Non-Football: Anyone in Central/Southern California

There are plenty of rental properties in the area, just be prepared to pay a pretty steep price to get into one. When I moved to the LA area from Seattle, my rent went from a $450 2 bedroom to a smaller one bedroom that costs damn near $1000/month and I am not in the best area to live in. I was in a 3 bedroom house in Encino, CA (about and hour, hour and half north of Santa Monica/Lompoc) and it was $2200/month. Don’t know how expensive it is where you are now, but that was the biggest thing for me when I moved.

Vandenberg, eh?

I’m further up than that, on the north side of Stockton, but I’m sure you’ll find something to rent, and vikingfuture8816 gives some idea of what things are running. I’ve never cruised around that area yet.

Your idea of renting is smart. (These days, if you buy, you can easily get stuck somewhere you can’t easily sell your way out of.)

You’ll find the houses have concrete tile rooves and the electric breaker boxes are on the outside.

The cost of car insurance out here is nearly double what it is in Minnesota.

As you may have heard, it does not rain out here in the summer, so pay attention to the grasslands around wherever you look to settle in. It’s not a pretty thing to wake up and find the lawn is on fire.

Also, consider what might happen in an earthquake. It’s not a good state to park glass figurines near the edge of the cabinets.

I was stationed at Travis, not Vandy, so I can’t really comment on the specifics of the area, but I do know that California has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country. You can take that as a bad thing, or an opportunity. Yes, I know you said you didn’t want to buy, but if you find something cheap enough on the foreclosure market, in a decent neighborhood near the base, it might be worth considering. Here in the DC area, I’m forking out Way Too Much Money for rent and a foreclosure property is looking like the right way to go.