SeanRitchie
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 20, 2013
- Messages
- 163
- Reaction score
- 824
That number might actually be a little on the low end.
Yup, another middle class family, born and raised in Southern California, picking up and leaving for something better. I sure will miss this great weather.
I started working at Weddle Industries October 2012. I had zero experience working on transmissions. I've been a motorhead my whole life, but I did not know how any of them really worked. I walked in the front door and handed Ron Weddle my resume, just looking to sweep the floors, clean machines, and get my foot in the door for an actual career at 26 years old. I had already known Ron in my dealings with him while working at the local bike shop, and knew of the Weddle name from the years of going to Glamis and Dumont. I had no problem jumping in and tearing down dirty transmissions, I loved it (still do). It wasn't long until my mechanical abilities thrust me into the service and assembly side of the shop, as well as taking phone orders and answering tech questions. I became the sales and service manager, as well as building and managing the UTV service department from the very first Polaris transmission we serviced in 2015.
12 years later, I still highly enjoy what I do, which made the decision to leave a difficult one. My last day at Weddle was this past Friday October 18.
My wife and I set a goal to buy a house before we were 40 years old (currently 38). The best that we could do is purchase the small 777 sq/ft 2-bedroom condo we were renting in Ventura in 2021. I was the least excited new home buyer you would have ever met. This was not where I wanted to spend the next 10+ years of my life, living next to the busy Highway 126. The 45 mile commute to Goleta began to wear on me, spending an extra 2+hours per day away from my wife, 5 year old and 1 year old daughters was not going to be a long term solution. We love Ventura, but when my wife looked into going back to work full time, it became apparent that child care costs were going to literally cost us more money than she would be able to bring home at the postitions she would qualify for.
It became clear in early 2024 that there was not going to be any drastic reduction in home prices here in Ventura or Santa Barbara/Goleta. How long are we going to wait for the opportunity to purchase a real home to raise our family in?
After talking with a close mortgage/lender freind, he gave me an income number that was required to purchase a home in the Santa Barbara/Goleta area. This would have been a home that would require a heavy amount of updating, and we would be spending every dime we had just to make the mortgage payment. That number was literally twice the amount that I was making at Weddle. My wife would be able to find a job to help cover some of that, but with the child care cost required for her to return to full time work, it was clear we were backed into a corner.
The decision was made to sell our condo and make the move to Lake Havasu. My family has owned a vacation home there since 1989. It's an easy transition for us and not too far away from the rest of our family in Southern California for regular visits. As unhappy as I was to purchase this condo in 2021, I am glad we did as we stand to make a decent amount of money off it that will be used to live on and save for our future home purchase. I have plans to put my specialty skill set to use, and will be going into business for myself. More info on that to come later.
We have acquired a home to rent in Havasu that will save us about $1200-$1500 monthly overhead compared to current living costs here in Ventura. We are hoping to purchase a home in the next 2 years once our incomes stabilize. My wife and I are excited for this move and can't wait to get settled in with our 2 girls. We have received a ton of support from everyone we talk to about it. The majority of responses include "You guys are so lucky, we wish we could get out (of California) too".
Just one more CalExit story to add to the countless others.
Yup, another middle class family, born and raised in Southern California, picking up and leaving for something better. I sure will miss this great weather.
I started working at Weddle Industries October 2012. I had zero experience working on transmissions. I've been a motorhead my whole life, but I did not know how any of them really worked. I walked in the front door and handed Ron Weddle my resume, just looking to sweep the floors, clean machines, and get my foot in the door for an actual career at 26 years old. I had already known Ron in my dealings with him while working at the local bike shop, and knew of the Weddle name from the years of going to Glamis and Dumont. I had no problem jumping in and tearing down dirty transmissions, I loved it (still do). It wasn't long until my mechanical abilities thrust me into the service and assembly side of the shop, as well as taking phone orders and answering tech questions. I became the sales and service manager, as well as building and managing the UTV service department from the very first Polaris transmission we serviced in 2015.
12 years later, I still highly enjoy what I do, which made the decision to leave a difficult one. My last day at Weddle was this past Friday October 18.
My wife and I set a goal to buy a house before we were 40 years old (currently 38). The best that we could do is purchase the small 777 sq/ft 2-bedroom condo we were renting in Ventura in 2021. I was the least excited new home buyer you would have ever met. This was not where I wanted to spend the next 10+ years of my life, living next to the busy Highway 126. The 45 mile commute to Goleta began to wear on me, spending an extra 2+hours per day away from my wife, 5 year old and 1 year old daughters was not going to be a long term solution. We love Ventura, but when my wife looked into going back to work full time, it became apparent that child care costs were going to literally cost us more money than she would be able to bring home at the postitions she would qualify for.
It became clear in early 2024 that there was not going to be any drastic reduction in home prices here in Ventura or Santa Barbara/Goleta. How long are we going to wait for the opportunity to purchase a real home to raise our family in?
After talking with a close mortgage/lender freind, he gave me an income number that was required to purchase a home in the Santa Barbara/Goleta area. This would have been a home that would require a heavy amount of updating, and we would be spending every dime we had just to make the mortgage payment. That number was literally twice the amount that I was making at Weddle. My wife would be able to find a job to help cover some of that, but with the child care cost required for her to return to full time work, it was clear we were backed into a corner.
The decision was made to sell our condo and make the move to Lake Havasu. My family has owned a vacation home there since 1989. It's an easy transition for us and not too far away from the rest of our family in Southern California for regular visits. As unhappy as I was to purchase this condo in 2021, I am glad we did as we stand to make a decent amount of money off it that will be used to live on and save for our future home purchase. I have plans to put my specialty skill set to use, and will be going into business for myself. More info on that to come later.
We have acquired a home to rent in Havasu that will save us about $1200-$1500 monthly overhead compared to current living costs here in Ventura. We are hoping to purchase a home in the next 2 years once our incomes stabilize. My wife and I are excited for this move and can't wait to get settled in with our 2 girls. We have received a ton of support from everyone we talk to about it. The majority of responses include "You guys are so lucky, we wish we could get out (of California) too".
Just one more CalExit story to add to the countless others.
