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MainStreet – $10k to Leave Bay Area

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Re: MainStreet – $10k to Leave Bay Area

#131

Post by pm90 »

BoorishBears wrote: post #105
beauzero wrote: post #41

Atlanta for $ to cost of living/quality. Rural Alabama like Sylacauga (metro/eletric company fiber to your home) for "work from home". Both my wife and I work from home in rural Georgia (Carrollton)...$300k bought us 25 acres, a refurbished 2500 square feet farm house, 6 stall horse barn, 1/2 acre pond, and shop with concrete floor and electricity. There are options out there, lots of them.

My first thought about Rural Alabama is how much I'd hate that sociopolitical environment (I'm black) Granted I googled Sylacauga and the first line on their website is >Sylacauga (syl-a-cau-ga) is a progressive community where all the pieces fit. So they're aware of the image which is a pretty good sign... But I'm not doing these cities/towns that are "progressive" oases in vast deserts of backwards communities ever…

I somewhat relate to your view as a non-white POC. However, I don't think

> they'll eventually lose the power they had.

would do much to change the situation. Georgia, Virginia and Texas are states that are being fundamentally changed because of the influx of progressives from both rural areas and urban coasts. The fastest way to change seems to be to move to these places and use the democratic process to introduce real changes, and these folks will have no choice but to change their views or retreat to more rural areas of their states (usually its the latter).

The other aspect is that a lot of the southern states do actually have sizeable populations of African Americans...I really do hope that we don't just ignore them as successive generations seem to have done....

Re: MainStreet – $10k to Leave Bay Area

#132

Post by 0xffff2 »

cheese4242 wrote: post #67
tempsy wrote: 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…

Roughly how big a studio would that get you?

Based on a few minutes on padmapper, I'm guessing about 0sqft in Lower Haight. Certainly doable in the Tenderloin though.

Re: MainStreet – $10k to Leave Bay Area

#133

Post by jcomis »

asdfman123 wrote: post #37
kfk wrote: 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…

Another option is you can just find a job in Dallas or Atlanta or something. There's enough programming jobs in cities like that, the COL is relatively low, you can live in pretty much any part of town that suits your fancy, and they're probably much nicer to live in than you might imagine if you've never left the coasts. Personally if I were looking to move anywhere after leaving the bay I'd consider Raleigh or Nash…

Just FYI the traffic in these midsize cities is ridiculous. Nearly all have seen no real investment in urban planning and infrastructure, but have jumped in size. IMO remote is the only real viable option in many unless you plan to live in very few places that have easy transport access or walking distance. And in those places the COL is much higher.

Re: MainStreet – $10k to Leave Bay Area

#134

Post by jahlove »

asdfman123 wrote: post #58
namdnay wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it depends on each person. I briefly lived in Dallas, it's just way too ... flat? No sea, no mountains, no thanks :)

That's a good point, which is actually why I listed Nashville and Raleigh. Actually, Boulder would be pretty damn cool but without checking, I think it's essentially a high COL place by now.

It is.

Re: MainStreet – $10k to Leave Bay Area

#135

Post by mattrp »

RomanPushkin wrote: post #76
kfk wrote: 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 :)

About ten years ago in some of the rust belt you could buy a house for under twenty - Detroit comes to mind. Some of the sales had conditions that you tear down the structure and agree not to build so that city services could be removed from the town’s budget. There are still deals all over to be had - I’ve long thought it would be fun to have an Instagram of what $1m or less could buy in different parts of the country. I’ve found things like 200 acres / waterfront and numerous structures in Maine and the UP in Michigan. It all depends on your perspective of a “good deal.” But the days on the $50k house going for $2k are long gone.

Re: MainStreet – $10k to Leave Bay Area

#136

Post by pm90 »

sb057 wrote: post #112
beauzero wrote: post #41

Atlanta for $ to cost of living/quality. Rural Alabama like Sylacauga (metro/eletric company fiber to your home) for "work from home". Both my wife and I work from home in rural Georgia (Carrollton)...$300k bought us 25 acres, a refurbished 2500 square feet farm house, 6 stall horse barn, 1/2 acre pond, and shop with concrete floor and electricity. There are options out there, lots of them.

One downside as a lifelong resident of the South: rather hot. A monthly record high of 103 F (39.44 C) was set last month (October) in Alabama.

This happens mostly during the summers and you have air conditioning everywhere... This is why so many folks move to Texas despite the horrific summers.

Re: MainStreet – $10k to Leave Bay Area

#137

Post by pjc50 »

RomanPushkin wrote: post #76
kfk wrote: 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 :)

UK variant: https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/you-qualify-buy-1-house...

(Stoke-on-Trent is a former pottery manufacture town, and is halfway between the UK's second and third largest cities at roughly an hour and a half's drive or 40 miles per google maps)

Re: MainStreet – $10k to Leave Bay Area

#138

Post by jrockway »

steveklabnik wrote: post #130
jweir wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was surprised to see that too. They aren’t walking the walk.

Extra cynicism: by getting others to leave, they can stay and it gets better for them.

If I owned a house in the bay area, I would be asking anyone and everyone to move there. More money for me!

Rent in downtown Mountain View is higher than Manhattan.

Re: MainStreet – $10k to Leave Bay Area

#139

Post by mattrp »

i_am_nomad wrote: post #19

"To collect the $10,000, you’ll need to become a MainStreet Member and work out of one of our MainStreet offices for at least 12 months." This is raising red flags, somehow.

Besides have you tried moving a modest amount of stuff across the country these days? Unless it’s literally the clothes on your back, $10k is barely enough to move very far.

Re: MainStreet – $10k to Leave Bay Area

#140

Post by tempsy »

danielschonfeld wrote: post #90
realbarack wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Yeah it's really the startup lotto ticket. I "won" at one company, and it's big enough to justify any increase in CoL I paid to live here.

If you just want to work at the Big G then might as well move to Seattle with lower CoL and no state income tax.

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