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San Francisco Tech Firms See Workers Flee from $4,500 Rents

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Re: San Francisco Tech Firms See Workers Flee from $4,500 Rents

#231

Post by bogomipz »

pound wrote: post #193
nostrademons wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious if you've lived in the Bay Area for any length of time. I used to live in Boston (which at the time was the #2 tech scene in the country, but has probably been eclipsed by Seattle/NYC/Austin by now). There were startups and meetups and hacker spaces as well, including a number of famous ones. The Bay Area is a huge difference in degree. The difference is that you had to find the "tech scene" in Boston, wh…

but is it a good thing? even if you're an engineer.

Ha. Yeah. I went to a tech talk that an ex-Tumblr engineer gave, he left New York and Tumblr for a job in SV with Facebook. He was talking about his new home and said something to the effect that "it was really strange to be in line at the grocery store and here the people in back of him talking about Redis." Ha ha ha.

Re: San Francisco Tech Firms See Workers Flee from $4,500 Rents

#232

Post by vitd »

qntty wrote: post #213
sfotoatx wrote: post #130

Lots of naysayers on HN, but I left SF last year and moved to Austin. I have zero regrets. In SF, my 1 bedroom, 650 square foot apartment in SOMA went from $2,600 to $3,200 over 3 years. In Austin, my salary went down $10k to $120k/yr. My 2 bedroom, 1,100 square foot apartment is $1,150/mo. The tech scene here isn't as vibrant as SF, but there's still plenty of great meet ups. All in all, yes there are some things I…

Sorry if this is off-topic (and maybe a bit personal), but as a recent graduate, I'm not sure what I would do with all that extra money. What do you (or most people) generally spend it on? I make less than that, but if I didn't have student loans, I wouldn't know what to do with it besides leave it in the bank.

I'm not the original poster, but I'll tell you what I've done in the past which has worked fairly well. I put as much as I'm allowed to into an IRA for retirement and into my spouse's IRA, too. I max out the matching amount on my 401k. (Those 2 things alone ensure that I'm putting away 10-15% for retirement.) I do some additional short to medium-term investment in the stock market. Nothing too risky, but enough to hopefully beat inflation.

I also bought a few expensive toys that I really wanted (nice high-end camera, for example) and take regular vacations to nice spots.

I started giving to charity, too. I also decided to do something closer to home and helped a relative with their student debt. I started taking some of the free time I have and that nice camera to do photography for a local charity.

Re: San Francisco Tech Firms See Workers Flee from $4,500 Rents

#233

Post by vinay427 »

coderholic wrote: post #217
kabes wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a guy from Europe I don't know much about the US tax system. If somebody mentions he earns $120k, I assume that's gross salary? What does he usually end up with net? From what I understand it depends on the state. Is that 4.25% you talk about the only tax there is?

There's also federal tax, which is around 25%. You then pay state tax on top. I moved to the US from the UK, and the total tax is roughly the same.

The major tax difference in the UK from my understanding is the 20% standard VAT, which is obviously much higher than any sales tax in the US.

Re: San Francisco Tech Firms See Workers Flee from $4,500 Rents

#234

Post by cubano »

jimminy wrote: post #205
timr wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"a well-governed San Francisco could have positioned itself as the next NYC. The hub where all of tech gathers, the same way all of finance gathered in Wall St. Replace the 70 year old 2-storey homes with Manhattan style apartment buildings, and rent in San Francisco would have remained very reasonable, despite the rapid economic growth. This would have prevented exactly this problem where tech workers are forced to…

The fact that everything closed so early blew me away, when I moved there. Compared to the middle of nowhere WV it made zero sense. Even the grocery stores closed by midnight in SF. In WV, you can find food at most places until 12-1am 7 days a week. And the major local grocery is a Walmart, which is open 24 hours. Last Easter I had no clue nothing would be open, and didn't prepare for that. So I just had some crap pi…

I still to this day argue that by a significant margin, the best thing about living in Vegas was the everything goes 24-hour lifestyle where you can literally do or eat anything you want 24/365.

Re: San Francisco Tech Firms See Workers Flee from $4,500 Rents

#235

Post by msoad »

I live in a high rise in SF and pay $4400 for a one bedroom. Although it sounds expensive but it's like $800 more than the least expensive place we could find near this place but it's a well built apartment with lots of amenities.

I thought about moving out of SF but I don't have any social connection outside of San Francisco. Plus weather is very nice here and there are lots of diverse cultural events happening in San Francisco. Add very thick job market on top of it. I was able to interview 50 companies when I was looking for a new job.

I'm saying I, as a case study is paying this rent because of reasons and I'm well aware how much more it is compared to other cities. There are 600 apartments in this high rise and out unit is one of cheapest ones. Most of units are having residents, so there are people who pay those rents.

Re: San Francisco Tech Firms See Workers Flee from $4,500 Rents

#236

Post by vinceguidry »

qntty wrote: post #213
sfotoatx wrote: post #130

Lots of naysayers on HN, but I left SF last year and moved to Austin. I have zero regrets. In SF, my 1 bedroom, 650 square foot apartment in SOMA went from $2,600 to $3,200 over 3 years. In Austin, my salary went down $10k to $120k/yr. My 2 bedroom, 1,100 square foot apartment is $1,150/mo. The tech scene here isn't as vibrant as SF, but there's still plenty of great meet ups. All in all, yes there are some things I…

Sorry if this is off-topic (and maybe a bit personal), but as a recent graduate, I'm not sure what I would do with all that extra money. What do you (or most people) generally spend it on? I make less than that, but if I didn't have student loans, I wouldn't know what to do with it besides leave it in the bank.

If you're not already married, you should be using it to date. College is hands-down the best place to find a significant other. Once you've graduated, the social life you took for granted quickly fades away and finding people to spend time with and then actually spending time with them becomes vastly more difficult. If you're a cisgendered male, it can be absolutely brutal. Cisgendered female, much less so but still a problem. One of the few things that makes it easier is the willingness to be generous.

Leaving it in the bank is an excellent option. You've got two main things to save for, a down payment for a house and your wedding. Better still is a balanced and sane investment portfolio, but leaving it in the bank is better than a bad portfolio, so take some time to learn how investing works if you choose to go that route.

Re: San Francisco Tech Firms See Workers Flee from $4,500 Rents

#237

Post by myblake »

geebee wrote: post #223
asfakeaccount wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Modern mid rise and skyscrapers are actually safer in earthquakes than the Victoria homes of San Francisco. If our housing consisted of modern housing our city would suffer way less damages than what will happen today if the big one hits.

The french quarter in new orleans is also probably less safe than modern buildings, but I wouldn't want to see it torn down just because rents would be cheaper. SF does need to build, badly, but I'm wary of the term NIMBY-ism. It is descriptive, but I think it invites false equivalence. There are degrees of NIMBY. I actually think that some of the burbs, like walnut creek or mountain view (especially the latter) have…

!00% agree that a lot of the suburban communities are worse than SF, but SF still has a shocking amount of unwillingness to build given that it's a large city.

Re: San Francisco Tech Firms See Workers Flee from $4,500 Rents

#238

Post by talmand »

Laaw wrote: post #36
talmand wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Somebody's busy setting up another housing bubble.

With cash? Dunno about that...

Possible. I was in Vegas the last housing bubble and investors were doing it there. Most were buying with ARMS but it got to the point only cash got you a quick sale.

Re: San Francisco Tech Firms See Workers Flee from $4,500 Rents

#239

Post by bogomipz »

kabes wrote: post #208
vinay427 wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's similarly worth noting that CA has the highest income tax rates of any state in the nation for most individuals. For instance, for incomes between around $51k and $263k the rate is 9.30%. My state's rate is 4.25%, which is closer to not having a tax at all.

As a guy from Europe I don't know much about the US tax system. If somebody mentions he earns $120k, I assume that's gross salary? What does he usually end up with net? From what I understand it depends on the state. Is that 4.25% you talk about the only tax there is?

Oh no. You have state tax, federal tax, FICA. Some places might also have a city tax as well(New York City), then you have sales tax. Then there all the other nickle and dime soft taxes that you are dinged with. The US pays insane taxes. This is a good resource if you are curious:

https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/taxes/how-much-do-americans-...

Re: San Francisco Tech Firms See Workers Flee from $4,500 Rents

#240

Post by myblake »

qntty wrote: post #213
sfotoatx wrote: post #130

Lots of naysayers on HN, but I left SF last year and moved to Austin. I have zero regrets. In SF, my 1 bedroom, 650 square foot apartment in SOMA went from $2,600 to $3,200 over 3 years. In Austin, my salary went down $10k to $120k/yr. My 2 bedroom, 1,100 square foot apartment is $1,150/mo. The tech scene here isn't as vibrant as SF, but there's still plenty of great meet ups. All in all, yes there are some things I…

Sorry if this is off-topic (and maybe a bit personal), but as a recent graduate, I'm not sure what I would do with all that extra money. What do you (or most people) generally spend it on? I make less than that, but if I didn't have student loans, I wouldn't know what to do with it besides leave it in the bank.

Invest it or save it and avoid debt. You will thank yourself later. If it makes sense to, consider buying a primary residence, but don't spend too much on a car, or eating out, or anything like that. Make sure you have some nice toys and are generally not wanting, but also make sure to max out your 401k and then some.
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