Schwab Leaves San Francisco for Texas • Hacker News Board

Re: Schwab Leaves San Francisco for Texas

#81

Post by justinzollars » Sat, Nov 30, 2019, 5:24 PM UTC

TulliusCicero wrote: post #76

zer00eyz wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Housing and taxes in CA are close to oppressive. The housing situation will not change unless CA voters agree to a change in property taxes and they won't. I would also bet that the move will come at the expense of Texas tax payers and to the benefit of Schwabb.

Part of the problem with housing prices in California is that property taxes are too low. Prop 13 means existing homeowners are shielded from higher property taxes, so growing property values are only good for them, no matter how high. Thus, there's no incentive to increase housing supply, which could lower prices.

The problem with housing in California is that we do not build it because regulations prohibit new housing. Look at a zoning map in San Francisco. Housing is illegal.

Re: Schwab Leaves San Francisco for Texas

#82

Post by Ozzie_osman » Sat, Nov 30, 2019, 5:24 PM UTC

lykr0n wrote: post #37

jakozaur wrote: post #2

SF Bay Area gets so expensive that even financial giants gets gentrified.

I would be curious to see the ROI for someone like Schwab for staying in the Bay Area. Does the reduce capital costs of people, taxes, and buildings outweigh the talent pool in the area? Makes me wonder what the numbers look like.

Yes. I'm building a distributed engineering team now (hiring people both inside and outside the bay area). Everyone underestimates how much talent there is outside the core hubs (Bay Area, Seattle, NY, etc). Yes, talent does cluster in those cities, but they don't have a monopoly.

There are lots of smart, driven people outside the talent hubs. Also as a sweeping broad generalization that I frankly can't back up with data, they are a lot less entitled and don't job hop as frequently.

Re: Schwab Leaves San Francisco for Texas

#83

Post by mobilefriendly » Sat, Nov 30, 2019, 5:25 PM UTC

aphextron wrote: post #43

nthomas wrote: post #7

Welcome to the Lone Star State! Cheap real estate and friendly folks. And BBQ, metric tons of BBQ...

>"Cheap real estate" And the highest property tax rate in the nation.

It's in the top 5 but not the highest.

Re: Schwab Leaves San Francisco for Texas

#84

Post by dgoldstein0 » Sat, Nov 30, 2019, 5:25 PM UTC

toomuchtodo wrote: post #66

aphextron wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"Cheap real estate" And the highest property tax rate in the nation.

Isn’t Prop 13 an enormous issue (with real estate owners not paying taxes on the true value of their property) in California?

Prop 13 basically just limits increases in taxes from purchase time. So it benefits existing land owners at the expense of future land owners.

And it also benefits speculators - makes it cheaper to hold onto property for longer.

Re: Schwab Leaves San Francisco for Texas

#85

Post by kyleblarson » Sat, Nov 30, 2019, 5:25 PM UTC

fzeroracer wrote: post #73

CydeWeys wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And traffic out the wazoo, and few good alternatives to driving.

It's going to be funny in 5-10 years when the major Texas cities become the next SF because none of them are planning for any sort of large population growth. Austin already suffers from horrific traffic and poor infrastructure. City planning here is a joke.

Even that seems better than dealing with SF's bullshit for the next 5-10 years.

Re: Schwab Leaves San Francisco for Texas

#86

Post by cgriswald » Sat, Nov 30, 2019, 5:26 PM UTC

burlesona wrote: post #75

aphextron wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"Cheap real estate" And the highest property tax rate in the nation.

Because of the highest property tax in the nation. This is a feature, not a bug. It’s very difficult for the wealthy to hide their property. There are also a number of ways to reduce the tax rate on one’s primary residence. Combined effect of this is surprisingly progressive, closer to a wealth tax. Another effect high property taxes, is that most existing homeowners feel some pain when real estate prices soar and th…

Don't forget the joy of parcel taxes, city and county sale taxes, and other ways of bleeding you out to make up for the people who aren't paying their fair share because of Prop 13; which you still have to pay even if prop 13 doesn't help you because you were born in the wrong decade.

Re: Schwab Leaves San Francisco for Texas

#87

Post by galangalalgol » Sat, Nov 30, 2019, 5:26 PM UTC

zer00eyz wrote: post #69

skybrian wrote: post #58

This is better both for San Francisco and Texas, from a load-balancing perspective. Unless housing can catch up, large companies shouldn't be expanding in San Francisco.

Housing and taxes in CA are close to oppressive. The housing situation will not change unless CA voters agree to a change in property taxes and they won't. I would also bet that the move will come at the expense of Texas tax payers and to the benefit of Schwabb.

Property taxes in fort worth are ~2.85%. What is bay area?

Re: Schwab Leaves San Francisco for Texas

#88

Post by hailwren » Sat, Nov 30, 2019, 5:28 PM UTC

cortesoft wrote: post #77

hkmurakami wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TD Ameritrade is headquartered in Omaha. The HQ location choice is not driven by existing Ameritrafe footprint, or by the merger itself. The FAQ is simply addressing what will be, not starting that there was a cause and effect because of the proposed merger. Also, Schwab was already reducing SF headcount for years. Also, afaik the merger is still in the prices of regulatory review. All this being said, the merger lik…

Why would the government review a headquarters move?

States and cities often give large corporations preferential treatment to maintain a footprint there. I'm not sure if this is the case for Schwab/SF, but if they are getting a break then announcing a move might be a time for SF/California to start clawing back benefits.

Re: Schwab Leaves San Francisco for Texas

#89

Post by scurvy » Sat, Nov 30, 2019, 5:28 PM UTC

selimthegrim wrote: post #59

scurvy wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm from New Orleans and will take all of the broken glass and addicts over NOLA's violent crime. It's not even a close comparison.

You live in the Bay Area now? I've never had any problems in NOLA short of a close call to a home invasion at a acquaintance's five years ago (who was involved in things he shouldn't have been)

Been in the Bay since 2000. I grew up in NOLA through the worst years. Can't unsee what I've seen there.

NOLA is bad because crime is everywhere. There are no good areas and bad areas -- it's everywhere. Even people in old Metairie need to deal with home invasions.

Uptown? Oooooo-lawd! Who was the rich uptown couple that had a home invasion where they tied up the husband and repeatedly raped the wife over several days as they went to the ATM over a long weekend? I honestly can't remember their names because that stuff happens so often (and said family was even friends with my dad).

Re: Schwab Leaves San Francisco for Texas

#90

Post by xenospn » Sat, Nov 30, 2019, 5:29 PM UTC

fzeroracer wrote: post #73

CydeWeys wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And traffic out the wazoo, and few good alternatives to driving.

It's going to be funny in 5-10 years when the major Texas cities become the next SF because none of them are planning for any sort of large population growth. Austin already suffers from horrific traffic and poor infrastructure. City planning here is a joke.

Austin really is a small town, tho. You can see all of downtown from your hotel room, and the rest is just suburbs.