don't you try CL....we found 3/4 of our household, the horses and the house on it :)
Look under Fresno and maybe Merced. Farm and garden. And houses for rent. You could try posting an ad there too.
Should you find something in Dos Palos you're getting closer to me;-)
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#14 ·
Sorry its taken so long for me to respond. We still haven't heard anything back yet on if it is a for sure thing so thats about driving me nuts.lol I hate "the waiting game"..*sigh* Anyways between getting our extra stuff together for a garage sale and getting things ready for the kids for school I feel like I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off. So far we have notebook page full of house listings that we are really interested in..Sadly none have acreage. :( Am not giving up hope though,soon as we know for sure that DH has the job we are going to put up a ad(like deserthorsewoman suggested) and see if that might help. :) I don't mind the heat tbh and I can't wait to get away from the WI winters.lol I think it would be awesome to be near fellow HF members :) Hopefully by this coming up Friday we should know for sure...
 
#15 ·
I was thinking about you last night, when passing Mendota and then Dos Palos :)

I can imagine the waiting game. Did it too, hubby had applied for a gov-job in March and finally had a reporting date coming in in September. I, in the meantime, sat in Italy not knowing if yes or no. Most horrible thing.
Keep on checking CL, tho. We found house with land, two horses and just about all our furniture and a beautiful truck there:)
And, if you find something, I can go and check it out for you:)
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