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

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

#331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am a native of Minneapolis proper and I would say move here to South Minneapolis. The suburbs suck and are absolutely terrible unless upper middle class white bumpkins are your crowd. South Minneapolis and midtown are super cool and you can still buy in before full gentrification kicks in.

That's pretty harsh. We wanted to move into S. Minneapolis but couldn't justify the high cost. Instead we ended up in the (far) suburbs.

Yeah. "Full gentrification" kicked in as far as I could tell 10 years ago. I loved it since it meant I sold my house in SW Minneapolis for almost double what it cost me 5 years prior, but that sucks for anyone buying.

That said, it's still a great place to live. Some suburbs suck, others are great. Depends on how you want to live.

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

#332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Moved to Mountain View in 1987, then to SF about a year later, then to the Santa Cruz mountains about 10 years ago. My wife and I were in tech that whole time (me: SCO, Sun, SGI, Cobalt, briefly at Google, then BitMover). Neither of us enjoy going to Mountain View any more. It's the worst parts of a big city (crowded, traffic, parking, expensive housing) and the worst part of the suburbs. And there is a lot of snobbe…

How's housing up there? I went to school at the UC and have always dreamed about moving back.

It's gotten expensive. Figure $1.2M for a decent 34 bedroom.

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

#333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So far the food scene in Seattle hasn't been all that people have made it up to be.

Surprised. I'd say it's pretty comparable to SF, and that's probably one of the FEW plusses of Seattle IMO. Source: Lived there for 2 years.

It's possible I still am having trouble finding good places. But coming from Atlanta I was kind of disappointed. Some of it was just that everything is a couple dollars more expensive for the same quality.

The seafood is obviously a lot better.

Could you make some recommendations for chinese, ramen (not a daily special) and burgers (other than lil woodies)?

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

#334

I've spent some time in Denver and I could easily see moving there full time from the SF Bay Area. That said, I like camping and hiking in my spare time which Denver has in abundance, and it has Sparkfun just outside of Boulder for your tech toys urges. Denver is more of a burgers and beer town from a culinary perspective, but it has lots of young people and downtown is very walkable. Also, unlike the bay area, they…

Must disagree on the culinary scene. We have everything you could want, from hole-in-the-wall ethnic to fine dining, though we are most definitely a beer town.

Fair enough, I had a heck of a time finding decent indian food in downtown other than at a single food truck that parked over by Wazee and 15th. And while Illegal Pete's made some decent burritos, having lived in the Bay Area for so many years, they were not competitive.

That said, the characterization comes from mostly riding the 16th street free shuttle and exploring by dropping into restaurants all around downtown, and often their "big thing" or specialty was a burger of some sort. Could be survivor bias though.

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

#335

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.

I feel like this is the dream, but the reality for many people is that they need to be where the jobs are. For those who are not developers easily able to get remote work, that's a major consideration. What's the job market near you like? How long is the average commute? Those are both major considerations for a lot of folks. (PS I'm not criticizing you--major props for living your dream. I just think that people rea…

I work for a company in California, so my commute is zero.

If I have to one day find a job. I am looking at at least a 45 minute commute to the nearest major city. If I can't find a programming job there, it would be a 2 hour commute in the other direction..

There are a few universities that are close that might have something as well....

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

#336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like this is the dream, but the reality for many people is that they need to be where the jobs are. For those who are not developers easily able to get remote work, that's a major consideration. What's the job market near you like? How long is the average commute? Those are both major considerations for a lot of folks. (PS I'm not criticizing you--major props for living your dream. I just think that people rea…

"Upstate New York" is a very large area. It would be tough to generalize... I'm in the Syracuse area (smack in the middle of the state), and the local scene is reasonably unimpressive (I work remotely, as do most of the folks I know in the area). There is a bit of a tech job market 45 minutes east of here in Rome, but that's mostly DoD related work (Rome Labs, etc). An hour and a half south is Ithaca, which is a 'hip…

I am 35 mins south of Syracuse.

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

#337

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.

What are you doing for income?

I work for a California University.

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

#338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Upstate New York" is a very large area. It would be tough to generalize... I'm in the Syracuse area (smack in the middle of the state), and the local scene is reasonably unimpressive (I work remotely, as do most of the folks I know in the area). There is a bit of a tech job market 45 minutes east of here in Rome, but that's mostly DoD related work (Rome Labs, etc). An hour and a half south is Ithaca, which is a 'hip…

I grew up in cuse and went to school at RIT. Why I'd never go back: 1. Snow, 2. Taxes Why I'd go back: 1. Insanely cheap 2. Hot plates Thus is life.

1. I don't mind the snow.

2. Taxes totally suck. I am at $6,000 a year.

3. It is cheap.

4. Hot plates? I don't follow this :-)

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

#339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Upstate New York" is a very large area. It would be tough to generalize... I'm in the Syracuse area (smack in the middle of the state), and the local scene is reasonably unimpressive (I work remotely, as do most of the folks I know in the area). There is a bit of a tech job market 45 minutes east of here in Rome, but that's mostly DoD related work (Rome Labs, etc). An hour and a half south is Ithaca, which is a 'hip…

I grew up 30 minutes outside of Syracuse and 15 years ago when I moved out there was almost zero tech except for the few large enterprise companies. I wish the area the best and its a great place to live in for the 3 months of good weather they have :)

I also grew up 30 mins outside of Syracuse. South though.

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

#340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grew up in cuse and went to school at RIT. Why I'd never go back: 1. Snow, 2. Taxes Why I'd go back: 1. Insanely cheap 2. Hot plates Thus is life.

The snow is less of an issue lately (we only got ~6ft of snow this year in Syracuse, thanks to a warm Pacific (yay climate change...)). Con #2 is largely offset by Pro #1.

Yes, this winter was mild compared to last winter. I still have a lot of wood and eco-bricks left over for next year!
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