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

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271–280 of 694 posts

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

#271
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A fourth category: people who have lived here for a long time, and were able to buy property back before it became unaffordable. These are typically the managers or senior employees. 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 s…

I'm fairly early in my career at a company ( 80-10-10 mortgage on a 1mil home is only 100k down. And the monthly payments split by 2 people (aka a couple) is ~2k / person / month. That's 4k/month all in once you include the tax rebates.

I think we just have different definitions of what constitutes "crazy".

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

#272
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A fourth category: people who have lived here for a long time, and were able to buy property back before it became unaffordable. These are typically the managers or senior employees. 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 s…

> 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…

Florida has few tech jobs, sadly. I say that as a Florida native that recently moved to Texas.

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

#273
It says “some experts” attribute this to housing costs, but nothing has really changed there in the last year (in fact in my opinion rents have softened somewhat). It seems to me the anti-immigration atmosphere is a more proximate cause.

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

#274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://meanwhileinmontana.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/18... Counter-counterpoint: Visit Missoula when they are naked biking.

You realize that’s a world wide event, right?

Yes. I'm just saying the state is big enough for body slamming journalists and naked bike riding.

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

#275

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.

Agreed. We'll never solve diversity in tech if all the jobs are concentrated in the Bay Area.

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

#276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm fairly early in my career at a company ( 80-10-10 mortgage on a 1mil home is only 100k down. And the monthly payments split by 2 people (aka a couple) is ~2k / person / month. That's 4k/month all in once you include the tax rebates.

I'm really, really curious how you got your numbers. I just 'did the math' in Redfin's mortgage calculator on a $990,000 home. The total monthly cost came out to $6,495 or $3,247 per person (in a couple). That's almost exactly 1/2 of the take-home (after tax) pay of someone making $120,000 a year in California. -- Monthly expenses on a $990k house in SF -- Principal and Interest: $4,185 Property Taxes: $1,015 HOA Due…

I have a similar priced home. My mortgage payment is around $4200. Doesn't include property taxes (around $12k/yr) and Home insurance ($1200/year). Some numbers above are way too high - HOA is $551 is generally for condos. My HOA is $60/month and in my previous neighborhood, didn't even have HOA. If can do 80-10-10, many banks won't charge mortgage insurance. So the OP's numbers are actually quite close.

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

#277

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…

+1 I'm making 80% of the SFBA wages and I live in the rust belt. I had a 1 bedroom, 800 sq. ft apartment a block away from work for I've talked to a few recruiters in the Bay Area but the crime and cost of living are highly unfavorable. As far as I can tell, the only reason one would go out there is to do something state-of-the-art. I don't know why people would do anything else there unless they were already wealthy…

Where in the Rust belt? I agree, much more affordable. Interested in which city you chose, and what your experience has been...?

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

#278
post #108
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…

In which of the above 3 categories would you put the Google/Facebook/Apple employees making 200-300k+ per year? I can't speak towards family living, but as a single person willing to live with roommates, you can find pretty nice places in the heart of Silicon Valley for ~$1000/month. Now add in compensation-packages well over 6 figures, brand-name companies for your resume, networking locally with other great enginee…

If you saw how I live here in small-town Kansas working remotely for a typical SFBA salary, you might reconsider. It's a fantastic life for me and my family. Maybe it's where I'm at in my career but I've never had a hard time moving jobs, either. I get recruiters reaching out regularly for other remote gigs.

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

#279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm fairly early in my career at a company ( 80-10-10 mortgage on a 1mil home is only 100k down. And the monthly payments split by 2 people (aka a couple) is ~2k / person / month. That's 4k/month all in once you include the tax rebates.

How much land and house does that $1M buy you? In New Hampshire where I live, $1M buys you quite a bit: several thousand square feet of house, several acres of land, an excellent local public school system, great views... Heck, I even imagine that in the greater Boston metro area you'll get a similar bang for your buck. Your normal family property (approx 1500 - 2000 ft/sq, ~1 acre land) goes for $200k - $250k. Still…

I don't live in the Bay area, but I live in DC and still pay a lot for housing by national standards, and at least for me, looking at it in terms of land and square footage misses the point. Obviously people optimizing for those things won't live in SF or DC (or Manhattan or Boston, etc.). Those things will clearly be more cheaply attainable in places where land is plentiful. You pay to live in a dense urban area because you value the amenities of the city, the economic opportunities it affords, the walkable or bikable lifestyle it facilitates, etc.

My commute is ten minutes on a bike, I live alone so I don't need a big house, and I have no use for a lawn. Your values are clearly different, so New Hampshire is the right call for you (or NC, or whatever). But they're not apples-to-apples comparisons.

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

#280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm fairly early in my career at a company ( 80-10-10 mortgage on a 1mil home is only 100k down. And the monthly payments split by 2 people (aka a couple) is ~2k / person / month. That's 4k/month all in once you include the tax rebates.

How much land and house does that $1M buy you? In New Hampshire where I live, $1M buys you quite a bit: several thousand square feet of house, several acres of land, an excellent local public school system, great views... Heck, I even imagine that in the greater Boston metro area you'll get a similar bang for your buck. Your normal family property (approx 1500 - 2000 ft/sq, ~1 acre land) goes for $200k - $250k. Still…

I grew up in New Hampshire, incredibly boring. I would never move back after moving to an exciting city. Good places to live are expensive for a reason.
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