[proglife]

Just kicking the idea around right now. I'm newly married and the wife and I are thinking about a change of scenery before settling down for the long term. We own two houses where we are now, so we'd just be renting for the for the foreseeable future. Wife is a RN with a lot of experience so her job is pretty portable. I'm a web developer and might be able to keep my job/telecommute.

How's the mountain biking?
What's the cost of living like?
What are salaries like?
Live music scene? Restaurants?

 

[Jm_]

Mountain biking, generally excellent. Sierras have some very sandy spots though at high altitude. Big climbs and descents. Good mix of XC, DH and everything in between. Resort riding at N*. Winter sports are huge. Snow quality is "pacific", but the number of resorts around and living there would allow you to take advantage of when the good snow falls and the "locals" spots more like Homewood and Mt Rose.

Cost of living is very high. Everyone loves Tahoe. Property prices high. Gas prices high. Other costs high. I've spent lots and lots of time in Tahoe, and now I live in Anchorage. Living is more expensive here, but not by much. More similar than different. Think of Tahoe cost of living like the Bay Area. You can get by a little cheaper if you are really resourceful, and you get the option of getting winter/summer equipment fairly cheap if you know where and when to go to the various trades/bazaars when they happen. I'm considering you are thinking about living within the "rim" here. Again, it's absolutely beautiful though, amazing winter and summer sports, well worth it overall IMO. Living in Carson City, Reno, Truckee, or any of the real outlying areas is not worth it. Getting into "Tahoe" is more of a big deal in those cases, even though it's close, you have to go over mountain passes to do so, increasing danger in the winter, and excessive gas costs either way. The quality of live in those places is just not anywhere near as much either IMO. You are better off living in Flagstaff, Durango, Jackson Hole, Bend, or one of many other choices if you don't live within the mountains that bound Lake Tahoe.

The "scene" is pretty good. It's "apres ski" in most places. Lots of nice little holes-in-the-wall, places locals get to know, places downtown if you want to go there (South Lake), and so on.

Think of a cool mountain ski-town, now make it continuous around the entire circumference of the lake! That's what Tahoe is like. If you like outdoor stuff and nature, this is one of the best places. If you like great restaurants, this is one of the best places. If you like cozy mountain cabin-style homes, this is a great place.

I love the area. Realize you have to deal with a lot of snow. It's not very cold, as far as cold places go. Not as cold as living in a mountain town in UT, CO, ID, MT, etc...When it snows it's just barely below freezing. It's the amount of wet heavy snow though. It depends on where you live whether you need 4/awd or studs. Snow melts there in the winter off the road and is plowed pretty good. If you are way back up in a development that doesn't get regular plowing, you may need more than frontwheel drive. You can get up to 10 feet piling up on the ground from one or a few storms in short succession.

IMO, it's not the absolute best mountain biking and it's not the absolute best skiing, but both are of such high quality and caliber that it's hard to match when you combine the two.

Oh yeah, traffic can be horrible in places/at times when there are accidents or when it slows due to conditions/busy weekends. It's a huge tourist/weekend area, everyone heads to Tahoe from the valley and bay area.

 

[proglife]

Hey, thanks for the reply!

Living in Carson City, Reno, Truckee, or any of the real outlying areas is not worth it. Getting into "Tahoe" is more of a big deal in those cases, even though it's close, you have to go over mountain passes to do so, increasing danger in the winter, and excessive gas costs either way.

That's interesting. I was doing a pretty broad Zillow search and was amazed by some of the house prices. It looked like you could get a really nice single family home in the 300k range, but it looks like that's a little further out in the areas you mention.

 

[Jm_]

And IDK, it's "close" to tahoe, but so is living on the other side of the sierras. Lots of people do live there, but I just feel the experience is much much less, in other words it's not a substitute for living in Tahoe and there are other better places in the west if that's your only option.

 

[Brian HCM#1]

Housing prices are reasonable in Tahoe right now. Biking is excellent. Finding a place to make a decent wage will be difficult in that area.

 

[Jm_]

And as Brian says, there are some reasonable prices if you are willing to look. Be sure to consider the areas though, some aren't as conductive to biking/riding as you'd think and will have fairly long commutes to get to the goods, especially when it "packs up" with traffic and jams. South Lake has some great areas, even a little further away from the lake, if you live there it's easy to get around the traffic. Eastern shore is generally pretty good, but further from the ski resorts if you are in the middle. Anything on the north side is great. Anything about halfway up the western side is ok, packs up with traffic though. Middle south to halfway up the west is pretty poor, both skiing and riding, with big wilderness areas you can't ride in. Eastern is a little sandier, but better riding, skiing at both ends (N and S). Again, anywhere N side is great and anywhere SE is great, those would be my first choices.

 

[mantispf2000]

I agree with most of what Jm says. I live off the mountain in Gardnerville, about 35min drive when clear, upwards of 1 1/2hrs when really bad. I do the 5day/week commute to work at Harrah's/Harvey's, and at times it gets tiring. The view at night coming home, though, can be beautiful.

It sounds like you have the right training for jobs. Check out Barton in Tahoe, Gardnerville, or north Carson City for your wife, and your options are wide open.

Cost of living is more at the lake. About $4.50/gal for gas as an example. Food can be a bit much for some items, and utilities can be high. I was fortunate to have utilities included in rent when I last lived there, and I've heard some co-workers say they pay as high as $300/mo for gas heating.

Harvey's has an outdoor arena during the summer for concerts. Toby Keith, Maroon 5, Kiss, and Sammy Hagar are a few that have been there. The smaller scenes are best discovered when talking with the locals. Good food all around, too, depending on your tastes.

As for the biking, to me, it's great. N*, Squaw, 2hrs from Mammoth, Kirkwood, and lots and lots of local trails. Of course, talking to any of the shops will get you started. Riding around the lake is great, too, if road biking is your thing. I did it once, and I'll do it again. And from what I hear, Heavenly is finally considering opening up their trails to the biking scene next summer.

Heck, if you need any more input, I may not be the best, however, I do live here now, so I'll help where I can. Maybe see you on the trails or in the casino some time.....

 

[SkaredShtles]

What's pulling you towards Tahoe? Given consideration to other western locations?

 

[DirtMcGirk]

Tahoe is a tough, tough place to find a place to make a living unless you deal cards, drugs, pussy or guns.

No, not being glib. Its the truth.

Tahoe is a high priced ghetto in a lot of ways. Most people I know who live there are in one of the four aforementioned dealing professions. The other people I know there are a) stock brokers with drinking problems, b) trustifarians, c) trophy wives. All three of those have been my clients over the years.

Look into Sacramento, Reno (only if you really have to be in the Sierras as its a true ****-hole) or Carson City (but only if you're cool with your wife working at the Bunny Ranch.)

All kidding aside, that whole region is pretty depressed. I chose to move to Phoenix over living up there because as a lawyer I was finding it hard to feed myself. And I take scumbags as clients. I was doing the lawyer equivalent of "turning tricks" by taking overflow from the PD's office just to make the rent and food in my $850 a month apartment. Hear me again, I chose 120* summers over the awesome of the Tahoe summer just to keep fed. Keep that in mind if you really get a hard on to move there.

 

[proglife]

Man, that's a rough report! If the wife can get a nursing job fairly easily...and she usually can...and I can keep my current job, I think we'd be alright, money-wise.

What's pulling you towards Tahoe? Given consideration to other western locations?

Not exactly throwing a dart at a map, but close. I'm open to hear about alternatives. I'd like somewhere that's beautiful, plenty to do (good bike trails, snowboarding, etc), an economy that could provide jobs if need be and affordable housing. Tahoe seemed affordable, at least poking around Zillow.

 

[Colonel Angus]

Tahoe is a tough, tough place to find a place to make a living unless you deal cards, drugs, pussy or guns.

No, not being glib. Its the truth.

Tahoe is a high priced ghetto in a lot of ways. Most people I know who live there are in one of the four aforementioned dealing professions. The other people I know there are a) stock brokers with drinking problems, b) trustifarians, c) trophy wives. All three of those have been my clients over the years.

Look into Sacramento, Reno (only if you really have to be in the Sierras as its a true ****-hole) or Carson City (but only if you're cool with your wife working at the Bunny Ranch.)

All kidding aside, that whole region is pretty depressed. I chose to move to Phoenix over living up there because as a lawyer I was finding it hard to feed myself. And I take scumbags as clients. I was doing the lawyer equivalent of "turning tricks" by taking overflow from the PD's office just to make the rent and food in my $850 a month apartment. Hear me again, I chose 120* summers over the awesome of the Tahoe summer just to keep fed. Keep that in mind if you really get a hard on to move there.

Once again DMG with his cheerful outlook on things! Way to look at the positive side!

 

[OGRipper]

You can have an experience like DG or you can have an experience like a couple friends of mine who moved to South Lake from the East Coast, bought a house on a budget, and now have a kid and a great life. Surround yourself with scumbags and feed off the bottom and you get a DG life. Take another approach and much more is possible.

That said, it is definitely expensive and tough to find work, so make sure you've got that figured out before you make a jump.

 

[proglife]

You can have an experience like DG or you can have an experience like a couple friends of mine who moved to South Lake from the East Coast, bought a house on a budget, and now have a kid and a great life. Surround yourself with scumbags and feed off the bottom and you get a DG life. Take another approach and much more is possible.

That said, it is definitely expensive and tough to find work, so make sure you've got that figured out before you make a jump.

thanks. at the least, i enjoyed DirtMcGirk's Bukowskian take on the area

 

[rockofullr]

Living in Tahoe was the best time of my life. Of course I lived in a house with my college ski buddies and rode at squallywood almost every day for an entire winter. Hard to beat that.

The only drug dealer I knew was a friend who sold me weed. Most of the locals are just a bunch of ski bums trying to shred the gnar.

My biggest complaint was that I was in my ski boots so much that I started to develop bone spurs on my feet.

My advice...

Dooeeet and invest in good boots.

DMG: you are a depressing motherfvcker lately.

 

[DirtMcGirk]

Hey, I am just giving him the truth on Tahoe.

I lived up there a few times in my life. Once right before I joined the Army, and it was the best time of my life. Rode every day at Squaw or Mt. Rose, could live on $500 a month as I lived with six other guys, and gas was cheap.

Lived there again in 2005. It was different because I had dogs, a wife, two cars and a mountain of bills after Katrina. The upside was that I got a buttpile of insurance money from Katrina, so I didn't worry about a damn thing.

Was back one more from 2008 to 2010. Worked as a lawyer, and most of my clients in Tahoe on the Nevada side were people with some problems. By that point the economy had full crashed, people were struggling to get by, and it had become pretty predatory up in those parts.

Last time I went back this summer, things hadn't changed much. I'll let you know what I think after Christmas.

And yea, I am depressing as of late. Grim meat hook realities of life and all of that noise, starting to take effect on the local jovial fat man.