As a kid of 19 in 1986 , i started appraising where I grew up and was living in Upland/Claremont. Was often beginning to do high end and celebrity stuff out here in LA and the OC. Decided I had enough of the heat in the summer of '96 when biz was super slow, my car air conditioner broke and my 1949 house did not have it either, brutalized me....been in West LA area since '97. The weather is awesome here so close to the beach but the traffic, idiots, density homeless and City of LA politics are horrible. No better then the IE. I wish you luck in any move. I am thinking about it as well. Hard to see if appraising will be viable as a career in the next 1-3 years as well and if loan volume recovers a bit the waivers, desktops, PAVE, PAREA, etc etc....will still making appraising a rough go.