My dad was a handyman — he could fix anything.

As he did projects, he’d put up with his little helper. As I “helped,” I learned. Because Dad was patient, I know how to paint, fix a screen door, and use a variety of tools.

It’s no surprise that I grew up to be a handymom.

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But somehow, for me, it never works quite as well as it did for Dad.

Maybe that’s because Dad’s workshop was well stocked. If he needed a tool, nail or screw, he could find it in some drawer in the garage.

I never have what I need. We don’t have a workshop. I have my own “renovations” toolkit of leftovers, but our tools are scattered. Every project takes a special effort.

Recently, I needed to replace some old vertical blinds in a bedroom.

I had recently installed a blind in my living room, so I began with great confidence. “These are lighter,” I thought. “This will be almost.”

Oh, foolish woman that I am!

The old blinds came down quickly — I noticed they had been installed with concrete screws. Ah! Good idea. I wouldn’t need wall anchors.

But I needed screws. So I took a sample, went to the hardware store and bought a dozen.

“I think I need a new drill bit, just in case,” I said. The helpful fastener expert told me what to buy, so I went to the tool section to get it. As I stood in line, I checked the screws.

oops

The screws had a different pattern from the sample. Apparently, the standard cross has been replaced by a star. I bought a new bit to match.

Back at the crime scene, I was pleased with the ease that I installed the brackets. Then I picked up the blind.

It was a half-inch wider than the window! What? My windows are 48 inches wide. But they aren’t. Turns out this one was closer to 47.5 inches at the top.

Not to be undone, I moved the brackets to the outside. In the process, the drill fell, the bit was bent, and I first installed them upside down.

Once all was righted, the blind went up — and stayed up.

sigh

When it comes to household repairs, my dad was a wizard.

I’m more like the sorcerer’s apprentice, forever righting the wrongs I have done.

Still, I think he’d be proud — I’m so much like him.

He could fix things.

And I’m always in a fix.

The post Handyman classes from Dad | Way of life appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Jodi Raffa has been searching for a roommate for over a year. Her husband passed away five years ago, and compounding her loss was a 75% reduction in her household income.

The 76-year-old lives in a sunny three-bedroom, two-bathroom home overlooking a lake in a 55 and over community in Groveland, Fla. The sunsets from her back porch are “stunning.” However, the homeowners association fees just went up again and inflation has left her “flabbergasted.”

“I live on a very strict budget and am not able to indulge in any extras at all,” said Raffa, who worked in administrative jobs before she and her late husband retired in 2010. Raffa now views that move as a “hasty decision” in light of her financial circumstances. “I am a worrier and a planner so logic suggested getting a roommate.”

When she takes out ads specifying women over 55, she gets responses mostly from men in their 60s or adults in their 20s, 30s, or 40s. Raffa hopes for an easier way to find and vet potential sharers of her home. “I’m very frustrated,” she said.

Like so many boomers, Raffa wants to continue to live in her house and find a job working remotely, either in data entry or editing. Faced with escalating home prices and rents in tight housing markets, as well as careers or earnings curtailed by age or the pandemic, some boomers are looking to share their homes. Enter the boommates.

“With the boomers aging, you see higher and higher numbers in shared housing,” said Rodney Harrell, vice president of family, home and community at AARP, pointing out that boomers are more open than previous generations to trying alternative solutions to the traditional aging trajectory.

In a 1987 interview with NPR, the late Betty White noted that the four women who lived together in “The Golden Girls” did so for social reasons rather than financial necessity. “All that I think we have accomplished is to show that there is an alternative lifestyle,” White told “Fresh Air” about the success of the show. “If you notice, ‘The Golden Girls’ are not together for economic reasons. They’re together for sociological reasons. It fights the loneliness.”

Four decades later, the idea of ​​housemates late into adulthood is experiencing a revival, but with financial factors front and center. As boomers live longer and retire without the financial safety net of employer-sponsored pensions, covering the rising costs of food, housing and insurance become major considerations. Linda Hoffman, founder of the New York Foundation for Senior Citizens, which runs a home sharing program, noted an increasing amount of applications as finances become more of a stressor.

“When we started the home sharing program in 1981, relieving feelings of isolation and loneliness was the primary need,” Hoffman said. “Now, an affordable place to live is the number one need. Hosts need help in meeting their housing expenses.” Even for housemates who entered into the arrangement for social reasons, the extra money has become more important as their financial picture changed with the pandemic.

Debbi Campbell, 70, a retired copywriter, met Loretta Halter, a retired manager from the Kroger grocery chain, in 2018 at a Czech cultural event in New York City. Campbell was grieving the loss of her live-in boyfriend of almost 20 years to cancer. Halter had moved to New York City from Appling, Ga., several years earlier. She had used the NYFSC home sharing program earlier to find affordable apartment but was unhappy in her situation, which is when she decided to become housemates with Campbell.

The two went through the NYFSC program to handle the background checks, vetting and administrative details before Halter moved into Campbell’s rent-stabilized one-bedroom apartment in Greenwich Village. Before the pandemic, the two lived somewhat separate lives. Campbell lived mostly in the bedroom and Halter lived mostly in the living room. But when the city shut down they developed a strong friendship.

“First, we started with the crossword and the jigsaw puzzles, and the TV, and it turned out well,” Campbell said. The ease of the later-in-life roommate-as-friend experience surprised her. “I mean, I’m one of those people who’s spent a good time of my life in therapy, mostly complaining about people I knew.”

After initially being furloughed from her job as a long-term temp at the Department of Education in March 2020, Campbell retired in October 2020, at 68, more than a year earlier than she expected. She also opted to take Social Security benefits at that time, instead of waiting until 70 as she had planned.

“I had not been desperate over money, but having a pandemic come, suddenly you have company where you wouldn’t have. And suddenly there is extra money for you from home sharing, which I wouldn’t have had. It was just a bonanza. I feel like the luckiest person of the pandemic,” she said.

While the dozen home sharers interviewed for this story insisted their parents would have found the idea outlandish, having housemates later in life seems to be finding more acceptance. In 2021, 70% of adults over 50 reported being open to sharing their home with a family member who was not a spouse, 51% said they would be willing to share with a friend, and 6% would share a home with a stranger, according to a survey from AARP. Of those who reported they would not share their home at all, 23% said they would change their mind if they needed extra income.

“The majority of people considering home sharing with a friend or family member tells me that there’s an opportunity there for more people to take advantage of that excess housing stock that we already have within our own homes, and that perhaps meet your needs, and those of a friend or neighbor,” Harrell said. “Or maybe companionship that may help with costs, such as caregiving. There’s just so much advantage there. And we’re just not necessarily taking advantage of it. It’s nowhere near its potential.”

The growing interest in home sharing, especially for those boomers who are house-rich and cash-poor in expensive housing markets, is being cultivated by nonprofit and commercial programs as well as municipalities. Since 2015, New York, Seattle, Denver, Tucson, northern California and the metro Washington area all have or are launching programs.

“From what we’ve seen, attitudes are loosening toward home sharing,” Riley Gibson, president of Denver-based home sharing service Silvernest, which pairs older adults with housemates. The service is particularly active in tighter housing markets such as San Francisco, Phoenix, Tampa, Miami and Los Angeles. Silvernest recently partnered with Montgomery County in Maryland to start a pilot program and plans to launch in a few more cities later this year.

Renters and homeowners can fill out profiles on the site, which supports services including lease templates, insurance and background checks. A similar service, Boston-based Nesterly, matches older adults with younger ones to promote intergenerational home shares. Senior Homeshares, another service, has enrolled nearly 70,000 members across the country since its inception in 2015.

Even before the pandemic, demographics were shifting toward nonfamily households. In 1960, 85% of households were composed of families, according to the Population Reference Bureau. By 2017, that figure had fallen to 65% of households.

As Americans continue to age, Harrell and others expect growing demand for more housing options. “As a society, we’ve been building and thinking about younger families and building housing and communities for younger people,” he said.

“But that need has been shifting as community leaders, builders and designers” are “starting to think more and more about what happens to us as we age. And covid has given momentum to those conversations,” Harrell said.

For Kim Bolding, 61, home sharing enabled her to stay in the five-bedroom Colorado Springs home where she had raised her biological, adopted and foster children after being diagnosed with a form of muscular dystrophy in 2012.

Bolding, a former social worker, was able to keep working from home until 2017. But after she was forced to go on Social Security disability, the payments weren’t enough to keep up with her housing costs. “I did not want to have to go into just affiliate-type living. I wanted to keep my home,” she said.

First, a longtime neighbor moved downstairs, where he could have his own bathroom. With the help of Denver-based nonprofit Sunshine Home Share Colorado, Bolding found two more housemates. Since then, she has mostly lived with three other housemates at a time: two men on one floor sharing a bathroom and a woman on her floor. “It’s allowing me to be able to maintain my own individuality. I can say what I want when I set my own needs and rules,” she said.

All of the housemates are on disability, but collectively able to live independently. Bolding is able to host her adult children when they visit, but they don’t feel obligated to move in with her to manage her illness. Instead, she is building a new community with her housemates, holding regular dinners together.

“We run it like a family and we have space for others,” Bolding said. Having housemates is “a great alternative to being stuck in some place where you don’t have a lot of choices: who your neighbors are, who you interact with, or you lose a lot of autonomy and that’s part of the problem with aging, ” she added.

Bolding has already had several housemates who have moved out because of a change in their fortunes. Two have received government-subsidized housing, one has gotten married and another inherited a house and cars from an uncle who recently passed away. She thinks of her house as a harbinger of good luck and said she has received many calls asking for information or guidance on doing something similar.

“It’s becoming more and more popular, especially for my age group for people in similar situations. We need each other. We get blessed and they get blessed,” Bolding said.

The post Child boomers are transferring in collectively to economize | Life-style appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

As a world traveler, I had one goal on hold until three things aligned: finances, timing, and motivation. But with rumors of a travel ban on the horizon, I accepted the reality that money burns, time melts and memories are the only impressions we can cherish.

Before masked smiles and elbow bumps became an international form of communication, my husband Benjamin and I put our hands together in Turkey and gave what was to be our last trip for 18 months. We have longed for the sub-pink side of Turkey by dividing our trip into three parts: City, Country, Coast. It was our own geographical version of “Eat, Pray, Love” without soul searching.

From LAX we traveled non-stop with Turkish Airlines, offering free city tours and hotel accommodation for stops over five hours. For us, being all-in meant in part that this would be a journey of firsts (and possibly lasts), including flying business class. I had to try everything including Turkish delight, turndown service and Versace amenities. Fifteen hours later we landed at Istanbul Airport – the largest in the world costing $12 billion.

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We checked into the Ciragan Palace Kempinski Istanbul, adorned with marble columns and chandeliers taller than my truck. As the only Ottoman palace hotel on the Bosphorus, it introduced us to this narrow strait between Europe and Asia.

The best view of the water was from the hotel’s restaurant, Tugra. Black-tie waiters, candlelit tables, and paintings by Fausto Zonaro had my husband wide open in financial anxiety.

Ottoman and Turkish dishes of lamb shank and duck tandir were served with olives in oil, hummus, eggplant, feta and other mezze. Benjamin leaned forward and whispered, “Exhale. An appetizer costs less than $30.”

Living big with no regrets, we chose full sultan mode. During the day we sight-seeed the area, and at night we sank into tasseled pillows as we devoured home-made desserts: dried fruit, flaky baklava, and chewy lokum cubes of pomegranate, orange, and honey.

Calories were burned during our four days in Istanbul with Sea Song Tours. From the meditative Süleymaniye Mosque to the Constantine Column of the Byzantine Hippodrome, history came alive in this tangible textbook.

While Benjamin received insights into religion and architecture, I was mesmerized by some of the 250,000 stray dogs and cats that roamed the city. These healthy looking fur babies were everywhere, passed out on the sidewalk, bellies to the sky. The local government provides food and medical supplies, so technically they are “home” on the doorstep of a 16th-century mosque.

How could they not be? Between the mosaics and domes of Hagia Sophia, we too felt the comforting awe of this architectural masterpiece. Built in AD 537, this Orthodox cathedral-turned-Ottoman mosque honors both Christian and Muslim faiths in homage to one of Byzantine’s most important structures.

Religious freedom seemed almost celebrated in Istanbul, transforming my preconceived notions of a turbulent nation into one of peace. On the Asian side of the Bosphorus, the bohemian district of Kuzguncuk — known for its colorful townhouses with gingerbread balconies — had mosques, synagogues, and churches practically sharing walls. English services rang out from Christian churches while the Islamic call to prayer rang out from 3,000 mosques in the distance.

In a city of 15 million people, this testimony to religious pluralism and multicultural identity inspired a sense of coexistence and prosperity. Waterfront mansions framing the Bosphorus dwarfed Beverly Hills, but despite the affluence, locals were unpretentious and welcoming, especially in Bomonti.

This Brooklyn of Turkey has a community vibe where everyone knows their neighbor. At the House Hotel we met locals who invited us for Turkish coffee in Halisunasyon and dinner in Batard. We stumbled across farmers markets, the Ara Guler Museum and Glories Chocolate to try truffles with rosehip and lemon.

Stripped of burqas, musculature and din, Istanbul was brilliantly alive, poised in an urban stance with European play. I was addicted to Karakoy, a maritime trade hub that has transformed into a trendy arts, fashion and food district. Cobblestone lanes were lined with funky cafes and shisha bars tucked under grand old apartments covered in ivy and graffiti like the hipster descendants of Marseille and San Francisco.

Paradoxical Istanbul soothed us in the Serefiye Cistern and woke us up in the Grand Bazaar. Among the merchants who haggled copper and carpets, there were courts that offered respite from chaos. Pungent aromas of leather, coffee, tobacco and spice were framed by a vibrancy that dismantled false perceptions of a dark and monochromatic city.

Our second hotel certainly helped. In the Zorlu Center of the Besiktas district, Raffles Istanbul is the core of around 3,000 boutiques, restaurants and galleries. This cosmopolitan property boasts an impressive art collection, Michelin-star chefs and the largest spa in Istanbul.

From the hand-blown chandeliers to the bespoke murals in each room, the design is meticulous with Byzantine silks, Turkish textiles and golden mosaics. After the pan-Asian fusion at Isokyo, we headed to the spa for a traditional hammam treatment.

As if lying naked on a slab of marble wasn’t strange enough, we would then have our hair washed, our bodies scrubbed and bucketfuls of water poured down our thighs. With sandpaper gloves in motion, I rolled over to find Benjamin buried in a mountain of foam. “I think I’m missing a mole,” I whispered.

After the scrub, my skin felt like butter and my hair felt like silk. But once was enough as we embarked on the “land” portion of our journey to Cappadocia.

Fairy chimneys, drawers carved into cliffs and Dr. Seuss-like rock formations sculpted by centuries of wind and rain covered the Anatolian steppes of central Turkey. Beneath this lunar landscape are 36 underground cities including Kaymakli, dating back to 3,000 BC.

To maximize our experience we relied on Ismail from Travel Atelier. From the rock sanctuaries in Goreme National Park to the tandir lamb in Aravan Evi, Ismail has delivered on all fronts, including a last minute 4am hot air balloon ride

Soaring 1,500 feet above Rose Valley, we were one of 100 hot air balloons peppering the sky.

Perhaps the most impressive viewpoint of the balloon colony was from our Hotel Argos in Cappadocia. In the mountain village of Uchisar, this ambitious transformation project turned 51 caves into luxurious rooms with reading nooks and private plunge pools.

From their SEKI restaurant you have a wide view of the Pigeon Valley with vineyards, apricot orchards and stone pinnacles sticking out of the ground. In this historic cradle of silence, monks retreated into solitude, and today travelers enter a monastery of silence moved only by the song of nightingales and the wings of doves.

Our journey could have ended happily there, but we headed east to Alacatı on Turkey’s Cesme Peninsula. This seaside playground near İzmir is famous for its beaches, vineyards and stone houses, but it was the boutique hotel Alavya that wooed us.

Six historic homes face an open courtyard lined with white mulberry and olive trees, where a lap pool, garden restaurant, and yoga pavilion find shade under the canopies. The elegant rooms have beamed ceilings, linen bathrobes, patchwork rugs and bathrooms with Carrera marble. Our breakfast was almost sinful, with mounds of figs, plums, olives and honey-soaked cheese.

We would never have left our hotel if the city hadn’t been our victorious temptress, enticing us with whitewashed storefronts adorned with bougainvillea. Lazy dogs posed under Greek-blue shutters in Instagram-worthy moments, perfected only by kissing couples, yellow sundresses and gleaming Vespas.

That evening we ate at Asma Yaprağı (Grape Leaf) where cook Ayse Nur invites guests into her kitchen. Pyramids of Mediterranean and Turkish dishes included braised artichokes, stuffed zucchini flowers, and baked pumpkin with sun-dried tomatoes.

Despite our morning craving for beach lounge, we couldn’t leave Alacatı without visiting the wine region. As the birthplace of Vitis vinifera (grape vine), Turkey’s Aegean coast accounts for 20% of the country’s wine production. After an hour’s drive, we arrived in Urla, where we tracked seven vineyards producing award-winning blends such as Urla Vourla and Nero D’Avola.

Finally we got our day in the sun in Bodrum on the south west coast of Turkey. This gateway to beach towns and 5-star resorts has landed us at the Mandarin Oriental. Golf carts whisked guests between nine restaurants, a private beach, and rooms overlooking Paradise Bay.

Like hot air balloons to Cappadocia, so are sailing boats to Bodrum. We joined the crowds and cruised across the mesmerizing peninsula to nestled coves, where we hopped into the turquoise sea from the top sun deck. I must have been snorkeling for five hours, floating over glowing coral and chasing schools of glitter. We ate roast octopus, tuna tartare and lobster tagliolini. And then I stretched out on the bow, rocked to sleep and dreamed of Turkey.

In my dream were utopian visions of a united metropolis with many faces. There were mysterious caves, satin pillows, and dogs and cats living in harmony. I saw a coast bathed in five shades of blue. Hundreds of hot air balloons floated over stone walls carved in time. And in the distance the echoing call of prayers echoed through valleys and ravines.

My reverie ended in a familiar voice.

“Wake up sleepyhead,” Benjamin said. “It’s time to go home.”

The post Historic, stylish and vibrant: Turkey is ever a land of lots | Way of life appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

MarketWatch highlighted these products and services because we believe readers will find them useful. We may earn a commission if you buy products through our links, but our referrals are independent of any compensation we receive.

Long before Tyler Bettilyon, a software engineer and educator, left San Francisco, he wondered what he would have to sacrifice in order to be financially enough to raise a family in the Bay Area. “There was a path I could follow to make $ 250,000 a year,” he says. “But part of that equation would have included a hectic lifestyle that kept me in the company office from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. every day.” (Remember to leave your expensive city too? Check out the Lowest Mortgage Rates You Can Get Now here, and under.)

It wasn’t that Bettilyon didn’t want to work hard. He just wanted to work, but also to spend time with his girlfriend at the time (now his wife) and the children, if they ever got them. Bettilyon, who spent 90 minutes commuting to his job as a senior engineer at a technology start-up, found the experience was grueling. “There are thousands of people at BART who will corner you,” he notes.

Even before the pandemic began, Bettilyon realized that what he really craved – time, accessible green spaces, a community – was nowhere to be found in San Francisco, where he had lived for seven years. “My wife and I started looking for a house in the Bay Area, and any house we liked was so far out of reach financially,” he says.

Do you also dream of moving to a cheaper city?
Here are some resources to help you make that decision

• Casing: See what type of mortgage you can qualify for Here, and see what rent you could pay here.

• Cost of Living and Other Lifestyle Factors: Compare the cost of living in a new city to your current city here, as well as things like taxes, crime, and more.

• Health care: See how US News ranks your new state in terms of healthcare here.

• Workplaces: If your current job doesn’t let you work remotely, websites like. looking for jobs As a matter of fact and glass door.

• Crime, education and other lifestyle factors: Look at that niche.

The frugal couple saved nearly $ 200,000 in cash, he notes. In San Francisco, Bettilyon says he made about $ 150,000 even though his wife made less. They kept spending low by taking public transportation and sharing a 1,600-square-foot house in Berkeley with Bettilyon’s brother and sister-in-law for a total rent of $ 4,000 a month. Even so, the typical San Francisco home is valued at more than $ 1.5 million, according to Zillow. “Any reasonable-priced house was either in an area we didn’t want to live in or in an area that wasn’t particularly safe,” notes Bettilyon. Adding children to a mortgage would have been financially onerous, even with Bettilyon’s six-figure salary.

Instead, Bettilyon and his wife decided to return to their Salt Lake City home, where they bought a three-bedroom home for $ 420,000 in May 2020, just as the pandemic started, he notes. The house is in the neighborhood where Bettilyon grew up and is close to friends and family. Better yet, it’s a couple of blocks from a large park. In San Francisco, they couldn’t afford a seat near a green space, and that was something the couple had sorely missed.

Moving from San Francisco to Salt Lake City saved the couple a tremendous amount of money. You’ve paid up nearly 50% of the cost of your home and now your total mortgage is $ 1,250 a month. Bettilyon, who now teaches corporate computer coding courses on a contract basis, says he now makes between $ 60,000 and $ 80,000 a year, and his wife, who works as a project manager at a startup, makes roughly the same. And that works well for them, while it would have been difficult in the Bay Area, since everything from food to groceries to personal care services is cheaper in Salt Lake City than it is in San Francisco. The one expense, which may be a little higher, is that Bettilyon is now using his car since he can no longer walk to the grocery store – but he already had the car when he lived in Berkeley. And he couldn’t park the car in the house he lived in without paying his landlord an additional $ 500 a month – now he just parks in his driveway.

Thanks to their cheaper lifestyle, Bettilyon and his wife are saving for the future, he says. They recently installed solar panels on their home and decided to invest in a restaurant and mobile cocktail company. Every year they maximize their Roth IRA accounts and slowly replenish their savings. Every now and then they indulge in something completely indulgent. For example, Bettilyon recently bought a piano to practice a skill he learned as a child. “It’s really liberating to be able to say that I can go out and have a good night on the town and not have to worry about how much it’ll cost,” says Bettilyon.

Parenthood is just around the corner – but for now the couple are focused on taking care of their recently adopted dog, who enjoys walking in the large park near their home. “I wouldn’t have got a dog in San Francisco because I was worried that this dog would get enough exercise,” says Bettilyon.

Of course, there are things the couple misses about San Francisco – the museums, the food, the inexhaustible possibilities. “Nothing is open late here in Salt Lake City. So if you’re hungry on your way home from a night out, you’d better have a pizza in your freezer, ”says Bettilyon. But as he gets older he goes out less anyway. “A lot of what made San Francisco so valuable in my twenties isn’t so valuable to me now that I’m married and thinking about children,” he says. (Are you thinking of leaving your expensive city too? Check out the Lowest Mortgage Rates You Can Get Now here.)

The post I may have made $250K in San Francisco, however it was a ‘hustle-and-grind way of life.’ So I purchased a $420K dwelling in Salt Lake Metropolis appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

MarketWatch highlighted these products and services because we believe readers will find them useful. We may earn a commission if you buy products through our links, but our referrals are independent of any compensation we receive.

Long before Tyler Bettilyon, a software engineer and educator, left San Francisco, he wondered what he would have to sacrifice in order to be financially enough to raise a family in the Bay Area. “There was a path I could follow to make $ 250,000 a year,” he says. “But part of that equation would have included a hectic lifestyle that kept me in the company office from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. every day.” (Remember to leave your expensive city too? Check out the Lowest Mortgage Rates You Can Get Now here, and under.)

It wasn’t that Bettilyon didn’t want to work hard. He just wanted to work, but also to spend time with his girlfriend at the time (now his wife) and the children, if they ever got them. Bettilyon, who spent 90 minutes commuting to his job as a senior engineer at a technology start-up, found the experience was grueling. “There are thousands of people at BART who will corner you,” he notes.

Even before the pandemic began, Bettilyon realized that what he really craved – time, accessible green spaces, a community – was nowhere to be found in San Francisco, where he had lived for seven years. “My wife and I started looking for a house in the Bay Area, and any house we liked was so far out of reach financially,” he says.

Do you also dream of moving to a cheaper city?
Here are some resources to help you make that decision

• Casing: See what type of mortgage you can qualify for Here, and see what rent you could pay here.

• Cost of Living and Other Lifestyle Factors: Compare the cost of living in a new city to your current city here, as well as things like taxes, crime, and more.

• Health care: See how US News ranks your new state in terms of healthcare here.

• Workplaces: If your current job doesn’t let you work remotely, websites like. looking for jobs As a matter of fact and glass door.

• Crime, education and other lifestyle factors: Look at that niche.

The frugal couple saved nearly $ 200,000 in cash, he notes. In San Francisco, Bettilyon says he made about $ 150,000 even though his wife made less. They kept spending low by taking public transportation and sharing a 1,600-square-foot house in Berkeley with Bettilyon’s brother and sister-in-law for a total rent of $ 4,000 a month. Even so, the typical San Francisco home is valued at more than $ 1.5 million, according to Zillow. “Any reasonable-priced house was either in an area we didn’t want to live in or in an area that wasn’t particularly safe,” notes Bettilyon. Adding children to a mortgage would have been financially onerous, even with Bettilyon’s six-figure salary.

Instead, Bettilyon and his wife decided to return to their Salt Lake City home, where they bought a three-bedroom home for $ 420,000 in May 2020, just as the pandemic started, he notes. The house is in the neighborhood where Bettilyon grew up and is close to friends and family. Better yet, it’s a couple of blocks from a large park. In San Francisco, they couldn’t afford a seat near a green space, and that was something the couple had sorely missed.

Moving from San Francisco to Salt Lake City saved the couple a tremendous amount of money. You’ve paid up nearly 50% of the cost of your home and now your total mortgage is $ 1,250 a month. Bettilyon, who now teaches corporate computer coding courses on a contract basis, says he now makes between $ 60,000 and $ 80,000 a year, and his wife, who works as a project manager at a startup, makes roughly the same. And that works well for them, while it would have been difficult in the Bay Area, since everything from food to groceries to personal care services is cheaper in Salt Lake City than it is in San Francisco. The one expense, which may be a little higher, is that Bettilyon is now using his car since he can no longer walk to the grocery store – but he already had the car when he lived in Berkeley. And he couldn’t park the car in the house he lived in without paying his landlord an additional $ 500 a month – now he just parks in his driveway.

Thanks to their cheaper lifestyle, Bettilyon and his wife are saving for the future, he says. They recently installed solar panels on their home and decided to invest in a restaurant and mobile cocktail company. Every year they maximize their Roth IRA accounts and slowly replenish their savings. Every now and then they indulge in something completely indulgent. For example, Bettilyon recently bought a piano to practice a skill he learned as a child. “It’s really liberating to be able to say that I can go out and have a good night on the town and not have to worry about how much it’ll cost,” says Bettilyon.

Parenthood is just around the corner – but for now the couple are focused on taking care of their recently adopted dog, who enjoys walking in the large park near their home. “I wouldn’t have got a dog in San Francisco because I was worried that this dog would get enough exercise,” says Bettilyon.

Of course, there are things the couple misses about San Francisco – the museums, the food, the inexhaustible possibilities. “Nothing is open late here in Salt Lake City. So if you’re hungry on your way home from a night out, you’d better have a pizza in your freezer, ”says Bettilyon. But as he gets older he goes out less anyway. “A lot of what made San Francisco so valuable in my twenties isn’t so valuable to me now that I’m married and thinking about children,” he says. (Are you thinking of leaving your expensive city too? Check out the Lowest Mortgage Rates You Can Get Now here.)

The post I might have made $250,000 a yr in San Francisco, however it could have required a ‘hustle and grind life-style.’ So I ditched the Bay Space for Salt Lake Metropolis, the place I purchased a 3-bedroom house for $420,000. Do you have to take into account a transfer too? appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.