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A CEO Who Pays Employees to De-Locate from the Bay

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: A CEO Who Pays Employees to De-Locate from the Bay

#161

Post by joejerryronnie »

jpao79 wrote: post #80
myrandomcomment wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I lived in Menlo Park for 8 years with my family. When I moved there the startup I went to work for was a 5 minute walk from my house. My current startup is also in Menlo. A year ago my wife and wanted a larger place. We looked in Menlo and PA. $3M for a teardown / needs tons of work. After thinking about it we started to look outside of the area. School district was a key factor of course. We ending up going as far…

Been meaning to checkout Morgan Hill. I hear downtown Morgan Hill is pretty happening these days. I also noticed that there is a self-driving car company down there: http://velodynelidar.com Are there any other interesting tech companies down there? Nice thing is that if you live near downtown you could take the Caltrain up to downtown MTV or PA.

Morgan Hill / Gilroy area is fantastic - small town feel, slower pace of life, diverse population, significant rural element, growing dining/entertainment options.

Housing is certainly less expensive than the peninsula but by no means cheap compared to the rest of the state/country. I would still plan on spending $1 million plus but you will get a big new single family home instead of a 50 year old 1200 sf beater.

The downside is, of course, the commute. There are some alternate transportation options, e.g. Caltrain, some companies like Apple run buses down to Morgan Hill, but this will limit the geographic area that you can reasonably commute to. IMHO San Jose, Santa Clara, & Cupertino are doable, Sunnyvale & Mountain View are pushing it, and Palo Alto is too far. There are a few companies in South Santa Clara county (and hopefully this will dramatically increase over time) but you'd still probably be commuting north.

Re: A CEO Who Pays Employees to De-Locate from the Bay

#162

Post by mbillie1 »

aphextron wrote: post #88
alexbanks wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And the concentration of tech talent means that it's always easy to find a new job, or even to start your own company. I've never been there, but I see this echoed a lot. Is it actually true? I'm interested in both, but I'm wary of the exaggeration that may be "it's easy".

>but I'm wary of the exaggeration that may be "it's easy". It really is. It's why I cant bring myself to leave this place even with all it's warts. Knowing that you can just screw off and do whatever you want for a year then have a dozen interviews lined up for six figure jobs with nothing more than a few emails is really empowering, actually. I can't imagine the anxiety of living somewhere else and being dependent o…

In fairness, there are plenty of other places in the country with good tech scenes where you wouldn't face this anxiety. None of them quite like the bay, but it's not as though you have to relocate to Flint MI or someplace with zero other prospects. The CO front range, NY, SLC, ATL, and so on all have healthy tech economies, and more places keep cropping up.

Re: A CEO Who Pays Employees to De-Locate from the Bay

#163

Post by gvd »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #48
stevecalifornia wrote: post #7

Move to Washington State. Don't pay California income tax. Instant 8% boost to your take-home pay.

From someone outside the US, I'm amazed that states vary their income tax so much, I would have thought it's a magnet for fraud and corruption.

WA will has higher property taxes. Or at least they get re-evaluated each year (unlike in CA)

Re: A CEO Who Pays Employees to De-Locate from the Bay

#164

Post by sidlls »

gvd wrote: post #160
aaron-lebo wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We had a dev working for the summer who got a job at an SF startup this past week. He's making $2k a week, but his rent for his apartment costs $3k and he's got roommates. As someone who has lived off of $40k and rented a $1.4k a month loft that was absolutely palatial, in the middle of the city with great views, this sounds like insanity. My coworker who is from the Boston area was similarly aghast at the difference…

Most comments here don't even mention kids. Childcare is very expensive on top of your rent/mortgage. It's highly likely that by the time you are 35-40 you will be paying for rent/mortgage AND childcare.

Yes, it is very expensive (2 kids here). It's not appreciably more expensive than a Midwest town unless you really want that super premium private school.

Re: A CEO Who Pays Employees to De-Locate from the Bay

#165

Post by dyim »

kbenson wrote: post #136
dyim wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FYI, you don't need to pay $3k - I lived in the Mission / Potrero Hill area (with roommates, mind you) for a few years, and my rent had always been between $1000-1850/mo. Centrally located, safe(-ish), and beautiful. You can run through Bernal Heights Park, get ice cream at Humphrey Slocombe, and bike to the 24 Hour Fitness on 16th and Potrero. If you're in tech, you can definitely live well in SF :)

Or commute a little. If you're paying multiples the cost to live 30 minutes away and commute, that's because you've attributed a high value on that locality, so complaining that it's too expensive doesn't make much sense.

yes - when people complain about their own revealed preferences, just smile and nod!

Re: A CEO Who Pays Employees to De-Locate from the Bay

#166

Post by gvd »

phamilton wrote: post #63

Anyone who owns a home in the bay area is going to pay 5-6% in fees to sell their home. $10k isn't going to cover that loss. The ultimate perk (which is often provided by big corporations in a relocation) is to cover the real estate fees.

I never understood a real-estate fee of 6-7%. Real estate agent is what you become if you don't like work and have no other way to be productive to society in my opinion.

Re: A CEO Who Pays Employees to De-Locate from the Bay

#167

Post by fapjacks »

kevinnk wrote: post #49
alexbanks wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And the concentration of tech talent means that it's always easy to find a new job, or even to start your own company. I've never been there, but I see this echoed a lot. Is it actually true? I'm interested in both, but I'm wary of the exaggeration that may be "it's easy".

A friend of mine got an offer from a startup in Palo Alto that he wanted to negotiate. He literally walked across the street to another interview and had a counter offer when he met with the founder of the first company the next day.

I've done this in San Diego, and it wasn't even in the city. I didn't even cross a street, just half of a small parking lot. It's totally possible in other places.

Re: A CEO Who Pays Employees to De-Locate from the Bay

#168

Post by sidlls »

smelterdemon wrote: post #114
sidlls wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When compared to cost of living, sure. But factor in savings rate and opportunities and the cost of living cut is well worth it. For example, I pay 2.5x in rent for a smaller place compared to what I was paying for a mortgage before I moved here. But my salary is 2x and a bit, and I'm saving more than 2x as a result.

If you don't mind me asking, what did the 25% increase in housing/income ratio come out of if your savings rate stayed the same?

The only expense that went up appreciably was housing. Basic expenses for everything else averages out to be about the same. Internet and commute costs are about the same, food is slightly more expensive, and utilities (power, water) slightly less than where we were.

I kept my 401k rate the same and effectively doubled the amount of money I'm saving. It's not my only savings, but it is the bulk of it.

Re: A CEO Who Pays Employees to De-Locate from the Bay

#169

Post by gvd »

sidlls wrote: post #164
gvd wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most comments here don't even mention kids. Childcare is very expensive on top of your rent/mortgage. It's highly likely that by the time you are 35-40 you will be paying for rent/mortgage AND childcare.

Yes, it is very expensive (2 kids here). It's not appreciably more expensive than a Midwest town unless you really want that super premium private school.

Schools in the Bay Area can become pretty poor once you are in a more affordable area. If you want a decent school the rent/mortgage will reflect that.

Re: A CEO Who Pays Employees to De-Locate from the Bay

#170

Post by bsder »

rifung wrote: post #38
phamilton wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$10k is usually the signing bonus I get for just changing companies. Is this in addition to the signing bonus?

Yes it is separate. At Amazon the signing bonus you owe if you leave within one year but the relocation bonus you owe if you leave within two; both are prorated

> At Amazon the signing bonus you owe if you leave within one year but the relocation bonus you owe if you leave within two; both are prorated

Um, wow. Yet another reason not to work at Amazon.

How does Amazon still get employees when they just seem to pile these kinds of irritating, anti-employee behaviors up one after another?

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