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MainStreet – $10k to Leave Bay Area

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81–90 of 199 posts

Re: MainStreet – $10k to Leave Bay Area

#81
post #9

I got a laugh out of the picture of the house; a stereotypical Eichler. ( https://www.realtor.com/advice/buy/what-are-eichler-homes/ ) Eichlers are very common in Palo Alto, but not so common throughout the rest of the US. (Edit: And yes, I left the Bay Area, and bought what most people living in the Bay Area would consider a mansion, in a high-cost-of-living state. I paid less then my Bay Area rent for a 1-bedroom w…

Thanks, I never knew there was a name for this, though I've seen this kind of house all through the Peninsula - there are also a lot of them in the hills west of San Mateo. And, now that I think of it, Erlich Bachmann's house is one.

Ehrlichs house isn't an Eichler - Eichler refer to houses made by a specific developer who built mid-century modern neighborhoods around California. They're a sub-set of mid century architecture.

Re: MainStreet – $10k to Leave Bay Area

#82
We (Zapier) did this a few years back, its been really cool: https://zapier.com/blog/move-away-from-sf-get-remote-job/

I hope it continues to catch on! Major metros certainly have a lot to offer, but minor metros or rural America does too -- it's a little odd that all the online "tech" jobs land in the former. If you have a decent internet connection, you can do your work from anywhere.

Re: MainStreet – $10k to Leave Bay Area

#83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a software engineer at a FANG, in a VHCOL city...and I feel completely out of touch with whatever cultural circles these people live in. > We are three former Googlers who are on a mission to help create jobs in rural and suburban cities around America. Ok, yeah, that explains it

For anyone like me who hasn't seen the VHCOL acronym before: Very High Cost Of Living.

And what is FANG? and why are acronyms so overused in an UCC (unlimited characters context)?

Re: MainStreet – $10k to Leave Bay Area

#84

I'm not sure if this is a real site or not... but let's assume it is, what's the deal with "Stop waiting in line for brunch"? I get the commute and own your own home things, these seem like BIG deals in life. Is standing in life for brunch really the 3rd biggest problem with living in the Bay Area or is this an inside joke or something like that? Everything I know about living around there I've learned from HN and I…

It's about waiting in line for everything you have to wait in line for.

Re: MainStreet – $10k to Leave Bay Area

#85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having a line out the door also serves as a sort of free advertising for the restaurant. If people are willing to line up and wait for their brunch, it must be good, right?

Actually, I appreciate the places that don't take reservations for brunch. The number of prospective patrons is wildly out of proportion to the number of really good brunch spots. If they took reservations, you wouldn't be able to get in for a month to a place like Plow. Instead, I can grab a coffee (or mimosa) while I stand outside chatting with my friends or wander around the neighborhood. If you want convenience,…

And there's always the "hidden gems" like Wayfare Tavern that only started doing brunch recently, so no line-ups yet.

Re: MainStreet – $10k to Leave Bay Area

#86
post #63
post #40

It's really hard to beat living and working in San Francisco. Having lived here a few years I find costs highly overstated for single people . e.g. some costs: Studio in Lower Haight (water + trash included): $2100/month Utilities: $50 Monthly Muni: $81 Groceries are no more expensive than anywhere else. Eating out is similar vs other cities I've been to, and if anything the quality of the food is better here at the…

I don't understand the logic by which people say that in smaller towns, you need a car. For me the exact opposite has been true: the larger the city, the more likely I am to need a car. In small cities everything is in walking distance, that's what small means. Big means things are far. Also, based on all the complaining about public traffic and congestion and whatnot, the larger the city, the more likely you are to…

USA small towns != European small towns. Many small cities in the US have no walking infrastructure, horrible (unreliable, slow, etc.) public transportation, and are victims of sprawl.

Having just come off a trip to a handful of smaller European cities, if I lived there I would most likely just walk, bike, or maybe scooter everywhere.

Re: MainStreet – $10k to Leave Bay Area

#87
post #16

The idea is sound. There are a lot of amazing places in Italy where I am from. Some of these towns sell houses for few thousands. Just think about it. No traffic. No over-crowded restaurants. Your own property. Sun. Sea side. I think this is more an issue of community. Of course if you are the only remote worker in a place with aging population is not fun. But if some start up would be able to build a community of re…

> Some of these towns sell houses for few thousands Name of the place or it didn't happen :)

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/03/town-of-mussomeli-in-sicily-...

Re: MainStreet – $10k to Leave Bay Area

#88
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in a medium sized city in Wisconsin (~100k population) and my costs are: - $850 for rent for a 2 bedroom 1200sqft apartment - ~$70 for utilities (i have free heat so it's less in the winter and more in the summer) and if i still had the car i previously had, my only expense would be gas (~$100/mo) and the minor maintenance it needed, which was less than $1000/yr (i tracked everything each year i had it). I bou…

Paying an extra $1.5k per month on rent isn't insane when it gets you $50 or $100k additional annual salary.

$1.5k is generous...it's more like $500-$1k maybe. I'm lucky to have my own place in SF but most people have roommates because SF rentals is mostly houses, but if you lived nearly anywhere else you'd almost certainly find your own place and not scramble to find a roommate.

So you go from paying $2k/month with roommates to maybe $1.5k/month without. Not a huge difference.

Re: MainStreet – $10k to Leave Bay Area

#89

I'm not sure if this is a real site or not... but let's assume it is, what's the deal with "Stop waiting in line for brunch"? I get the commute and own your own home things, these seem like BIG deals in life. Is standing in life for brunch really the 3rd biggest problem with living in the Bay Area or is this an inside joke or something like that? Everything I know about living around there I've learned from HN and I…

> Is standing in life for brunch really the 3rd biggest problem with living in the Bay Area It's not a problem. More another manufactured nuisance of the kind San Francisco seems to enjoy creating. New Yorkers have brunch later, brunch boozier and--broadly speaking--brunch with a reservation. San Franciscans (or at least my friends in San Francisco) eat brunch at the crack of dawn at establishments that prefer lines…

"Brunch" at the crack of dawn is just breakfast, no?

And do denizens of SF/SV eat brunch mid-week on a regular basis?

Here in DC, it's typically a Sunday late-morning thing, which aligns with the British origins of the term. Reservations suggested for swankier establishments.

Re: MainStreet – $10k to Leave Bay Area

#90
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in a medium sized city in Wisconsin (~100k population) and my costs are: - $850 for rent for a 2 bedroom 1200sqft apartment - ~$70 for utilities (i have free heat so it's less in the winter and more in the summer) and if i still had the car i previously had, my only expense would be gas (~$100/mo) and the minor maintenance it needed, which was less than $1000/yr (i tracked everything each year i had it). I bou…

Paying an extra $1.5k per month on rent isn't insane when it gets you $50 or $100k additional annual salary.

Generally speaking true, but what happens when you deduct state taxes, in a place like either California or New York. Suddenly the budget seems just about right and nothing too extravagant to write home about
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