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What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

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Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#11

Post by Osiris »

bluetidepro wrote: post #8

OP, did you honestly not know how expensive it was, as well as a few of these other points in the article? I would be shocked if that's the case. Most of the items in the post are pretty well-known things about the San Fran area. More or less, the title is a bit of link bait, and I doubt most of you don't already know these things about San Fran (or the bay area, for that matter).

When I first moved to the Bay Area, I got a 40% pay increase, but I calculated at least a 50% increase in cost of living (coming from Salt Lake City), and that was moving to the East Bay.

Some days I'm sad I moved away (Denver), other days I'm happy to own a home for a lower payment than my rent in the Bay Area.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#12

Post by wpietri »

kaolinite wrote: post #2

Palo Alto and Mountain View are farther away than you think Hm, when I visited it felt like a pretty quick journey - no more than 30 minutes via Caltrain. Perhaps it was just excitement though!

Depends a lot on when you go and where you're coming from.

From my house in the Mission, right now Palo Alto is 30-minute drive that traffic has bumped up to 61 minutes. The next train takes 25 minutes on BART to get to Millbrae plus another 34 minutes on Caltrain with a 19-minute wait in between. That's on a limited; a local train would take even longer. Mountain View is another 10-15 minutes away.

Having lived here for quite a while, I think the author has it right: those places feel pretty far.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#13

Post by DanBC2 »

>The most crushing aspect I saved for last though. Taxes here are significantly higher than I’ve experienced anywhere. This means you’re squeezed both on your take home pay and your expenses.

...and some weirdness means they don't spend that money on roads, so the road surfaces are lousy. Maybe I've been spoiled by our great road surfaces in UK.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#14

Post by gonehome »

paupino_masano wrote: post #5
gonehome wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's around 38minutes if you catch the 'bullet' train. I think the regular train is a little over an hour, although this doesn't include the time to actually get to the train station.

Yeah - it always takes longer to get to and from the station too. Sometimes it's hard to justify whether it is worth it! Personally I use ZipCar when I need to head down there now (which to be honest is rarely).

Yeah, I'm in palo alto now - but kind of want to move to SF. The crazy rent/finding a place and commute issue serve as a pretty strong resisting force though.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#15

Post by Aloisius »

kaolinite wrote: post #2

Palo Alto and Mountain View are farther away than you think Hm, when I visited it felt like a pretty quick journey - no more than 30 minutes via Caltrain. Perhaps it was just excitement though!

I commuted to Mountain View from San Francisco on Caltrain. It is doable, but it gets old pretty quick.

Also those sports fans that the OP say don't exist much? They all take Caltrain to go to the ballpark at peak commute hours during the season. Also, they allow alcohol on Caltrain. Imagine a packed train full of orange and black with lots of alcohol.

With the coming electrification of Caltrain in preparation for high speed rail though, hopefully they'll be faster and more frequent service.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#16

Post by DanBC2 »

bluetidepro wrote: post #8

OP, did you honestly not know how expensive it was, as well as a few of these other points in the article? I would be shocked if that's the case. Most of the items in the post are pretty well-known things about the San Fran area. More or less, the title is a bit of link bait, and I doubt most of you don't already know these things about San Fran (or the bay area, for that matter).

There's a difference between "knowing" something and then experiencing it.

Knowing that rent and taxes are high is one thing, but balancing the books really brings it home.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#17

Post by lostlogin »

Osiris wrote: post #11
bluetidepro wrote: post #8

OP, did you honestly not know how expensive it was, as well as a few of these other points in the article? I would be shocked if that's the case. Most of the items in the post are pretty well-known things about the San Fran area. More or less, the title is a bit of link bait, and I doubt most of you don't already know these things about San Fran (or the bay area, for that matter).

When I first moved to the Bay Area, I got a 40% pay increase, but I calculated at least a 50% increase in cost of living (coming from Salt Lake City), and that was moving to the East Bay. Some days I'm sad I moved away (Denver), other days I'm happy to own a home for a lower payment than my rent in the Bay Area.

Did that pay increase make you better off or was it a net loss?

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#19

Post by Aloisius »

dutchbrit wrote: post #7

You nailed pretty much everything, but shouldn't the Castro bike be missing a saddle? I quite enjoy visiting SF, I actually love the place & diversity. Favourite season has got to be the Indian Summers :).

shouldn't the Castro bike be missing a saddle?

Wow. Really?

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