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Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

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Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#81
Boy am I glad I stayed in Upstate, NY. Stress free, five minute commute, little traffic, low cost of living, fall weather, fingerlakes, Adirondacks, no earthquakes/hurricanes/firestorms/tornadoes, and great food.

Of course, now we're bidding to get Amazon to move here. Sigh.

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#82
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It makes me wonder that as the young rockstars and H1B recipients age, where will they go? They certainly can't afford to buy a house. I imagine as time goes on, companies in the Bay Area will be awash with young junior talent but will struggle to attract more senior folks. They leave for more affordable cities or head back home to be close to family when they decide to have kids. EDIT: May I offer up Tampa as a ye…

Exactly. That is what I am doing after 3 years in the Bay Area.

[deleted]

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#83
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They'll go to cities like Denver and Austin and promptly get to work turning them into the only thing they know, SV.

Live in Denver. This is a little too real. There's a very real irony to the people that move here that "hate the bay" then act, vote, and do everything in their power to make it exactly like SF.

Just some self awareness and critical thought would be nice.

Maybe all those little ways of doing things that you think are backwards immoral or inefficient are part of why the place had qualities that drew you there in the first place.

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#84
post #21
post #16

Most of the bay area employees are divided into 3 categories from anecdotal experience: young rockstars that are willing to live in relative squalor for a chance to prove themselves, vested and moneyed elites (CEO's, presidents, VC funded overlords) who are so out of touch with the average employee its best they not show up to the office that frequently, and H1B visa recipients that endure the soul-crushing San Jose…

Is it worthwhile to work there for a few years as a 20-year old though? I'm thinking it's a unique experience even if monetarily it's a poor choice.

You should go where the opportunities are. Optimizing for things like cheap rent, etc. is silly. You should aim to make so much ( eventually ) that rent doesn't matter any more

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#85
post #13
post #9

Austin resident here. My wife and I have been talking to renovators and have heard several times that projects simply take longer these days because many workers now must live farther out from the city core than they used to. I wouldn't be surprised the same thing happens here -- to a lesser degree perhaps, as we have more geographical space to expand into -- with avg commute time being the primary constraint on grow…

Yeah. It's not so much about distance, it's about time. Better infrastructure for moving people in and out of the city enables a larger city, and a more populated one.

Shouldn't we at least be talking about working remotely and why that doesn't happen more often?

I would bet most people have to drive in primarily because there manager did it that way when he/she was in the developer role.

Working remotely is friendlier on the environment and saves time commuting. It's also cheaper for the company and more easily scales as head count increases.

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's also a fair amount of people "grandfathered" into the region. Bought back in the 90s/early 2000s in closer in cities or neighborhoods. They have it pretty good, but at the expense of everyone else.

Could you explain that bit more? How is that at the expense of everyone else, did they achieve their wealth illegally?

He's not making a political statement—he's simply saying that a "grandfathered" household enjoys a salary and house value that rose sharply with the area's demand. Newcomers, however, have no such head start. As long as Bay Area real estate remains restricted, newcomers will be permanently disadvantaged (in an absolute sense). It's kind of a classic small-town value: get in while it's good, and shut the door behind you.

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It makes me wonder that as the young rockstars and H1B recipients age, where will they go? They certainly can't afford to buy a house. I imagine as time goes on, companies in the Bay Area will be awash with young junior talent but will struggle to attract more senior folks. They leave for more affordable cities or head back home to be close to family when they decide to have kids. EDIT: May I offer up Tampa as a ye…

Which, btw, is not explicitly a bad thing as it means skills and talents will be spread across the country. It’s why Austin/Portland/etc grow in these areas.

In fact, I’d go further and say it’s explicitly a good thing. While there are some advantages to concentration of industries, it’s unhealthy when taken to an extreme.

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you explain that bit more? How is that at the expense of everyone else, did they achieve their wealth illegally?

Read up on Prop 13 a bit. That’ll explain it.

Related to prop 13 that is also how golf courses in cali metro areas are able to exist, despite taking up huge swaths of land and having very few members.

There was a revisionist history episode on it: http://revisionisthistory.com/episodes/11-a-good-walk-spoile...

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#89
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's definitely good for your resume.

There are lots of places good for your resume that aren't a drain on your bank account.

For someone who is young, can move around, and doesn't burn loads of money on silly expenses, the Bay Area is actually amazing for the bank account. My experience here has been that the gap between income and expenses is greater than gross salary in many cities. Work a few years, invest the difference, and then ship out when you want to settle down is a very reasonable strategy.

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#90

38, two kids and a wife. Have been living in a 900SQ/FT apt, I don't know how much longer I can take this before rage quitting and relocating somewhere else (don't know where). The sad part, as a ethnic-minority, I have just found our community for my kids, etc. It would be really tragic if I have to tear my kids away from that. Don't get me wrong, my daily 30 minute commute on BART isn't the worst. The worst part is…

Get out, man. The region isn't trying to help people like you, with families, it's trying to help the entrenched who bought 20 years ago.

You may make less money in terms of income in most other cities, but your retirement savings will grow a lot faster regardless. I work on a traveling/remote team. One of my teammates lives in Chattanooga. His 3 bedroom house with I think 2 or 3 aces of land put him back a whopping $200,000.

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