Nobody lives there anymore, it's too crowded.
What makes it crowded if no one lives there? Empty buildings? /s
California's skyrocketing housing costs, taxes prompt exodus of residents
71–80 of 313 posts
Re: California's skyrocketing housing costs, taxes prompt exodus of residents
#72These people who sold their Bay Area homes and moved somewhere else to pay cash for a house seem to gloss over the fact that they were able to do this because they struggled in the Bay Area for so many years and became real estate wealthy. They won't see this kind of real estate wealth growth in their new communities.
Re: California's skyrocketing housing costs, taxes prompt exodus of residents
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
Having lived in Long Island, NY and Boca Raton, FL I gotta say... I don't think I could leave the Bay Area. The weather, the geological features, the schools, the meetups, the job opportunities... all factors. But the biggest is that the people are truly interested in intellectual matters in a way that was not extant in the other places I've lived. My son is a programmer and nobody had a clue what he was talking abou…
Long Island and Boca Raton aren't exactly stiff competition in the "life of the mind" department. Also I disagree, IT is huge out there but other disciplines get short shrift.
LOL for sure.
And I agree about other industries but I happen to be in tech.
Re: California's skyrocketing housing costs, taxes prompt exodus of residents
#74My wife and I spent a year in the Bay Area (San Mateo), and there was a lot to love. Great weather, awesome farmers markets, plenty of work, etc. But holly cow was it expensive! My rent was around $2000/month. I had a co-worker living in SF proper who's apartment was $4500/month. And that was 4-5 years ago, it's probably gone up by now. After a year, we moved back to Ohio - I now have a good-sized house on nearly an…
Yup, rents have gone up approx. 50% in the last few years. A 1 BR in SF is now averaging $3200/mo. I believe. AVERAGING.
The secret killer behind these prices is that only newcomers pay them. Most renters who have been in SF for more than 5 years are in a rent-controlled building, which means their rent is basically locked in, which is good on one hand but on the other, you can never move out. Black mold? Leaking roof? Rat infestation? Illegal units stealing your electricity? It creates a situation where people will deal with any and all hazards and illegal situations just to maintain their low rent because they know if they move they have nowhere else to go.
Re: California's skyrocketing housing costs, taxes prompt exodus of residents
#75It's unfortunate, California is such a beautiful place. But it's turning into somewhere to visit, and not live. See you soon Sierra's!
Totally. Speaking as someone who lived in the bay area for 4 years and happily left after college, why live in CA when you can work remotely from anywhere else, live well, own a sizable property, and make decent bank? The bay area is great to visit, I was literally just there a couple months ago. But to live I would need to make 4x what I do now.
So, you're making 'decent bank' now yet you need to make 4x that to live in SF?
Re: California's skyrocketing housing costs, taxes prompt exodus of residents
#76It's unfortunate, California is such a beautiful place. But it's turning into somewhere to visit, and not live. See you soon Sierra's!
I move around and travel a lot for work - I've lived in 4 states in the last 2 years (CO, WA, CA, TX) - and one of the universal things across all the midwest and west coast that I've found is that while most people like the weather/scenery in California EVERYONE hates people from California, except for the people in California. I've heard the saying "California would be great if it wasn't for the people" in literall…
Just like half the statements here, this could be changed to "People from the bay area", "People from LA", etc. California has a lot of great people and beauty but when you equate the whole state with the two big cities, of course it paints a negative picture. The entire central coast I met more awesome people than I have living in Chicago for 20 years.
Re: California's skyrocketing housing costs, taxes prompt exodus of residents
#77As someone who enjoys being outdoors, I love CA and the Bay Area especially. The weather is great year round, and there is so much spectacular and wildly different areas to see within a relatively short drive, it's amazing.
But the cost of living is completely insane. It doesn't help that I moved from one of the cheapest places to live (Gainesville, FL), but my salary just about tripled when I made the move, and it's still a struggle. My $650/mo mortgage for a 1200 square foot house that seemed expensive and kinda small at the time is replaced by a $3k/mo rent for 930 square feet. Then state income taxes take a huge chunk where FL had none, yet FL's sales tax is the same or lower...
CA is roundly better than FL in just about every other way so it's worth paying a premium for now to be out here but it's pretty clear that it's not sustainable long term. I'm also happy to be paying much higher taxes if the money is being used responsibily but it is incredibly frustrating to see the government continually make no progress on solving the affordability and traffic problems of the area.
Re: California's skyrocketing housing costs, taxes prompt exodus of residents
#78We've lost most of our friends now, and the roots we were putting down over the last 7 years are eroding a bit. For the record our household income fluctuates between 300 and 400k and we live in a microhouse (500sqft) in Berkeley. Expanding is a difficult proposition.
Its an interesting set of factors that lets me buy a Ferrari far easier than a house. First lifestyle money, then tech money, now foreign investment.
And there are a lot of subtle changes neighboorhood to neighboorhood. Mission was once the most expensive in SF, now Berkeley is surpassing even them. Hayes Valley becomes hip, and Precedio Heights becomes more affordable because of the lack of public transit.
For the most part i've surmised that the city is full of smaller town transplants who graduate and think their 120k offer is the greatest opportunity of their lives. They shortly find out it barely gets them a toilet with two roommates and end up leaving for Seattle, Portland, etc while staying with their company. This cycle repeats over and over
Meanwhile, this engine extends the SFBay problem to the B and C cities -- leaving fewer places to run to.
Re: California's skyrocketing housing costs, taxes prompt exodus of residents
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, the weather is nice in many places, and it has some beautiful scenery. Probably why so many people live there in the first place. Texas on the other hand is hot and flat. Really boring here. Oh and it's too crowded. Yep, if you're from California Texas is worse. Don't want to move here. Please stop moving here, please, oh god please.
I know what you're trying to do, but its not going to work ;). Texas is about as interesting as you can get, especially if you live in Austin. The housing costs are not ridiculous (yet), you can live in decent house near downtown, COL is low, no state taxes etc. Quite a wonderful state, especially if you're young and in tech. BTW, there is also a vibrant live music scene. And also a lot of theater and art. Did I ment…
It's oppressively hot though. I've been there many times for work(Dallas,Houston,Austin), and there is nothing enjoyable about being in Texas anywhere near the spring/summer months. Flooding, tornadoes, and other severe storms sucks too. Food is good though for sure.
Re: California's skyrocketing housing costs, taxes prompt exodus of residents
#80My wife and I spent a year in the Bay Area (San Mateo), and there was a lot to love. Great weather, awesome farmers markets, plenty of work, etc. But holly cow was it expensive! My rent was around $2000/month. I had a co-worker living in SF proper who's apartment was $4500/month. And that was 4-5 years ago, it's probably gone up by now. After a year, we moved back to Ohio - I now have a good-sized house on nearly an…
You can get a studio out here for less than $3K in a good location, but it will take time and effort and you may lose A LOT OF PATIENCE trying to find it in places that are less than ideal. Now you may be saying, "but why not roommates," in which case I would say "hell is other people, especially when you live with them." Good on you for moving to a reasonable COL city, the best thing I can say about SF's job market is many companies out there let you work remote because apparently finding decent tech people out here is hard, so you could make the SF salary with that $1K per month rent and live like a king.