Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 392 posts

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#101

Post by wan23 »

Vnjjkkll wrote: post #2

NYC. Its still expensive obviously but more diverse. Not a mono-culture. Cold/long winters are not much fun. But there are nicer small classic american town in NY and Long Island, which can be affordable. Train commute is ok if you can work remote a couple days per week and get some work done on the trains. Beaches are close, skiing upstate is decent. Lots of opportunity in NYC/Brooklyn. A very nice home (4 bedroom,…

I have to add though that if you actually need that kind of space near New York then you have to be willing to endure a serious commute. In the most expensive parts of the city studio apartments are pushing $1M.

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#102

Post by runT1ME »

seancoleman wrote: post #27

Phoenix is often not included when discussing tech cities, and I think it's a shame. I've lived here my entire life and have seen the startup and tech scenes evolve and mature having started 2 companies here. Just in the past few years, the number of quality startups and investments have soared and I believe we're at the inflection point that will make Phoenix equitable to SV. We have a low cost of living, affordable…

I love Arizona. Never lived there, but great place to visit. However, even with significantly cheaper housing, I still don't come out ahead if I moved there considering the salary differences. I suppose it would work out ok for now since i'm 80% remote, but none the less the job prospects are not good if I decided to change. :-/ Maybe one day they'll have a bullet train to LA...

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#103

Post by jason_slack »

I moved from Cupertino to very upstate New York about 15 months ago.

I was able to buy a house, on a lake, forest on all sides of me and I spent less than $200,000 to buy the house, move, furnish a new place and remodel a bit to my liking.

No startup scene here. For me, it was the slower pace of life, peace and quiet and more time to work on my personal goals.

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#104

Post by solipsism »

ArtDev wrote: post #11

Bend, Oregon. Direct flights to and from West Coast hubs. Active startup scene. https://youtube.com/watch?v=KxhA2jopebQ Bend has already been "discovered". However, there is still affordable housing and you can't beat the weather, beer scene and the outdoors here. If you want to check it out, you can stay in my awesome big house when we are traveling: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/7497695

Since this is getting a bit of a response... anyone in Bend living there with small kids? We are in Oregon and are attracted to Bend, but the fact that it's so isolated (far from major hospital systems, for example, which we unfortunately have to take advantage of more than we'd like) makes us hesitant. Also, we bounce between museums and acquariums and childrens' museums on the coast, Portland, Salem, Eugene, etc, quite a lot, and out in Bend your options seem much more limited.

I get that the great outdoors is really the thing to do in Bend, but our children are very small (1 and 3), and we want to be outdoorsie but have to work our way up to it. So I don't know how Bend would work for us. I'm curious how others deal with small kids there.

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#105

Post by sjg007 »

halpme wrote: post #94
eclipxe wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The atmosphere here is, I dunno, toxic. Too many people here size each other up based on where they work and where they live and people are way too obsessed with advancing their careers and chasing higher salaries, more luxurious cars, nicer apartments, etc. Everyone seems to have some sort of inferiority complex if they don't work for the "Big 4". People in Davis/Sac seemed less superficial and it was a lot easier…

Do you actually go out and talk to people? The first thing anyone asks is what you do, followed by which company you work for. Watch people's reactions change depending on the reputation of your company. The whole social scene here is centered around networking, not making meaningful relationships. No one cares if you're a chill person with cool hobbies, but if you work at then you become one more inside connection w…

I lived in LA and the first thing you learn there is to not ask what anyone does because everyone's an actor.

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#106

Post by Chris911 »

atomic77 wrote: post #71
woud420 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although I agree with the downplaying of the suggestion, I really disagree with the reasons. Most companies I've worked with in Montreal, english is often the main language in the office (almost to a fault) and companies are STARVED for talent. It's very, very hard to hire people in Montreal, there's a lot of competition (like pretty much anywhere else). Outsiders are very welcomed if they bring well needed help. How…

To address both comments - I didn't mean to suggest Montreal is the new promised land, just to add some discussion of non-US locations that may hold promise since the comments had been US-centric. Most tech people working in the US likely will be shocked at how little tech workers are paid in most of the rest of the world, including Canada. But not everything is about absolute salary. Montreal, imo, provides a well-b…

What do you think is the average software developer salary in Montreal?

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#107

Post by davidw »

solipsism wrote: post #104
ArtDev wrote: post #11

Bend, Oregon. Direct flights to and from West Coast hubs. Active startup scene. https://youtube.com/watch?v=KxhA2jopebQ Bend has already been "discovered". However, there is still affordable housing and you can't beat the weather, beer scene and the outdoors here. If you want to check it out, you can stay in my awesome big house when we are traveling: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/7497695

Since this is getting a bit of a response... anyone in Bend living there with small kids? We are in Oregon and are attracted to Bend, but the fact that it's so isolated (far from major hospital systems, for example, which we unfortunately have to take advantage of more than we'd like) makes us hesitant. Also, we bounce between museums and acquariums and childrens' museums on the coast, Portland, Salem, Eugene, etc, q…

Ours are a few years older than that, but you can certainly do outdoor activities with kids, or trade off so one person goes to do something while the other watches the kids.

We used to take our daughter rodelling (sledding) in Austria, for instance. We had lots of fun!

It's certainly more isolated - for some people, that's a big negative. I'm mostly ok with it. Being constantly rained on and seeing gray skies is a far larger drawback.

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#108

Post by mikekij »

San Diego is awesome. The cost of living is probably 30% less than the bay area (I rent a 4 bedroom single family house for $2495), I live 3 miles from the beach, and there are a fair number of tech companies in the area, focusing primarily on healthcare and defense. And I love the outdoor activity opportunities. Direct flights to SFO are about $140 round trip, or less.

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#110

Post by kaishiro »

I'm from the US, down here in Melbourne, via Shanghai, via Boston, via NY. Had no idea what a vibrant tech scene they had on my way down. Envato, Fastmail, and Atlassian give the city some cachet. I contract primarily with US agencies, and if that's the case you just need to set the tone early on with regard to availability. Neat city though.
Post reply on HN