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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

#311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rents are where they are because of state and local governmental policy. I beg you to go out and find a real estate investor to talk to. In any city in the world with a functioning open market for land use, there are compelling profit opportunities in high-density high-rises, economy box living pods with beige walls, high-end glass condos with verandahs, and everything in between. Prices do not have to do with the Ba…

Really? It doesn't have anything to do with an industry that recently moved in and started shovelling money around like it came out of the back end of a barnyard animal?

[deleted]

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

#312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>but why are people moving to Phoenix? Isn't living in the less sexy areas of South Bay (Sunnyvale, Milpitas, South San Jose) pretty much on par with urban life in Phoenix? No way. Phoenix is a wonderful place to live! The weather is beautiful! Forget that stuff you read about the heat; you'll get used to it. It's a dry heat! Seriously, if you live in the Bay Area or Portland or Seattle, move to Phoenix! It's great!…

Dry heat or not, it's still way too hot! I grew up in the desert and have absolutely no desire to ever live in one again.

Shut up! I'm trying to get people to free up some space in the west coast cities.

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

#313

So are there any tech hubs right now that aren't dealing with issues of rent increases, gentrifications, and growing pains?

Cleveland wants to become one, but it's an uphill battle.

As someone who's very familiar with the tech scene in Cleveland. Get out, it's so incredibly dead end there.

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

#314
post #235

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 S…

That is a bit surprising. I think I have an expensive Condo in San Diego, and your rent on a one bedroom is still $1400 more than my 2 bedroom condo off of Balboa Park, 2 minutes from Downtown and 10 minutes from the beach.

Location is everything. Where you live is the 'outskirts' compared to where they are..

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

#315
post #235

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 S…

Why not move to oakland or similar? Rent is like half in the nice areas, and even less in the not so nice areas.

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

#316
post #111

It's hard to overstate the impact this is going to have on San Francisco, long-term. As Technology becomes the most important industry in America, 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…

If high-rise development solved the problem of high rents, then why is Manhatten so expensive? Thought experiment: Let's say we do massive high density development in SF. A bunch of people move in, but now that SF is denser it's more desirable, so demand has increased as well, which drives rents right back up. Now we're stuck where we were before: high rents. Having said that, I still support high density development…

Manhattan has twice the people in half the space, and costs less.

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

#317
post #111

It's hard to overstate the impact this is going to have on San Francisco, long-term. As Technology becomes the most important industry in America, 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…

[deleted]

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

#318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cleveland wants to become one, but it's an uphill battle.

As someone who's very familiar with the tech scene in Cleveland. Get out, it's so incredibly dead end there.

Is there even a "scene" if there's just a few companies and a few developers? I mean, any city of any size has some tech companies and engineers, doesn't mean it's a scene.

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

#319

Yes, rents are high, but if you invest even a little bit of time you can find a fine residence in the Bay Area for a lot less than $4,500. I rent a two bedroom house in Oakland for $2,200. My commute is not too much longer than it would be if I live in certain parts of San Francisco. There's simply little advantage to living right in the heart of a major city. You have to ask yourself: "Instead of renting in a high-p…

Did the same math for living in San Jose... With the price difference in rent, you could literally hire a private car plus driver to take you to-and-from the city every weekend. The most insane part is the people who commute down to MTV (eg. Google) and only really get the benefit of the city on weekends anyway...

Mountain View is expensive, and to many people, boring. SF is at least less likely to be the latter.

Remember also that Mountain View despises mixed use and refused to rezone areas currently designated commercial-only in order to let Google workers live near their jobs. Of course, it also would have meant people who bought in the 70's would have some tiny amount of competition for their asset.

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

#320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny you mentioned not being able to get a good meal after 9:30pm. That was the most frustrating thing about being in San Francisco for me. I hated that the whole bay seemed to shut down @10pm - almost as if everybody has to wake up the next morning to work another 12 hour day to pay the insane rent.....

It's because everyone in SF seems to be a morning person. In my building everyone (except me) is asleep by 10pm. In NYC things are only getting started at 10.

The only way I could handle my old SF boss expecting people in the office by 7:30 was by being based in Dublin and only making the occasional trip to SF.

Even then, the jetlag only made it work for a week or two.

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